Customer Rating:      Summary: Revelatory Comment: While I have previously expressed some dismay at Fripp's decision to include repetitions of tracks between at least two of his Soundscape albums, I can say that owning this "repetition" is, to my ears, worth the investment. I own the vinyl and previous CD release of these tracks, and can say the remastering alone makes a significant positive contribution to the listening experience. The sound is more vibrant and richer in detail -- "fresher" may capture it.
The half-speed HMC is fun to listen to, but I found the real revelations in the backward version of SG and HMC. They don't "sound backwards," perhaps due to a lack of percussive reference points that would give that aspect away. What I found most remarkable, though, is that Fripp must have played some lines that were palindromatic, for they sound almost identical backward as forward. Besides these moments, the logic and melodies of the solos are consistent with "forward" Fripp solos, so what you end up with is a treatment of these songs (is that the word for them?) as if they were jazz standards with solos that are variations on their "themes" with inventive surprises throughout.
So by playing the recording backwards, does it still mean Fripp "played" these solos? Considerations of artistic intentions aside, I found the experience of new-yet-familiar exhilarating, and would recommend it to anyone, though especially to those who hold the original versions this music in high esteem.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Throw away your 1990 version and buy this one now Comment: Fripp's remastering of "No Pussyfooting" reveals layers of music that were never audible before. The beginning of "The Heavenly Music Corporation," which originally sounded like a drone increasing in intensity, on this remastered version becomes a symphony of guitar loops. Many of the background sounds, which were really difficult to distinquish on the original recording, are clear on this one.
The reverse version of "Swastika Girls" is fascinating in that it sounds similar, but not identical to, the original version. The reverse version of "The Heavenly Music Corporation" is so surreal it defies description. The half speed version is a bit less interesting, but it is a good ambient piece.
Overall, there is no comparison between this remastering and the 1990 release, or the tracks on "The Essential Fripp and Eno." If you've always enjoyed "No Pussyfooting," buy this release without hesitation.
Customer Rating:      Summary: A Definitive Groundbreaking Classic Finally Reissued!!!! Comment: It has been 35 years since King Crimson's Robert Fripp and the then-recently departed Roxy Music keyboardist Brian Eno joined forces to create "No Pussyfooting", an album that over the years would go down in history as one of the forerunners of what is now known as Ambient Music.
While music of this nature is now considered commonplace, back in 1973, it was quite a different story. When "No Pussyfooting" was initially released, critical reactions were quite mixed. Some didn't know what to think about an albums worth of sustained guitar lines looped through two tapes machines while others found the sounds embedded in the record grooves to be groundbreaking. Over time, the public slowly caught on to the innovative ideas heard in this album and it's now considered to be a timeless classic.
The original album contained two long tracks (one per side of the original LP). The opening track "The Heavenly Music Corporation" was recorded in August 1972 and consists soley of Robert Fripp's guitar being played through two Revox tape machines. The tape machines are manipulated by Brian Eno to create looped phrases and a massive wall of sound. The overall effect is beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Fripp would later perform similar music to this on his own coining the term "Frippertronics" to this guitar/loop technique.
The other track "Swastika Girls" was recorded one year later is more 'composed' in its over all structure. In addition to Robert Fripp's sustained lead guitar and frentic rhythmic guitar loops, Eno adds a busy synthesizer sequence to the music which repeats throughout the entire piece giving it somewhat of a base-structure.
After its initial release on CD in the early '90s, "No Pussyfooting" fell out-of-print and became a sought-after collectors item. Now in 2008, the album is available once again in its most definitive version - a remastered 2-CD edition that includes the complete original album plus the entire album played in reverse and a half-speed version of the opening track "The Heavenly Music Corporation". The reversed and half-speed versions of these tracks give the music a new dimension and offers a completely new listening perspective. While listening to the reversed version of the album, it's almost unnoticeable that the music is actually being played backwards. In fact, it almost sounds like alternate takes played forwards. As for the half-speed nearly 42-minute version of "The Heavenly Music Corporation", the music becomes a deep ambient drone and doesn't sound too different from today's artists who uses low drones as the basis for their music (think of the long-form drone works of Steve Roach or Robert Rich).
All in all, it's great to have this classic album available again. It has definitely been worth the wait. The music is as wonderful now as it was then and shows just how ahead their time Fripp and Eno were and still are. Without any hesitation, this newly remastered 2-disc edition of "No Pussyfooting" is HIGHLY recommended.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Brian Eno-No Pussyfooting Comment: If you like listening to two songs of redundancy and boredom this cd is for you. Picture placing your finger on one, maybe two keys on a synth or organ and leaving it there for 20 minutes on the first song, and 18 minutes on the second song and you've got this cd.
Customer Rating:      Summary: musical awakening Comment: I was a freshman at UCSC, which is divided into 8 separate colleges, each with its own dorms & classrooms. I was outside, at one of the colleges (Merrill) and heard this album played from a dorm room from the neighboring college (Crown), which was probably a quarter mile away.
I'd never heard anything like it.
I immediately started walking to the source of the music, hoping it would still be playing when I got there. It was.
I'm still good friends with the people I met that day in 1984.
I've returned to this album over and over.
Sunday night, I'm partipating in Unsilent Night. This album would be perfect for that.
It never gets old.
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