"No Pussyfooting"

SOME NOTES ON A RECONSTRUCTION OF FRIPP & ENO’S ‘NO PUSSYFOOTING’ AND ‘EVENING STAR’. A CLASH OF EXPECTATIONS: THE FRIPP & ENO TOUR of Crimson-Roxy super-combo, a large part LeGrice’s colour saturated and looped short least until the tape runs out. Now commonly solely make use of the guitar in combination of the audience indeed didn’t understand fi lm ‘Berlin Horse’ projected behind two the known as “frippertronics” after Robert Fripp with Eno’s tape-delay system[10]. My role what was going on on stage, some of them two shadowy fi gures on stage [...]. The result appropriated this setup in the late seventies, I when reconstructing these pieces for live even accusing Fripp & Eno of trickery, using was an unprecedented live-performance personally prefer Terry Riley’s more poetical performance is that of an interpreter of the Robert Fripp and Brian Eno released only pre-recorded tapes and no live material. format, years ahead of its time.”[8] term “time-lag-accumulator”. music of Fripp & Eno. I therefore made a very their experimental studio-albums No On top of that, some shows were plagued literal transcription of both pieces based on Pussyfooting and Evening Star in 1973 by technical problems. A concert in Lyon My intention, not unsimilar to the current the original studio album and then looked for and 1975 respectively. Their fi rst recording got canceled entirely due to problems related trend of historically informed performance solutions to make these transcriptions work session took place in Eno’s studio in 1972, with the venue while in Saint Étienne the P.A. practice in early and classical music, was to in a live situation. where they experimented with Eno’s tape- broke down in the middle of their concert. come as close as possible to Fripp & Eno’s delay system in combination with Fripp’s Fripp & Eno reportedly left the stage when original setup using two Revox A77 tape- It is very interesting to listen to the live-album NO MORE PUSSYFOOTING guitar-playing, which resulted in the track the boos and whistling became louder than recorders. This reconstruction can be made of Fripp & Eno’s 1975 Olympia concert and ‘A Heavenly Music Corporation’ (side A the music. fairly easily using digital technology instead compare it to the studio albums. Most of the of ‘No Pussyfooting’). However they only and it would be a lot more practical, but I concert is improvised apart from some pre- performed live for the fi rst time as a duo However they weren’t entirely mis- found out it loses a lot of its musical and recorded tapes that Eno used. They clearly until shortly before the release of ‘Evening understood. A review about the Olympia dramatical potential when performed live this never intended to play the pieces as recorded, Star’ in 1975. At that time both were at a show in Paris confi rms the general clash No [More] Pussyfooting: A reconstruction way.[9] There is of course the unique, warm but used it as basic material for further turning point in their careers: Fripp had just of expectations between audience and of ‘No Pussyfooting’ and ‘Evening Star’ and ‘grainy’ sound of analog tape delay, exploration. As an interpreter of Fripp & disbanded King Crimson (for good at the performers, but then goes on blaming the but working with magnetic tape also has a Eno’s music I used the studio albums as main time) while at the same time Eno was asked audience for their “incredible ignorance”, Even before hearing the music, the title ‘An certain resistance to it, an unpredictableness reference, and intended to come as close to to leave Roxy Music when he got too much of not understanding that “what Fripp Index of Metals’ on the B-side of Evening Star which adds a musical tension. Finally, also it as possible in a live situation. Nevertheless attention from fans and critics. They decided and Eno produced that evening [...] was drew my attention to the music of Fripp and from a dramaturgical point of view there is every live performance sounds different given the time was ripe to bring their experiments without doubt one of the most satisfying Eno. It has the same title as Fausto Romitelli’s an advantage in using these analog machines: the unpredictableness of an analog tape delay to the stage. experiences that electronic music has known video-opera, an incredible work that I came they show a clear visual representation of the setup and ever changing interpretational how to produce”[6]. The reviewer makes an to know and admire deeply short after its musical process whereas digital technology choices. This seemed to comply with the A promotional announcement for one interesting comparison to the then upcoming premiere with Ictus in 2004. Although both tends to hide it. abstract nature of