I Advance Masked

Well, I own it on vinyl.  It's very, um, Frippish.  Not very accessible (and speaking as a hard-core prog fan, LOL).  I've always thought that Fripp needed the leavening of other musicians to reach his peak.  Too much off an odd bird by himself.

So, I'd give it an OK.  Of course, there's amazing work on the album (as you'd expect).  But I demand that an album be an overall good work (including composition, direction and production) to get a great rating.  Fripp by himself is just Fripp doing his strange thing.  Not too accessible.

If I were you, I'd go with some Brian Eno stuff.  Try "Before and After Science" (Fripp appears on it, IIRC.  Also try David Bowie, "Low" (with a heavy contribution from Eno, and a Fripp cameo.)  Finally, try Brian Eno and David Byrne "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" for some funky avant-garde beats from a proggy source.  All of these are better than Fripp alone, IMO.

Also, I like the two Fripp with Andy Summers (from the Police) better than Fripp solo.  But I'd give those lesser ratings.

I a big fan of this album but it's hard listening if you are not used to the Frippisms. It's also the first album that he used the famous/infamous New Standard Tuning. Yay!

The second release is more of a Summers venture with Fripp adding bits and as such, it does sound quite different from its predecessor but it's still well worth a listen. Summers is also very good at naming songs (there's nearly always a subtle brand of humour running through them). More Yay!