Return Of The Odd Couple

Almost 32 years ago, King Crimson lynchpin and guitar demon Robert Fripp visited glamour puss art rock strategist Brian Eno at his Maida Vale flat with the intention of playing around with a tape delay system of Eno's devising. Within an hour, the pair had recorded The Heavenly Music Corporation, later released as the first side of the duo's No Pussyfooting album. While it's now one of those albums that's spoken about in hushed, reverential tones as a proto-ambient classic, it's worth remembering that Island records weren't too keen on Eno's association with Fripp, fearing that the latter might lead the former into less commercial territory (huh?).

Since then their collaborations have been occasional, but always inspired. Eno's sonic awareness and unorthodox musical approaches have combined with Fripp's ability to cope with anything that's thrown his way to produce some of the best moments in either man's work (and David Bowie's as well).

So there's some expectation surrounding this record, despite the low-key nature of its release. Though it's not really a retread of former glories, immediately you're certain that this music couldn't have been made by anyone else as you get sucked into its weightless beauties.

Eno's settings range from the celestial shimmer of Apollo (Lyra) to muted, distant machine funk (Altair) or the darker textures of the closing Terebellum, while Fripp's rhapsodic, mournful lines wander through them to crushingly beautiful effect.

There's no doubt that despite his rather cerebral reputation, Fripp's playing can carry a quietly devastating emotional charge. Daryl Hall's likened it to the sound of the universe crying; until NASA actually gets a recording of such a cosmic event we'll have to take his word for it, but you'll know what he means by the time the CD's over. The Equatorial Stars is one of the finest things Robert or Brian have done in years, and its austere, graceful beauty left me literally breathless at times. A marriage made in the heavens, indeed.



Review by Peter Marsh shared under Creative Commons and originally available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/qqzf/

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Log #106 - So Much Good Music Under The Sun

I'm excited about this week's listening. Sometimes it's hard to think of 6 albums to listen to, but this week the CDs were positively jumping off the shelf like those springy sticky toys we used to have.

This was because my interest in ambient minimalist electronica was re-ignited and this opened up a wealth of potential listening from the likes of Tangerine Dream, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Four Tet, and Brian Eno.

Debussy - Preludes Books I and II

Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Union Cafe

Tangerine Dream - Zeit

Boards of Canada - Geogaddi

Fripp and Eno - No Pussyfooting

Blue States - Nothing Changes Under The Sun

Take Tangerine Dream for example. Last year, or maybe the year before, through this blog I became reacquainted with the band mainly via their classic mid 70s albums like Phaedra and Force Majeure.  Checkout a track like Cloudburst Flight if you aren't convinced. But I hadn't ventured deeper into history to hear much of their early 70s work which was much more ambient before they started introducing pulsed rhythms.

Zeit seemed to be the go-to album for most fans of early period Tan Dream. I bought the new remastered double album version containing the original double album plus a live disc. I haven't even got on to the live disc yet. The original album is gorgeous. It's just what I want from an ambient piece of music. Consisting of just 4 "side-long" tracks of chilling dark drone music - you can safely stick it on repeat all day, and go about your business. It's great to listen to passively, as background music.

It's very unobtrusive and as such creeps up on you very subtly. You pick up different things each time you walk past your speaker, things you haven't noticed before.

Contrary to what you may expect I actually find incredible depth and interest in this sort of music. Because it is so subtle there is a lot to discover that isn't immediately obvious. New sounds and textures reveal themselves gradually over repeated plays. It really challenges conventional understandings of what music is.

In comparison The Penguin Cafe Orchestra are relatively mainstream. This album is also a "double" in old money. I think it suffers slightly from covering too many different styles across it's 16 tracks. There are straight forward classical like pieces (these are the most successful), ambient sound effects, and whimsical throwaways. As such, as a whole it does not convey the mood or continuous aesthetic of a piece like Zeit. My favourite PCO album is their debut, Music From...

