“Kings Lead Hat” by Brian Eno

"Kings Lead Hat" sits fifth on Before and After Science, Brian Eno's 1977 album, and the title is a sly anagram: shuffle the letters and you get Talking Heads, the band Eno would go on to produce across their second, third and fourth albums, Remain in Light among them. Lester Bangs heard Eno's kinship with new wave all over it, in rhythms that hurry along like machinery.

Eno wrote it top to bottom and plays piano, solo included, plus guitar and percussion, with Phil Manzanera on guitar, Paul Rudolph on bass and Andy Fraser on drums. Robert Fripp, a regular Eno accomplice, tears off an electric guitar solo. A remixed version went out as a single on January 27, 1978.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.