Brian Eno: Before and After Science

Brian Eno: Before and After Science

1977

Polydor Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. No One Receiving  2. Backwater  3. Kurt's Rejoinder  4. Energy Fools the Magician  5. King's Lead Hat  6. Here He Comes  7. Julie With ...  8. By This River  9. Through Hollow Lands  10. Spider and I



No, this is my favorite Brian Eno album. Roughly split into two halves, a rocking side and a slow, atmospheric side. Both sides rule. The first half is maybe my favorite Eno side, full of funky, jerky ice-cold new wave pop, which is very recognizable if you're familiar with his later production work during the Talking Heads' incredible run. A couple of his very best songs occur on this first half. "King's Lead Hat"would have probably been a huge hit if it came out in 1981 or something rather than 1977...Wait, actually it kinda was a hit, come to think of it. Listen to the song and then listen to "Shake it Up" by the Cars...

Compare:

Contrast:

Again, I can only imagine what an 80's new wave single transplanted back to 1977 must have sounded like at the time. I would imagine it probably sounded sterile and bizarre. Which it is. It's also catchy as fuck, though. The other big one is "Backwater," which is no joke, one of my all-time favorite songs. An arm-swinging sea chanty with some of the best lyrics I've ever heard. The rhymes are tight and constantly unexpected. It sounds futuristic and ancient with syth tones which should theoretically sound out of place (electronics really shouldn't be this close to water) but work brilliantly. And it has Jaki Liebezeit (my favorite drummer ever) on the drums, if you needed any further convincing of its awesomeness.

The water theme carries over to Side Two were the waters become more calm, if not also more cold. Lots of slow, still tracks that work as musical Rorschach tests. Listen to the beautiful, hypnotic "Julie With ..." and tell me what you hear in that endless sea of calm. A murderer? A loving couple lazing about on a quiet afternoon? A doomed pair hopelessly adrift on a life raft? Why is it either death or a nice quiet day? The stillness of both events? I don't know. I suspect Brian doesn't know either. That's probably why all the lyrics to Side 2 are so abstract. To assign concrete meaning to any of it would be a huge mistake because its ambiguity is its draw. It all seems to be glowing radiantly with both beauty and menace.

I think this record is the cat's tits. But this is where my Eno collection ends. After falling in love w/ side two of "Before and After Science" I thought I could take the ambient stuff, but I can't. I just can't. It bores me to damn tears and I know you're not supposed to actively listen to it, but I can't have music playing and not listen to it. Something in my wiring.  Even if I'm doing something else while the music is playing, I'd rather listen to something I actively enjoy rather than something to ignore. Noble experiment and probably fun as hell to do, but not something I'm into. Who knows. Maybe some day I'll change my mind and suddenly those ambient albums will rock my world...Until then, I'm standing by Eno's first four...

Here's "Backwater" by Brain Eno...Enjoy:

Brian Eno: Another Green World

Brian Eno: Another Green World

1975

Island Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Sky Saw  2. Over Fire Island  3. St. Elmo's Fire  4. In Dark Trees  5. The Big Ship  6. I'll Come Running  7. Another Green World  8. Sombre Reptiles  9. Little Fishes  10. Golden Hours  11. Becalmed  12. Zawinul/Lava  13. Everything Merges with the Night  14. Spirits Drifting


This one took me a little more time to get into.  It's more subdued and a large amount of instrumentals begin to enter the equation, but once I adjusted to this I realized how fantastic most of this is. If you have ambientophobia like I do, have no fear. Some of the instrumentals are indeed quiet and serene, but have enough ideas and movement to avoid ambient-related drowsiness. Still, consult your doctor if you plan on using heavy machinery. Especially if you're rocking side two.

The record kicks off with "Sky Saw," which sure enough, sounds like someone taking an electric saw and slicing huge blue slabs out of the sky as sparks lick the cosmos. I have to give him credit for the vividness of his music and the accompanying imagery.

"Saint Elmo's Fire," sounds like a perfect little experimental 80's synth pop song that just so happened to come out in the mid 70's.  It really has an otherworldly quality that makes it one of my favorite Eno pop songs. Beats the John Parr song, hands down...

