Evening Star [CD]

Fripp and Eno's second album was a change from the fractured tones of No Pussyfooting. It is effectively an introduction to Eno's forthcoming Ambient music, with repeating tape loops of Frippertronics and Eno's gently entwining synths. These then have beautiful strands of Fripp's mellow and relaxed guitar lines drifting over the subtle background. The first few pieces (Wind On Water , Evening Star and Evensong) are very early "chill out music", but the final suite, "An Index of Metals" has loops of guitar distortion built layer upon layer into a much harsher tone. Fripp's distinctive guitar tone echoes some of the quieter parts of King Crimson - and Eno is, well, Eno...

What used to be side one of the LP still lulls me into a state of bliss!

If you're into meditation, or you can handle lying on your back gazing at clouds for extended periods, then you might well, like me, absolutely love this album. 'Wind on Water' starts proceedings with breathe like synth noises and rippling guitar warblings that capture the feel of the title wonderfully. It's very majestic and quite psychedelic, like an extremely slow and extended serotonin rush. And, like the elements it evokes, it can feel both soothing and menacing, being both oceanic and primal. Fripp and Eno are not faint-hearted either, putting a relatively challenging track like this first on the LP (as was in vinyl days).

'Wind on Water' is followed by the far more easily absorbed and palatable title track. 'Evening Star' is, in my opinion, a masterpiece of ambient music. Over gently plucked chords and two three-note arpeggios of guitar harmonics, Fripp solos with a tubular valve-amp-rich sustained distortion, which is somehow almost the electronic equivalent of cream and honey. The melodic content seems to centre around a single chord; what jazzers like to call 'modal'. Half way through the piece some minimal piano figures enter, with occasional resonant bass register notes, and there's a small amount of monophonic synth (like a Moomintroll lullaby), before Fripp's languid distorted guitar comes back in, managing to sound almost like a metallic cello. Sublime!

'Evensong' and 'Wind On Wind' are both short minimal pieces. 'Evensong' is dominated by Fripp's bent guitar notes, whilst Eno's almost clarinet like sonorities are foremost on 'Wind On Wind', which has a fabulously slow extended fade-out, making it even more like the ghostly touch of wind eliding over other yet more diaphanous ethers. Beautiful! In much the same way 'Wind On Wind' gently fades out, the final track, 'An Index Of Metals', takes nigh on three minutes to fade in! The title brilliantly captures the magical mix of science and art that is at the heart of the whole album: Fripp & Eno seem to be members of some odd breed of alchemical boffins, conducting outer-limit experiments in their lab-cum-studio.

About four minutes into 'An Index Of Metals', the haunting synth notes are joined by guitars that buzz and saw across the stereo field in jangling dissonant shards. If any part of this album is challenging, then this track is it. At just under half an hour it would be a marathon listen in any style, but in this eerie minimal world of electronic sound, "easy listening" it ain't. If you can imagine walking through a bleak, wasted post-apocalyptic future cityscape, devoid of organic life, and perhaps with some kind of possiby radioactive ash slowly falling like poisonous snow, a brown sun dully lighting the whole scene through shifting fogs that are shades of browns and greys, you might be some way to imagining the sonic landscape this epic track conjures up.

Some albums are great in their entirety, whilst others have stand-out tracks that make them essential. In a strange way this is both. Far and away the most accessible track is the beautiful title piece, which alone justifies the price of purchase. But in truth the whole album is absolutely superb, if not always a simple or easy listen. Certainly not appropriate to all times and moods, 'Evening Star' is nonetheless a compelling treatment of time and mood, and truly a work of art and merit. In terms of the music I'm aware of, this is amongst the best, even if it's not the stuff I would listen to the most, and further proof (to my mind at any rate) that the 1970's were more musically vigourous and healthy times than the present corporate dominated music industry (despite alleged changes due to the internet revolution). Fripp and Eno; two wise men following their own star.

Side 1 of this album is shorter tracks with a more harmonic and mellow feel. One you may recognise as the theme music for Melvyn Bragg's "The Southbank Show". But the classic piece must be "An Index of Metals" which is 28m 45s long. It has never been followed because it is a unique track. The harmonics are much more menacing and imaginative. I once had 20 Cambridge students round to my dorm. I somehow got all of them to lie still on the floor and listen to this track in its entirety. They all cooperated and were all, to the very last one, completely blown away by the experience. As such, this album is as significant as anything Mozart has ever produced. It is a milestone in music.