ROBERT FRIPP

Here, Fripp and Trey Gunn, the very talented stick player from the most recent incarnations of King Crimson, team up with The California Guitar Trio to play some modern chamber music. To solidify the chamber music feel, there are some actual J.S. Bach pieces, as well as some original pieces in the same vein. The steel stringed acoustic guitars of the CGT, played in perfect precision, have a sound not unlike a harpsichord, and capture the mood exquisitely. Here, the Frippertronics added as washes behind the music adds depth to the pieces, and Gunn's stick adds a solid bottom to the music as well.

The only Crimson-like piece on the album is the eerie Threnody For Souls In Torment, a soundscape piece somewhat reminiscent of The Deception Of The Thrush improvs, without many of the sound effect overlays.

A solid four stars for this one.

Generally soundscapes are kind of rock ambient music played by Fripp using his guitar ( ok, plus some additional devices). It's absolutely mystical, how one can produce so many sounds and play so unusual music using guitar, not keyboards/synthesizers!

For sure, as any ambient this music is rhythmless and usually has not structure. It's more as painting in air using sounds instead of colors. More emotional pictures, that melodic or rhythmic.

Fripp plays that music for years and time to time returns to it again. "Love cannot Bear" is formally live album, but you almost can't feel it. I think, it should be described as live improvisation in ambient. Sounds are very warm, even romantic in places, all the music is around you, and you can feel kind of euforia.

For sure this music is not for everyone.And not for everyday listening. But this album demonstrates highest Soundscapes level. I believe that even unpreparde person will be attracted by all this beautiful ( but not sweet at all!) sounds!

One of the best abient album I ever heard!

Robert Fripp's End of time is a live album of more of Fripp's solo ambience & soundscapes.It shares the same premise of the early days with Brian Eno,but Fripp has evolved the concept and sound,some what.Interestingly each song is played in a different church throughout England & Estonia,one of which was is in my home town.To me this is a very interesting concept itself,it's certainly not a tour of a typical musician in his early sixties.But Fripp has never been that cliche rock star,he's one of the few older musicians who are still interested to evolve their sound & concepts.

With the large amounts of soundscapes that he has released each has always been diverse and this one especially stands out personally for me.It has an interesting atmosphere throughout,something I can't put my finger on.Perhaps,it's the venues?The music delivers a more optimistic sound as opposed to something a little darker and complicated like Eno & Fripp's "No Pussyfooting". The tour of churches made me wonder if Robert Fripp is a religious man? or perhaps Fripp is just humble?To me the music sounds like it's created by such a persona. There's nothing overpowering or demanding to listen to,it's very textured & tasteful.There are no surprises of rapid guitar work or any discordant harmony's,it simply flows with euphoric sounds which make you feel at peace.Songs such as "Evensong:Haapsalu" reminds me slightly, of Vangelis' "Blade Runner"and is probably the closest comparison I can give.

As Fripp says within the cd booklet "The churchscapes performances took place out-side the world of rock music & popular culture;and mostly outside commercial culture"That probably gives you a better idea and description then I could give you for what is in store.

Throughout the album the songs take many shapes and forms from hard rock songs to ballads and ambience which for a solo debut brings out the many sides of Fripp which we all know and love.And that is to be expected from Fripps versatility.But in this case,this can make the album feel unstable and have a lack of continuity about it.He also reuses many sounds and techniques you may recognise such as Frippertronics made famous by the help of Brian Eno which on many occasions gives you the feel of deja-vu.This isn't the only sound which you'll recognise there's also such songs as "Breathless" which could be an unofficial reprise of King Crimson's red and "Disengage" being a slightly altered Larks Tounge in Aspic II.Also a revisited version of Peter Gabriel's "Here comes the flood" For a solo debut such actions as these can't help but diminish its quality,making it feel this album is a King Crimson B side album.These are sounds which we already familiar with and for an album which remains inconsistent in genre,it never fails to bother me.So this why I rate it as an album for collectors/fans only and recommend you to hear Fripp & Eno's evening star for the experimental ambient pieces and KC'S larks tongue and Red.

There's some great ideas on the album and an amazing lineup of musicians but it doesn't hold up to his work with the mighty King Crimson or have the ground breaking ambient appeal of Fripp & Eno's No Pussyfooting.

Trey Gunn, well known for his work with King Crimson, Sylvian, John Poul Jones ect. As usualy he does a fantastic job with his Touch Warr Guitar, working it both as a Bass, and a Guitar Syntz.