And speaking of pop Eno, this is the album that features the immortal "I'll Come Running" which is one of the sweetest pieces of shoelace-tying ever committed to tape.  That daffy yodel that comes in on the final chorus is notable.

I think what helps me get into the quieter instrumentals is the brevity. Listening to "Little Fishes" and "The Big Ship" kinda reminds me of getting the opportunity to look in little, tiny windows into alternate, synthetic Earths, where the trees and water initially look normal until you notice the leaves are made of plastic and the little Japanese fishies are made of metal. If any of these went on for more than a few minutes I'd be bored to death, but in miniature form, they're fascinating. The one exception is "The Big Ship." "The Big Ship" can last all day.

Definitely not a party starter, and I'd be lying if I said I spin this one as much as the first two records, but it's definitely interesting. There's been a time or two when I've spun this in solitude or after a long night of heavy dranking when it suddenly becomes my favorite Eno album...Check it out if you're into alien quietude... 

Here's "Saint Elmo's Fire" by Brian Eno...Enjoy...

Brian Eno: Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)

Brian Eno: Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)

1974

Island Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Burning Airlines Give You So Much More  2. Back in Judy's Jungle  3. The Fat Lady of Limbourg  4. Mother Whale Eyeless  5. The Great Pretender  6. Third Uncle  7. Put a Straw Under Baby  8. The True Wheel  9. China My China  10. Taking Tiger Mountain


My god, I've been looking for a vinyl copy of this album  forever. As I mentioned previously, I wasn't in a huge hurry to check out Eno's music, due to his dedication to ambient snoozedrone, however inside my copy of "The Harder They Come," (which I believe I've discussed before) there was the big, bright colorful sleeve outlining the other Island Records albums that were available...Each and everyone of them looked amazing. Of particular interest, was "Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)" which sported a cover my eyes were immediately drawn to. It must be something in the colors or the title or Eno's bizarre haircut, or maybe the way all these ingredients blended together...For some reason it was irresistible and I decided that one day I would track down this album...

Then four or five years ago, I was at Eastside Records for my birthday and spotted it on the wall! Suddenly, I was holding the album in my hands for real! I remember hanging out at the bar afterwards for a birthday drink, but my heart just wasn't in it...I couldn't help but stare longingly at that gorgeous cover (and it folds out into even more beautiful color variations!).

When I finally got home that night, blissful and buzzed out, I slouched in my chair and tossed this on the turntable and I swear to God almighty, I was immediately treated to quite possibly the greatest song I'd ever heard in my entire life... Opener "Burning Airlines Give You So Much More," is the catchiest, dreamiest dollop of hazy psychedelic pop imaginable...Listen to it on the video below if you don't believe me...

There's just something about the way it lazily floats around in the air without a care in the world. All the talk of Chinese spies, micro-cameras, and gently swaying beards just feels like some sort of pleasant Dramamine-induced dream.  Is the plane on fire? Who cares when you've got this sort of buzz going.

Of course the rest of the album can't possibly live up to that brilliant opener, but wait! There is one other song as equally glorious, just in a different way. "Third Uncle" is fucking phenomenal! This rocking motherfucker must have exploded some heads when it came out. Every punk/post-punk song that came out in its wake has some serious dues to pay when it comes to this track. Just a repetitive bassline that gains momentum and picks up tangles of thrilling electrical noise as it rolls along. There's a guitar solo near the end of the track that is the single best guitar solo I've ever heard. I believe it's played by Phil Manzanera...If this guy didn't earn his place in the rock n roll pantheon with his Roxy Music stuff, then he earns it and keeps it here. My heart sinks when it fades. I've seriously reached out to the speaker before and dramatically whispered, "No...Don't go.." Again, listen for yourself if you don't believe me...

