''Bewitched'' is the second and final collaboration album between English guitarists

Andy Summers Andrew James Summers (born 31 December 1942) is an English guitarist best known as a member of the rock band the Police. Prior to joining the Police, Summers had been a member of several bands during the 1960s, including Zoot Money's Big Roll ...

and

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is an English musician, composer, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session mu ...

, released in 1984 by

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

. As with its predecessor, '' I Advance Masked'' (1982), it contains

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

s. It contrasted with ''I Advance Masked'' by being more

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

-oriented. Summers believes that ''Bewitched'' instead focuses more specifically on the guitarists "meeting on a different mountain and learning how to work together. So much of guitar playing in this sort of situation is human psychology. How do I get the very best out of Robert Fripp in the studio? And we did it. It’s a balanced record." The only single from the album, "Parade", was supported by a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

but it failed to chart. Summers described the finished album in 2024 as "sort of ahead of its time."

Legacy

John Walker and Mark Fleischmann believed that ''Bewitched'' proves that Summers was not comparable to

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

, and that resultingly the album is inferior to Fripp's 1970s albums with Eno. They criticised Summers for " hickeningthe mix with

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

muck, leaving little solo space for himself or Fripp, who co-wrote only half the material on Bewitched; the rest is Summers' alone. Maybe they were too busy toying with the

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

trappings that dominate the record to bother playing much guitar." In his

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review, Greg Prato noted that this new album of instrumentals was "much more rock-oriented" than the texture-focused ''I Advance Masked'', adding that it was originally intended to be more

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

, with the duo intending to record calypso and

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, and h ...

-style

Tex-Mex Tex-Mex cuisine (derived from the words ''Texas'' and ''Mexico'') is a regional American cuisine that originates from the culinary creations of Tejanos, Tejano people. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern ...

music. Prato praised the completed album for its strong guitar work, noting that Summers and Fripp "insert challenging sections into their songs (such as the 7/4 time signature in 'Maquillage'), without making them seem like an obvious attempt to impress fellow musicians. Although '80s-sounding

electronic drums Electronic drums are a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion sound ...

are primarily used for backbeats (such as the track 'Train'), it doesn't take away from the album's charm." ''Bewitched'' was one of several two-man collaborative albums from the mid-1980s to feature

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

s and heavy

overdubbing Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio Music track, tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto o ...

, alongside

Fred Frith Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as a founding member of the English avant-rock group Henry ...

's and

Henry Kaiser Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882 – August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known for his shipbuilding and construction projects, then later for his involvement in fostering modern American health care. Prior to World War II, ...

's '' Who Needs Enemies?'' (1983),

Robert Quine Robert Wolfe Quine (December 30, 1942 – May 31, 2004) was an American guitarist. A native of Akron, Ohio, Quine worked with a wide range of musicians, though he himself remained relatively unknown. Critic Mark Deming wrote that "Quine's eclect ...

's and

Fred Maher Frederick J. Maher is an American drummer, music programmer and record producer. He was a member of the bands Massacre (1980–81), the Dance, Material, Scritti Politti, and has recorded and toured with Lou Reed. In 1984 he released ''Basic'', ...

's ''

Basic Basic or BASIC may refer to: Science and technology * BASIC, a computer programming language * Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base * Basic access authentication, in HTTP Entertainment * Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film ...

'' (1984) and

Bill Frisell William Richard Frisell (born March 18, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist. He first came to prominence at ECM Records in the 1980s, as both a session player and a leader. He went on to work in a variety of contexts, notably as a participant ...

's and

Vernon Reid Vernon Alphonsus Reid (born 22 August 1958) is an American guitarist and songwriter best known as the founder of the rock band Living Colour. Reid was named No. 66 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's 2003 list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Ti ...

's '' Smash & Scatteration'' (1985).

Track listing

All tracks written by

and

. # "Parade" – 3:02 # "What Kind of Man Reads Playboy?" – 11:10 # "Begin the Day" – 3:38 # "Train" – 4:34 # "Bewitched" – 3:54 # "Tribe" – 3:29 # "Maquillage" – 2:18 # "Guide" – 2:34 # "Forgotten Steps" – 4:02 # "Image and Likeness" - 1:32

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1984 collaborative albums A&M Records albums Robert Fripp albums Albums produced by Robert Fripp Andy Summers albums Instrumental duet albums Synth-pop albums by English artists