Fripp & Eno | (No Pussyfooting) (1973)

The image used for the 1973 ambient masterpiece (No Pussyfooting), was designed by British photographer and filmmaker Willie Christie, and exhibits Robert Fripp and Brian Eno perched in a dramatic Infinity Mirror Room.

The striking composition was photographed and designed at Brian Eno’s behest by British photographer and filmmaker Willie Christie, who constructed the room at a photography studio in Maida Vale, West London in 1972, hiring the mirrors and zinc floor from Chelsea Glassware. In a nod to the infinite reflective rooms of artists Yoyoi Kusama and Lucas Samaras, Eno sourced most of the other artefacts himself, though Christie contributed the guitar-shaped mirror. The image is at one with the music it enshrouds – prismatic, playful, calm, cerebral, oblique – reflecting the Revox tape loops Eno pioneered.

The first of three major collaborations between the musicians, (No Pussyfooting) evolved out of Eno’s early analogue tape looping experiments combined with the King Crimson head-honcho’s “Frippertronics” electric guitar technique.

It didn’t really sound like anything that had come before it – Robert Fripp 2024.

The album was the result of a impromptu meeting at the London EG offices, where Fripp, having returned from touring America and auditioning singers for Crimson including Elton John and Bryan Ferry, was invited to Eno’s 28 Brondesbury Villa in St. John’s Wood for a cup of tea.

28 Brondesbury Villas, St.John’s Wood

To this day Fripp has no idea why he took his 1959 Les Paul and Pedalboard with him, because upon arrival, Eno, without explaining to Fripp regenerative music theory, plugged him into his two Revox A77 reel-to-reel tape recorders and hit go.

Fripp played his first note, a low F#, and responded to what happened next, building up a dense layer of sculptural ambience that slowly decayed as it turned around the deck’s playback. After 18 minutes Eno pressed stop and asked Fripp if he’d like to play on top of that. He said yes, so Eno wound back the tape and the guitarist played over the top of it. Side One is called ‘The Heavenly Music Corporation‘, and it was the very first thing they ever recorded together, in the process, creating an entirely new genre of music.

The project may not have gone any further had it not been for Eno playing the results to Richard Williams, the editor of Melody Maker, who liked it very much. So they recorded a second side. ‘Swastika Girls‘, takes up Side Two and was recorded at Command Studios in Piccadilly. This piece displays how the guitar can sound with the addition of VCS3 Synthesizer and Digital Sequencers sharing the space, often discordant, at times melodic and hypnotising.

Eno and Fripp would later refine the system on Evening Star, and Eno’s solo album Discreet Music (both 1975), and Fripp would take it and base whole albums and live appearances around it, particularly the majestic Let the Power Fall (1981), but it was here on (No Pussyfooting) where it all started.

The release of the album was strongly opposed by EG Management and Island Records. At the time, Fripp was considered more a left-field character, and Eno, as a member of the highly successful Roxy Music, it was alleged it might damage his commercial potential, paralleling Fripp’s experience with Daryl Hall’s Sacred Songs, an album he produced in 1978 and RCA Records prevented the release of until 1980. It didn’t matter to Eno. In the 11 months between recording Side One and Side Two, he was sacked by Roxy.

When mixing the album in London’s Air Studios, Fripp was concerned these management obstacles would compromise their artistic ambitions. So he pulled out a piece of paper and wrote “No Pussyfooting” on it and placed it on the mixing console to remind themselves not to give in to censorship.

(No Pussyfooting) eventually came out in America on a budget label and has since been reissued multiple times, but it didn’t receive a major release for an album which is now considered significant for its pioneering work in the realm of ambient music. David Bowie was such a fan he paid tribute by insisting on the double-quotes around his “Heroes” album title.

Photo: Mick Rock, 1972.

Sleeve images: 2014 Opal gatefold 200-gram super heavy-weight vinyl original stereo mix reissue, cut from the masters approved by Fripp & Eno.

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Further Reading:

♥     Electronically Yours with Martyn Ware | A Podcast

♥     Robert Fripp | Exposure (1979)

♥     Eno: Masterworks | 1974 – 1977

♥     Robert Fripp | Network (1985)

♥     David Bowie | “Heroes” (1977)