Surely, the rest of the album cannot live up to these two tracks! And, yea...You're kinda right. Those are the big highlights for sure, but the rest of the album's not chopped liver.! Lots of interesting little art rock songs full of fascinating sounds: Like the bizarre, melting orchestra in "Put a Straw Under Baby," or the oddly rocking typewriter solo on "China My China"...It doesn't quite make your head spin in the same dramatic manner that "Here Come the Warm Jets" did. It's a lot band-ier than that album, if that makes sense. Like it's being played by humans rather than malfunctioning robots...So it might actually be a little more welcoming to newcomers in that regard...Special shout-out to "The True Wheel" and "China My China." Those songs are top-notch. "China My China" seems so odd and lumpy at first, but with each repetition, it makes more and more sense until suddenly it's rewired your brain into hearing it as bouncy pop. Awesome trick.

This guy was just nailing it during this time period, really.  I fucking love this record so much.  I actually have a hard time picking which one of the first four Eno albums I love the most. "Here Come the Warm Jets" sounds great when I'm feeling sinister. But when I'm feel like getting lost in a secret world that exists in the cracks of society, this is the go-to album. It's like you're dreamily stumbling through a hidden world that's just teeming with seedy denizens  carrying dark secrets. It can sometimes become unexpectedly violent, but it's mostly serene. The band-yness I mentioned earlier makes it seem a bit more organic and alive than his other albums. Deep Earth and water. Like breathing in the air at a rice paddy or something...

Alright, one more...Here's "China My China" by Brian Eno...Enjoy...

Brian Eno: Here Come the Warm Jets

Brian Eno: Here Come the Warm Jets

1974

Island Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Needles in the Camel's Eye  2. The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch  3. Baby's on Fire  4. Cindy Tells Me  5. Driving Me Backwards  6. On Some Faraway Beach  7. Blank Frank  8. Dead Finks Don't Talk  9. Some of Them Are Old  10. Here Come the Warm Jets    


These Brian Eno albums were supposed to be something I should have checked out yeeeeeaaaaaars ago, but assumed would be something I wouldn't care for...See, the Brian Eno I grew up with was some dude who was actively trying to bore us to death with music that was literally made to be ignored. When I vacuum the house, I don't want to listen to ambient music. I want something that will motivate me. I'll listen to DRI or the Bad Brains or something. I don't like to ignore music. So yea, I was in no big rush to dig through his discography.

But about five or six years ago I was on a serious Roxy Music kick and after I burned through all their records I was hungry for more moRE MORE!!!! So I picked up a cheap used copy of Brian Eno's first solo album, recorded shortly after his departure from Roxy, "Here Come the Warm Jets" and the minute the album started I was in freakin' love. I was surprised to find that I love the first four Eno albums even more than the Roxy albums. That's right, I said it.

If you haven't heard it, take a minute to listen to that first track, "Needles in the Camel's Eye"...I'll wait...

My God! Did you hear what I just heard? It sounds like the Velvet Underground tossing the heroin and mainlining pure fucking joy instead! No ambient here. Just a brilliant, seriously bent pop album. So much to hear and take in when this thing plays. Eno's famous "treatments" where he processes the shit outta regular, boring old instruments and turn them into swarms of buzzing hornets or in the case of "The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch," a couple of flapper robots from the 1920's flirting with each other.

 If you listen to "Driving Me Backwards," you'll get to ride on a giant piano as it flies serenely through the clouds, slowly searching for the song in the distance where it originally came from. If you listen to "Baby's on Fire," you'll get to witness a shredding guitar attempting to shred itself while the bass and drums watch on in suspenseful horror.   If you listen closely to "Some of Them Are Old," you'll get to see a barbershop quartet made up of dusty, nostalgic ghosts sing the alma mater of their old, long shuttered school...Who doesn't want to see, hear and feel these things?

There's nothing like this album, yet all interesting music that occurred since bears its stamp...My wife  even swears that there's some Maroon 5 song that sounds like "Here Come the Warm Jets" title track...I don't know about all that, but I know I love this record. It's so alive and warped and warm. I'll wager that it'll still be blowing minds 40 years from now...

Listen, I got laundry to do...Let's listen to some music...Here's "Here Come the Warm Jets" by Brian Eno...Eno-joy...