Music Arcades: Andy Summers and Robert Fripp: Bewitched

In case you were wondering about this unlikely pairing, Messrs Summers & Fripp have a shared history in the Bournemouth/Dorset music scene of the mid '60s. For a decade, I guess, Fripp was the one who 'went on to be famous' and then Summers had that chance meeting on a train that led to him leapfrogging his old mucker, bigtime.

The Summers & Fripp collaboration overlapped with the incarnation of King Crimson that brought us Discipline and Three of a Perfect Pair. It always seemed like a side project, a diversion, a bit of mucking about — Summers' record label was probably willing to indulge him, given how much money he'd earnt them — but it's not at all bad. Comparisons are invidious etc etc, but I rate it above Three of a Perfect Pair, though below the wonderful Discipline. Several tracks feature of the great bass playing of Sara Lee from The League of Gentlemen and Gang of Four, part of the great tradition that includes Kims Deal and Gordon, and Britta Phillips. In fact the playfulness and whimsy of the album makes it a kind of companion to The League of Gentlemen, even though Summers has the larger share of writing credits.

It's tempting, and not too difficult, to work out which guitar is Summers and which is Fripp when listening, but the success of the album is that this quickly becomes beside the point, as the whole is more interesting than the parts. Here's a fantasy band I'd like to hear: Summers and Fripp on guitar, Lee on bass, and Bruford on drums.

I thought I already owned both Summers & Fripp albums. It turns out I don't; but I will soon.