SKU: 53502666006

Before And After Science

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Before And After SciencePrefacing the ambient music which Brian Eno would pursue later on, Before And After Science pulled off the feat of uniting pro and anti punks in 1977. For record buyers, 1977 felt long and momentous. If you were on the pro side of the punk debate, the initial euphoria had been somewhat tempered by tabloid and or physical abuse, and mixed feelings over Sex Pistols crossing into the mainstream with a performance on Top Of The Pops. Meanwhile, those on

Prefacing the ambient music which Brian Eno would pursue later on, ‘Before And After Science’ pulled off the feat of uniting pro-and anti-punks in 1977.

For record buyers, 1977 felt long and momentous. If you were on the “pro” side of the punk debate, the initial euphoria had been somewhat tempered by tabloid and/or physical abuse, and mixed feelings over Sex Pistols’ crossing into the mainstream with a performance on Top Of The Pops. Meanwhile, those on the “anti” side of the fence were bemused and outraged to find their favorite well-established artists dismissed as irrelevant dinosaurs – often, surprisingly, with little significant impact upon their long-term popularity. Either way, a palpable exhaustion had set in by the year’s end, which is where Brian Eno’s Before And After Science came in.

Whether they acknowledged it or not, punks and reactionaries alike needed a respite from the tumult. Brian Eno’s fourth solo album, originally released on the Polydor imprint in December 1977, surreptitiously pulled off the not-inconsiderable feat of uniting both factions as an almost incidental by-product of its casual otherness.

For punks, Eno carried a certain cachet as the outrageous rebel who generated blizzards of pointy noise with the early Roxy Music, while the top-tier musicianship of album guests the likes of Phil Collins and Percy Jones (at that point the seamless rhythm section of jazz-rockers Brand X) ensured that Before And After Science boasted a proficiency attractive to those who still sent in their nominations for the “best instrumentalist” polls in Melody Maker.

Side One of the original vinyl release – subtitled Fourteen Pictures, with reference to the album’s ten songs, plus the four subtle prints by artist Peter Schmidt which came with initial pressings – features a clutch of enigmatic but generally uptempo compositions. “No One Receiving” draws upon the numbed, swaying, and disconnected avant-funk (“Nobody sees us alone out here among the stars”) that characterized side one of David Bowie’s Low, which had been released in January 1977, with Eno as one of Bowie’s key collaborators. “Backwater,” amiable and remorselessly catchy, boasts a scuttling drum pattern by Jaki Liebezeit of Can, and could so easily have been a hit single had anyone thought to release it as such. (Oddly, it eventually surfaced as a single in 1986, nine years later.)

“Kurt’s Rejoinder” features a sample of avant-garde artist/poet Kurt Schwitters reciting his surrealist tract “Ursonate,” and finds Eno offhandedly assuming the role of dance caller: “Do the do-si-do, do the mirror man, do the Boston crab, and the allemande.” “Energy Fools The Magician,” a spacious instrumental in tense suspension, is underscored by Percy Jones’ flurry of pinging bass harmonics, while “King’s Lead Hat” – an anagram of Talking Heads, with whom Eno was in thrall at the time – is a pleasingly raucous word salad that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on his 1974 debut album, Here Come The Warm Jets (“The killer cycles, the killer hertz, the passage of my life is measured out in shirts”).

As for the subdued, meditative fare on Side Two, there could be no finer preface to the ambient experiments which Eno would pursue in succeeding years. Taken together, the five tracks constitute a consoling, weightless, “ocean music” suite (to paraphrase Eno himself). “The radio is silent; so are we,” Eno observes on the gorgeous reverie “Julie With…,” while Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius of Cluster add the gentlest gravitas to “By This River” (“You talk to me as if from a distance”).

Topped and tailed by “Here He Comes” and “Spider And I,” Side Two of Before And After Science utilizes what, for Eno, are quite conventional, linear melodies. But in their understatement, a wellspring of implied emotion broils beneath the still surface.

