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Coming to light along with the several other 1973 landmark progressive instrumental releases No Pussyfooting (39:38) is from an era that believed in the fortitude of the listener. Though collaborators Robert Fripp & Brian Eno had certain designs on popular culture their work here shows an intrigue with what music might be made from out of somewhere more cerebral, somewhere well outside mainstream thought. One could estimate the effort put into such a thing even before hearing a single note. Just by admiring the striking cover art and then the look of the grooves on each side of the LP - two everlasting sidelong moments from a world larger and more measured than today - the more open and adventurous among us knew they would have a substantial sonic encounter with each spin. Utilizing his six string imagination, and intrigued by the sinuous system of tape recorders Eno had arranged and adjusted for the spontaneous composition, Fripp managed a remarkable intimation. His well considered electric guitar textures and tones, repeated and layered, drifted and droned, rose and fell toward a future where this music would be better received. The situation provided an opportunity for Fripp & Eno to make something for the still space, an ambient elsewhere in which something new could be expressed. From desolate thought zones and lulling hushed harmonies, to a yearning from the wilderness No Pussyfooting may have been a declaration neither participant believed possible prior to entering the studio. An improvisation in sustaining mood, of clear electric guitar solos above slowly undulating chords, this album has been found to be free of conventional structure or indicators. With a narrative too potent for the New Age, its lead lines and design demanding an attention level beyond that of the ethereal and atmospheric, No Pussyfooting made central the mood of the Adagio passage of a symphony - empowered by electricity, in embrace of the quieter planes of the mind.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 27 November 2025 |
