Customer Reviews

No Pussyfooting

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

It has been 35 years since King Crimson's Robert Fripp and the then-recently departed Roxy Music keyboardist Brian Eno joined forces to create "No Pussyfooting", an album that over the years would go down in history as one of the forerunners of what is now known as Ambient Music.
While music of this nature is now considered commonplace, back in 1973, it was quite a different story. When "No Pussyfooting" was initially released, critical reactions were quite mixed. Some didn't know what to think about an albums worth of sustained guitar lines looped through two tapes machines while others found the sounds embedded in the record grooves to be groundbreaking. Over time, the public slowly caught on to the innovative ideas heard in this album and it's now considered to be a timeless classic.
The original album contained two long tracks (one per side of the original LP). The opening track "The Heavenly Music Corporation" was recorded in August 1972 and consists soley of Robert Fripp's guitar being played through two Revox tape machines. The tape machines are manipulated by Brian Eno to create looped phrases and a massive wall of sound. The overall effect is beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Fripp would later perform similar music to this on his own coining the term "Frippertronics" to this guitar/loop technique.
The other track "Swastika Girls" was recorded one year later is more 'composed' in its over all structure. In addition to Robert Fripp's sustained lead guitar and frentic rhythmic guitar loops, Eno adds a busy synthesizer sequence to the music which repeats throughout the entire piece giving it somewhat of a base-structure.
After its initial release on CD in the early '90s, "No Pussyfooting" fell out-of-print and became a sought-after collectors item. Now in 2008, the album is available once again in its most definitive version - a remastered 2-CD edition that includes the complete original album plus the entire album played in reverse and a half-speed version of the opening track "The Heavenly Music Corporation". The reversed and half-speed versions of these tracks give the music a new dimension and offers a completely new listening perspective. While listening to the reversed version of the album, it's almost unnoticeable that the music is actually being played backwards. In fact, it almost sounds like alternate takes played forwards. As for the half-speed nearly 42-minute version of "The Heavenly Music Corporation", the music becomes a deep ambient drone and doesn't sound too different from today's artists who uses low drones as the basis for their music (think of the long-form drone works of Steve Roach or Robert Rich).
All in all, it's great to have this classic album available again. It has definitely been worth the wait. The music is as wonderful now as it was then and shows just how ahead their time Fripp and Eno were and still are. Without any hesitation, this newly remastered 2-disc edition of "No Pussyfooting" is HIGHLY recommended.

It's hard to over-state the shock this album caused me on its original release in 1973. Being only 14, I had heard nothing like it before. As an impoverished schoolboy, I could not believe that anyone would pay good money for what seemed rubbish at the time. (Indeed I'm not sure EG Records had any idea themselves who would buy it) I cannot remember whether Eno had quit Roxy Music by the time of the release of 'No Pussyfooting', but he had already established a short but magnificent track record with the band. For many of us, 'For Your Pleasure' was and remains a masterpiece. We knew Eno contributed some of the more offbeat elements to Roxy, but we had no idea how weird his solo albums would seem to our unaccustomed ears.

I borrowed the LP from a schoolfriend and, when he returned to collect it, I asked him incredulously how he could listen to it. "I can work to it," came his reply, which seemed shocking at the time. We were used to giving 100% of our attention and involvement to the likes of Deep Purple's 'Made in Japan' and Bowie's 'Ziggy Stardust'. The idea of music which you could ignore seemed ridiculous. The music you listened to was a social and political statement -- you could get beaten up at bus stops by other schoolboys simply for saying you preferred Slade when you should have said T. Rex. Before the advent of video and videogames, music was far too important to be classified simply as wallpaper.

Well that was then, and by now I must own nearly 100 ambient albums and many Eno or Eno-tinged CDs. I have to say that in retrospect this album owes as much to Robert Fripp as it does to Eno. Its sound is closer to 'Lark Tongues' or 'Red' than it is to 'For Your Pleasure', 'Warm Jets' or 'Tiger Mountain'. Fripp and Eno both belonged to the EG stable, and you'll find in Fripp's sleevenotes to several of King Crimson's recent CDs just how appalling EG were in the area of management. If one of the two hadn't belonged to EG, then this album could have been made.

This music was designed to be listened to via headphones. And yes, 28 years on, I find I CAN work to it.

...that looping didn't catch on after this record was released. but then, what could anyone do with the medium after Fripp and Eno perfected it? This album is certainly ahead of it's time, and ahead of our own time for that matter. This is music from the future.

Track one, even though it was recorded more than thirty years ago, still sounds new and fresh, even after scores of listenings. It is made up of two guitar lines - but one of them is an incredibly complex, ever-changing loop that continually unfolds out of itself and interacts with the lead line. It's almost like Fripp is soloing over an entire band. but beware the sonic onslaught of the track's last three minutes - if you don't have good speakers the low notes will probably rip your woofers apart.

Track two presents a sunnier, happier side of looping, this time with Eno supplying the loop on his synthesizer. Fripp's entry (at 7:42) is fascinating. Throughout the solo he plays riffs and figures that he still uses to this day.

A great record for listening to in a large room in the dark, lodly.

