(NO PUSSYFOOTING)

Robert Fripp and Brian Eno are both prolific electronic artists, masters of the soundscape and atmospheric layers of sound. Here, on '(No Pussyfooting),' we find their starting point. The two men collaborated in 1973 to create this classic, but overrated, electronic album. Here Fripp was able to find his voice in the electronic world, experimenting with an innovative tape delay technique later dubbed 'Fripptronics,' which is what most of the album is composed of. Brian Eno contributes the backing ambient soundscapes that give the album that atmosphere of exploration and wonder. However, through all the great soundscapes and ambient filling, there isn't much else. The album is composed of two lengthy tracks filled to the brim with ambient noise, little music, and just an interesting use of 40 minutes to remember.

The album' 'opens' with The Heavenly Music Corporation. Massive in length, yet rather shallow in depth, the track has little to its name but some heavenly sounding music. And I'm not saying the music is heavenly, I'm saying it is atmospheric and spacey, and not much else. The interesting use of Fripptronics is a nice introduction to Fripp's later work, but it really is nothing more than a creative jam session by himself. Overall, the song is nothing special, maybe some nice ambient work, but contributes little musically to anything.

Swastika Girls is the second and last track of the album, and present much of the same as the previous track in much the same fashion. Starting with an electronic synth-y section, the 18 minute long track takes even longer to start up than THMC did. This song is more heavily dependent on Eno's keyboard contribution with much less of Fripp's playing present throughout the track. Nearly the entire track is just some peculiar synth noises and bleeps and bloops making for an odd and non-invigorating experience for the listener. Overall, this track really has nothing that special within in except for some interesting soundscapes and synth noises.

ALBUM OVERALL: I'm a fix of whether this album is too complex for comprehension or it legitimately really has nothing special going for it. Ambient-wise, the album could be considered genius, a progenitor in the genre, a masterpiece, and a million other things, but in an actual musical analysis, the album really doesn't hold for anything. The majority of the album is Fripp and Eno jamming with their technologically interesting instruments and making interesting music for druggies who are amazed by little things like a bleep or a weeping guitar. Sadly, not being a stoner myself, I fail to see the genius of this album. It has some really nice soundscapes, but overall seems pretty pointless in the scheme of things. It's an alright album, and I would recommend it only to those dying for classic ambient music. 3- stars.

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