Errors-To: admin at elephant-talk dot com Reply-To: newsletter at elephant-talk dot com Sender: moderator at elephant-talk dot com Precedence: bulk From: moderator at elephant-talk dot com To: newsletter at elephant-talk dot com Subject: Elephant Talk #1233 E L E P H A N T T A L K The Internet newsletter for Robert Fripp and King Crimson enthusiasts Number 1233 Saturday, 3 June 2006 Today's Topics: Exposure Expanded edition The Power to Believe: The Crimson coda? King Crimson's Atlantic Sampler ------------------ A D M I N I S T R I V I A --------------------- POSTS: Please send *all posts* to newsletter at elephant-talk dot com ** Posts intended for the newsletter should have a subject prefix of ETPOST ** Posts intended for an individual newsletter contributor should have a subject prefix of their ET 'Ticket Number', shown at ETxxxxx in their 'From:' line in the newsletter. To UNSUBSCRIBE, or to CHANGE ADDRESS: Send a message with a body of HELP to admin at elephant-talk dot com or use the DIY list machine at http://www.elephant-talk.com/list/ To ASK FOR HELP about your ET subscription: Send a message to: help at elephant-talk dot com ET Web: http://www.elephant-talk.com/ Read the ET FAQ before you post a question at http://www.elephant-talk.com/faq.htm Current TOUR DATES info can always be found at http://www.elephant-talk.com/gigs/tourdates.shtml You can read the most recent ten editions of ET at http://www.elephant-talk.com/newsletter.htm THE ET TEAM: Mike Dickson (ET Newsletter distribution/subscriptions) Nadim S. Haque (ET Webmaster) Toby Howard (ET founder and Newsletter Moderator) Dan Kirkdorffer (ET Webmaster Emeritus) ET presents the view of the authors of posts in good faith, in a spirit of free and open discussion. The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors of posts. The ET TEAM accepts no responsibility for the views of authors of posts. ET is produced using John Relph's Digest system v3.7b. If you'd like to donate to the upkeep of ET, please press the "Donate" button at ETWeb. ------------------ A I V I R T S I N I M D A --------------------- Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 14:42:02 -0400 From: emanuel maris Subject: Exposure Expanded edition >From the upcoming Downtown Music Gallery Newsletter for June 2nd, 2006 Of particular interest may be Manny Maris' [partner in DMG] postcript to the item listing: ************************ ROBERT FRIPP - Exposure: Expanded Edition - Deluxe Mini-LP Cover [2 CD set] (DMG/Inner Knot; USA) THIS 2 CD SET INCLUDES UNRELEASED 'DARYL HALL' VERSIONS/MATERIAL ORIGINALLY DONE FOR THE ALBUM! DISC ONE - "First Version": This is - ostensibly - the first released version of the album, as it appeared to the masses in 1979. Of course, the re-production mastering makes it sound different in places from the 1979 LP I personally transferred to CD for my listening pleasure [and I suspect there are other playful changes as well] DISC TWO - "Third Version": This is NEW COMPOSITE EDITION made up of takes/remixes of the 1979 edition appearing on the remixed/remastered version that first appeared in 1984 [implied as Second Version], AS WELL AS Daryl Hall versions of "Chicago", "Disengaged", and the original Hall lyric/vocal version of "NY3" [which substituted the singing with an audio verite tape of neighbors fighting in Fripp's building] here titled "New York New York New York" - the only lyrics not printed in the booklet, so you'll have to figure them out for yourself! This song IS NOT to be confused with 'NYCNY' [different lyrics and music] which is one of the original tracks for Last Great Heartthrob, and which did appear in another take on Hall's Sacred Song album. This second disc ALSO HAS FIVE BONUS CUTS after the original running order of the album which include Hall vocal versions of "Mary" and "Exposure" as well as the alternate '84 versions of 'Disengaged" and "NY3", and a previously unknown to me Hammill AND Terre Roche vocals version of "Chicago"! Which means out of eight Hall songs originally on the unreleased'Heartthrob' we get to hear seven of them in total here, five songs of which have never before been released with Hall vocals plus dual versions of the two which were previously released ["You Burn Me Up I'm A Cigarette" and "North Star"] BUT WE DO NOT GET the original 'Heartthrob' version of "NYCNY', which admittedly is very close to the released version on Hall's 'Sacred Songs', nor do we get the trio version of 'Mary' mentioned in my letter below, though the inclusion of my mention of it in Fripp's liner notes act as a teaser - of things we still cannot have! "Prior to this release, I had personally established a numbering system to establish versions of Exposure. The 1st would be the unreleased '77 version [variously titled 'The Last Great New York Heartthrob'] with Daryl Hall handling all vocal chores save on "Here Comes The Flood" (which Peter Gabriel performs). However, Tommy Mottola, Hall and Oates mgr, wouldn't let this come out unless it was a 'Hall And Fripp' record - AND released on RCA, not Fripp's label EG. ( By the way, the original running order on the Polydor test pressing - the hallowed artifact is in my collection and IS NOT a bootleg - for 'Heartthrob' [originally cat # 5013] was: SIDE ONE: Preface; You Burn Me Up I'm A Cigarette; North Star; Disengage; I Smile Like