Before and After Science is the fifth studio album by British musician Brian Eno. Produced by Eno and Rhett Davies, it was originally released by Polydor Records in December 1977 in the United Kingdom and by Island U.S. soon after. Musicians from the U.K. and Germany collaborated on the album, including Robert Wyatt of Soft Machine, Fred Frith of Henry Cow, Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music, Paul Rudolph of Hawkwind, Andy Fraser of Free, Dave Mattacks of Fairport Convention, Jaki Liebezeit of Can, and Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius of Cluster. Over one hundred tracks were written with only ten making the album's final cut. The musical styles of the album range from energetic and jagged to languid and pastoral. The album marks Eno's last foray into rock music as a solo artist in the 1970s, with nearly all of his following albums showcasing more of Eno's avant-garde and ambient music, which was hinted at on the second half of Before and After Science. The album was Eno's second to chart in the United States. The song "King's Lead Hat", the title of which is an anagram for Talking Heads, was remixed and released as a single, although it didn't chart in the United Kingdom. Critical response to the album has remained positive, with several critics calling it one of Eno's best works.
WikipediaI love nearly everything did or even touched in the 70s and 80s. He is one of my biggest heroes. I love nearly everything about him, especially his stance between being a musician and artist (and simply a creative thinker) and how it's all one fluid thing to him. His ability to think beyond boundaries and his use of the studio as an instrument is so incredibly inspiring. He is up there with The Beatles, Lee Scratch Perry, Brian Wilson, Phil Spector, and Conny Plank in that regard. He is connected to much of the music I hold most dearly: Bowie's berlin trilogy, talking heads, john cales solo albums, roxy musics first album, and of course krautrock in his tenure with cluster/Harmonia - which shows up here on this album. Suffice to say it's hard for me to pick a favorite album by him but this one is certainly a major contender. I feel like it is a very balanced album and it does contain perhaps my favorite track of his: by this river, played with and about his time with cluster. The album has a great range of moods and I like how he intersperses the instrumentals throughout. I wish he continued more with this balance of rock/lyric based songs and instrumentals but hereafter he went onto a long jag with his ambient/instrumental direction. I like his ambient work as well but I also love his lyrics and find his voice so oddly compelling. The lineup of musicians on this album is incredible and part of it was recorded with the great krautrock producer Conny Plank. Somebody described Eno's more rock oriented albums as art pop and I think that when it comes down to it that might be my favorite genre and where I feel the most kinship with my own ideas and feelings about musical expression.
Wonky and angular are not words I normally associate with Brian Eno, but here we are. Showing his abilities as a master of soundscape even at this early stage. It's always nice to hear music with a sense of humour.
This is absolutely my jam. Still don't know if King's Lead Hat is an intentional anagram of Talking Heads (or vice versa, or neither).
I’d never heard of Bryan Eno and the first few songs weren’t really up my alley, but I fell in love with: Here he comes, Julie with..., and By this river. So glad I got this recommendation, it’s made me a Bryan Eno fan
Not familiar with Brian Eno's catalogue, as I presume you both are, and it started out funkier than I expected, more accessible that I thought it would be. Like the drums in "No One Recieving." "Backwater" sounds like the goofier side of the Beatles, like something Paul would write and make Ringo sing. "Kings Lead Hat" was a dead ringer for the Talking Heads, and I was not surprised to find out that it was intentional. "Julie With" and "Through Hollow Lands" and "Spider and I" as more along the lines of what I expected the album to be like. It was not a cohesive album, jumped around. After hearing this I wonder if that willingness to go all over the map musically is what made him a good producer. I liked the album, did not love it.
There's nothing wrong with this, but not much that's remarkable or interesting, either. We really didn't need this many Eno albums on the list. Best track: Spider and I
So this is rock Eno. Really, really good. Not flawless, but on a five point scale easily a five. Heads above most of what I've listened to recently. I'll be coming back to Julie With... right away.