Bill Rieflin, best known from his time as a percussionist in Ministry, one of the cornerstones in the Industrial Metal movement up trough the 90's, but also working as a drummer in the German Industrial band KMFDM, and as a Tour drummer in R.E.M. His drumming here is essential, not just backing the KC boys, but actualy playing with them. Knowing that a lot of this may well be improvised. Sometimes in a Jazz'y style, sometimes very experimental, allway very pressent.

Fripp combines his Soundscrape style, with his destinct leads.

All in all the album comes out as very relaxing, something that makes me just close my eyes and enjoy. but still with a lot more action than the soundscrape Albums. Sometimes it is even a bit aggressive like on "Heard, not seen". But in general it is soft and pleasent. And compared to ProjecKs, witch would be not that far away, seems to me its more soft Jazz/Rock inspired, where ProjeKts are generally more Experimental.

Even though i love this album a lot, and would like to give it 4 stars, in all honesty i dont think it will fit in ANY prog rock collection, so ill have to go with only 3.

But if you are into Fripp or Gunn, or just generaly into instrumental records like Frank Zappa, or Other kinds of instrumental Jazz/rock. You should think of it as a 4-4,5 star rating.

For me, this album is something in between. I like Fripp's work in King Crimson, in some albums, where he's a additional musician, in some KC side-projects ( as ProjeKct,etc).

His solo works are a bit different thing. Don't want to speak about his soundscapes there, but his solo ( or solo with guitar band) albums have their strong side, and weak side.

As usual, they demonstrates high guitar technique and are perfect illustrations for frippertronic sounds. (There I am speaking about strong part). But very soon you will find them repetetive or even boring. In fact, it often a combination of very effective soun/technique, but all the album consists of this drop of elixir, repeated xxxxx time.

This album, as compilation, is a bit better. There are collected frippertronic's examples from different moments, so it's a bit more variable. Part of compositions even flirting with some more pop-oriented sound (disco-frippertronics?). But in total,we have the same result again: very interesting guitar technique and song structures after third,..., fifth,.... , sevens repeat become less and less attractive.

For sure, it's not a problem for Fripp/frippertronics maniacs.

The album is a very mixed bag of different genres and styles. It really seems that Robert Fripp goes out of his way to make the album as diverse as possible. Showing off every possible angle of his talent. The above mentioned Daryl Hall originally layed down vocals on seven tracks on the album but because of legal hazzle with Daryl Hall´ management ( one Tommy Mottola) and his record company RCA his contribution was cut down to two songs. The rest of the songs appeared on the original Exposure release with re-recorded vocals by Peter Hammill ( Van Der Graaf Generator). Peter Gabriel also contributes to the album with his Here Comes the Flood in a stripped down version that beats the original IMO. The 2006 re-issue includes both the original album, a 1983 re-mix release and five bonus tracks. Some of the latter includes the original vocal tracks by Daryl Hall.

The music is in styles like rock´n´roll, pop, progressive rock and experimental sound experiments. Those looking for something that sounds like King Crimson will probably be very disappointed even though a song like Breathless does sound like an outtake from the Red (1974) sessions ( and there are a few other places on the album that reminds of King Crimson). It´s the kind of album where I´m thinking one moment that it sounds really great and the next that it sound kinda bland and uninspired. I´ll say the good outweights the bad though and a 3 star rating is deserved. It´s not a very cohesive or great album when you look at it as a whole though. More a collection of more or less interesting experiments.

That probably says something really negative about me. For the record, the last album that I found to be so soothing as I went to sleep was Robert Wyatt's Shleep. Again, that proably says something really negative about me.

The capsule description of this is that it is Fripp soundscapes combined with the menacing energy of some of his most daunting King Crimson work (Some of the Lark's Tounge in Aspic tracks, esp 1 come to mind, as does THRAKATTACK.) Some people love the soundscape stuff, some dismiss it as noodling. I happen to like it. Another review has compared this to some of the ProjeCKts releases, which would be an apt comparison as well.

Anyhow, what we have here is classic Fripp noodling (love it or hate it) combined with some great bass and stick work by Gunn and by some overly energetic percussion by Rieflin (whoever he is.) Gunn is really a co-creator here. The music would be short changed without him, and he really seems to be in sync with Fripp's vision of what they want to create. As for Rieflin, well, overly energetic describes his contributions well. Atmospherically, there is a darkness that overshadows the entire work. Some reviewers believe that they are hearing jazz influences. Those jazz influences, such as they are, have been long strained through prog, and specifically through earlier King Crimson and Fripp efforts.

I will give this three stars. It's good. But if you don't like Fripp's soundscapes, don't appreciate the ProjeCKts and don't want to hear Fripp release the monster in the music, you might be better served looking elsewhere for your prog fix.