Chicago; Exposure; New York New York New York, Haaden Two SIDE TWO: Mary; Breathless; NYCNY; 1st Inaugural Address; Water Music I; Here Comes The Flood: Water Music II; Postcript ) So Fripp paid a lot of money to keep two of the Hall takes ("You Burn Me Up, I'm A Cigarette" and "North Star") on what was, two years later ['79], ultimately released as 'Exposure', [which I counted as 2nd version] his 1st solo album, finally publicly released in a radical revamping-resequencing which found Fripp inviting all the musicians who had played live in the studio behind Hall to come back and replay their parts with vocalists Peter Hammill and Terri Roche. Unfortunately John Wetton, Tim Cappella, Alirio Lima, and Ian McDonald could not come back for this - they were, however, thanked in the liner notes. The album nonetheless involved a stellar amalgam of great talents: Brian Eno, Phil Collins, Tony Levin, Sid McGinniss (who all play together on "North Star"!) Narada Michael Walden (the latter-day Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer and later producer of Whitney Houston turns in a ferocious performance on the metal-cruncher instrumental "Breathless"), Barry Andrews (XTC, Shriekback), and Jerry Marotta (Gabriel's drummer for the 1st 15 years). In 1984, Fripp digitally remixed the album in anticipation of the coming CD format [which I counted as 3rd version]. Among other tweaks he used a different vocal takes of Peter Hammill on "Chicago" and "Disengaged". In 1989, Fripp and Tony Arnold did the Definite Edition 1989 remastering series [which I counted as 4th version], which included all the King Crimson studio albums, and Fripp's previously released three solo CDs. Further remixing/tweaking was apparent, including editing down the expanded 1984 length of "Water Music II" from 6'24" to 3'55". This is version 5 [actually I've given up counting as this release so severely muddies the waters!], the 30th Anniversary Edition [in celebration of Fripp's 60th birthday 5/15/06] which on its 2 discs includes material from the unreleased 1st version! Oh, by the way, did we forget to say that this album is still a stunner, nearly 30 years after the fact? From ballads to heavy metal crunchers, it shows the breadth and depth of Fripp's evolving interests as a then still young man of 31 years. And given its totally unique approach REMAINS AS UNIQUELY FRESH TODAY AS IT SOUNDED WAY BACK THEN! It's not a King Crimson album and it shouldn't be (many other group's 'stars' sorta miss that point when doing their 'solo' albums) but rather a personal diary of sorts - and a compelling program from start to finish! ONE OF THE ALL-TIME GOOGLEPLEX THUMBS-UP!!!" - MannyLunch LTD 2 CD 'MINI-LP COVER' ED for $xx Also available as a Regular Jewel Case 2 CD edition for $xx POSTSCRIPT - By the way, in addition to the booklet containing the original liner notes and credits from alternate releases of the album, a segment of Fripp's online diary from last year is also printed, in which is contained an edited version of the following letter that MannyLunch sent to Sid Smith [author of 'In The Court Of King Crimson] as a submission for his 'Audience Diaries' site [which has not yet gone live] "Hi Sid, ...I think there's very good chance you'll find great enjoyment in all the discs I sent you... Perhaps you will be the pressure necessary to create a desire in Robert to finally put out a limited issue of the pre-Exposure recording. I know there are a lot of legal issues still to be resolved, but at this late date it may be possible to more easily arrive at an agreement with the parties involved [Daryl Hall and management], given the items that are falling out of the sky for so many artists as bonus tracks on CDs nowadays. Hopefully it will include both Hall versions of "Mary". The CD I sent you is taken directly from an authentic white-label test pressing I purchased for the absolutely negligible sum of #12 in Portobello Road November 1982 [2 days before I cut my trip short to fly back to NY to see Fripp's unannounced guest appearance with The Roches at Carnegie Hall, for which I had "inside" confirmation - an upcoming story] and contains the chosen version which only involves Hall & Fripp. However, a tape that was given to me by an American exec at Polydor in 1983 has virtually the same version of this test pressing. The difference is that "Mary" is a trio with Tim Cappella [I think, not Ian McDonald] adding saxophone. [This is not on the CD I sent you because the tape was irreparably damaged in a fire in my building 13 years ago] [This is extended assumption, but it seems to be borne out by careful listening] All the players who were thanked on the original commercial release of Exposure, but are not actually listed as players, actually played on the test pressing and/or uncommitted sessions for the album: Wetton, Cappella, Lima, MacDonald When Fripp was essentially forced to replace Hall as vocalist on several numbers due to Tommy Mottola's untenable demand that the album be credited to "Daryl Hall & Robert Fripp" AND that it be released by RCA, he didn't just strip in new vocal takes over the existing takes - he re-assembled as many of the original players to play behind the new vocalists so that spontaneous interplay would be preserved. Story # 6 A Funny story: The night before I attended Guitarcraft in