A masterpiece of art rock weirdness. I almost like this record as much as Another Green World, but it just comes short. The synth sounds and pop hooks on this album are just sublime. A personal favorite of mine. Favorite song: Backwater Least favorite song: Through Hollow Lands
Oh yeah, I loved this. Pop rock from a parallel timeline, dissolving into dream pop as it goes on. Fave track - "By This River"
“King's Lead Hat” has long been my weirdo bop, ever since I was an oddball teenager who stumbled onto the music of Brian Eno on late night radio in the mid-80s. It’s the first song I think I ever heard by Eno, which led me down into the huge rabbit hole that is his music, and all the possibilities of what music can be. My peers had no idea who Eno was, his 70s music probably considered to be obscure, out of date and just plain strange at that point. But those albums have meant a lot to me over the years. They’re a kind of touchstone to my own musical taste and my own desire to listen to music with curiosity and a sense of adventure. What I’m trying to say is, Eno is my jam. So, Before and After Science. This album might sit strangely with anyone who hasn't really listened to Brian Eno before. It's fairly accessible for the general listener as his albums go, with some very lovely instrumentation. Stylistically he is a little bit all over the place and has a pronounced weird streak, particularly on the front half. It's not a bad thing, just maybe a little hard to connect with immediately for some. Stick with it. By the time you hit "Julie With," the rest of the album kicks into a different gear, with a far more layered, reflective, and ambient sound. Honestly, the final four are some of the most spare, beautiful arrangements I have heard in any genre. I feel wonderfully relaxed and elevated by the time “Spider and I” comes to a close. “By This River” exists on a plane by itself, it’s so lovely. The instrumentation on this album is ridiculous, and I mean that in the best way. Eno has always collaborated and surrounded himself with the best musicians, but this is insane. These are some of the smartest, most creative minds in music and they just flow like they were always together in this band. That funkified bass work by Paul Rudolph and Percy Jones on “No One Receiving” and “Kurt’s Rejoinder” is insanely good. Inspired use of various forms of percussion, across the board, especially on “Kurt’s Rejoinder.” Robert Fripp’s guitar on King’s Lead hat, shut up. Phil Manzanera’s guitar on “Here He Comes” is more delicate and incredibly pretty, a waterfall of sounds when blended with Eno’s own synthesizers. Eno’s voice is distinctive and oddly affecting in a way unlike that of many other vocalists. He’s not a singer really, the voice is just another musical tool, but when he does sing he moves you. It doesn’t much matter what he’s singing about. Which is a good thing because these lyrics are characteristically off the wall for Eno. Don’t look for a lot of coherence because that’s not what he’s doing here. Just embrace the weirdness and enjoy. Fave Songs: By This River, King's Lead Hat, No One Receiving, Julie With, Kurt's Rejoinder
Somewhere between the Beatles and new wave lies this. Also get a lot of Talking Heads out of it, which makes sense since Eno and David Byrne have been working together forever now. Loses steam a little near the end. Favorite tracks: "Blackwater", "King's Lead Hat", "By This River"
Was... Was the point of these songs to be some before "science" and more rock-based, then some after, and more synth-based? Or is the album name irrelevant?
Oh, Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, wacky scientist of 20th century rock- it was fun to hear you having a blast on this album. I'm familiar with a lot of Eno's production work from this period (particularly collaborations with Bowie, Devo and Talking Heads) and it was fascinating to hear the cross-influence of some of it in his own work. It makes the late 70s seem like a constant cycle of the same few musicians picking from each other's plates at an all-you-can-eat buffet. As for the songs: "King's Lead Hat" is an absolute banger which I can't believe I hadn't heard before. "Backwater" has a catchy (if slightly obnoxious) chorus which I couldn't help grinning at. "Kurt's Rejoinder" and "Energy Fools the Magician" have very obvious seeds of "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts"' atmospherics and arrangements. Like Bowie's "Low" of the same year, the second half turns to more weightless instrumentals, but these are much warmer pieces, with strong melodies and more discernible structure. "Spider and I" was a gorgeous closer, even with Eno's simple and modest vocal. It's pretentious and a little unfocused at times, of course, but hard to complain when the highlights are this good. Recommend this to any Eno/Bowie/Byrne fans out there.
4.5 + Another intensely dynamic record from Eno. It starts off with pop songs whose rhythms seem to bounce against the skin of each track's bubble ("No One Receiving", "Backwater", "King's Lead Hat"). Some of Eno's more experimental instincts and quirks are still here but he's dialed them down just a little. Towards the middle, he explores more lush and unctuous territory creating soundscapes of seemingly disparate sonic textures, most notably on "Here He Comes." The record then glides into ambient terrain that previews what will define the next phase of his career.
