Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

Mojo DECEMBER 2008 - by Andrew Male

FRIPP & ENO: NO PUSSYFOOTING

Two-disc reissue of a first foray into the Frippertronic cathedral of layered erosion.

Is it really thirty-five years since Brian Eno invited King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp round to his house for a cup of tea, some biscuits, and a natter about tape loops and sound decay? In 2008, the world of metal, avant-garde and post-classical music is still awash with musicians working in the same arena as Fripp & Eno, producing heavy drone works that owe them a huge debt.

Remastered, with "additional index points" (track breaks) inserted in the original side-long tracks, and an extra CD with the tracks reversed and played at half speed, the mystic guitar and synthesizer tape-loop symphonies on No Pussyfooting (and the simultaneous reissue, 1975's less anarchic Evening Star) sound both unholy modern and magically archaic, heavy ambience built on an idea of audio decay (tape, vinyl) that, in this hard digital age, induces a wave of warm, mellow nostalgia.