late January '88, I went back to my record store, Lunch For Your Ears, at 2 AM [my train was leaving at 6 AM] to make last-minute preparations for the gentleman who'd be looking after it the week I'd be gone. When I arrived, this very tall gentleman and his lady companion were closely scrutinizing the many obscure imported CDs on display through the gate over the window: Daryl Hall and lady friend. I just said a warm 'Hello"[without disclosing cognition of his identity] and as I started to open the padlocks they apologized for being there, which I waved off and said they were certainly welcome to step inside for the few minutes that I would be there. [It turned out they were there looking at covers to get an idea of direction for graphics for his upcoming solo recording - the commercial disaster "Three Hearts In The Happy Ending Machine"] AS they wandered around inside, I slipped in the tape copy I kept on premises of the test pressing on one side and the cassette version on the other. By amazing coincidence, where "Mary" ended on the middle of side one, the tape could be flipped and the other version of "Mary" would be cued up exactly. It was less a coincidence that I kept "Mary" cued up to begin with, as I used to amaze diehard fans with it [No copies were ever made for anyone, much to many a collector's ire, some who even went so far as to tell me that they wished I never played it for them if I wouldn't subsequently bless them with a copy. I guess they didn't understand the notion "Experience is nine tenths of possession"!] Hall immediately started humming to the opening strains of the song, and at the moment the vocal came in started singing to the tape, instantaneously registering extreme amazement on his face to find he was dueting with himself! Nonetheless, he performed the whole song in this fashion, with the tape, for his audience of two. You can imagine what an amazing moment that was!!! When the song ended, he asked me where I had gotten this, and I told him that all things Fripp somehow seemed to find there way to me, being a super avid fan of said musician. I returned to the area behind my counter, flipped the tape, and began the 2nd version. Hall looked at me with a mixture of askance and "put-upon-ness" for the few seconds it took to get to Capella's sax joining in with Fripp's guitar. At that point he exclaimed, "I've never heard this!" and listened in amazement to this trio version. When it was finished, he said he had to have a copy of this. Tongue firmly in cheek, I told him him that there were likely all sorts of legal reasons that I couldn't make him [and certainly not sell, not that I would've charged him anything] a copy. He responded that perhaps he could make a trade; what would I want? Before I could even respond, he said he had the perfect thing. He had tapes of Fripp SINGING [likely warbling] old English ribald folk songs, captured by chance when in the studio for the "Sacred Songs" sessions! He gave me his managers # [oh no! Mottola] and told me to contact him through there. Alas, it was never to be. All calls made to management mentioning that Daryl asked me to contact him through there were stonewalled. I never told Fripp about this when I arrived at Claymont: I was there for serious reasons, not to beleaguer him as a "fan". But you could send this story along to him if you wish, I'm sure he would get a kick out of it Best regards till next time, Manny Maris" OF COURSE, THIS VERSION OF "MARY" IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION! My edited email serves as a teaser, and to remind us all that we can never live the experiences [or even the recordings] of another fully. ***** PPS - Has anyone noticed that the new remastered editions of Peter Gabriel II have forgotten to list Robert Fripp's contributions as PLAYER in the musicians credits? [He is still credited as the producer, thankfully] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 10:49:13 -0400 From: Chris Van Valen Subject: The Power to Believe: The Crimson coda? Recent events have been brought to the fore regarding the future--if any--for King Crimson. I saw Robert's 60th birthday portrait--a peaceful English gentleman looking all of his hard-earned 60 years. Could he go out on the road for two months thrakking away? Definitely. But would you be surprised if he didn't want to? I wouldn't. I can possibly see him creating music within a Crimson context, but the touring life of the King might well be over. Perhaps The Power to Believe will be the last album. There's always archival stuff to aBut Crimson always has a trick up their collective sleeves. Anyhow, that's my two Euros. cv ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 23:30:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Mario Torres Subject: King Crimson's Atlantic Sampler Hi. I had some questions about the Atlantic Sampler. If anyone could be nice enough to answer these I'd be very grateful: first, are there any known copies of this available. I've searched everywhere on the net and in Los Angeles (where I live). I've gone to all the good record stores I can think of and nothing. And, also, is there any CD versions of the Easy Money and Exiles edited versions? Any help would be great, thanks. ------------------------------ End of Elephant Talk Digest #1233 *********************************