Fans of instrumental electronic music are in safe hands with the assured Boards of Canada. With only 4 full length albums over a 20 year career (Geogaddi from 2002 is officially their second not counting the excellent extended EP Twoism with which they announced themselves in 1995) they practise quality over quantity.

Spoken word samples are backed by ghostly synth melodies over down tempo hip hop beats. I always think their particular type of analogue synth music sounds vaguely out of tune with it's variations, clicks, flutters, crackles and bends; this makes it all the more organic and earthy.

When I first bought Fripp and Eno's No Pussyfooting (1973) I remember whizzing through the two side long tracks in double quick time trying to find where they changed (I had it on cassette tape). Of course they didn't change and I was left confused for a long time before realising the point of this classic ambient collaboration. Ironically later releases of the album included a half speed/double length version of one side of the album - The Heavenly Music Corporation (as well as a recording of the entire album in reverse!). I'm not sure how I feel about this. To me it devalues the original, making it seem even more random and thrown together than it did already.

Urban myth says that on release the album was accidentally played on BBC radio backwards (I have no idea how this happened, it sounds very unlikely, but I'm not surprised that the only one who noticed was apparently Brian Eno himself who phoned in to complain). 

Nevertheless with it's epic distorted Frippertronic guitar improvisations over Eno's loops and phased drones it remains an early classic of the ambient genre and entirely unexpected coming from two artists respectively members of the bands King Crimson and Roxy Music at the time. Great cover too.

Fripp and Eno recorded a second album Evening Star (1975). When later asked about a promised third album that had never materialised Fripp sarcastically replied it had already been done in the form of Eno's celebrated collaboration with David Byrne - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts which appeared in 1981 (Fripp did receive a writing credit).

Cover album this week is Nothing Changes Under The Sun by Blue States which is the stage name (or more fittingly the studio name) for producer Andy Dragazis. The music is less ambient and more chilled down tempo electronica along the lines of Zero 7, Kruder and Dorfmeister, and most of all Air. If you like Air's Moon Safari you'll love this too.

As I've said before this sort of music can run the risk of becoming wallpaper or elevator fodder. It's a fine line but the right side of the line is maintained when the melodies are as consistently good as they are here on beautiful tracks like Diamente or Trainer Shuffle or Heroes' Elegy

Hear Diamente below (with apologies to email readers for whom I don't think videos render - please click into the source blog or try this link >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC6fD_j0Cqw ):

Finally, just occasionally you just need some classical music on a dull Sunday morning, and when you need some classical, you can't get better than Debussy. I'm no expert on classical music but for me he seems to bridge the gap between traditional melodic classical music and more modern discordant 20th Century "classical" music. So you get beautiful melodies, but with originality and a modern edge. It's a win win.

Also there's not much of him as I understand (willing to be contradicted by any Debussy experts out there?). This is a big advantage in any music, but particularly classical where you have not only 400 years worth of history but also multiple copies of the same pieces. Debussy didn't write any symphonies and all his orchestral works can be entirely found on one classic double album, the famous Phillips edition:

https://amzn.to/2J2xmKX

This is so worth getting. Even if you don't think you've heard any Debussy before you will recognise some of the tracks on here. It's a beautiful record that will reward repeated listens. It's your duty to try it even if you are an outright punk rocker! It might just change your life.

[..actually classical is a definition oft misused in classical music. It refers to a particular era in music, rather than a style. So classical is a term equivalent to baroque, or romantic, or renaissance for example. But for the purposes of this blog, and most people's understanding, classical stands for all music that people generally understand and accept as "classical", ie. stuff that uses traditional acoustic wooden and brass instruments like violins and oboes and stuff and is often performed in chambers, quartets and orchestras and... you know what I mean] ... I'm glad you've cleared that up. Ed.

The album in the slot this week isn't actually this one. We have here Debussy's books of solo piano preludes. These are mostly short tracks - mostly very pleasing, although as I mention above, with an edge. It's not pure easy listening that's for sure. Some of these tracks have been made famous in ads and films like The Usual Suspects.

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