I recently watched and enjoyed the very lengthy and detailed documentary Brian Eno- The man who fell to earth 1971-1977. So I was happy to see this album which was produced at the end of this period before the branched out with his solo ambient works which are a completely different kettle of fish. I think the last three albums that he produced in this period, which includes Taking Tiger Mountain and Another Green World are amongst his very best. Eno's stature in the business is apparent simply by how many crack musicians he was able to gather together on this record: Fripp, Frith, Roedelius, Moebius, Jaki Leibezeit, Conny Plank, Phil Manzanera... Wow! Side 1 of this record rocks out more, and Side 2 is more languid and pastoral and foreshadows the ambient themes that was to come. The highlight for me is By This River, which is so simple, yet one of the most beautiful songs ever written. The Satie-esque piano and his gentle humming typically stays in my head days after listening to it.
This is a lot of fun. Eno in highly playful mood, very lyrically nimble. There's a lot of the future sound of post punk in here, needly guitar and burbling synths to the fore. Very Talking Heads in places too - you can see where Brian's discussions with David Byrne would lead right here.
My 4th (!) Brian Eno record; considering the fact that aside from "Music For Airports" prior to this 1001 list I don't think I'd never put an Eno record on front to back - I would have thought I'd be annoyed... I feel like this album puts 70s Genesis and Pink Floyd in a cake pan, mixed it just a touch more, and came out with something even better (and I love those bands). Also you can hear a clear path to/from Eno and Adrian Belew and Talking Heads. It appears that I've become a big Eno fan, and this is perhaps my favourite. It's weird yet somehow accessible. Blessedly short at 40 minutes (not a sarcastic knock at all; I much prefer shorter albums as a general rule - get in, get out, leave 'em wanting more), there's a ton of melody, the vocals are mixed low enough so they're not a distraction and more of an instrument - exactly how I prefer it. "Here He Comes" and "Julie With..." might be my current favourite tracks - the former seems simple and light but there's a subtle oddness to it and the latter is on the surface very mellow but it's almost off-putting in a way that draws me to it. I could see how the latter part might bore some listeners - it definitely gets very dreamlike/new age-y but it's just short enough for me to be the perfect amount combined with the pop-rock first half. 8/10 4 stars.
First, few songs... i like this. By this river played - OMG! 5 STARS!!! this so calming, im gonna cryyyyy lol also spider and i huhuhu is this a deaf anthem ang gandaaaa
This is one of my favorite albums of all time. I downloaded it in college after becoming obsessed with ambient music. I didn't understand it at first since it is clearly NOT ambient, but it grew on me over the years.
One of my all-time favorites. Expected ambient and was puzzled by this. Quickly grew on me and has remained amazing.
I liked this album quite a lot. Some songs were better than others, but this is definitely one of the better albums I've heard so far. By This River is my favourite song off this album, with Through Hollow Lands a close second.
Absolute classic. Proper songs, but with a fresh approach to sound that makes them pop through as something both familiar and different. Some tracks are surprisingly funky (\"No One Receiving\", \"Kurt's Rejoinder\"), and often catchy (\"Backwater\", \"King's Lead Hat\"). When I was about 14, I borrowed from the library a compilation of Eno's 73-77 song-oriented albums. I did not get it at the time, but since have learned to love the tangential approach to song-writing. I still love this album every time I listen to it.
Another excellent album from Brian Eno. The mix of upbeat songs and more atmospheric tracks, tied together by the tasteful and unique arrangements and rhythms, makes listening to this album a very enjoyable experience throughout.
Classic Eno album - not as good as his first three albums but still 5 star of course.
Ambient art. Brian Eno is brilliant. One of the most talented people in the history of music.
10/10 I’ve heard one of Brian Eno’s albums before but I had no idea he’s made more than just awesome ambient all the cool prog and electronic is so nice I mean come on, the man worked with Robert Fripp! I have to love him! anyway, I obviously love this album I see no reason to give this anything other than a 10/10
While Eno was involved with so many acts I enjoy (Bowie, Talking Heads, U2, Fripp, so many more), it took me a while to appreciate his solo work. This is definitely one of his best, although I know he's an acquired taste. Favorite tracks - King's Lead Hat (anagram for Talking Heads - nice how Eno even sings like David Byrne on this track. The lyrics are absurd but sound great, like "All I know and all I have is time and time and tide is on my side." Great track), No One Receiving (sounds like it would be right at home on a David Bowie album - great bass and drums on this track, Percy Jones on bass (Brand X and a great session player) and Phil Collins on drums - the guy who wrote the review for this in the 1001 albums book was like "Phil Collins?" This song is a great reminder of how good a drummer Phil Collins was, especially in the 70s), and the trio of Here He Comes, Julie With..., and By This River (these tracks just take you floating away). I don't know if I would have said this 25 years ago, but these days Eno's song-based solo albums are all an easy 5 for me.
