(No Pussyfooting)
By Fripp & Eno
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Track listing
Show track credits
- A The Heavenly Music Corporation 20:53
- B Swastika Girls 18:52
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engineer
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- Total length: 39:45
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16 Issues
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(No Pussyfooting) [p] 33 rpm, Gatefold
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(No Pussyfooting) 33 rpm, Gatefold
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(No Pussyfooting) 33 rpm
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(No Pussyfooting) Gatefold
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(No Pussyfooting) 33 rpm
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(No Pussyfooting) Gatefold
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(No Pussyfooting) 33 rpm
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(No Pussyfooting) 33 rpm
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(No Pussyfooting) Remastered
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(No Pussyfooting) Bonus CD, Bonus Tracks, Digipak, Limited Edition, Remastered
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(No Pussyfooting) Bonus CD, CD Sized Album Replica, Gatefold
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(No Pussyfooting) 200 gram, 33 rpm, Gatefold, Remastered
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No Pussyfooting Digital file, Streaming
96 Reviews
Groundbreaking experimental music or pointless guitar wankery? I have no idea, so take your pick. The cover photograph of Fripp and Eno sitting in a chamber of mirrors is fairly programmatic, as (No Pussyfooting) is the album on which Brian Eno started experimenting with tape recorder loops and delays, thus laying the groundwork for much of his later ambient work, and also for Fripp's Frippertronics. This album is anything but ambient, though: Fripp's guitar, fed through Eno's synthesizer, not only provides the ground drone and rhythm foundation, it also develops from calm, single-note accents into semi-freakish, elaborate solos, more subdued than on his work with King Crimson, but still almost as bluesy.
"The Heavenly Music Corporation" is the calmer of the two tracks, developing in subtle waves, whereas "Swastika Girls" puts Fripp's guitar into a context of semi-manic synthesized raindrop-like sounds that repeat the same melodic pattern over and over for 19 minutes. Eno wasn't into repetitive minimalism yet at the time though, for Fripp's guitar provides a decidedly non-repetitive counterpoint through most of the record.
(No Pussyfooting) is therefore much of a prototype for much of what both Fripp and Eno would pursue on their subsequent albums, but it's still very much rooted in what listeners would expect of traditional rock songs. It is playing with repetitive loops and minimalist structures, but still not giving up the (very prog-rock) idea of a developing melodic line carried by a solo instrument, making it an either interesting or pretty pointless hybrid, depending on your point of view.
"The Heavenly Music Corporation" is the calmer of the two tracks, developing in subtle waves, whereas "Swastika Girls" puts Fripp's guitar into a context of semi-manic synthesized raindrop-like sounds that repeat the same melodic pattern over and over for 19 minutes. Eno wasn't into repetitive minimalism yet at the time though, for Fripp's guitar provides a decidedly non-repetitive counterpoint through most of the record.
(No Pussyfooting) is therefore much of a prototype for much of what both Fripp and Eno would pursue on their subsequent albums, but it's still very much rooted in what listeners would expect of traditional rock songs. It is playing with repetitive loops and minimalist structures, but still not giving up the (very prog-rock) idea of a developing melodic line carried by a solo instrument, making it an either interesting or pretty pointless hybrid, depending on your point of view.
Published
EGS 102 Vinyl LP (1986)
To say this album is the birth of ambient music is misleading. (No Pussyfooting) came out 5 years before Eno coined the term, and several years after the sonic experiments of LaMonte Young and John Cage (amongst others) that had influenced Eno in his "ambient" experimentations. This here album and Eno's great Discreet Music are his early attempts in making music that was "as ignorable as it is interesting."
In this respect, (No Pussyfooting) is ambient music. It exists in two spheres of appreciation: active listening and passive listening. The quality of ambient music is measured in it's appeal in both modes, not just one or the other. In an active listening mode, this album is incredibly rich, textural and hyperactive. It is ironic to me that Robert Fripp's most frenetic, wild and virtuostic playing of his career can be found on his first attempt at playing "ambient music." To the attentive listener, both of these long gorgeous tracks are endlessly rewarding.
Eno takes care of the rest, making it "ambient" and loopy and other-worldly, making it a good passive listening experience. This music, as ideally all good ambient must be, can function as decor or as architecture as much as a the colour of a wall or the shape of a room. This music can be lived in, without paying any attention to it. How many times in a day do you notice the walls are off-white? This album can play as oxygen for your ears. It is, however, contrary to the off-white wall, stunningly beautiful and hypnotic.
