Recorded at Eno's flat in Maida Vale, West London on 8th September, 1972, with Fripp playing his Les Paul through his custom pedalboard, while Eno operated a pair of modified Revox A77 tape recorders, for what would become the album No Pussyfooting.

Brian Eno and Robert Fripp.

It was the beginning of a musical collaboration that would lead to Fripp working with Bowie on the Heroes sessions in 1977 and a series of albums and a tour as the experimental music duo Fripp & Eno.

The Melody Maker article that led to Eno's solo career.

The opening commentary, in conversation with David Singleton, has the full story of how Bryan Ferry's failed audition to become the singer in King Crimson led to Roxy Music being signed by EG Management, which in turn paved the way for one of Robert's most enduring musical partnerships with the band's synth operator, Brian Eno. 

Robert at Majestic Studios for the Here Come The Warm Jets sessions, September 1973.

Their first experimental foray on The Heavenly Music Corporation was followed a year later by Fripp adding a burning guitar solo to Baby's On Fire on the first Eno solo album Here Come The Warm Jets.

Download Robert Fripp @ 80 Vol.4  The Heavenly Music Corporation (Edit)

Follow the Spotify playlist to listen to Baby's on Fire: Robert Fripp @ 80  

Or listen on the official YouTube channel:

Islands was the sole studio album by the Fripp, Collins, Burrell and Wallace line-up and the last to feature Peter Sinfield as a full creative partner. It was the record that closed one chapter of King Crimson history while quietly sketching the next. Historically, it captured the band in a brief but amazingly fertile formation, with material developed under touring pressure and recorded between live dates. Musically, it is where the group’s early sound was stretched to its limit and began to fracture into something tougher, stranger and more open-ended. While the album contains widely varying types of material across its six pieces - hints of the future present on material such as Sailor’s Tale with Fripp’s sharp guitar work and Collins’ searing saxophone sit comfortably alongside the purely orchestral Prelude: Song of the Gulls – Islands has a cohesive story to tell as a collection of music and a reflection of King Crimson at that particular moment in time, a story that can be heard, most completely, in this release.

