FIVE ODD BUT RECOMMENDED ALBUMS FROM KING CRIMSON’S ROBERT FRIPP
King Crimson’s very early music, except for The Court of the Crimson King, has always eluded me. I have Islands and like it but I never could relate to Lizards or In the Wake of Poseidon. I do now have Lizards and listen to it off and on and it is not unlistenable by any stretch. I do now have some of their other early material on a compilation and am trying it out little by little. I cannot say I dislike it but I am not drawn much into excessive strings and wood winds in most rock endeavors. In any case, they moved towards a heavy textured and complicated sound with Fripp’s guitar becoming more prominent and made three exceptional albums in 1973 and 1974 called Larks Tongue in Aspic, Starless and Bible Black and Red respectively. By the time Red was produced the always revolving line up had shrank to the power trio of Robert Fripp, Bill Bruford and John Wetton. It was a powerful album and one wonders what might have come from the three had the band not suddenly dissolved. But dissolve they did and would not record again until 1981’s dazzling Discipline under a new line up of sheer virtuosos.
After the demise of King Crimson Fripp went in to three years of retirement from the music industry, though not from personal musical experimentation. When he decided it was time to ease himself back in the word of music in the form of guitarist and producer he worked with a series of often eclectic musicians on three different but similar albums that would be known as the MOR Trilogy. These albums were Peter Gabriel’s 2nd untitled solo album (sometimes called Peter Gabriel II or Scratch because of the bizarre cover art), Daryl Hall’s (yes, the same Daryl Hall of Hall and Oats) fist solo effort and then Fripp’s first solo album in 1979 (some sites cite the album as being released in 1978, but I am sure the release was April of ‘79) called Exposure. On these albums Fripp not only worked as guitarist but producer and sound designer as well, employing his dual delayed tape loop system called Frippertonics to full effect. This was something he began to develop when he worked with Brian Eno in the early seventies but did little with inside the structure of King Crimson. I have a separate post attempting to explain Frippertronics in the works and will leave the matter mostly closed for the time and go on to describing not only the MOR Trilogy but two other curious experimental Fripp put out during the first half of the 80’s.
One is God Save the King with The League of Gentlemen and the other is a hauntingly wonderful record called Let the Power Fall which is nothing but looped guitar notes on two tape recorders slightly delayed and manipualted. There are no keyboards. The single guitar notes are layered one over the other again and again until it creates something you have simply never heard before. These two albums are expansions on a super rare (though I used to own it on vinyl a million years ago) album called God Save the Queen/Under Heavy Manner released in 1981. But no need to discuss that album in depth since GSTK and LTPF are expanded versions of that unique album’s A and B sides. The A side being bouncy and complex, “pop jazz rock” and the B side being a taste of the lush Frippertronics that would become LTPF.
A strange thing about the first four Peter Gabriel solo albums is that none of them have names or are numbered in any way. They are all simply titled Peter Gabriel. This album is either called Gabriel II or Scratch. Considered by some fans to be his strangest album and the least accessible it holds an odd position for Gabriel enthusiasts. The album begins to show Gabriel moving further away from what he was doing with the latter Genes and sprinkled here and there are signs of where he will be exploring in the future. The album is sort of stuck in the middle but is not really defined by either Gabriel’s past or future works. With Fripp’s production and guitar work the album is filled with tight, edgy rock and roll sounds that no other Gabriel album has in such abundance. There are excellent samplings of Frippertronics (similar in style to the type on Bowie’ Heros album) and some good guitar solos as well. There are some airy, forlorning sounds on songs like Mother of Violence. The album also contains a version of Exposure (the song) here that differs from the one on Fripp’s solo album and this one with Gabriel’s low moaning voice may be more suitable to most listeners than the screeching psycho vocals (by some one unknown to me, maybe Daryl Hall or even Gabriel or another person) on the Fripp album. I will be honest, the only Peter Gabriel album I ever really enjoyed was So. I liked what was going on with Genesis with The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and his solo work departs from that very much. But I do like this album. It has some of his old style in it and Fripp’s production and playing provides a unique sound for Gabriel though maybe it is not something that would benefit it on a regular basis.
DIY
On the Air
Mother of Violence
(The last Peter Gabriel selection here really contains no actual electric guitar work from Fripp though he produced the song. I just think it is a nice little song with some good vocals and piano playing from Gabriel)
What a strange though revealing departure for essentially teenie bopper and early MTV icon Daryl Hall, of Hall and Oats, was his first solo album Sacred Songs. In fact the album is so out of character that his then record company sat it on the shelf for years worried about its lack of pop radio exploitability. Therefore it winds up being the last of the MOR Trilogy released though it was the second one recorded. And what is more amazing is that the combination of Hall and Fripp is genuinely exciting and they made on this album some great rock songs and curious music. Hall, despite his pop affinities, has a strong and dynamic voice and it plays off Fripp’s catchy, choppy riffs perfectly, and giving Fripp a challenge. There are Frippertronics galore on the album and the songs have a sort of darkness to the lyrics that contrast with the often happy go lucky music. I have not heard this album in years but it is a nice little piece of music I wish I could get my hands on again. Newer releases contain the vocal pieces that are also on Fripp’s Exposure. (NOTE: I have since reacquired this album and it is as enjoyable as it ever was to me).
