Personnel: Robert Fripp (guitar); Brian Eno (electronics).
Robert Fripp's most celebrated version of King Crimson was at its peak when he took time off to record a decidedly non-rock album with his art-rock buddy Brian Eno. Both Fripp and Eno were always the most adventurous, experimental elements in their '70s bands (Crimson and Roxy Music respectively), so it's only natural that their collaboration would produce something fairly unconventional. Drawing equally on the minimalist tradition of 20th-century classical music and their own innate textural sensibilities, the duo created one of the first ambient recordings in NO PUSSYFOOTING.
It was here that Fripp inaugurated his "Frippertronics" technique, which involved sending his guitar through a labyrinthine series of tape delays. NO PUSSYFOOTING was equally auspicious for Eno, marking his move away from pop song structure toward the ambient soundscapes that would soon define his career. On the album's two extended pieces, Fripp's echoed guitar wraps itself sinuously around Eno's subtle, organic synth washes. The result is a flowing-but-static river of sound, hypnotic and contemplative. For its historical importance, and its durability as an engaging listen, NO PUSSYFOOTING is a milestone in ambient music.
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