the pieces. In the end of the Fripp & Eno live shows in their German krautrock scene (Kraftwerk, pieces are very different from each other, it shouldn’t become too technical, it is 1975 tour describes how “both have NEU,...) as well as American minimalists it was no coïncidence: Romitelli knew the I decided to limit my arrangement to two about bringing these gems of experimental worked, exclusively as far as performance Terry Riley and Steve Reich, claiming it was a music of Fripp and Eno and ‘borrowed’ the tracks of the two albums Fripp and Eno repertoire back to the stage. is concerned, in the highly restricted or pity their respective audiences “didn’t know title of the obscure B-side on ‘Evening Star’. recorded: ‘The Heavenly Music Corporation’ formalised contexts of a band. Here they will that the posters bearing the names Fripp and In a sort of ‘reversed loop’, I then discovered (Side A of ‘No Pussyfooting’) and ‘An Index Kobe Van Cauwenberghe be free to experiment totally, both creating Eno were declaring a music, close to that of Fripp and Eno through Romitelli. of Metals’ (side B of ‘Evening Star’). Both one single sound, yet each independent in the pioneers of underground music.” The taking up an entire side of an LP, these tracks Kobe Van Cauwenberghe Van Kobe their interests and function, never to clash, review of the London Palladium concert also There is another ‘Ictus’ link. At about the realising an empathy, as it were, through shows a better understanding of Fripp and same time I got to know the two Fripp and their respective insularity.”[1] It comes as Eno’s intentions. Appraising the music for Eno albums, I joined Ictus for a performance no surprise then when Fripp points out in an its “formal beauty” it goes on to say “one of Terry Riley’s ‘A Rainbow in Curved Air’, in interview given after their Paris concert that was totally immersed in the sounds [...] there a live-arrangement by Jean-Luc Plouvier. This they “had terrible problems putting this thing was such variety in the textures created that, experience showed me it is ok (and fun!) to together, because the management didn’t depending upon the degree of individual make live-arrangements of legendary studio- want this line-up. They did everything to concentration, one could focus on one of any albums. This particular album by Riley prevent it working.”[2] of the levels of sound patterns.”[7] was also a major infl uence for Brian Eno’s KOBE VAN CAUWENBERGHE: experiments with tape-recorders in the early The eventual tour, counting seven shows This 1975 tour turned out to be the only seventies. with stops in Spain, France and the UK, got occasion to see Fripp and Eno perform live. very mixed reactions from audience and Of all seven live shows only the Olympia The tape-delay system Eno used for ‘No press. After the fi rst show in Madrid, when concert in Paris was properly documented, Pussyfooting’ and ‘Evening Star’ is basically a asked about the audience’s reaction, Fripp luckily enough it was one of the better very primitive looping/delay setup originally responded “it was disconcerting, it wasn’t concerts of the tour. The tapes were recently developed in the early sixties by Terry Riley bad, but I didn’t think we understood each remastered and released by DGM as a live- and Pauline Oliveros at the San Francisco other.”[3] This seemed to be the general album, giving a deep insight in what Fripp Tape Music Center. A basic set-up requires consensus in the following shows as well. and Eno sounded like when performing live. two reel-to-reel tape recorders. The tape runs The French Best-magazine describes it as “a More so than the two studio albums they from the left reel of tape recorder 1 to the very strange tour [...] we remain puzzled”[4], recorded, this bootleg album shows how right reel of tape recorder 2. Tape recorder while a review of the London Palladium far Fripp and Eno were willing to go in their 1 records the sound coming in and tape [1] Source unknown, retrieved from: http://home.cogeco.ca/~frippertronics/Fripp-Eno-1975-06-07-RoyalTunbridgeWells.htm show describes how “The audience looked [2] Alessandrini, P. (1975, July). Fripp & Eno: Tea For Two. Rock et Folk. Retrieved from: http://home.cogeco.ca/~frippertronics/Fripp-Eno-1975-05-28-RockFolkParisReview.htm experiments. Not only in terms of sound, recorder 2 plays it back with a delay based on [3] Abad, J.J. (1975, June). Fripp & Eno: Première in Madrid. Vibraciones, Issue 9. Retrieved from: http://home.cogeco.ca/~frippertronics/Fripp-Eno-1975-05-21-VibracionesReview.htm confused before they even appeared on but also visually, as Al Okada describes in the distance between the two tape recorders.

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