To further add a sinister twist to Hall’s otherwise bumble gum image the album was inspired by his serious studies into Aleister Crowley at the time. Hall owns some autographed manuscripts of Crowley books and the strange hand gestures all over the album are symbolic occult signs though they just look like Hall being cute. Don’t ask me how it is that I know this. One of my phases.
Fripp’s playing is more contained and controlled here, no doubt accommodating Hall’s pop sensibilities for tight structured arrangements. His riffs and solos are not all over the place like on his solo venture nor are they secondary to commanding Peter Gabriel’s musical concepts on PG II. The solos are classic Fripp. Full of zest and energy and even some humor. The album shows a side to Hall that most people never get see and it is too bad. I never liked Hall and Oats much but he released this album and another solo effort called Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine that are really good pop rock albums. This is an album you should try out if you can find. Even if you do not like Hall’s work from the 80’s you may enjoy this catchy, brooding, witty, moody little excursion into artsy pop rock . Unlike PG II and Exposure which took me numerous listenings to digest this album I got into from the first track and it was easy to just let it go from there. Perhaps the best album of the Trilogy though the least well known.
Why Was It So Easy
Don’t Leave Me Alone With Her
I picked up the album Exposure on vinyl in the late 80’s in San Antonio in the cut out bin at the little record store across the street from me. CDs were just beginning to appear here and there and vinyl was beginning to go the way of the dinosaur. I had no idea who Robert Fripp was or for that matter who King Crimson were. I knew the song 21st Century Schzoid Man and that was about it. I had little taste back then for art rock. What attracted to the album was this nerdy looking guy no the cover in a suit that looked more like a literature professor or stockbroker. I was only out $2.99 if I did not like itand I remember I also bought Metallica’s Garage Days Revisited the same night. I heard Exposure later that week and became a believer (but of what I did not yet know). I loved the record, or at least the A side, and it has remained one of my favorite records despite the flaws and problems with it.
For King Crimson fans who had waited since 1974 for something from their guitar guru Fripp this 1979 album must have been a real surprise, if not genuine let down. While there are a couple Crimsonesque moments such as Breathless the rest of the album is something new and adventurous for Fripp. At the beginning of side A is a joke (I assume) about playing some new things that “might be commercial” but there is not a commercial moment on the album with the possible exception of a rendition of Peter Gabriel’s Here Comes the Flood.
He is joined by a host of talents that include Gabriel, Daryl Hall, Terre Roche (of The Roches) and future King Crimson bassist Tony Levin, as well as Brian Eno, Phil Collins, Peter Hammill and Syd McGuiness who was the guitarist for The World’s Most Dangerous Band of the David Letterman show fame. The guitar playing ranges from hard and fast to airy and melodic. There are his signature painstakingly intricate rhythm riffs and heavy thudding chords. There are also ample amounts of well crafted ambient Frippertronics, the most on a record since his work with Eno in the early 70’s. And while a valid criticism is that the album is all over the road it is also a special quality as well.
It came out at a time when punk was becoming New Wave and there is that sort of New Wave/Punk feel to some of it. Probably only for Fripp fanatics and maybe less accessible than even Gabriel’s contribution to the MOR Trilogy it is nonetheless an album with a cult following (Rolling Stone readers rate it with an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars, and they are a picky lot to satisfy!)and it really stands alone in Fripp’s huge discography as a brilliantly, quirky and unique rock album. I will admit other than the song Exposure and Here Come the Flood I have never liked the B side too much. It is as if by that side I have had it with the lack of a theme that usually permeates a Fripp work. The songs are short and on the one hand that makes them easy to consume, but then you also have simply too many little strange things to sample and it is hard to do. But what I sampled I like very much and still listen to the piece every now and then. What is interesting is that his next solo album is the one that garners him the title of genius frequently and yet it is as far away from Exposure as Pluto is from the Sun.
Cigarette
North Star
Let the Power Fall was released in 1981, the same year that the superb King Crimson Discipline was released. Crimson came back with a new line up and new sound led by frontman Adrian Belew who also shared guitar duties with Fripp, and shared them well. Old Crimson die-hards were as taken back with Discipline’s display of jazzy, guitar virtuoso acrobatics as they were with Exposure’s lack of solid visionary direction, or any direction whatsoever. Belew’s singing style matched his wild guitar technique and there seemed little to compare to the old King Crimson of yore.It seemed Fripp had slipped into a cocoon for years and re-emerged as something other than a Crimson butterfly.
Add to all of this the ultra-minimalist “songs” on Let the Power Fall and you can see why Fripp lost a lot of old devoted followers, while picking up a whole new generation at the same time. The album is not light listening and is pure experimentation on Fripp’s part into pure Frippertronics, or his use of two Revox tape recorders to produce loops of prerecorded single guitar notes and running the machines at a slight delay with one another. Of course there are in fact more than two loops occurring here and I am not sure what the full technique is that is going on but there are definently more than two to three or four guitars performing. This all predates digital recording and what happens here would evolve later in Fripp’s Soundscapes. Soundscapes are the next extension of Frippertronics done on digital equipment and allowing for four loops to play at one time with varying degrees of delay.