 

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SKU: 53502666006

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4.1 ★★★★★
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Timothy Shea
Massapequa, US
★★★★★ 5
Reading as worship?
Format: Hardcover
Dr. Wilson inspires us to see and appreciate reading with new eyes and hearts. This is a book I’m planning to add to my college literature syllabus and even my book club!
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Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2024
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Cryolitterae
Alexandria, US
★★★★★ 5
An excellent survey of Christians should read
Format: Kindle
I love how complicated ideas are presented in a very simple way. This deserves to be read alongside Joshua Hren's How to Read like a Catholic
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Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2023
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Kathleen M. Moser
Boise, US
★★★★★ 5
Very good book
Format: Hardcover
Good review I’d value if reading sland recommendations were good
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Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2023
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Janice
Lexington, US
★★★★★ 5
Excellent book about how, why, and what Christians should read.
Format: Hardcover
Disclaimer- I cannot affirm the recommended book list at the end of the book as I am unfamiliar with many of the books. Jessica Hooten Wilson introduces us to four Christian writers throughout history whose writings help readers better understand themselves and the world they live in through the lens of Scripture. As we learn what shaped each of these writers and the contributions they made, we understand the importance of why we should read, what we should read, and how we should read. Through the work of these historical figures, she helps us to discern literal and historical context, look for allegorical and spiritual significance, and determine the tropological meaning with a anagogical perspective, and more! Wilson explains how the reader is challenged, convicted, conformed, and compelled toward godliness through reading. Through shared stories and experiences, we learn about others, God, and ourselves. Something is worth reading if it leads us to truth; not away from it (p. 33). While there are many benefits of reading, I’m not fully on board with the idea that reading in general must be practiced as a spiritual discipline. In the same way, I’m not convinced watching movies or listening to music must be practiced as a spiritual discipline. I think it is necessary for Christians to filter what we read, watch, and listen to through the lens of Scripture. But she is right- Christians should read the Bible as well as other books. As Wilson explains on page 150, even fiction should test our hearts as we seek truth. This book is excellent! It is well written, very informative, and very compelling.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2025
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christine johnson
Fort Morgan, US
★★★★★ 5
A Review from Unity Burbank Center of Spiritual Awareness in Burbank, CA:
Format: Hardcover
Anne Lamott is a unique-styled writer who focuses more on expression than precision and in doing so, you can feel her heart poured out on the page and still hear its pounding. In the reading, there is laughter both from joy and from her refreshing frankness and freshness, as well as beautiful recognition of life and ourselves in her experiences, insights and metaphors. Her writing expresses the passion and pain in life, with the ever-present belief in the great balm of Love and connection to the mysterious, loving creator in all of us. She weaves funny, blatant or pained speech (that you can feel are all truthful from her experience) with absolutely piercing-poetic writing, and the combination touches your heart and is a tonic for the soul. She focuses and expands on three prayers we reach out to God with of Help, Thanks and Wow. The final chapter is on Amen. This book helped me see the importance of little prayers, big prayers, frustrated prayers, angry prayers, thankful prayers, awe-inspired heart-bursts, wordless prayers expressed in tears, wonderment in your gut from glories seen with your eyes or in your heart. All prayers. Prayers are the expression and connection to our Creator and each one is an action of faith that we are at least heard. Others carry an awareness that we see and are seen, know and are known, loved and loving, connected, in relationship with God. There is beauty and power in all of our prayers. This book would be one to give or suggest to atheist or agnostic friends or to keep handy in times of crisis for ourselves because it’s entirely without the pretense of knowing all of the answers. It looks squarely at the mess and confusion of life and of ourselves, the unanswered why’s that will always be there, and instead of trying to explain away in any combination of pat answers that leave one in the end reaching but unsatisfied, she reminds that there is always, always still exquisite