Robert Fripp - Please make him amazing for me

I was drawn to King Crimson because of my love for Yes, and was interested because King Crimson was the band that Bill Bruford left Yes to join.  As I mentioned in at least one of my KC reviews, I viewed King Crimson as a Bill Bruford side project.  Because of this my focus when listening to KC has always been more on the drums and percussion than it has been on Robert Fripp's guitar playing.  And with the earlier albums it was sort of on Greg Lake's and Jon Anderson's vocals, as well as the drum and sax work of the earlier members of the earlier incarnations.  I've never really been wowwed by the guitar work.  I know that Mr. Fripp also played the mellotron and of course he is famous for Frippertronics.  At this point I am showing my naivete in saying that I would like to "hear" which KC songs are the ones that feature the most impressive guitar work from Mr. Fripp and I am kindly asking for your assistance.  Do I just not notice his genius because instead of the guitar he is more focused on the mellotron? Or is it because his guitar doesn't sound like a guitar because of the Frippertronics? 

Originally posted by Epignosis Robert Fripp is not one of my favorite guitarists, but he is damned creative when it comes to what comes up with.  Part of that is due to his "New Standard Tuning" he began using in 1983, which makes cliche riffs and voicings all but useless. I think Fripp's best work comes alongside Belew.  They compliment each other well.  Check out The Power to Believe if you have not already.  It is an excellent record (heavy prog, really).

Hey, I was just listening to that one today. 


Edited by Slartibartfast - June 10 2009 at 19:24

If you want us to attempt to make Fripp amazing us Fripp fans have to know what you've heard and what you haven't in order to make any kind of case that will be meaningful in anyway at all.

Edited by Slartibartfast - June 10 2009 at 20:55

Originally posted by rushfan4 I realize that Mr. Fripp is a big favorite amongst many prog fans and it is not my intention to disparage him here.  I am genuinely interested in more closely listening to some KC songs to hear this guitar playing that others find so amazing so that I can hear it for myself.  Thank you for your assistance in this adventure.

Yeah, the reason Fripp doesn't so much shock as a lead guitarist is that he is so focussed on playing for the song... he doesn't go out of the way to give you a blinding solo. Particularly neat, though,

Starting on the electrics:

1) the solo on Prince Rupert's Lament off Lizard, partly because the solo itself is very expressive, and partly because he introduces it so brilliantly by tagging himself onto the mellotron earlier.
2) Fracture... Starless and Bible Black features a lot of Fripp's best work, even if it is rather difficult to get into, and Fracture is particularly interesting... little melodic runs creeping in slowly to form a cohesive complete idea... very, very intense.
3) The Night Watch is the obvious place for a plain good guitar work piece. Despite the odd intro and outro, the guitar and vocals are among the best bits of all Crimson.
4) if you've got any live Crimson material, always worth a look... Fripp's a bit less specific with his guitars there, and is consequently a bit more prone to pulling off a great solo... live versions of Providence (well, the one with the full guitar mix), Cat Food and Easy Money (I mean, that riff kicks already, but live it becomes a monster) are great. Not to mention 80s live Crimson, which overshadows the studio records.
5) The opening of Moonchild... such a gorgeous tone.

And yeah, I sort of had the same thing for a while... I think the listen where Lizard clicked was probably the decider, though I did already like his work.


Edited by TGM: Orb - June 10 2009 at 19:32

Originally posted by rushfan4 Originally posted by Slartibartfast If you want us to attempt to make Fripp amazing us Fripp fans have to know what you've heard and what you haven't in order to make any kind of case that will be meaningful in anyway at all. I have the entire Crimson studio discography.  I've just never walked away from listening to a Crimson album and said wow that was some great guitar playing.  I've said wow that was some great music, and excellent drumming and sax and mellotron playing but never guitar playing.   I don't have much of his solo work so maybe that is where I am missing out?

Then I think you've got the point.  I think the guitar in the supportive role is a most tasteful thing.

Perhaps my favorite Fripp solo is on the Neal And Jack And Me live DVD.

Fripp said Fracture is the hardest song he's ever played, and that'd be the one I'd say to listen to first.

I love his work in the "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" tracks.

If you want other Fripp stuff, here are a few songs he did as a session guitarist where he really tears it up.

Brian Eno- St. Elmo's Fire
Brian Eno- Babies on Fire
Peter Gabriel- Excuse Me
Talking Heads- I Zimbra
David Bowie- Teenage Wildlife
David Bowie- Scary Monsters

Originally posted by Atavachron and Summers/Fripp I Advance Masked

Horrible, horrible album.  It turned me into a fan of The Police.

Seriously, if it had not been for that album I would never have checked in to The Police.   Which, by the way, I find Summer's work on Synchronicity to be very heavily Frippian.  Frippertarian?  Frippnotistic?

Also if you don't have a low tolerance for popistic stuff, you might find his work on Darryl Hall's Sacred Songs interesting.  I didn't discover that one until early in this decade.

What I like about Fripp's style the most is his ability to be heaving hitting and to go atmospheric.


Edited by Slartibartfast - June 10 2009 at 21:34