Another fine nugget
I enjoyed listening to this version of Exiles. Thanks, Mr. Stormy, once again, to bringing this out of the archives. I can't wait to see what's next.
The recording sessions for Larks’ Tongues In Aspic capture some of the flexibility that the new line-up enjoyed during their rehearsing and subsequent tour of the previous year. At the front of the track, Jamie Muir’s atmospheric rubbing glass rods with oily cloths and what sounds like an overdubbed zither exemplifies the creative approach to developing the feeling of the piece and it’s interesting to note that Fripp has a very clear idea about how much of it should be used in the final mix.
David Cross is playing flute though he was uncredited on the sleeve of the album and while not all of the flute heard in this take, or indeed the viola in the introduction, made it into the final mix it confirms again the exploratory aspects of the process at that time. John Wetton’s piano during the middle section was similarly left uncredited on the finished album. However, it’s lovely to be able to hear in greater detail the richness in tone and mood that it adds to the finished track. Finally, Fripp’s acoustic guitar, bright and crisp in sound, with decorative twinkling harmonics, is nevertheless steeped in melancholia that reflects the song’s subject matter, his delicate picking knitting the whole piece together.
David Cross is playing flute though he was uncredited on the sleeve of the album and while not all of the flute heard in this take, or indeed the viola in the introduction, made it into the final mix it confirms again the exploratory aspects of the process at that time. John Wetton’s piano during the middle section was similarly left uncredited on the finished album. However, it’s lovely to be able to hear in greater detail the richness in tone and mood that it adds to the finished track. Finally, Fripp’s acoustic guitar, bright and crisp in sound, with decorative twinkling harmonics, is nevertheless steeped in melancholia that reflects the song’s subject matter, his delicate picking knitting the whole piece together.
