Help....What do you consider non-essential Robert Fripp Recordings

[NewworldmanLV]

I'm looking for help as I dig into Robert Fripp music outside of King Crimson. I know he has done a lot of albums. Which do you consider the least impressive?

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

Let the Power Fall is a snoozefest

LoG
GStK
Exposure

are his 3 best

[Obscured]

Let the Power Fall is a snoozefest

And I love his Frippertronics. A lot more than his Soundscapes; Radiophonics, A Blessing Of Tears, etc.

[polmico]

I'm not a big fan of his soundscapes recordings (though do have a few) and didn't like the League of Crafty Guitarists stuff. I like and own just about everything else.

[tormato]

I never really liked the League of Gentlemen.

If you want the good League of Crafty Guitarists stuff, stay away from the official Live! album and get Intergalactic Boogie Express from DGM Live.

The Soundscapes are hit and miss for me, mostly depending on my mood.

[Progtopia]

I think one, maybe two Soundscapes albums are enough to get the idea. Crafty Guitarists never did it for me, either.

[GuitarGeek]

I actually rather like Let The Power Fall. Would have nice if he had recorded the guitar solos he played over the loops, but as it is, it works as sort of an ambient music thing.

The Soundscapes recordings are the ones I don't like as much. I have three or four of them, they all tend to start out ok, but then he kicks in the Harmonizer and you start getting all the stuff where he's using the Harmonizer to emulate of someone doing string glisses up and down the fingerboard, but with a synthesizer patch instead of the natural guitar tone. This wouldn't be too bad, except he insists on looping that stuff, and then after a couple minutes, you end up with something that just sounds like...I dunno, just turns into musical gibberish as far as I'm concerned. And then the gibberish part carries on for another 20 minutes. Oy vey! Definitely a case where one wishes one could divest the musician of some of the toys he's using.

[Werbinox]

Fripp himself might say "None. None of my recordings are essential", by which he would mean "All. All of them are."

[arabicadabra]

This is actually an interesting question. I have, on RARE occasion, really enjoyed a soundscape or two, but have always been afraid to buy a whole album of it without knowing if they had that certain quality of his that moves me. I'll be watching this thread. (I probably would ha ve said "which are the best ones?", but that's just me)

[happytheman]

I quite liked the stuff he did with Andy Summers..

[polmico]

I probably would ha ve said "which are the best ones?", but that's just me)

I have a few of the solo albums, but the soundscape albums he's done with Travis are my favs.

[Zeuhlmate]

This is actually an interesting question. I have, on RARE occasion, really enjoyed a soundscape or two, but have always been afraid to buy a whole album of it without knowing if they had that certain quality of his that moves me. I'll be watching this thread. (I probably would ha ve said "which are the best ones?", but that's just me)

I have 3 of them, and I prefer 'A blessing of tears'

[Trane]

Never found much of interest in solo Fripp (even Exposure is highly over-rated, IMHO)

I never really liked the League of Gentlemen.

If you want the good League of Crafty Guitarists stuff, stay away from the official Live! album and get Intergalactic Boogie Express from DGM Live.

The Soundscapes are hit and miss for me, mostly depending on my mood.

that's about it

I think one, maybe two Soundscapes albums are enough to get the idea. Crafty Guitarists never did it for me, either.

to be honest, even the Eno collabs are yawners

I quite liked the stuff he did with Andy Summers..

Actually, yeah... this might be as good as Fripp did outside Crimson

[Scrotum Scissor]

I quite liked the stuff he did with Andy Summers..

I agree, especially Bewitched. And the Damage coop with David Sylvian.

I think his "frippertronics" and "soundscapes" after the Fripp & Eno releases are complete rubbish from the perspective of attemptive innovation. Those two, however - are absolutely wonderful. And Exposure.

[JKL2000]

That one he did with his wife, Toyah, "The Lady or the Tiger," that was pretty bad, IMO. Or at least pretty non-essential. They did a second one too, didn't they?

