Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

Select MAY 1994 - by Dave Morrison

ROBERT FRIPP & BRIAN ENO: THE ESSENTIAL FRIPP AND ENO

Eno is undoubtedly the granddaddy of ambient - but as a duo, Fripp & Eno were also the sons of minimalism, borrowing heavily their methods of real-time tape loop layering from '60s pioneer Terry Riley. The unreleased tracks here (four mixes of fidgety synthetic rhythm and sampled voices) are dubious bonuses. The best tracks from Evening Star (1975) and all of their 1973 album No Pussyfooting (which elicited widespread incomprehension at the time) are the3 reasons to check this out.

The Heavenly Music Corporation is their quintessential track, twenty minutes of shifting keyboard drones, with Fripp adding to the loops before cutting out to blast out bizarre, searing guitar solos - the dive-bombing outro is especially spectacular. Swastika Girls, named after a volume in Eno's porn collection (tasteful, huh?) is from the same mould. Required listening.