Historically, (No Pussyfooting) is a true landmark, not only for its contribution to the genre, but as cornerstones in the careers or both Robert Fripp and Brian Eno. Fripp made use of the technology invented by Eno for this album (ie two Revox reel-to-reel recorders sharing the same magnetic tape, one recording with its erasing head removed, one playing) to create his own system of ambient guitar music he called Frippertronics. From Frippertronics, he moved on to more modern Soundscapes, but the point is Fripp never stopped being an ambient artist, creating his own singular vision of guitar loop music, strange and beautiful and totally Fripp. Eno, of course, went on the become the godfather of ambient music, with his own Ambient series of records, on to perfecting more studio skills to become one of the greatest producers of his time.
The bottom line. This record is fascinating, beautiful, weird, and totally unique, even when compared to other records in the genre. Fripp and Eno's followup, Evening Star, was stellar as well, but sounds nothing like this. Nothing does.
In this respect, (No Pussyfooting) is ambient music. It exists in two spheres of appreciation: active listening and passive listening. The quality of ambient music is measured in it's appeal in both modes, not just one or the other. In an active listening mode, this album is incredibly rich, textural and hyperactive. It is ironic to me that Robert Fripp's most frenetic, wild and virtuostic playing of his career can be found on his first attempt at playing "ambient music." To the attentive listener, both of these long gorgeous tracks are endlessly rewarding.
Eno takes care of the rest, making it "ambient" and loopy and other-worldly, making it a good passive listening experience. This music, as ideally all good ambient must be, can function as decor or as architecture as much as a the colour of a wall or the shape of a room. This music can be lived in, without paying any attention to it. How many times in a day do you notice the walls are off-white? This album can play as oxygen for your ears. It is, however, contrary to the off-white wall, stunningly beautiful and hypnotic.
Historically, (No Pussyfooting) is a true landmark, not only for its contribution to the genre, but as cornerstones in the careers or both Robert Fripp and Brian Eno. Fripp made use of the technology invented by Eno for this album (ie two Revox reel-to-reel recorders sharing the same magnetic tape, one recording with its erasing head removed, one playing) to create his own system of ambient guitar music he called Frippertronics. From Frippertronics, he moved on to more modern Soundscapes, but the point is Fripp never stopped being an ambient artist, creating his own singular vision of guitar loop music, strange and beautiful and totally Fripp. Eno, of course, went on the become the godfather of ambient music, with his own Ambient series of records, on to perfecting more studio skills to become one of the greatest producers of his time.
The bottom line. This record is fascinating, beautiful, weird, and totally unique, even when compared to other records in the genre. Fripp and Eno's followup, Evening Star, was stellar as well, but sounds nothing like this. Nothing does.
Published
Think 70's sci fi. It's too heavy and platform-shoes-and-eye-makeup to be _ambient_, but seeing as how the first piece, "The Heavenly Music Corporation", was recorded the same year as the first Roxy Music album, it probably seemed quite ambient at the time. But it comes across more like a soundtrack - the sounds your mind conjures up as you watch a space probe hovering above Moon Base Alpha. Improvisation of tape loops and big, haunting guitar, it's highly original and infinitely listenable. The second track, the unfortunately titled "Swastika Girls" (were the titles based on Philip K. Dick's _The Man in the High Castle_?) is slightly less effective, but still mesmerizing. A very early example of Fripp and Eno looking way ahead into a spacious, acrylic future.
Published
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A
The Heavenly Music Corporation
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B
Swastika Girls
I'm here for my therapy appointment
No album ever has made me think about my personal problems more than this, it's like talking to a therapist or tripping on acid, it made me realize that I want to go to school and learn to bake, that's fucked up. I couldn't really write a review cause idek what happened when I first heard it but it's been 3 months now and I've realized the impact this album has had on mePublished
Ahead of its time
Fripp & Eno present many interesting ideas, settled into a bed of uninteresting guitar-synth drone.
I was mostly bored while listening to this, but as I said, some parts stood out completely and blew me away. And even the boring parts were quite ahead of their time in my opinion, considering some electric guitar records to come later in the same decade (not naming anything specific... *cough* certain *cough* inventions *cough*...)
60/100
Published
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A
The Heavenly Music Corporation
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B
Swastika Girls
One of the best examples of Enos ethos with ambient music: you can leave its hypnotic chaos as background noise as much as you can attentively pay attention to the bewildering electronic realm you're in.
Published
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