(No Pussyfooting)

September 2013 (No Pussyfooting) Album Fripp & Eno Frippenopussyfooting.jpg 9 November 1973https://www.discogs.com/release/839067-Fripp-Eno-No-Pussyfooting Fripp & Eno - (No Pussyfooting) Discogs 9 November 1973 8 September 1972,4–5 August 1973 Brian Eno's home studio, Maida Vale, London (1972)Command Studios, Piccadilly, London (1973) Experimental ambient droneMorley 2015 43 39:38 Island, EG Robert Fripp, Brian Eno Evening Star 1975 Robert Fripp album Larks' Tongues in Aspic 1973 (No Pussyfooting) 1973 Starless and Bible Black 1974 Brian Eno album For Your Pleasure 1973 (No Pussyfooting) 1973 Here Come the Warm Jets 1974 Swastika Girls sample.ogg Swastika Girls An audio sample from "Swastika Girls" (No Pussyfooting) is the debut studio album by the British duo Fripp & Eno, released 9 November 1973 on Island Records. (No Pussyfooting) was the first of three major collaborations between the musicians, growing out of Brian Eno's early tape delay looping experiments and crystallizing Robert Fripp's "Frippertronics" technique. (No Pussyfooting) was recorded in three days over the course of a year. Its release was close to that of Eno's own debut solo album Here Come the Warm Jets (1974), and it constitutes one of his early experiments in what he would term ambient music. Production Brian Eno invited Robert Fripp to his home studio in Maida Vale, London, in September 1972. Eno was then experimenting with a tape-delay feedback system that he first devised while studying at the Winchester School of Art and further described in a score called "Delay and Decay", published in late 1966. The system had been used earlier by Terry Riley and Pauline Oliveros, who called it the "Time-Lag Accumulator", at the San Francisco Tape Music Center,Howe Brian http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12546-no-pussyfooting-evening-star/ Fripp & Eno: No Pussyfooting / Evening Star Pitchfork 9 January 2009 7 January 2017 and by an anonymous ORTF engineer in Paris in 1963: two reel-to-reel tape recorders are set up side by side, and sounds recorded on the first deck would be played back by the second deck and then routed back into the first deck to create a long looping delay. Fripp played guitar over Eno's loops, while Eno chose whether or not to record Fripp's live playing into the loop. The result is a dense, multi-layered piece of early ambient music.Tamm 1995 151Tamm 1995 152 This technique later came to be known as "Frippertronics", a term coined by Fripp's then-partner Joanna Walton in 1977.Osborne Luka 6 August 2022 Frippertronics: how Robert Fripp and Brian Eno brought looping to life https://happymag.tv/frippertronics/ Happy MagInterview with Robert Fripp by Dick Tooley - ETWiki https://www.elephant-talk.com/wiki/Interview_with_Robert_Fripp_by_Dick_Tooley www.elephant-talk.com (No Pussyfooting)'''s first track, comprising the entirety of side A, is the 21-minute "The Heavenly Music Corporation". Fripp originally wanted the track to be titled "The Transcendental Music Corporation", which Eno feared would make people "think they were serious".Cohen Scott http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/interviews/hitpa74b.html Fripp and Eno: No Pussyfooting Around Hit Parader 119 June 1974 8 June 2008 It was recorded in two takes: first creating the background looping track, and then adding an extended non-looped guitar solo on top of it. This track features Fripp's electric guitar as the sole sound source.Tamm 1995 152 "Swastika Girls", which fills side B, was recorded almost a year after "The Heavenly Music Corporation" in August 1973 at Command Studios in Piccadilly, where Fripp's band King Crimson had recorded Larks' Tongues in Aspic earlier that year.http://www.philsbook.com/command.html Command Studios – London philsbook.com 15 November 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20150924072446/http://www.philsbook.com/command.html 24 September 2015 dead The track employed the same technique as "The Heavenly Music Corporation", except that Fripp played to a loop created by Eno on an EMS VCS 3 synthesizer.Tamm 1995 154 Fripp and Eno took the tapes of "Swastika Girls" to George Martin's AIR Studios at Oxford Circus to continue mixing and assembling the track there.Fripp Robert Robert Fripp http://www.dgmlive.com/diaries.htm?entry=7755 Robert Fripp's Diary DGM Live 25 September 2007 8 June 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20071116115138/http://www.dgmlive.com/diaries.htm?entry=7755 16 November 2007 dead The track's title refers to an image of nude women performing a Nazi salute ripped from a discarded pornographic film magazine found by Eno, which he had brought to the studio. The album's title was taken from a note left by Fripp on the mixing desk at AIR, expressing "that we should not compromise what we felt to be