Robert’s last day before the 30,000 campers at Eastnor has a more expansive set of scapes. Large washes of colour bathe the listener during Big Chill I but it’s the darker undertows of the second main piece (imaginatively titled Big Chill II) that create the shivers thanks in part to fleeting smears of notes darting back and forth and longer, lower trumpet-like eruptions. Whether these tones and unexpected timbres were deliberate or as a result of what Robert calls “pilot error” is open to speculation. Either way they’re very welcome and are probably nearer to the kind of widescreen work performed in New York at the Society for Ethical Culture in June.
Performer at the event, DJ/Producer Chris Last remarked “I especially enjoyed listening to Robert Fripp, much more so that I even thought I would. His set was an avalanche of colour. Just when I thought it was starting to get the slightest bit too "new age ambient,"he would throw in some dissonant chords that were just perfect, adding some darker colours. It was really just fantastic.” He's not wrong. Of the two days available, this one sounds like the keeper to these ears but you'll make your own mind up about that.
Robert’s last day before the 30,000 campers at Eastnor has a more expansive set of scapes. Large washes of colour bathe the listener during Big Chill I but it’s the darker undertows of the second main piece (imaginatively titled Big Chill II) that create the shivers thanks in part to fleeting smears of notes darting back and forth and longer, lower...
"fleeting smears of notes ..." an apt and evocative description from the webmaster.Id have to agree that the second piece is a real stellar standout. Sublime and scintillating.
Written by David Durian
Absolutely beautiful
If you liked the 2005 Society for Ethical Culture gig, you’ll also totally dig this show (the SEC show has been one of my personal favorites since it was released). This show sounds kind of like the bridge between the SEC show and the late 2005/early 2006 gigs available for download here, in that you can hear Fripp beginning to make some transitions to the approach. There’s no overt sololing yet, but some of the voicing choices chart the course towards that direction. Dorky tech fan side ...
If you liked the 2005 Society for Ethical Culture gig, you’ll also totally dig this show (the SEC show has been one of my personal favorites since it was released). This show sounds kind of like the bridge between the SEC show and the late 2005/early 2006 gigs available for download here, in that you can hear Fripp beginning to make some transitions to the approach. There’s no overt sololing yet, but some of the voicing choices chart the course towards that direction. Dorky tech fan side note: I know shortly after this show, Fripp stopped using the Echoplexes, and pretty much only used them for these gigs. It would have been interesting to hear more work done with them. Ultimately, I can’t hear so much difference between his use of these and his later use of the most recent generation Eventides, so it would have been interesting to have more gigs to compare between.