KCXP5014 Islands

Disc 1    CD

2026 mixes - Produced and Mixed by Steven Wilson

1. Formentera Lady
2. Sailor’s Tale
3. The Letters
4. Ladies of the Road
5. Prelude: Song of the Gulls
6. Islands

2026 Elemental Mix - Produced and Mixed by David Singleton

7. Formentera Lady
8. Sailor’s Tale
9. Ladies of the Road
10. Islands

Disc 2 Blu-Ray

I            2026 Dolby Atmos, DTS HD-MA 5.1 Surround & 24/96 Stereo 

1. Formentera Lady
2. Sailor’s Tale
3. The Letters
4. Ladies of the Road
5. Prelude: Song of the Gulls
6. Islands

II            2026 Instrumental, 24/96 Stereo

1. Formentera Lady
2. The Letters
3. Ladies of the Road
4. Islands

III           2026 Elemental Mixes, 24/96 Stereo

1. Formentera Lady
2. Sailor’s Tale
3. The Letters
4. Ladies of the Road
5. Islands
6. Prelude: Song of the Gulls

IV          Complete Recording Sessions, 24/96 Stereo

Islands Studios 

July 22^nd, 1971 Ladies of The Road Early Uptempo Takes 1 & 2

Command Studios 

Aug 2^nd, 1971 Ladies of The Road Takes 1 to 5

A Peacemaking Stint Unrolls Takes 1 to 3

Aug 25^th, 1971 Checking Levels

Ladies of The Road Take 1

Band Jam

Ladies of The Road Takes 2 to 4

Aug 26^th, 1971 Band Jam 2

Ladies of The Road Takes One to Five

Ladies of The Road Backing and Overdubs

Ladies of The Road Vocals and Overdubs

Sept 1^st, 1971 Ian Drum Check

The Letters Section One First Two Verses

The Letters Section Two Riff

The Letters Section Three Solo Takes 1 and 2

The Letters Section Four Last Two Verses

The Letters Intro Overdubs

The Letters Riff Overdubs

The Letters Vocals and Piano Last 2 Verses

The Letters Backing and Flute Last 2 Verses

Sept 8^th, 1971 Formentera Lady First Two Verses Takes 1 to 5

Formentera Lady Backing and Overdubs

Formentera Lady Vocals and Overdubs

Sept 9^th, 1971 Band Blow

Sailor's Tale Bass, Drums and Overdubs

Sailor's Tale Sax and Banjo Guitar Overdubs

Sailor's Tale Piano and Guitar Overdubs

Sailor's Tale Mellotron Overdubs

Oct 1^st, 1971 Prelude Rehearsals and Flute Takes 1 to 3

Islands Takes 1 and 2

Oct 2^nd, 1971 Prelude Takes 1 to 3

Oct 3^rd, 1971 Prelude Takes 1 and 2

Islands Master Piano, Guitar and Wind Overdubs

Islands Master Keys and Mellotron Overdubs

V           Original Mixes - 30th Anniversary Master (24/96 Stereo)

1. Formentera Lady
2. Sailor’s Tale
3. The Letters
4. Ladies of the Road
5. Prelude: Song of the Gulls
6. Islands

VI          Live at Summit Studios March 1972 - Quadraphonic Sound

1. Pictures of a City
2. Cadence and Cascade
3. Groon 
4. 21^st Century Schizoid Man
5. Improv: Summit Going On
6. My Hobby
7. The Sailor’s Tale
8. The Creator Has A Master Plan (including Summit and Something Else)

KCLPR4  Islands Elemental Mix LP (200gram Super-heavyweight vinyl)

 Side A 

1. Formentera Lady
2. Sailor's Tale
3. The Letters

Side B

1. Ladies Of The Road
2. Islands
3. Prelude Song of The Gulls

For King Crimson fans, Islands – 2026 David Singleton Elemental Mix is both a compelling standalone listening experience and an essential companion to the original album — offering fresh insight into the sessions, a renewed immediacy to the performances, and a rare opportunity to hear this distinctive work from a radically different angle.

Pre-order from Burning Shed.

It is 55 years since the first release of this album and we also have the opportunity for fans to listen to the album in Atmos for the VERY FIRST TIME at Polygon London before the release date of the CD/Blu-ray in September.   

Events take place on Thursday 18th June at 7pm and Sunday 28th June at 9pm and tickets can be purchased here. 

Following the release of the digital single Hope in the RF@80 series, the Robert Fripp String Quintet album The Bridge Between is now available to download for the first time from dgmlive.

It was one of the first CDs issued by DGM in 1994 and has been out of print for many years, but as of today, The Bridge Between can be downloaded from DGM Live and is making its debut on streaming services. Burning Shed also has a limited number of CDs available to purchase.

Mostly recorded live on tour in 1993, The Robert Fripp String Quintet comprised Robert Fripp on guitar, Trey Gunn on Chapman Stick, and Hideyo Moriya, Paul Richards and Bert Lams of The California Guitar Trio on acoustic guitars.

Download: The Bridge Between.

Order the CD: limited stock available from Burning Shed.

Today at 18 GMT...

Tomorrow at at 12 GMT...

“In strange and uncertain times a reasonable person might despair, but hope is unreasonable and love is greater even than this”, Robert Fripp.

Robert Fripp was 80 on 16th May 2026. To celebrate this, DGM is curating a Fripp@80 series, with weekly digital releases throughout the year drawn from Robert’s solo and collaborative work. Each piece will be accompanied by commentaries from Robert and David Singleton explaining the background to each selection. 

Recorded live at the Nottingham Playhouse on Sunday evening June 20, 1993, Hope was originally released on The Bridge Between CD in October, 1994. 