[Zeuhlmate]

Fripp had a band called 'Sunday all over the world' with her and Trey Gunn.
I like it, lots of good ideas.




'The First Day' with Sylvian is as as good as any newer KC album, and better than some.

[Septober Energy]

I am a huge admirer of Fripp's music. I don't have all of his solo albums and side projects, but I have several. The ones I own that I'd deem least essential are:

Fayman & Fripp - A Temple in the Clouds
Andy Summers & Robert Fripp - Bewitched
Robert Fripp & The League of Crafty Guitarists - A Show of Hands
Fripp & Eno - Beyond Even

I don't own any of the League of Gentlemen albums, but I've never even remotely liked anything that I've heard on DGM samplers, etc.

Albums I'd strongly recommend that tend to get overlooked are:

Robert Fripp String Quintet - The Bridge Between
Andy Summers & Robert Fripp - I Advance Masked

And I'll do my usual plug for his soundscapes album At the End of Time - Churchscapes, Live in England & Estonia, 2006. Some of the soundscapes stuff is very hard to swallow, but this one is 100% beautiful from beginning to end. It's among his very best work and can be very emotionally engaging if you're patient enough to really listen.

[bRETT]

The original League of Gentlemen album is a dud for me, because it takes some good performances and kills the flow with all the spoken-word stuff. There is a later version of the album without all that, but I'd say the live LOG disc is the keeper.

[GuitarGeek]

to be honest, even the Eno collabs are yawners

Oooh, to me that's some of the best stuff he's done right there. Or at least, No Pussyfooting, side one of Evening Star, and the live thing from 75 (Paris, I think it is?) are awesome. It's been awhile since I've heard side two of Evening Star, and the "new" material on The Essential Fripp & Eno was pretty terrible. I think they did one other thing together that I still haven't heard.

[Dave (in MA)]

I have a few of the solo albums, but the soundscape albums he's done with Travis are my favs.

I wish they'd release the Discretion album to the general public. I have no interest in subscribing to a "society" to get access to it.

[Mister Triscuits]

I think they did one other thing together that I still haven't heard.

They released two albums in the 2000s: The Equatorial Stars and Beyond Even (a/k/a The Cotswold Gnomes). Both are very good--infinitely better than "Healthy Colours"--but not as magical as the '70s albums. (And Beyond Even ends with a screamingly loud jam that kind of spoils the mood.)

[Dave (in MA)]

the "new" material on The Essential Fripp & Eno was pretty terrible.

One version would have been OK, but 4 copies of the same basic track with different noises pasted in was certainly not in keeping with the album title.

[Trane]

I agree, especially Bewitched. And the Damage coop with David Sylvian.

I think his "frippertronics" and "soundscapes" after the Fripp & Eno releases are complete rubbish from the perspective of attemptive innovation. Those two, however - are absolutely wonderful. And Exposure.

Yeah, I forgot to mention the Sylvian thing.... Yeah, it's OK, but definitely anything but essentail

OK, I agree that these experimental and groundbreaking albums can somertimes age badly Sooo the fripp & Eno things might have been OK when they came out.... but I explored them in the mid-80's, so I guess I missed the hoopla... You just had to be there and then, I guess...

BTW: I don't think anymore of Eno's Ambient series either.... soporific at best...

[Zeuhlmate]

I disagree about Fripp or Enos ambient works (or his cooperation with Harold Budd) have aged badly, or that they are just soporific. Not all Enos ambient albums are over the top fantastic, and some of Fripps works are a bit redundant.
But when you spin albums of this type, it has to be on the right occasion and not in a car, etc.

Do you really experience this tune as aged badly?

[NogbadTheBad]

I like his ambient collaborations, particularly the Travis ones, and I like Damage with Sylvian a lot. The only stuff I really avoid is the Crafty Guitarist stuff.