| Evening Star | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | December 1975 | |||
| Recorded | 1974–1975 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 47:43 | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Producer | Brian Eno & Robert Fripp | |||
| Fripp & Eno chronology | ||||
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| Robert Fripp chronology | ||||
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| Brian Eno chronology | ||||
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Evening Star is the second studio album by British musicians Robert Fripp and Brian Eno. It was recorded from 1974 to 1975 and released in December 1975 by Island Records.
Background and recording
This album's recording and the preceding seven-show European tour by Fripp and Eno marked Fripp's first output after disbanding King Crimson and his last before temporarily retiring from music (at the time thought to be permanently) to study at the International Academy for Continuous Education in Sherborne House.
Content
AllMusic described Evening Star as "a less harsh, more varied affair, closer to Eno's then-developing idea of ambient music than what had come before in (No Pussyfooting)".[1] The first three tracks are serene, gentle tape-looped guitar textures performed by Fripp and accented with treatments, synthesizer and piano by Eno. Track four, "Wind on Wind", is a short excerpt from Eno's solo project Discreet Music, released a week after Evening Star. It is not an exact duplication from that release, being mixed slightly differently. Eno had originally intended Fripp to use the material which became Discreet Music as a backing tape to play over in improvised live performances.
The second half of the album is a twenty-eight-minute piece of drone music titled "An Index of Metals", in which guitar notes are accumulated in a loop, with distortion increasing as the track progresses.
The album's cover is a painting by the artist Peter Schmidt.
Release
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B+[2] |
| Pitchfork | 8.6/10[3] |
| Record Collector | [4] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [5] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 8/10[6] |
| Tom Hull – on the Web | B+[7] |
Evening Star was released in December 1975 by Island Records.
Evening Star is the only Fripp album to be released during his brief retirement.
Legacy
Tracks from Evening Star were used as music in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Primary Phase. "Wind on Water" and "Wind on Wind" were included on the soundtrack to the 1983 film Breathless.
Track listing
All tracks written by Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, except "Wind on Wind" by Eno.
- Side A
- "Wind on Water" – 5:30
- "Evening Star" – 7:48
- "Evensong" – 2:53
- "Wind on Wind" – 2:56
- Side B
- "An Index of Metals" – 28:36
Personnel
- Robert Fripp – guitar
- Brian Eno – tape loops, synthesizer, piano
- Peter Schmidt – cover painting
References
- ^ a b Mills, Ted. "Evening Star – Fripp & Eno / Robert Fripp / Brian Eno". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
- ^ Christgau 1981.
- ^ Howe, Brian (9 January 2009). "Fripp & Eno: No Pussyfooting / Evening Star". Pitchfork. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
- ^ "Fripp & Eno: Evening Star". Record Collector. p. 89.
[A]n essential album for any modern record collection...
- ^ Considine 1992, p. 266.
- ^ Powers 1995, p. 129.
- ^ Hull, Tom (26 November 2023). "Grade List: Robert Fripp". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
Works cited
- Christgau, Robert (1981). "Fripp & Eno: Evening Star". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor and Fields. ISBN 0-89919-026-X. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
- Considine, J. D. (1992). "Robert Fripp". In DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly (eds.). The Rolling Stone Album Guide (3rd ed.). Random House. ISBN 0-679-73729-4.
- Powers, Ann (1995). "Brian Eno". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
External links
- Evening Star at Discogs (list of releases)
