The Not-So Odd Couple
When Andy Summers teamed up with King Crimson’s Robert Fripp at the dawn of the 80s, it afforded The Police guitarist the chance to rediscover a musical mojo left wanting as a result of phenomenal mainstream success. With these collaborative efforts now newly compiled, along with a mini album of lost recordings, Summers and Fripp look back on the sessions that would embrace avant-garde improvisation, state-of-the-art guitar technology and a bold attempt to fuse both the “out-there” and the “accessible”.
Words: Rob Hughes Images: DGM Archive
Andy Summers and Robert Fripp: not the odd couple you’d imagine.
By October 1980, The Police were fast becoming the biggest band on the planet. Already hugely successful across Europe and the Southern Hemisphere, the trio’s major breakthrough in the States was triggered by new albumZenyatta Mondatta, housing infectious singlesDon’t Stand So Close To MeandDe Do Do Do, De Da Da Da.
Yet conquering the mainstream also brought a degree of frustration for Andy Summers. When their tour hit Munich, the guitarist sat down in his hotel room and wrote a letter to Robert Fripp.
“I’d been in the band for a few years and I wanted to try something else, musically, just to prove that I existed outside of the framework of The Police as a musician,” Summers explains today. “I’d really loved the Roches album [1979’s The Roches, produced by Fripp], especially Robert’s guitar-playing on it, so it occurred to me to get in touch.”
Fripp was then involved with The League Of Gentlemen. And while it proved a short-lived affair, his sights were set on something more ambitious: a new “first division” rock ensemble that would eventually lead to a fresh iteration of King Crimson. For the immediate future though, Summers’ suggestion of a two-way collaboration was attractive.