the Classic Album series highlights essential '60s and '70s albums that stand the test of time
No Pussyfooting is an album of experimental music by Robert Fripp & Brian Eno released in November 1973 on Island Records. Fripp was then at the peak of his career as leader and guitarist of King Crimson, while Eno had just left Roxy Music after two ground-breaking albums, and was yet to release any solo works. This is the album on which Brian Eno started experimenting with tape loops and delays, thus laying the groundwork for much of his later ambient work, and also for Fripp's Frippertronics. Recorded for just £12 using an innovative dual reel-to-reel tape setup, the album largely laid the groundwork for ambient and drone music, completely defying the rock conventions of its era.
Legendary BBC radio broadcaster John Peel famously played No Pussyfooting entirely backwards on his BBC Radio 1 show in December 1973. Peel aired the entire 39-minute record in reverse without noticing, turning the track "The Heavenly Music Corporation" into a slow, sludgy soundscape. Unaware of his mistake, he sat through the entire broadcast enthralled, ultimately declaring the music "magnificent" on air. He compared its brilliance to the early German electronic experiments of Tangerine Dream.
Fripp and Eno were so amused by Peel's reaction that the official 2008 remastered reissues actually included the full "backward" versions of the tracks as a tribute to his mistake.
Ultimately, No Pussyfooting was a commercial flop upon arrival, but time completely vindicated the duo. While 1973 critics called it frustratingly ahead of its time, modern retrospectives universally hail it as a foundational milestone for ambient, industrial, and post-rock music.
No Pussyfooting is available on vinyl in the Shop