Robert Fripp

Robert Fripp has had a long and varied SOLO career since his first forays outside of King Crimson in the early 1970s. These albums are merely the ones that I have purchased and I'm sure that there are many delights if you choose to dig.

Personally, I feel I owe Fripp a great deal as it was he who first piqued my interest in the ideas of the philosopher, Gurdjieff. Thank you, Robert.

Collaborations with Brian Eno

Robert Fripp & Brian Eno's first album, No Pussyfooting sold 20,000 copies in its first months of release in the UK...but couldn't secure a U.S. release...because it was too strange.

This technique became the basis for what Fripp would later refer to as Frippertronics.

Fripp and Eno's follow-up Evening Star was odd in that the two sides fell either side of the first release. One half was gentler...and one half wasn't!

The Drive To 1981

In late 1977 Fripp announce that he was commencing a three-pronged drive towards 1981. This involved a trilogy of work:

"...What I was trying to do in the original trilogy was to investigate the "pop song" as a means of expression...I think that it's a supreme discipline to know that you have three or four minutes to get together all your lost emotions and find words of one syllable or less (Huh???) to put forward your ideas..."

Robert Fripp, Melody Maker

1 Pop Music

There was designed to be be an interlocking series of albums with:

1 Fripp's own weird and utterly original, album Exposure, designed for:

"...tweaking the vocabulary...of rock music. It...hopefully... introduces a more sophisticated emotional dynamic than one would normally find..."

My review includes insights into Fripp's probable state of mind which many Crimson fans may find interesting

2 Peter Gabriel 2...(review coming soon) Fripp produced Peter Gabriel's second SOLO album with the curious credit: Produced by Robert Fripp for Peter Gabriel.

This was to be Gabriel's least successful SOLO album, partly because Fripp worked very differently to Gabriel, and the two diametrically opposed approaches couldn't gel, despite their long-standing friendship.

Peter Gabriel 2

Fripp also went out on the tour to promote the album, playing, at first, unseen from the wings as one Dusty Rhodes.

3 Daryl Hall of pop duo Hall & Oates fame, Sacred Songs...a curious collection, certainly different from Hall & Oates (and I'm a bit of a fan) but not really interesting enough to sustain a SOLO career at that point. There is some crossover with Exposure but the connections seem more imposed than organic. However, I do really like two tracks, the strange narrative about two lovers, Bab & Babs and the divine Earth Magic.

Sacred Songs

Hall's record company were so perturbed that they banned the release for several years and it was eventually only released in 1980. Ironically it didn't seem to hurt Daryl Hall's career at all, as that was the year that Hall & Oates began their multi-platinum run to becoming the world's best-selling-ever pop duo.

2 Frippertronics

Fripps initial experiments with Frippertronics resulted in two albums:

God Save The Queen / Under Heavy Manners &
Let The Power Fall

...and a number of others, renamed Soundscapes

3 Discotronics

Fripp's experiments with dance music were labeled discotronics and produced The League Of Gentlemen album

Collaborations with Andy Summers

While the 1980s version of King Crimson was going full pelt, Fripp also found time for two albums with guitarist Andy Summers from The Police.

I Advance Masked

I Advance Masked sold in huge quantities (good reviews + The Police were then big news). It was very much a duo, with the two guitarists experimenting with then-modern technology creating tracks that sound like soundtracks to mini-movies...and without any need to create "a statement". If I Advance Masked appears bitsy...that's because it wasn't intended as anything more.

I Advance Masked

Bewitched

Amazon critics seem to hate Bewitched but I have to admit that it's very much a favorite of mine. For this album, Summers & Fripp incorporated other players and the first half is, well, frequently poppy and fun, while the second half of the album is more "soundtrack"-ish.

I find, Bewitched is a wonderful, inventive instrumental album...and well worth having. In particular, Fripp and Summers assembled an ensemble with two bass players, creating, at times, a most unusual sound. King Crimson would do this as well with their Thrak incarnation.

Bewitched

Robert Fripp & Andy Summers working on the basic groove for

What Kind Of Man Reads Playboy

Collaborations with David Sylvian

Ex-Japan front-man first came to public notice with the music video Forbidden Colors, publicising David Bowie's movie, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. Moving in those circles, Sylvian quickly formed a friendship with Fripp which resulted in a number of collaborations. I'm providing this page as a resource only because I haven't heard these albums:

Gone To Earth

Sylvian used Frippertronics as a base for many of the songs.

Gone To Earth

The First Day

In 1992, Fripp & Trey Gunn & joined Sylvian for a tour of Japan & Italy. These works became the basis for The First Day with the addition of drums & percussion.

The First Day

Damage LIVE

When The First Day was taken on tour, the last few shows were recorded for the LIVE album, Damage.

Damage

Fripp was so impressed with David Sylvian that he actually asked him to join a new King Crimson in 1991 with what would eventually be the double-trio line-up that recorded Thrak. Sylvian refused but the pair still worked together.

Guitar Craft

Fripp has also worked extensively with his guitar teaching school and has released several albums of the results. These albums aren't for everyone but if you're interested in what 15-20 not particularly adept guitarists can do in a fortnight under the guidance of a tutor/master, then this could be for you.

Every album is different and I'm sure you can tell if you'd be interested in them via the Amazon snippets.

The League Of Crafty Gentlemen LIVE

Show Of Hands

Intergalactic Boogie Express