There are too many things that I love about this album to put into this review, so I’ll focus on just a few. First, there’s the separation of moods between the two sides. Side one overall is more pop-driven and upbeat, while side two (beginning with “Here he Comes” for you CD people) is almost a mix of Eno’s ambient side with his vocal side. One thing that isn’t brought up as much as it should be is Eno the lyricist. His lyrics, rather than being about something concrete, usually paints an image to go along with the music. The absurdity of “Backwater” and the futuristic images in “No One Receiving “ matches the music in such a way that makes you wonder what came first in the writing process. This album has the sense of being more crafted rather than written. Eno himself stated how much of a bad musician he was, technically speaking, to the point where he had to label the keys at times in order to play the right notes. He does have the producer’s gift of having a good ear and a good sense of what fits into a track, however. Another easy 5 stars here!
Eno! Ooh what to do? Not a sausage to do. Bags of fun, and so much inventiveness, I love it. By This River is gloriously beautiful. Spider and I is also gorgeous, extremely reminiscent of his work on Bowie's Low in the same year. I maybe don't love this album as consistently as Warm Jets or Another Green World but I still love it. All of Eno's albums in the 70s are fabulous.
Þessi plata er gamall vinur sem ég hef ekki hlustað á í að mér finnst ca. tvo áratugi. Hún nær mér ekki alveg eins og þá, merkilegt nokk, en góð er hún samt. Splæsi í fullt hús.
Good stuff. I was surprised that this was pretty much straightforward instead of his usual soundscapes. I see where his Bowie/Talking Heads inspo came from.
Pretty ambient and truly music, definitely plays with my brain a little 4.2
Definitely unique.... but I dig it. There was a lot of repetition within the songs, but it still felt interesting to listen to Favorite track(s): “Energy Fools the Magician” “Her He Comes”
Great range of sounds in here, can see why Eno was such an influential figure
At being avant-gard-ist, he is one of the best. Lots of textures, mesmerising ambients, searching of new sounds here and there, and then suddenly a song as beautiful as Here He Comes... a true innovator
Really good album. Side A is upbeat artsy rock n' roll and side B is pastoral, atmospheric and ambient.
Has its contemplative moments, and overall it's great... but the first two tracks might put some people off
Starts off campy but really hits its stride. Experimental strange talking heads vibes and a weirdly peaceful ambient later half.
During the first song, I thought it was another collaboration with David Byrne. Their voices are uncannily similar. The overall quality of the album is good and with this being the third Eno album generated for me so far, it's great to hear what his vocals sound like. Favourite songs were Here He Comes and King's Lead Hat.
Brian Eno delivers with a good blend of rock to groove, and music to cool. Favorites: No One Receiving, Julie With, By This River
Zaista odličan album. Dosta podsjeća na album Low od Bowiea jer je isto tako producirao taj album (ista godina). Prvi dio albuma je ritmičan, plesan, nekako futurističkih zvukova ukomponirano, dok je drugi dio smireniji, laganiji i po mome mišljenju divniji, nokturalniji. Lijep prijelaz na polovici albuma. Naravno ako ste fan Talking Headsa može se i njihova glazba osjetit na ovom albumu (jer opet, on je surađivao s njima, a najviše sa David Byrneom.) Dakle devetka je tu. Favoritne: Backwater, King's Lead Hat, Here He Comes, Julie With, By This River.
Ja sam baš uživala slušajući ovaj album. Kao da gledam kroz kaleidoskop. "Julie with" mi je posebno lijepa pjesma. "Now I wonder if we'll be seen here, or if time has left us all alone". UF.
enjoyed this, some silly songs at the start and more experimental/art rock towards the end classic pre-ambient Eno
Despite being boring sometimes, this album gains extra points from me for it's ambitious production and innovative use of electronic instruments and effects.
Great album. Simple, yet hard to define and escapes easy genre classification. The ballads are beautiful.
