Cross & Fripp re-record 'Starless' with extra music!

[Rufus]

Crimson mainman Robert and ex-member David to launch album based on 1974 track
King Crimson mainman Robert Fripp and ex-member David Cross have recorded an album exploring classic track Starless.

Entitled Starless Starlight, the eight-piece work is based on a melody Cross wrote for the original, which appeared on Red in 1974. Fripp recorded two improvised takes in 2006 and Cross has reworked them and added violin parts.

Cross says: “It’s a piece in which we all managed to express ourselves and get our personalities across. This little theme that Starless Starlight is based on has a kind of journey, and it emerges different but still surviving. I’ve always been very impressed with that."

He continues: “Somehow the piece manages to embody some very simple ideas – quite romantic and sentimental, but at the same time angry and dark.”

Starless Starlight is released via Noisy Records on May 4. Cross recently completed work on a David Cross Band album and he's working with former Van Der Graaf Generator multi-instrumentalist David Jackson.

Starless Starlight tracklist

1.Starless Starlight Loops
2.In The Shadow
3.Shine And Fall
4.Starless Theme
5.One By One, The Stars Were Going
6.Fear Of Starlight
7.Starlight Trio
8.Sure Of The Dark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=groigOGcq2g

[Splicer]

So it's violin soloing over Soundscapes?

[calyx]

Misleading, dare I say dishonest, thread title. Probably an interesting album, but the genesis of this project clearly doesn't amount to "Fripp & Cross re-record Starless with extra music". PR bullshit of the worst kind.

[A. Scherze]

PR bullshit of the worst kind.

Wow. Over-react much??

[Dave (in MA)]

Wow. Over-react much??

He should get Holdsworth to add some solos.

[notallwhowander]

...and add three drummers!

[calyx]

Wow. Over-react much??

Yeah, probably. I just wish the thread title weren't lifted straight from said PR.

[zombywoof]

Yeah, this is pretty dishonest, misleading PR work.

[A. Scherze]

Yeah, this is pretty dishonest, misleading PR work.

Misleading? Well ... OK, but, mildly, not wildly.
Pretty dishonest? Not really.
PR BS of the WORST kind? <<-- This is a dinosaur crap pile compared to the mouse dropping of the thread title.

[calyx]

PR BS of the WORST kind? <<-- This is a dinosaur crap pile compared to the mouse dropping of the thread title.[/SIZE][/FONT]

Could you please argue further ? If you thought I was way out of line with my appreciation, I'd like to hear your arguments.
My reaction was a mixture of annoyance with yet another example of the fundamentally deceiving nature of PR communication, and the fact that the OP was using a verbatim quote from the PR as thread title, where I would expect PE discussions to rise above that level.

I said "PR of the worst kind" because when the nature of a work is so grossly distorted from the truth, it amounts to gratuitous lying. Fripp sent a few soundscapes from 8 years ago for Cross to play around with. I don't expect the result of that to be uninteresting or dishonorable, but to see it presented as Fripp and Cross 'reuniting' to re-work and expand "Starless" is quite a bit too much distortion of the truth for my taste. That's all.

[zombywoof]

^ Agreed

[Rufus]

Sounds like this may be a poor seller ?

[rcarlberg]

Just another sterling example that Fripp is musically bankrupt.

[Man In The Mountain]

It's May 1st, not April 1st.

[Haruspex Carnage]

Just another sterling example that Fripp is musically bankrupt.

Eh...they have 3 new songs in the pipeline...plus Harrison is orchestrating over a dozen new drum performances for the Euro tour according to P@.

FWIW though i think this release is pretty lame and seems more of a David Cross cash-in than anything else...can also ANYONE confirm for me if he's IN Stickmen now or just guesting?

[bondegezou]

Live launch event in London with David Jackson, Yumi Hara et al.: http://www.thebedford.co.uk/EventVie...b-d1fa99a0a5f2

Henry

[Thebigdipper]

There is much less to this than meets the eye, I suspect...

If it's good, then it's good. Their continual referencing back to Fripp is somewhat tiresome and makes me suspicious. Is he going to the launch or playing?

[Nijinsky Hind]

But.... Its got Star Power!

I will not begrudge this bunch for wanting another day in the sun... Lots of great music from the Crim family over a lifetime... You never know, I want to hear it. Musicians gotta music! But the still photos of Fripp behind David playing the violin reeks of gimmickry.

I might add that Starless is one of the most versatile and beautiful compositions on the planet... Lends itself well to a classical approach, listening to the loop video it really sounds good. Constructing a masterpiece album from the one song (starless) seems like a very good idea now that I think about it.... In fact, it seems to me that many Crimson songs could be built upon in this manner.... An entire album of the song "islands" with Mel Collins for example.

[Paulrus]

I will not begrudge this bunch for wanting another day in the sun... Lots of great music from the Crim family over a lifetime... You never know, I want to hear it. Musicians gotta music!

And it's David Cross, who I think has earned some love given how he was pushed out of KC in '74. Plus he HAS produced some excellent work since then (the Exiles album, for example) so anything that motivates him to return to active duty is fine with me. Especially if it has Fripp's tacit blessing and even minimal participation. And especially if it opens the door to future activity.

[bondegezou]

There is much less to this than meets the eye, I suspect...

If it's good, then it's good. Their continual referencing back to Fripp is somewhat tiresome and makes me suspicious. Is he going to the launch or playing?

AFAIK, Fripp won't be at the launch, but let's move on from Fripp: look at the fantastic band that will be at the launch! Cross will be joined by ex-Van der Graaf Generator member David Jackson and Yumi Hara Cawkwell, currently in the Henry Cow spin-off The Artaud Beats. That's got to be a good band to see.

Henry

[bondegezou]

And especially if it opens the door to future activity.

Can't remember for certain, but I think there's a Cross/Jackson album in the works plus a new David Cross Band album. And I know there's some other sessions Cross did a while back that could be released. The problem with Cross seems to be finishing projects and getting them out, but there's plenty of activity.

Henry

[battema]

Can't remember for certain, but I think there's a Cross/Jackson album in the works plus a new David Cross Band album. And I know there's some other sessions Cross did a while back that could be released. The problem with Cross seems to be finishing projects and getting them out, but there's plenty of activity.

Henry

Perhaps there's an Anderson / Cross project in the works then ;-)

Terrible PR and whatnot aside...I'm actually rather looking forward to this. Fripp's soundscapes always have a place in my collection, and Cross can still crank out some lovely violin parts.

[rickawakeman]

This has turned up at Newbury Comics. Read some reviews, sounds too ambient for my tastes (never a Fripp/Eno or Soundscapes fan), but since this thread died before anyone weighing in subsequent to last year's release...what are folks thinking about it? I am really enjoying Cross' playing on the StickMen double-live Midori.

[JKL2000]

Can't remember for certain, but I think there's a Cross/Jackson album in the works plus a new David Cross Band album. And I know there's some other sessions Cross did a while back that could be released. The problem with Cross seems to be finishing projects and getting them out, but there's plenty of activity.

Henry

Plus he has worked with Stick Men recently, and there's that live release of that.

[rickawakeman]

I am really enjoying Cross' playing on the StickMen double-live Midori. Did I say that already? I repeat myself when under stress.