Oh how I am tired. Ever woken up at one in the morning to find you might be suffering from a potentially severe sleep disorder that causes you to scream out for no logically clear reason about things that make no sense? Didn't sleep well after that, although the fact I couldn't NOT sleep means I'm not suffering from insomnia which I suppose is a good thing. Anyway, the funny part is I was listening to this very record while falling asleep which leads me to wonder if it might have affected my state. I suppose one shouldn't listen to things which might affect them but this is some good shit! Maybe I need Breathe Right strips or something.
Anyway, in the recent Bowie post I mentioned my lack of knowledge regarding Fripp and Belew and requested some guidance. I want to thank everyone who wrote me which includes Roger Camden, Stanley, Anonymous (beefheartfan) and Nathan Moore (I'll be responding to you soon Nathan!), for your advice which has been quite helpful. I've found that the King Crimson stuff really isn't my thing as it just doesn't add up for me, but Fripp's work with Eno, his productions for Daryl Hall and Peter Gabriel, his group the League Of Gentlemen and his solo records are all pretty incredible! (No Pussyfooting) kinda drags but the music is so beautiful and Fripp's later pieces with Eno are amazing. Fripp's supposed AOR trio of albums are rather good if not totally off the wall, with Peter Gabriel's PG 2 ("Scratch") probably being the most sensible of the three, Hall's falling somewhere between his work with Oates and Fripp's Zen Garden vibes, and Fripp's Exposure being totally insane to the point I have no idea how it could have been labeled AOR by anyone. Exposure is incredible though, and from there I listed to the League Of Gentlemen album which is excellent and very much of it's early eighties dance/punk era. But that's when I finally heard some solo Frippertronics recordings and fell madly in love with God Save The Queen / Under Heavy Manners, one of the only albums Fripp has not reissued since it's original release.
I haven't gotten to do much research as to why GSTQ/UHM remains unavailable, but I suppose it has something to do with Under Heavy Manners, the song, also appearing on the League Of Gentlemen album and a reworked version of The Zero Of The Signified, the album's closer, also appearing on the League album as God Save The King. It's a shame though that the Frippertronics pieces haven't been reissued as they are stunningly beautiful. I've read commentary from other listeners that many see those pieces as repetitive and boring, but for myself they were just the opposite. Relaxing, beautiful, stretching out as far as they need to, it's the type of thing Eno would be proud of. And the non-Frippertronics tracks, labeled by Fripp as Discotronics for featuring bass and percussion augmenting his guitar loops, I've also seen get bashed for supposedly not changing very often, but The Zero has all kinds of little subtle shifts before the rhythm drops out leaving only Fripp's loops, and David Byrne's vocal appearance on Manners, odd and more disjointed than usual with all the lyrics written by Fripp, is stunning. Maybe Fripp thought this album, which is clearly meant to be taken as two separate sets of recordings, was damaged by this split, but I thoroughly disagree.
After having found some low bitrate MP3s of this album, a friend on a private site (who wishes to remain anonymous) hooked me up with a beautiful lossless rip that sounds so clear it's almost not believable that it's a vinyl transfer. He also gave me the artwork and liner notes for the album which are very informative, and I decided to share these all back with you, my beloved readers! So, please enjoy this ridiculously clean rip of the God/Manners album and I hope you are just as enchanted as I am. Now I'm going to do some research about sleep disorders in my family tree.
Robert Fripp - God Save The Queen / Under Heavy Manners
UPDATE: Sorry guys, but Fripp's lawyers are becoming mighty feisty regarding his solo material. With that said, I'm not going to be posting any Fripp for a while, but I may post this again down the road as part of something special. Keep an eye peeled!
01 Red Two Scorer
02 God Save The Queen
03 1983
04 Under Heavy Manners
05 The Zero Of The Signified
PS - Gotta drop you a line and chat Michael! Thanks again for the kind words.
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