“I subsequently became the world’s most famous guitarist with The Police. I wanted to play with somebody else to see how I’d do, like an experiment on myself”: At the height of his ’80s success, Andy Summers needed a challenge – he found Robert Fripp

Andy Summers and Robert Fripp Looking at their Hands.

Four decades later, it’s a pairing so strange you’re tempted to write it off as a fever dream. Yet the release of a new boxset comprising 1982’s I Advance Masked and 1984’s Bewitched albums – plus 11 unheard tracks from the vaults – confirms that Andy Summers and Robert Fripp really did join forces.

As star names from the disparate worlds of stadium rock and prog respectively, The Police and King Crimson guitarists also seemed poles apart as players.