Robert Fripp
The guitarist’s solo musical explorations away from King Crimson documented over 32 discs. By John Bungey.
★★★★ Exposures 1977-1983 DGM/PANEGYRIC. CD+BR+DVD
WHILE SOME artists are known as masters of the three-minute single, Robert Fripp has become the doyen of the deepdive multi-disc box set. Sets such as Thrak
Box, The Road To Red and 1969 have documented in exhaustive, occasionally exhausting, detail the long-ago doings of the adventurous, virtuosic and slightly uptight musicians who have laboured under the banner of his band, King Crimson.
Now Fripp’s archaeology unit turn their attention to the guitarist’s solo work created in and around one of Crimson’s regular interregnums. Three DVDs, four Blu-Ray audio discs and 25 CDs document the angelic shimmerings of his patented Frippertronics, three solo LPs and the self-described “second-division new wave dance band” The League Of Gentlemen. Outtakes, remixes, rarities and the occasional unreleased track will call to the completist’s wallet.
The key work is Fripp’s first solo album, the ground-breaking and sometimes stunning Exposure. “Solo album” is in fact a misnomer for an artist whose best music generally comes in collaborations. Here, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Peter Hammill and Daryl Hall all feature on songs that veer between sublime balladry and hairy avant-rock. In between come odd snatches of conversation and Frippian
guitar. The abrupt changes of mood and dynamics sometimes make for a jarring listen but there are moments of brilliance, with Gabriel’s Here Comes The Flood and attendant Frippertronics forming a stunning closing suite.
The music is presented here in multiple mixes and includes the album as originally planned, with much more of Daryl Hall’s voice – his management objected, fearing it might hinder the ascent of Hall & Oates’ chart-friendly grooves. Certainly, having one main vocalist gives Exposure greater coherence. The outtakes don’t add a lot to the story.
There are sonorous Frippertronics on solo album No. 2, God Save The Queen/
Under Heavy Manners, and a typically fidgety vocal from David Byrne as Fripp tries out “discotronics” over a motorik beat. It’s back to ethereal guitar moodscapes on LP No. 3, Let The Power Fall.
The League Of Gentlemen are a lot of fun. If the quartet had a couple of B-52’s singing over the top, they could really have been onto something. Tunes such as Trap are remarkably eloquent for what was a short-lived road band and hint at King Crimson to come. Live tracks and outtakes offer more of the same.
Elsewhere comes a vast disgorging of Frippertronics, live and in the studio (68 hours on the Blu-Rays!). Some are dramatic and densely detailed, others, however carefully conceived, coalesce into affable ambient ear balm.
As Fripp has said in the past, no one is forcing anyone to buy such a headbogglingly encyclopaedic test of loyalty – and, musically, there is little new in this beautifully presented doorstopper that super-fans really need. That, of course, will in no way stop them getting in their order.