The Artist: Fripp & Eno, (No Pussyfooting) (Island, 1973)
A Short Review: We’re not sure what’s more painlessly cool about Fripp & Eno’s first ambient LP: the space age coke den cover–complete with mirrored cubicles and pinup playing cards–or the fact that it sounds like a Growing album from the early ’00s. And while Fripp’s guitar parts are wankier on this record than they were on Evening Star two years later, the “Frippertronics” fusion of his widescreen solos and Eno’s tape loop tactics are both timeless and telling, marking just how far ahead of the curve the duo was in the ’70s.
So far, in fact, that Island Records–fresh off releasing Eno’s much more accessible Here Come the Warm Jets–and Fripp’s King Crimson bandmates both despised the disc’s hypnotic hooks and dovetailing riffs.
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