“I Advance Masked” by Andy Summers and Robert Fripp
From the 1982 album I Advance Masked

Since it is now officially summer (as of yesterday, I realize), I wanted to celebrate with a “summer” track. Unfortunately the only prog tracks I have with “summer” in the title are “Blood Red Summer” by Coheed and Cambria (which I have already featured) and Rush’s cover of the Who’s cover of “Summertime Blues.”

But I did find this music video recorded by Andy Summers and Robert Fripp for the title track from their 1982 collaboration. 1982 was an interesting year. MTV was just getting big (you know, back when they actually showed music videos), The Police were huge, and Robert Fripp was busy. Strangely, those forces came together to produce this odd artifact, seemingly heavily influenced by the title sequences of Roger Moore-era James Bond films as much as by the dancing that typically accompanies gamelan music (which itself influenced the music on the album).

This track has added significance for me, as it was a stylistic inspiration for “At the End of the Day (Is the Night),” the third track on my recent solo EP, Burnt Snow.

If you’re interested in more cheesy Robert Fripp promos from the pre- and early-MTV era, be sure to also check out this video for the title track from his 1979 solo album Exposure.