I was a freshman at UCSC, which is divided into 8 separate colleges, each with its own dorms & classrooms. I was outside, at one of the colleges (Merrill) and heard this album played from a dorm room from the neighboring college (Crown), which was probably a quarter mile away.

I'd never heard anything like it.

I immediately started walking to the source of the music, hoping it would still be playing when I got there. It was.

I'm still good friends with the people I met that day in 1984.

I've returned to this album over and over.

Sunday night, I'm partipating in Unsilent Night. This album would be perfect for that.

It never gets old.

Fripp's remastering of "No Pussyfooting" reveals layers of music that were never audible before. The beginning of "The Heavenly Music Corporation," which originally sounded like a drone increasing in intensity, on this remastered version becomes a symphony of guitar loops. Many of the background sounds, which were really difficult to distinguish on the original recording, are clear on this one.

The reverse version of "Swastika Girls" is fascinating in that it sounds similar, but not identical to, the original version. The reverse version of "The Heavenly Music Corporation" is so surreal it defies description. The half speed version is a bit less interesting, but it is a good ambient piece.

Overall, there is no comparison between this remastering and the 1990 release, or the tracks on "The Essential Fripp and Eno." If you've always enjoyed "No Pussyfooting," buy this release without hesitation.

Check the lineup: guitar. Synth. Pedals. Two Revoxes. That's it. Combine with Messrs. Fripp and Eno, and you get this oh-so-satisfying work. Only two works here, "Swastika Girls", and "The Heavenly Music Corporation", which really lives up to its title. Electronic drones slowly build as Fripp's guitar arcs and soars dramatically over the gradually-developing backdrop. The only thing here that I consider weak is certain aspects of "Swastika Girls"; there's always been something about the squealy VCS3 loop that underpins the track that I've found irritating and distracting. Nevertheless, as first outings go, this is pretty amazing...but for _really_ amazing, one has to go on to the next release by the duo, "Evening Star".

Enough has been said about this and "Evening Star", with NP being the more important of the pair, that little need be added. What's new with the reissues is the addition of "Swastika Girls" and "The Heavenly Music Corporation" in reverse, a seemingly too-naked innovation that still manages to provide a new appreciation for the melodic elegance of Fripp's solos (the Eno pads remain largely unaffected by the change in direction). The half-speed nugget is a nice acknowledgment of Tape, but mostly solicits a "meh" around the house. All that aside, the remastering here is a bit of a revelation. Hard to believe that an open loop ReVox could offer up so much hidden detail, but it does. The sonic re-examination reveals greater complexity and less sweetness than original vinyl and subsequent CD editions, casting the work in an even more favorable light -- freed of those initial impressions of mere "prettiness".

essential, yet unavailable...sheesh. If ever a record deserved the deluxe treatment thisc would be the one!

I like this album. It is interesting and worthwhile. The reason I offer 3 stars is because the idea surpasses its execution. Later work by both of these talented musicians far exceeds the seed of ideas planted here. That written, there is still a captivating presence with this music which was recorded in the early seventies. This is a side piece for both Robert Fripp and Brian Eno. In the same year of its release, Fripp worked with King Crimson to create "Lark's Tongues in Aspic". While Eno was working with Roxy Music on "For Your Pleasure" as well as a solo project titled "Here Come the Warm Jets". This is their chance to stretch out and expand their limits. Perhaps, they were influenced by the electronic experimentations of the Cologne or New York musicians. The first piece "Heavenly Music Corporation" features a two-tape-machine setup which Eno explains on his "Discrete Music" album. Fripp introduces phrases which are still part of his vocabulary today and can be heard in his Crimson projects, most recently with Adrian Belew and Trey Gunn. The ideas in this piece resurface in a more developed state in "Index of Metals" also by Fripp and Eno. The second song is succinctly put, a guitar solo. And yet, so much more. Fripp earns creative points, if for nothing else, than for creating something that we never heard from Eric Clapton. Not something many were able to do in the early seventies. Repetitive tape loops form the rhythmic centre over which Fripp expresses his unique style of intensity and humour. Despite the name "Swastika Girls", it is not threatening and is closer to the Asian meaning of the swastika which is a temple. In all, this is a fun collection by two musicians enjoying themselves. If you are interested in tape music of the early seventies or simply would like to hear what talented musicians do on rainy days to amuse themselves, this album will be interesting to you

This first collaboration between Fripp and Eno joins two vastly creative minds under the same banner, exploring new territory in studio techniques and expanding musical perceptions and borders, setting the stage for the dawning ambient genre, and even for the less ambitious 'new age' genre. There are many fine moments on this disc, as it urges you along on a spectacular journey of soundscapes and overlapping layers which seem to seep into every nook of your soul. I give it four stars because I think their second collaboration, 'Evening Star' is more successful, but this one is well worth investigating. 'Evening Star' is quieter in mood than this, if that helps you to choose between the two. At points, Heavenly Music Corporation makes me think of how the soundtrack to Blade Runner would have sounded if Jimi Hendrix had sat in on the sessions. Swastika girls is more tinkly and jangly and less to my liking.