01 (that’s the actual title)
He would use guitar synthesizers on Soundscapes and for the most part I never cared for those albums. I had a couple and sold them off later. I do like the Soundscapes as lead ins to their live songs but as full listening they were grueling, even for me, a Fripp devotee in many aspects. ( I have since this essay, written some time ago but kept in the locker, become more interested in Fripp’s Soundscape recordings and listen to a couple often while working online, much to my wife’s chagrin).
The process on Let the Power Fall Fripp is simple and as minimal as you can get, looping single guitar notes one over the other until they build into a thick washing wall of sound that is almost religious in the experience. It is similar to what he did with Brian Eno on No Pussyfooting and Evening Star but it is stripped down to barest essentials here. Not only that, but the performance is completely done on electric guitar rather than the Ambient instrument of choice which is some sort of keyboard.
Like Exposure there is nothing else like this album in the Fripp catalog but for different reasons. This was Fripp utterly removed from the rock world and doing his own thing and obviously not concerned with commercial viability whatsoever. He also seemed to putting into the album an expression of personal beliefs or philosophies that often come with musicians who do this type of music, though I am sure what all those beliefs are. He expresses this stuff in very difficult and pedantic writings that are available on the net at places like
http://www.elephant-talk.com/index.html
where you can read his diary. Eno was similar with his personal beliefs and designed the Oblique Strategies Cards, based on the Chinese I Ching. They were based on some theory of randomness and coincedence being able to supply solutions to problems when logic and reason become frozen, or something. The “worthwhile dilemmas” are worded as musical problems but I assume the card’s solutions can be universal. For a peek at the online version and to select a random strategy go to:
http://stoney.sb.org/eno/oblique.html
But I think you need the real deck (which can be purchased in the 5th edition now) to understand what the hell is going on.
Well, in any case, whatever the inspiration is for doing this stuff is the result can be, in this case certainly is, marvelous. Again, as with all things Frippian, this is not for everyone and I recommend this listening venture with warning. I will post a link to a sample in a few more posts. If you like minimalist music you may like it or you may not if you expect Philip Glass or Steve Reich. Please check back in a few posts ( I plan on shifting gears and getting away from art rock and minimalist music soon) for a link to a sample. The album was an extension of the B-side to a record released in 1980 called God Save the Queen/Under Heavy Manners (so far unavailable on CD I believe). Another curious album came out in 1985 called God Save the King, and it was an extension of the A side.
Released in 1985 at the time the “Discipline line-up of King was breaking apart God Save the King is one of the most spirited Fripp releases ever. Whereas Exposure was Fripp delving into New Wave/Punk and Let the Power Fall was an experiment in 40 minutes of pure Frippertronics, God Save the Queen can only be described as Fripp doing disco/techo. He performs with The League of Gentlemen (a term for the band used while touring with the 60’s band Giles, Giles and Fripp) and from what I understand this was all recorded in about 1981 and, as I said, appeared as the A side to the album Under Heavy A Manners/God Save the Queen. It was released as an entire album with extra tracks after Crimson split up again, not to reunite until 1995’s underrated Thrak album.
I had the album version once and the CD version differs in some ways. The most significant change is the addition of a lead guitar over Zero of the Signified from the original Under Heavy Manners version. I have to admit that I liked it better without the solo. Fripp appeared for one song on The Talking Head’s fear of Music album and David Byrne appears here and does some really manic vocals on Under Heavy Manners (“Trumpets! I hear trumpets”). The album is full of life and disco zest and even humor. The guitar playing is in the style of the Discipline/Beat/Three of a Perfect Pair albums without Adrian Belew’s cosmic effects over top of them or Bill Buford’s complex drumming.
Under Heavy Manners
Heptaparaparshinokh
Inductive Resonance
The songs consist chiefly of instrumentals performed on one guitar, bass, drums and organ. There are no grand visionary experiments or heavy Red type chords (a song that would reappear on Thrak) but rather simple, brisk almost jazzy performances. Fripp’s playing sounds almost cheesy to the ear untrained in Fripperisms, but the albums contains some of his wildest and most elaborate playing from that period, or maybe from any period. The rhythm section plays it simple and direct with a disco dance groove over which Fripp extrapolates amazing runs and riffs of high technical precision but without all the heart stopping time changes and tonal dissonance one would associate with King Crimson. It is a fun album with a pink cover. If you are a King Crimson fan and do not have this album, get it. If you are not, well check back soon and I will post a sample, but like all of the albums I reviewed here it is not for everyone and I admit it. Some people dismiss Fripp as a pretentious bore and others seem him one of the very few true genius’ in rock music. I think you know where I fall and I hope that this post peaks your curiosity about the man and his work. And if it does not trust me, you will hear and read more of him in the future here at The Uranium Café so you had better just buck up and deal with it.
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