Now my favourite album from him. I'm not 100% sold on the songs in the first half of the album, though they're, but the 2nd half was lovely - dreamy minimalistic the lead towards his later more experimental work but still has uncools things like structure and tunes.
The first side is great. Side two points towards that godawful ambient music that so many critics love. Why? Very boring. Background stuff. Fortunately this album doesn't fall too far into that category.
I have listened to at least a couple other Brian Eno albums. Before and After Science is different than his more ambient recordings. "King's Lead Hat" made me think of the Talking Heads, and "By This River" (which was one of my favorite tracks) made me think of Alan Parsons. "Through Hollow Lands" was another favorite. There are some interesting sounds on this album. "Kurt's Rejoinder" was weird enough that it put a little pause in my listening. Nothing was too weird. I would probably re-listen to this album because the album is not typical.
Really, really cool. There's some great songs on here (King's Lead Hat and By This River were my favorites) I enjoyed this a lot and I think it could hit 5 star status for me with repeat listens, which it will certainly get. 4 for now but that's a strong 4. A 4 that works out or...something.
A playful album, maybe even tricky. Reminds me of Bowie, Talking Heads, that sort of thing, which is obvious. Highlights: King's Lead Hat, Here He Comes, Julie With, Through Hollow Lands, Spider and I. This might be my favorite recommendation of this whole project.
Ooh this is really good. Some of the funkiness of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, some of the rawness of Here Come The Warm Jets and some of the mellowness of the Ambient stuff. It's a really nice blend of all the stuff I'd go to Eno for.
7/30/2022 - ALBUM #184 Today's Album: "Before And After Science" by Brian Eno - The first exposure I had to Brian Eno was through a collaboration he had done with Talking Head’s front-man, David Byrne, which was a strange collection of loops that although very funky and danceable, served little in terms of variety. Learning later that Eno was responsible for the production of many of the Talking Heads projects I have been made familiar with, I was excited to what he would sound like on his own project. I have to say, it’s about what you would expect from the producer of the Talking Heads. Similarly to how Allen Parson’s Project parallels the sound of Pink Floyd, I think Brian Eno’s music takes all of the quirky-ness of his work with the Talking Heads, but gives the sound the ability to shine outside of Byrne’s avant-garde songwriting style. The track Kurt’s Rejoinder is a really fun example of this, with this super expressive growling bassline backing a relatively tame tune with some crazy fast hand-drum over top. This track also shows off how much fun Eno has with the sound of this record; everything just has this bounciness to it that comes together to give a rather ominous tune a really urgent and fun tone to it. It also feels like Eno has a sort of knack for psychedelia and the sound strange design that comes with it, so his music ends up having much more of an explorative feel to it than the rambunctious groovy-ness of a Talking Heads project: see Energy Fools The Magician. There are still a ton of moments where the sound of this projects mirrors that of the Talking Heads (or even Devo) like with the song King’s Lead Hat, but there is still a clear difference in the way Brian Eno writes a chorus that seems to ground these strange sounds in a more consistent listening realm. Maybe I am just not a fan of the avant-gardism's of the Talking Heads, but it’s refreshing to have strange sounding music like this be so easy to digest. Overall, this is a really fun album both instrumentally and in terms of songwriting and serves as a great window into the mind that produced some of the strangest albums of the late 70s and early 80s. Give this one a listen if you enjoy the Talking Heads. Highlights: No One Receiving, Kurt’s Rejoinder, Energy Fools The Magician, King’s Lead Hat, Here He Comes, Julie With, Through Hollow Lands, Spider And I Score: 7.5/10 A solid standalone album from the mind behind the sound of the Talking Heads
It's undeniably an excellent album with great songs. The bass and synthesizer tones and playing are masterpieces on their own. Even if it's a pop record, I also like that the ambient music side of Eno stands out, like on the tracks "Through Hollow Lands" or "Spider And I".
Nice Album. Brian Eno is very important in the history of music. He deserve a couple albums in this top.
This is really really great. Post-punkish Bowie vibes that brings all the boys to the yard.
Awesome album. Sounds like Talking Heads mixed with Bowie and John Cale. What more could you possibly want?
