before and after science

Brian Eno spent two years recording over one hundred tracks with numerous collaborators for the oceanic emotional layers of these dichotomous ambient pop experiments.  'Before and After Science' was recorded at Basing Street Studios in London and Conny's Studio in Cologne with co-producer Rhett Davies with members of Can, Cluster, Free, Fairport Convention, and Roxy Music.  The sessions included Brian Eno on voices, Minimoog, EMS Synthi AKS, Yamaha CS-80, guitar, synthesized percussion, piano, brass, vibes, metallics, and bell;  Rhett Davies on agong-gong and stick;  Paul Rudolph on bass, rhythm guitar, and harmonic bass;  Percy Jones on fretless bass and analogue delay bass;  Shirley Williams (Robert Wyatt) on brush timbales and time;  Fred Frith on modified guitar and cascade guitars;  Phil Manzanera on rhythm guitar;  Robert Fripp on guitar;  Achim Roedelius on grand piano and electric piano;  Möbi Moebius on bass fender piano;  Bill MacCormick and Brian Turrington on bass;  Phil Collins, Andy Fraser, Jaki Liebezeit, and Dave Mattacks on drums;  and Kurt Schwitters on voice. 

The acclaim heaped on his 'Another Green World' album left Eno anxious over the music and led to him working and reworking the many tracks:   "On the one hand the music sounds to me very emotional, but the emotions are confused, they're not straightforward: in things that are very uptempo and frenzied there's nearly always a melancholy edge somehow. What people call unemotional just doesn't have a single overriding emotion to it. Certainly the things that I like best are the ones that are the most sort of ambiguous on the emotional level.  Also, one or two of the pieces I've made have been attempts to trigger that sort of unnervous stillness where you don't feel that for the world to be interesting you have to be manipulating it all the time. The manipulative thing I think is the American ideal that here's nature, and you somehow subdue and control it and turn it to your own ends. I get steadily more interested in the idea that here's nature, the fabric of things or the ongoing current or whatever, and what you can do is just ride on that system, and the amount of interference you need to make can sometimes be very small."

'Before and After Science' is separated into two distinct halves:  side one is primarily a more rock oriented funky pop while side two is characterized by more ambient soundscapes.  The tracks segue into one another to create a sense of flowing liquid solutions.  'Before and After Science' charted at number one hundred and seventy one in the US, twenty-five in Sweden, and eighteen in New Zealand.  





'Before and After Science' 
full album:


All tracks written by Brian Eno, except where noted

Side one
1. "No One Receiving" 3:52
2. "Backwater" 3:43
3. "Kurt's Rejoinder" 2:55
4. "Energy Fools the Magician" (arranged by Percy Jones, Eno) 2:04
5. "King's Lead Hat" 3:56
Side two
1. "Here He Comes" 5:38
2. "Julie With ..." 6:19
3. "By This River" (Eno, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Dieter Moebius) 3:03
4. "Through Hollow Lands" (for Harold Budd) (arranged by Fred Frith, Eno) 3:56
5. "Spider and I" 4:10