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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Jason B
Omaha, US
★★★★★ 5
Nice Desk Organizer
Color: Black, Color: Black
This particular desk organizer has the little strips of wood that each have a magnet installed inside them. This allows you to move the wood strips to different locations and adjust the areas to fit whatever size item you want to put in there. It's very easy to just move them around and the bottom of the tray has a nice material in it that prevents scratching the items you place in there. The usable area on the tray is 12-1/2" x 8-1/4" x 3/4" and the overall size is 13-5/8" x 8-3/8" x 1". It fits nicely in drawers or simply having it sit on top of a desk to hold items. It also is made out of good quality and is very sturdy.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2026
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Queen_bee
Charlottesville, US
★★★★★ 4
Great product quality
Color: Black
This had literally everything I was looking for, but… just too large for the area I wanted it in. Check the measurements and compare that to your actual space. If they had about 1/2 to 1/3 of this size I would snatch it up in a heartbeat. It has a groove for your phone charging cable and the moving magnetic dividers are genius. I’m looking for something to put on my nightstand to allow the phone to charge at night but face down. Extra section for earrings or hair accessories, etc would be great. This has that potential. Just needed it smaller.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2026
S
Sue S.
Pawtucket, US
★★★★★ 5
Versatile organizer for men or women
Color: Black, Color: Black
This is a just drawer organizer tray or nightstand organizer that is very handsome with wood grain and metal the two bars are magnetic and you can move them around to suit the size of the items that you're placing in the organizer. I think it's a very versatile item that can use by either men or women and it's a decent size and it can fit small pieces of jewelry your phone a few other items if you were organizing your nightstand before bed certainly can go into a desk drawer or a nightstand drawer to suit your lifestyle. I think it was a good value for the money because it is yet another item that can help us be more organized in this busy world.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2026
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Outcast
Phoenix, US
★★★★★ 5
Simple, hefty configurable small tray
Color: Black, Color: Black
"Hefty" is not an expected description for a drawer organizer. But it is in this case because of the solid metal plate it's made from. You could brain a zombie with this tray and not dent it (the tray... the zombie's the one that would be dented). Guess the material choice does make sense since the two wooden dividers uses magnets to hold positions. A strong bump would be needed to shift the placed dividers. You get some basic configuration choices from the dividers. Including additional (different length) dividers would allow further sectioning options would have been nice. It also looks good too. Like the design and utility. Would also go for a bigger version. Perhaps that one, like this, would have secondary uses... perhaps as armor plating?
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Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2026
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Olivia Pasquarelli
Lowell, US
★★★★★ 5
Elegant and easy to customize to organize your desk
Color: Black, Color: Black
This desk organizer was higher quality and more elegant looking than I thought it would be, so I decided to use it to hold some things on my dresser. It’s too pretty to hide away in my drawer. The compartments snap into place with magents so you can adjust based on how you want to organize your items. The tray itself is heavy, durable, and well-made. The compartments and edges seem to be authentic wood, and the base surface of the tray is a rubber-like surface that keeps things from slipping while still looking very nice. I like this tray enough to put it on display as a part of my home decor. It’s not only useful for organizing some odds and ends, but is also very beautiful and well made.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2026

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