Brian Eno ‎– Before And After Science

Everything fits the description but no Made in Holland on my disc. Maybe a different version?

Mine comes with the four pictures... Is this possible on this edition?

as with all of eno's pop discs, this one collapses about half way through, but the second half of this disc is not as trite as the second half of most eno discs. up to track 6, this is an enjoyable survey of what was at the time "popular music". while the rhythms are funky enough to be pushing into disco, the attack is harsh enough to be pushing into punk. the musicians are primarily luminaries from the english and german progressive rock movements; they limit their influence to their playing styles, allowing modern punk/disco/rock song structures to be in firm control throughout the record.

on the second half of the record, eno explores the possibilities around adding lyrical melodies to tracks he's written in his ambient style. this is about the time where eno would lose interest in rock music and begin to focus purely on his ambient recordings. it's likely that he was toying with the idea of continuing to release pop records in the style of "julie with.."; for whatever reason, he never actually did so, although he did explore these concepts through his production work with u2, etc.

excluding the sappy "here he comes", the second half of this disc is not trite at all, it is quite sterile, written and serious. the 9th track is actually an instrumental tribute to the minimalist composer harold budd and would be better placed on an ambient recording.

there appears to be a concept floating through the record, one of ships voyaging out into unexplored territory. he's dancing around some heavy-handed masonic and hermetic imagery, but i'm not clear on precisely what he wishes to say. the combination of the title of the record with the quasi-scientific imagery invoked suggests some kind of commentary on the scientific exploration of the world around us, perhaps with some hesitation and reluctance, and with the realization of the pivotal period of time that the record was created in. to be honest, i don't think this record gets much deeper than being a simple observation.

it's an enjoyable listen, but the concept is blurry and the music isn't pushing any boundaries at all. the best way to make sense of this transition record is to listen to it within the context of eno's backcatalog, meaning you should really introduce yourself to his records in a chronologically seque

Someone said ones: "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 (the entire second side of the album format) 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."

This record still is mainly "glamour rock", but there are some bits there that announce Brian's next stage of ambient music.