right".Smith Sid 4 August 2014 On This Date 41 Years Ago https://www.dgmlive.com/news/on-this-date-41-years-ago 2025-02-08 Discipline Global Mobile Artwork The album's gatefold cover was shot by fashion photographer Willie Christie. Christie reflected on the artwork in 2015: "We hired the mirror from Chelsea Glassware and the zinc ‘floor’ came from a session I’d just done ... I’ve always felt badly for Brian [Eno] that he didn’t share the credit, since it was his idea and we worked on it together.”Flashbak https://flashbak.com/will-christie-on-the-great-no-pussyfooting-cover-46661/ Paul Gorman November 24, 2015 Willie Christie On The Great (No Pussyfooting) Cover April 3, 2026 Release and reception AllMusic 4.5 5Mills Ted http://www.allmusic.com/album/no-pussyfooting-mw0000650170 (No Pussyfooting) – Fripp & Eno / Robert Fripp / Brian Eno AllMusic 7 January 2017 Christgau's Record Guide B+Christgau 1981 Mojo 4 5Male Andrew Fripp & Eno: No Pussyfooting Mojo 181 December 2008 119 Pitchfork 7.9/10 Record Collector 4 5Fripp & Eno: No Pussyfooting Record Collector 89 No Pussyfooting is hailed as an ambient classic and this vibrant musical tapeworm of drone, echo and diamond-clear guitar still retains strong enough sea legs to mesmerise the listener. The Rolling Stone Album Guide 3.5 5Considine 1992 265 Spin Alternative Record Guide 8/10Powers 1995 129 Tom Hull – on the Web A−https://tomhull.com/ocston/nm/get_gl.php?n=robert+fripp Grade List: Robert Fripp Tom Hull – on the Web Tom Hull 26 November 2023 26 November 2023 Released in November 1973, (No Pussyfooting) failed to chart in either the US or UK. Island Records actively opposed its release.Marsh Peter https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/qqzf/ Fripp & Eno The Equatorial Stars Review BBC Music 5 July 2004 8 June 2008 The album was released in the same year that Eno recorded his more rock-oriented solo debut Here Come the Warm Jets; Eno was attempting to launch a solo career, having left Roxy Music, and his management bemoaned the confusion caused by two albums with such different styles.Tamm 1995 156 Fripp's bandmates in King Crimson also disliked the album. The mainstream rock press paid the album little attention compared to Here Come the Warm Jets or Fripp's work with King Crimson.Tamm 1995 156 In the UK, the album was released at a large discountSheppard 2008 and was regarded as a novelty. In 1975, critic Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave it a B+ rating, calling it "the most enjoyable pop electronics since Terry Riley's A Rainbow in Curved Air" and "more visionary and more romantic than James Taylor could dream of being."Christgau 1981 I was told later that, as a consequence of the album, Eno's management decided he was ready to go solo. They thought he had a far more glittering commercial career available to him than working with the progressive rock, left-field guitarist Robert Fripp, which now seems absurd. However, here are the ironies: David Bowie was a fan, I believe, of (No Pussyfooting); and I was told that Iggy Pop, who David was working with at the time, could sing all the main guitar themes. Robert FrippHughes Rob February 2015 Prog? It's a prison Classic Rock 73 206 The album was rereleased on vinyl in 1982, and on CD in 1987 by E.G. Records. Subsequent reception has been mostly positive. Ted Mills of AllMusic gave the album four and a half stars out of five; he praised "The Heavenly Music Corporation" and noted "the beauty" of the "Frippertronics" system, but considered "Swastika Girls" to contain "too many disconnected sounds sharing the space... the resulting work lacks form and structure". According to Eno biographer Eric Tamm, "The Heavenly Music Corporation" "anticipated Eno's own ambient style";Tamm 1995 154 about "Swastika Girls" he remarked that "if it is less successful than the earlier piece, it is because of the much greater overall saturation of the acoustical space. There seems to be a perceptual rule that possibilities for appreciation of timbral subtleties decrease in proportion to the rate of actual notes being played. 'Swastika Girls' shows that Eno and Fripp had not yet understood the full weight of this principle".Tamm 1995 154 Contemporary reviews of Fripp & Eno's 2004 album The Equatorial Stars cited (No Pussyfooting) in a positive light. Peter Marsh of the BBC's experimental music review referred to it as "now one of those albums that's spoken about in hushed, reverential tones as a proto-ambient classic". Dominique Leone of Pitchfork noted that (No Pussyfooting) "didn't really sound like anything that had come before it".Leone Dominique Dominique Leone http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/3318-the-equatorial-stars/ Fripp & Eno: The Equatorial Stars Pitchfork 6 August 2004 8 June 