Polyphonic Press - Classic Album Reviews · Jeremy Boyd & Jon VanDyk

Before and After Science by Brian Eno: Art Rock Meets Ambient Vision

·37 min·2 clips

King’s Lead Hat is an anagram for Talking Heads, and the band’s nervous energy is already here.

1. Polyphonic Press reviews Brian Eno’s Before and After Science, a 1977 album split between art rock and ambient movement. 2. Jeremy Boyd and John Van Dyke host the show, and their Random Album Generator chooses the record from a catalog of more than 1,000 classic releases. 3. The episode asks what happens when Eno’s “energetic, angular” Side One meets the “ethereal, meditative territory” of Side Two. 4. The hosts describe “No One Receiving” and “King’s Lead Hat” as the front side’s jagged, rhythm-driven tracks. 5. They connect those songs to guests Robert Fripp, Phil Collins, members of Can, Jackie Liebeszeit, and Percy Johnson. 6. John says he can hear New Wave, Devo, punk, jazz fusion, and industrial echoes in the record’s sound. 7. Jeremy says the album may be “more important than most people would probably give it credit for.” 8. They note that Eno worked on the album for almost two years and recorded around 100 tracks before selecting the final 10. 9. The hosts say that careful editing helps explain why the album feels deliberately divided into energetic and tranquil halves. 10. They compare the record’s structure to David Bowie’s Low, which also moves between contrasting moods. 11. Jeremy points out that “King’s Lead Hat” is an anagram for Talking Heads. 12. The hosts link that track to Brian Eno’s later collaboration with David Byrne and the production of “Once in a Lifetime.” 13. They also discuss the album’s original vinyl packaging, which included four offset prints by Peter Schmidt. 14. John identifies Peter Schmidt as Eno’s collaborator on the Oblique Strategies cards. 15. They explain Oblique Strategies as a card-based creativity tool designed to break writer’s block with constraints. 16. Jeremy’s Marcel Duchamp story turns into a comic image of Eno seeing the urinal in a gallery and deciding “somebody needs to take a piss in it.” 17. The hosts keep the tone conversational, with frequent back-and-forth reactions like “this is weird, man” and “I’m actually really digging it.” 18. The format includes a side-one break, a sponsored segment for Album Nerds, and a side-two return before final highlights and recap. 19. Listeners who like Brian Eno, Talking Heads, and late-1970s art rock will likely get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting strict track-by-track analysis without music-history digressions may skip it.

As heard by us

A split-screen Eno record gets a patient, curious listen.

Polyphonic Press frames Brian Eno's Before and After Science as a record split between two moods: a sharp, energetic first half and a more ethereal, meditative second half.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want Brian Eno's album review to start energetic and end in ambient drift.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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