beauty, awe, revelations and regenerations in life, in Love. I’ve often thought that one of the problems with religion is actually the attempt to have all the answers, each and every one, which of course fails miserably and is full of contradictions, instead of being content in the Mystery. This book, her writing revels in the Mystery and in the Glory of Love. The prayers that we send to our Creator are a beautiful connection to Love, to Life-Source, to the One, where all answers reside. We have and receive answers and miracles that we need, being part and connected to the One, though the answers may often appear differently than we expect. And even in confusion and feeling like some answers are incomplete, in prayer there is connection to what is whole and complete—God, and a reminder that somehow, we and life are whole and complete too. In the sometimes heartbreaking tragedies and complexity of life and relationships, in the violence and pain in the world, in our own stumbles and foibles, in the often repeated mistakes and awkwardness, there is grace, growth, magnificence-there is God-for us, in us. And the Love-connection in prayer is always there. Amen. Sometimes after I read a book and there’s been a little more time to digest, the lessons I need come right to the surface and make themselves clear and known. So, I’d like to share and expand a bit more on the review. Anne Lamott says in the book, “God can handle honesty.” I’d add God can not only handle honesty, but absolutely loves it! In honesty, we are connected to Love and in Love, we can receive truth. Because sometimes what we think or feel isn’t the truth at all, but the truth is that we are thinking or feeling that thought or emotion. Share it with Love and Love will show us the way, love us in the sharing, wherever we’re at. Prayer with God is a place where we have the privilege of “getting real-really real”. After reading this book, I noticed that sometimes I was preparing to pray or delaying connection with Love because I felt unworthy in my energy…As if God was a friend I wanted to call, but because of a funky mood or too heavy of stuff going on, I delayed the call, not wanting to bring them down. Now I see that God is the open line in our lives, back and forth communication, for every circumstance, every mood. We can’t be too mad, too distracted, discouraged, frustrated, disbelieving, too out of touch to pray. God wants to hear from us especially then! This is the time to jump back into Love, back into dialogue, back into the Loving energy and then stay swimming in its precious freedom and connection. Love is the only place that there is true freedom–all of the Love is in Love, in us, in the whole. And all truth and answers and goodness and infinite combinations of Love reside within Love, so there’s no place to prepare for Love. Love is where it’s all at. Just dive right back in. If you’ve been out of the loving energy for two days, you don’t need two days to get back in! Slipping out of Love and all the positivity and truths and beautiful things within it can be a slow unconscious process. But–the holy instant there’s a recognition that you are out of it-jump right back in! Don’t let the negative, untrue energy you are mixed up in tell you there’s anything from preventing you from returning wholly, fully and instantly back into your true self and connection to God in Love. The ego can try to make us feel guilty for being out of Love and use it to say, “Well, you’ve been bad, you can’t jump into Love just now. You did it again, so Love won’t take you back so fast and besides you don’t deserve it because you failed the spirituality test again. You don’t love God enough. You’re not good. God is pissed at you–you don’t deserve all the joy in Love because you didn’t value it or you would’ve stayed in it.” Or the ego might even say, “You need to stay in this energy a bit more in order to do what you need to do.” All these lies just prevent people from jumping back in right away to the Love that refreshes and loves us and always lends a hand. We don’t need to do anything but start talking to Love! We don’t need to patch up our energy before praying because the only healing, lifting and transforming energy is within the whole of Love! We don’t have to be perfect or believe perfectly or try to know all the answers before connecting because Love is where all the Love and the answers we need reside! Love is everything. We won’t know all the answers in this lifetime to all the questions, but we can know what we need to know, we can experience the whole that we are a part of and one with and thus experience and know ourselves to be whole and loved and free. Love is where all of the healing and remedies are for each of us. It’s our freedom. Prayer is a constant dialogue as we swim within Love. We don’t even need to use the word prayer as the word itself represents connection, and within that connection, so many unnameable and beautiful things. God can handle and wants our true expressions, and in Love, we find truth. We are whole, we are ourselves, we are free.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2014

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