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080527024137/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/17963-the-equatorial-stars 27 May 2008 live A double-CD 24-bit remastered edition by Simon Heyworth and Fripp was released in 2008, the bonus disc featuring reversed versions of both tracks and a half-speed version of "The Heavenly Music Corporation".Smith Sid https://www.dgmlive.com/news/fripp-eno-remastered Fripp & Eno Remastered Discipline Global Mobile 27 September 2007 26 November 2020 The inclusion of the reversed versions is based on an incident where Fripp and Eno sent BBC radio DJ John Peel a copy of the album on open reel tape instead of standard vinyl, and had it "tails out" on what was meant to be the take-up reel, meaning that the tape had to be rewound to the beginning before playing it. On the 18 December 1973 broadcast of his Radio 1 show Top Gear, Peel played the entire album backwards, showing that the "tails out" notice was disregarded. Eno had been listening to Peel's show and phoned the BBC demanding to speak with him, but the receptionist took exception to his tone and hung up on him, and the playback continued unabated.Cavanagh David David Cavanagh Good Night and Good Riddance: How Thirty-Five Years of John Peel Helped to Shape Modern Life 2015-09-29 Faber & Faber 978-0-5713-0247-5 England After the second track, Peel said on the air, "I'd like to see what they made of that on Come Dancing''... Opinion in here is divided... I think it's great, I really do, magnificent, in fact, in the Tangerine tradition, I suppose, in a sense. Very very good, and well worth having the LP, incidentally."March 2025 Track listing Brian Eno and Robert Fripp Side one The Heavenly Music Corporation 20:55 Side two Swastika Girls 18:43 Remastered edition (2008) The double CD remastered edition adds variations to the track list: CD 1 bonus track The Heavenly Music Corporation (Reversed) 20:52 CD 2 The Heavenly Music Corporation (Half Speed) 41:49 Swastika Girls (Reversed) 18:54 The remastered edition divides "The Heavenly Music Corporation" into five CD tracks and "Swastika Girls" into two. Legacy The album artwork influenced the music video set for the 1975's 2018 single "Give Yourself a Try"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugf5k0J8C3I The 1975 – Matty Healy breaks down The 1975's videos from 'A Brief Inquiry...' YouTube 25 February 2019 7 April 2019 and the Strokes' 2004 single "The End Has No End". Electronic music composer Kim Cascone uses the moniker Heavenly Music Corporation in tribute to Fripp & Eno.March 2025 Personnel Brian Eno – EMS VCS 3 synthesizer, treatments Robert Fripp – electric and acoustic guitars Technical personnel Tony Arnold – remastering Arun Chakraverty – engineer, mastering Willie Christie – design, photography, cover design, cover art Brian Eno – producer Robert Fripp – producer, remastering Ray Hendriksen – engineer Release history Region Date Label Format Catalog United Kingdom November 1973Island Records LPHELP 16 United StatesAntilles Records7001 United Kingdom 23 February 1987https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000025JRL Booth, Gene No Pussyfooting 5 August 2008 Amazon.co.ukEG Records CD EGCD 2 United States 31 August 1990https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000003S26 Amazon.com: No Pussyfooting Booth, Gene Amazon 5 August 2008 United Kingdom29 September 2008Discipline Global Mobile2CDDGM5007 Notes 30em References Christgau Robert Robert Christgau Fripp & Eno: No Pussyfooting https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=2979 7 January 2017 Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies Ticknor and Fields 1981 0-89919-026-X Considine J. D. J. D. Considine DeCurtis Anthony Anthony DeCurtis Henke James George-Warren Holly Robert Fripp The Rolling Stone Album Guide The Rolling Stone Album Guide Random House 3rd 1992 0-679-73729-4 Morley Paul Paul Morley Words & Music: A History of Pop in the Shape of a City Bloomsbury Publishing 2015 9781408864340 Powers Ann Ann Powers Weisbard Eric Eric Weisbard Marks Craig Brian Eno Spin Alternative Record Guide Spin Alternative Record Guide Vintage Books 1995 0-679-75574-8 Sheppard David On Some Faraway Beach: The Life and Times of Brian Eno Chicago Review Press 2008 978-1-55652-942-9 Tamm Eric Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound Da Capo Press 1995 0-306-80649-5 External links 9824 (No Pussyfooting) Official audio tNbJ36kz6wQ "The Heavenly Music Corporation I" June 2018 Category:1973 collaborative albums Category:Brian Eno albums Category:Robert Fripp albums Category:Instrumental duet albums Category:Albums produced by Robert Fripp Category:Island Records albums Category:Albums produced by Brian Eno Category:Experimental music albums by English artists Category:Ambient albums by English artists Category:Drone music albums by English artists