Before And After Science

Originally released in 1977, 'Before and After Science' is similar to Bowie's Low/Heroes/Lodger trilogy and ranks as some of the most essential Eno material.

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno is best known as a musician and producer. Eno was one of the founding members of Roxy Music (which he left in 1973) and is said to be one of the pioneers of ambient music with his solo works as well as recorded collaborations with King Crimson guitar supremo Robert Fripp.

His contribution towards music is too large to mention. Production credits include U2, David Bowie and James. He has written several books, created art installations, given numerous interviews (on a variety of subjects) and lectured intensively.

Eno's early recordings were rock based, though more experimental in sound and style than what was considered 'mainstream'. Even his lyrics often seem like streams of consciousness or unrelated sentences.

"'Before and After Science' is really a study of "studio composition" whereby recordings are created by deconstruction and elimination: tracks are recorded and assembled in layers, then selectively subtracted one after another, resulting in a composition and sound quite unlike that at the beginning of the process.

Despite the album's pop format, the sound is unique and strays far from the mainstream. Eno also experiments with his lyrics, choosing a sound-over-sense approach. When mixed with the music, these lyrics create a new sense or meaning, or the feeling of meaning, a concept inspired by abstract sound poet Kurt Schwitters (epitomized on the track "Kurt's Rejoinder," on which you actually hear samples from Schwitters' "Ursonate").

'Before and After Science' opens with two bouncy, upbeat cuts: "No One Receiving," featuring the offbeat rhythm machine of Percy Jones and Phil Collins (Eno regulars during this period), and "Backwater." Jones' analog delay bass dominates on the following "Kurt's Rejoinder," and he and Collins return on the mysterious instrumental "Energy Fools the Magician." The last five tracks display a serenity unlike anything in the pop music field. These compositions take on an occasional pastoral quality, pensive and atmospheric. Cluster joins Eno on the mood-evoking "By This River," but the album's apex is the final cut, "Spider and I." With its misty emotional intensity, the song seems at once sad yet hopeful.

The music on 'Before and After Science' at times resembles 'Another Green World' ("No One Receiving") and 'Here Come the Warm Jets' ("King's Lead Hat") and ranks alongside both as the most essential Eno material."
All Music Guide.