Category: Andy Summers & Robert Fripp

Andy Summers & Robert Fripp – I Advance Masked (1982)

posted by albums-update

I Advance Masked is a 1982 album by English guitarists Andy Summers and Robert Fripp. It is the pair’s first of two album collaborations and it consists of 13 instrumental tracks.

Summers and Fripp had met in Bournemouth in the early 1960s. Summers grew up in the town and was at the time the guitarist of the Zoot Money Big Roll Band. Fripp was attending the Bournemouth and Poole College, where he had enrolled to study economics, economic history and political history. When Fripp and his band the Majestic Dance Orchestra secured their first regular gig at the Bournemouth Majestic Hotel, they replaced Zoot Money and Andy Summers who had just moved to London.

Fripp and Summers remained friends over the years, and as soon as they had a break in the touring and recording schedules of their respective bands, King Crimson and The Police, they met for some jams that eventually led to an album. Fripp and Summers recorded at the Arny’s Shack studio in Parkstone, Dorset. According to Summers, the album was “a synthesis of two guys who grew up playing guitar, heard the Beatles, listened to jazz, have been influenced by Oriental music and Steve Reich, but still happen to be playing in a rock context.

Every track started the same way, just two guitars. On some of them I played a little bass or put on a bit of percussion or string synthesizer. There are no drums but you don’t miss them. Some of it is very accessible and some is very avant-garde”. The cover painting is by American pop artist James Rizzi. The title track was released as a single with “Hardy Country” on the flip side.

Many a guitar fan would have predicted that a summit between legendary guitarists Andy Summers (the Police) and Robert Fripp (King Crimson) would result in a guitar solofest. But the music on their first collaboration together, I Advance Masked, stresses guitar textures and moods over indulgent soloing. Although the recording sessions weren’t entirely enjoyable for Summers (who was experiencing marital problems at the time), some very beautiful music can be found on the resulting album. The music for the track “Girl on a Swing” does an excellent job of conveying the song’s title in one’s mind, and the duo’s guitars weave wonderful polyrhythmic guitar lines throughout “China — Yellow Leader.”

“The Truth of Skies” is an atmospheric piece, created by a wash of keyboard sounds and guitar dissonance, while “New Marimba” would have sounded right at home on an early-’80s King Crimson album. I Advance Masked has a dreamlike quality to it, and is definitely not typical rock music. It’s highly recommended to fans of these two great and original guitarists.

Track listing

  1. I Advance Masked – 5:14
  2. Under Bridges of Silence – 1:41
  3. China – Yellow Leader – 7:09
  4. In the Cloud Forest – 2:30
  5. New Marimba – 3:38
  6. Girl on a Swing – 2:03
  7. Hardy Country – 3:00
  8. The Truth of Skies – 2:07
  9. Painting and Dance – 3:24
  10. Still Point – 3:08
  11. Lakeland/Aquarelle – 1:43
  12. Seven on Seven – 1:38
  13. Stultified – 1:25

All tracks are written by Andy Summers and Robert Fripp.

Personnel

  • Robert Fripp – electric guitars, Moog and Roland synthesizers, Roland guitar synthesizer, Fender bass, percussion
  • Andy Summers – electric guitars, Moog and Roland synthesizers, piano, Roland guitar synthesizer, Fender bass, percussion

Technical personnel

Notes
Released: 1982
Recorded: September 1981 and May 1982 Studio Arny’s Shack, Parkstone, Dorset; Island Studios, London
Genre: Avant-garde, ambient
Length: 38:43

Label – A&M Records