EVENING STAR

Robert Fripp is the maker of Frippertronics, the structuring of layered tape loops of his guitar into pieces of music. Brian Eno is the credited creator of ambient electronic music. Put them together and you get some very beautiful and very interesting soundscapes. That is what is contained on this experimental album.

So, I know there are a lot of listeners out there that have a hard time with experimental music. However, it is this type of music that leads to discovery of different genres that keep the current of music flowing forward and not becoming stagnant. This album is important in that it was through experiments like these that created a new form of music that people enjoy. The sound of this album is the sound of discovery and of the expansion of musical form. It helped lay the groundwork for both ambient and drone music.

This album is all instrumental. The first 3 tracks are beautiful examples of the music that can be created from the minds of two geniuses. They consist of taped guitar loops from Fripp that have been layered over each other with embellishments of synthesizer sounds provided by Eno. The titles are descriptive of the sound of the music and you can close your eyes and visualize the pictures that are painted by the music with suggestions of where your mind is to go by the titles of the tracks. All three of these soundscapes are simply lovely, the first being very shimmery, soft and dreamy, the 2nd being brighter in tone with more exaggerated guitar sounds somewhat similar to what Fripp would produce in his later KC guitar solos, very connected with amazing phrasing. This is a free floating beauty of a track and the guitar work is stunning. The 3rd track is rather short and somewhat understated but still beautiful. Not much is developed in this track, but it still fills in nicely. "Wind on Wind" is 100% Eno on synthesizer creating a soundscape similar to his Ambient albums. This music was intended Fripp's use in live concerts as background music for him to solo over.

The 2nd side of the album is made up of one long-single track called "An Index of Metals". Aptly named, it is more of a cold and metallic sounding track, not metallic in terms of genre, but in terms of feeling. It is set up with a drone that continues throughout the track with ambient sounds weaving around the basis. About halfway through, Fripp's distorted guitar starts to be heard as the drone subsides somewhat and the sustained notes of the guitar continue to layer around each other, repeating softer and softer until they meld into the drone as other sounds are being created on top of it.

This is headphone music like most ambient music is, at least that is where it is most effective. It has the best effect when you can listen to it uninterrupted and your mind can create the pictures or it can travel to destinations unknown. Some may say they need mind-altering drugs to get the full effect, but I don't find that necessary. The best music can take your mind away without chemical influence. I find this music soothing and relaxing. That is the overall feeling of this album. Even the long track, even though it is more dissonant and cold sounding, is still soothing to me. It isn't as harsh as "(No Pussyfooting)" or as clinical. It is a collection of beautiful soundscapes and part of a movement that would inspire artists still today. I love this sound as it is very visual and even though it is experimental and the sounds are more processed than actual, it was at the time a new way to manipulate sound into beauty and art. I love this sound when I'm in the right frame of mind and because of it's influence and it's originality of the time would have to consider it essential. The fact that I enjoy it so much cements the fact that it is a 5 star recording.