(NO PUSSYFOOTING)

Two of art rock's pioneering geniuses stepped aside from their respective careers for a moment of collaborative efforts and exploration of pushing the newly developed technological breakthroughs to another level. Robert Fripp, of course, ushered his King Crimson onto the progressive rock scene which served as a sort of big bang to ignite the powder keg of fertile creativity building up all throughout the late 1960s. Brian Eno on the other hand was fresh out of Roxy Music where he helped generate an entirely new strain of art rock that would prove to be instrumental for the world of glam rock, new wave and sophista-pop to come. Together this duo released two albums in the 1970s under the guise of FRIPP & ENO and once again crafted a unique contribution to the musical landscape that while virtually ignored at the time, proved to be one of those too far ahead of its time projects that inspired a whole new generation of electronic artists seeking extreme minimalism through drones, tape loops and space ambient through the means of expanding the possibilities of the new technological breakthroughs in musical apparatuses.

Two utterly distinct personas coming from completely different angles, both FRIPP & ENO shared the distinct characteristics of not exactly fitting in to the mainstream of the commercial music scene and therefore developed their own idiosyncratic musical endeavors as they sallied forth into the great unknown. The first synergistic effect project from these two icons was the 1973 album (NO PUSSYFOOTING) which started with Eno inviting Fripp to experiment with his tape-delay feedback system that had become more fashionable courtesy of early pioneer Terry Riley and his monumental mixing of minimalism, electronic manipulation and sound effects that he introduced in the late 1960s on his classic albums "In C" and "A Rainbow In Curved Air." This album was the result of two sessions about a year apart which produced two side-long tracks. The duo focused on two primary aspects, first the ambient electronic side of the equation that Eno would later adopt and refine as his primary musical exploration once he moved on from his equally innovative art rock origins. The second was on Fripp's looped guitar soloing which took his unorthodox playing techniques into even weirder arenas.

With the innovative engineering approach of using two Revox reel-to-reel tape recorders to craft a looping effect that in tandem passed through a second deck and gussied up with even more spaced out effects, FRIPP & ENO built upon the stylistic approach set down by Terry Riley and made it even spacier and technically demanding. Side A featured the near 21-minute drifting sprawler "The Heavenly Music Corporation" which presented a prolonged repetitive electronic background with an oscillating cyclical loop effect that provided the backdrop while Fripp wailed away on his guitar licks that were processed and electronically manipulated to the point they barely resemble a guitar at all however the "Frippisms" of alternative tunings and picking techniques will indicate Fripp's eccentric playing style that propelled King Crimson into the limelight, at least to those with an attentive ear. While the track drifts on like a rolling cloud bank gently floating across the landscape, Fripp emphatically accentuated a contrasting forceful display of strange musical scales that punctuate the electronic placidity of the nebulous electronic backing.

The B-side was swallowed up by the contrasting "Swastika Girls," the title of which was apparently derived from a porno flick magazine left at AIR Studios which depicted nude women giving the Nazi salute. Even sparser and less dramatic than the first track, this dreamy sequence of loop electronics crafted on a VCS3 synthesizer featured a musing ethereal oscillating loop sequence that drifted on for nearly 19 minutes. With less emphasis on the more abrupt guitar presence of the opening track, this second side was a bit more monotonous and less distinguished than its predecessor. In fact many would call this downright boring. Unlike "Heavenly Music Corporation," this track feels a bit claustrophobic with too many chefs in the kitchen so to speak. Clustered with a swarm of contrapuntal effects, some melodic and some more dissonant, the track rambles on without the same sense of exploration and when Fripp finally breaks through the clustered confusion, it seems like a mere reprise of the A-side.

While only intended to be an experimental side project, Eno was well on his way to a solo career and would release his monumental art rock debut "Here Come The Warm Jets' just a mere three months after (NO PUSSYFOOTING) was unleashed in November 1973. Given FRIPP & ENO's connection to the world of progressive art rock, this release didn't exactly find a large audience and pretty much sat in the obscurity bins for years before being rediscovered and reevaluated as the innovative experimental release that it was. Personally i find this one to be a mixed bag. The A-side "The Heavenly Music Corporation" is captivating enough with Fripp's unique guitar antics delivering enough variation to sustain the near 21-minute duration but the following "Swastika Girls" becomes a little too monotonous and derivative of the A-side for me to get overly excited about. One of those innovative albums that changed the world of electronic music for sure but given its rough draft approach into strange new musical worlds, FRIPP & ENO would refine this sound on their next collaborative effort "Evening Star" and provide the major inspiration for Richard Pinhas to base his Heldon project upon where the stylistic approach evolved into a more interesting artistic expression. A fascinating release from a historical perspective but not one i feel drawn to revisit regularly.

3.5 rounded down