Written by Italian Crafty Guitarist Antonio deHonestis and Robert’s guitar tech of many years, John Sinks, who also had a background in Guitar Craft. The Robert Fripp Quintet comprised Robert Fripp on guitar, Trey Gunn on Chapman Stick, and Hideyo Moriya, Paul Richards and Bert Lams of The California Guitar Trio on acoustic guitars.

The Robert Fripp String Quintet.

“The Quintet slipped into existence as a response to an invitation from Anita Contini of Olympia & York for me to perform in The Atrium of the World Financial Centre in New York. I invited Trey Gunn to join me for one performance and The California Guitar Trio for another. These two performances took place on May 19th, and 20th. 1992. Around these shows we added several other dates for which we gratefully acknowledge the support of John Paige, Harold Oliver, WMUH at Muhlenberg College, and Michael Tedesco, amongst others. 

In November 1992, now The RFSQ, we visited Japan for television, club and concert performances, and in May 1993 Argentina and California. The following month we played in England, by mistake, at Zefferelli's, Ambleside, and the Nottingham Guitar-Festival.”

The Nottingham Guitar Festival.

Download Robert Fripp @ 80 Vol.3  Hope

Follow the Spotify playlist: Robert Fripp @ 80  

Or listen on the official YouTube channel:

Gavin joined King Crimson in 2008 for its 40th-anniversary US tour dates, played on the King Crimson ProjeKct A Scarcity of Miracles in 2011 with Jakszyk, Fripp & Collins, and led the three drummers in the 2014-2021 lineup. 

He is also a highly respected drum educator and has recently returned from delivering a series of drum clinics in Italy, and will next be appearing at a special event for Graham Russell Drums at Thornden Hall in Chandler’s Ford, UK, on the 30th of July.

Gavin is currently the drummer for The Pineapple Thief, who will be playing a number of summer festival dates in the UK and Europe, before touring North America later in the year. Click here for further details.

From his early days playing dixieland jazz on top of the Sunblest bread bus, to “over-riding”, his technique for making odd meters not sound odd to the listener, in this recently released interview with Simon Philips from the Modern Drummer Festival, Gavin plays the drums and talks about making a living doing what he loves to do.

And you can catch up with Gavin in this excellent interview with Gemma Hill and Ciara Chinniah, aka the Drummer Mamas, on their latest podcast:

King Crimson’s manager and record producer, David Singleton, will be hosting, with his trusty assistant Alex ‘Stormy’ Mundy also in attendance.

So join with like-minded Crimson and DGM fans from around the world for an exclusive live look behind the scenes at what’s going on at DGM Soundworld.

If you are not already a member, there are a few places available. https://www.dgmlive.com/1000-club . The 1000 Club offers incredible value, providing streaming of all the music on the site, $750 worth of downloads per year, a year's free subscription to audio and video streaming at Nugs.net, an aphorism of the day sent to your email box, special user profile, create and share your own playlists, all for an annual fee of $150 (amount varies slightly by territory), and knowledge that your membership supports the ongoing work of the DGM Archive. 

This month Mr Stormy has selected a live instrumental mix of Frame By Frame from the band’s 50th anniversary A Celebration Tour. Recorded on September 8, 2019, at the Paramount Theater in Denver, Colorado. 

Sid Smith notes: “As with other such mixes, it takes the listener under the hood of the song that helped to define 1980s King Crimson. This reimagining of the song comes with a percussion-based introduction devised by Gavin Harrison that evokes elements of Steve Reich’s seminal 1970/1971 composition, Drumming.”

Download here: Frame By Frame (instrumental mix).

Or listen to a preview on the official King Crimson YouTube channel:

There’s also a CD of Frippertronics, Collaborations and Rarities, compiled by Robert Fripp, including Brian Eno, David Sylvian, Andy Summers, The League of Gentlemen and more. 

Available from your local news vendor or order online here: https://bit.ly/UncutJuly26  

Saturday at 18 GMT...

And, a vintage Sunday Lunch, on Sunday at 12 GMT...