81/100: Wow, what a unique sound on this album. My biggest gripe with this project so far is that, by virtue of the sheer number of albums, trends are pretty quickly identified. “Oh this artist sounds like a Kirkland Bob Dylan.” “These guys sound like a raw Led Zeppelin.” Things of that nature. I wish I could get my mind to stop making these comparisons—it’s true, comparison is the thief of joy. Brian Eno’s sound, though, puts my mind at ease on this front. His music defies comparison. I haven’t heard an album like this maybe ever (the closest I can think of is the Talking Heads but that’s such an off comparison, it doesn’t really work). I’d never heard anything by Brian Eno before listening to this album; in fact, I’d never even heard of Brian Eno before. But I liked this album so much, I think it constitutes the first true gem of an album that I’ll revisit and an artist I will hopefully dive into more in the future. This is the type of music you drift into, where if you close your eyes you quickly forget the orientation of the room you’re in, you forget how long you’ve been listening, you enter into a world of sound and melodies. I don’t know what this type of music is made of, I couldn’t tell you what features a song has to have to elicit that experience, but I know it when I hear it. Brian Eno has produced that type of music and fostered that experience with this album.
13th September 2022 Listened during the day while working from home. Ben and Nilisha stayed and we went to the oak. I loved this, it’s atmospheric and moody but playful at the same time with tinges of David Byrne.
I first became aware of this album (and Eno) through the movie Dogs In Space. One of the people in the chaotic share house the film is based around would put this on as whenever he took a lady up to his room, much to the disgust of his fellow housemates. While I am not ready to admit if I used this album as the soundtrack of any of my adolescent fumblings, I did have a tape of this that I was played until warping on my yellow walkman
Highlights: Backwater, Energy Fools the Magician, King’s Lead Hat, Here He Comes, By this River Lowlights: Kurt’s Rejoinder, Through Hollow Lands
Another great find, Brian Eno surprises me with the scope of genres in which he works. Very cool.
It's pretty good. It feels a bit trapped between Talking Heads new wave, and Eno's later ambient music, and consequently doesn't really reach the heights of either style imo. Still fairly catchy, enjoyable, and tranquil towards the end. My key criteria of an album creating or transporting you to a place is kind of met, as Eno mentions it's an ocean album, which I can dig. 1/11/22
Was familiar with his Ambient music, not with this album. You can hear the Talking Heads influence already, and Part B of the album nice beginning of ambient work that would follow. Loved this album
I like the ambient synth driven tracks. The album is pretty tame overall.
I love Brian Eno, but I’ve never loved his vocals. That’s how I feel about most of this album.the one standout is “By this River” which is quite beautiful and suits Eno’s voice perfectly.
The weakest of his first four, but damn there's some beautiful stuff on here. And King's Lead Hat is officially a banger. I love bops and bangers. Gimme a bop? I'm happy. Hand me a banger? My day is officially MADE. Thanks for the grooves, Bry-Guy.
Two Eno projects in a row, what are the odds! Not my favorite Eno (or Eno-adjacent) outing. It's a little too mainstream and "normal" for me. He is at his best when he is at his most quirky, and I love all his ambient albums. As usual, I think this gets credit for sounding like the 80s in 1977. Considering the somewhat mediocre albums I've had this week, I think this gets another bump for just not being more of that.
By this river - what a beauty. Enjoyed the slower songs more than the 1st half of the album.
Brian Eno fills the A side with nervous funk, rock, new wave and art pop to switch completely in style and then fill the B-side with ambient songs. And even though I keep coming back to this album, I never really jived with this album, but I've switched in my preference over time. It's now the B Side that I appreciate much more than the A side. The A Side is a good idea where Brian Eno and David Byrne would take The Talking Heads later. Fun sidenote: King's Lead Hat is an anagram of said Talking Heads. I'll say 3,5*
Odd or ironic to get Eno one album after getting Bowie's Low. I don't view it as trailblazing as Bowie, but it is certainly as eclectic, which is par for the course for Brian Eno. So I don't totally understand why it was selected of all the things he's done, or weird but cool stuff people did in the 70's. But I liked it. Side one was a lot of fun (my favorite might be Backwater), as was Here He Comes on side two - perfect follow-up to the catchy King's Lead Hat that ended side one. The rest of side two sounded like the background music in Minecraft during daytime sequences (played a lot of it with my kids) - especially By This River. Is that why it has so many listens on Spotify? But sure, I can get behind that ambient approach. It reminds me of some more recent stuff done by artists like The Neverending White Lights - eclectic but cool, maybe Eno was their inspiration. I'm sure this album is not for the average person but I kind of dug it.