ONE THOUSAND YEARS

Now here is a real swing for those who dig true instrumental prog! Trey GUNN is of course the bass player for the new KING CRIMSON and is also a very talented musician as you can clearly hear here. "1000 Years" parallels Sylvian and Fripp's - The First Day in many ways. Credits include Pat Mastelotto (Drums) and some guy named Serpentine (who has a great dark vox). What I find striking here is that no guitarist is credited and yet throughout the album appears to be full of Frippish acid laced guitar solos...I am told that these are created via Trey and his bass like Frippertronics......Amazing!!!! Songs a full in texture and sound great on the ol stereo. For those who would like a bass workout , this CD is right down your road!

Trey Gunn played the Chapman Stick on this recording and does an amazing job filling the holes with, dead-on, Fripp style guitar voicings. You'll find yourself returning to the sleeve to check if Fripp's on this. The unearthly female vocals of Serpentine send shivers down your spine. Gunn also handles some vocal chores, more spoken than sung. There is a lot of long ambient moments which slow things down a bit. Killing for London and The Screen Door and the Girl are the highlights, while the Night Air is a good opener.

If there is one thing that links all of the musicians who have played for Captain Bob in Crimson over the years, it is that they are all exceedingly clever. Trey Gunn is no exception, and his many talents are displayed very effectively on this, his debut solo album.

I bought this a while ago as a direct result of listening to Gunn's work on the Discipline label sampler (Sometimes God Hides), which was one of my earlier reviews on the site. I'm glad that I did get this, because when you feel like listening to someone expressing himself utterly freely, without the pressure of big record label expectations, and experimenting as if his life depended upon it, then this album is for you.

Of course, there are obvious similarities between this album and his parent band. For a start, the word and sound eclectic screams out at you. In addition, I cannot believe that Fripp himself did not contribute on lead guitar, so similar are the passages to his work. He, nor, indeed, anyone else, is credited, though.

Trey Gunn is a master stick bass player, and it is this instrument that is at the heart of all the weird happenings and goings on in the album. The vocals provided by Serpentine to support Gunn are also highly worthy of mention. Together, they create an eerie soundscape.

Percussion also features largely in the album. Gunn's band mate, Pat Mastelotto, provides some superbly understated drum work on the outstanding Killing For London, blending perfectly with Gunn's stick to create a morbidly fascinating rhythm. Bob Muller provides the rest of the percussion work, and a very fine job he does as well.

This is not the type of album you will want to take your partner to dance to. Nor is it one that will have you marvelling at the symphonic atmosphere, which is wholly absent.

What it will do, though, when you are in the mood for such music, is have you fascinated and interested in how a set of ambient sounds can be mixed together to set a wholly interesting and clever scene.

Rating this type of album is always difficult. It is very good, and, as I say, very clever. It is not, though, an album you will have in your disc player with any great frequency.

Therefore, I rate this album a very strong three stars. This is not just recommended for Crimson completionists, but also for those who love ambient, electronic, and eclectic prog.