Errors-To: et-admin at blackcat dot demon dot co dot uk Reply-To: et at cs dot man dot ac dot uk Sender: et at cs dot man dot ac dot uk Precedence: bulk From: et at cs dot man dot ac dot uk To: et at cs dot man dot ac dot uk Subject: Elephant Talk Digest #303 E L E P H A N T T A L K The Internet newsletter for Robert Fripp and King Crimson enthusiasts Number 303 Tuesday, 3 September 1996 Today's Topics: Re: Elephant Talk Digest #301 re: attack on Adrian Belew Zappa (and drugs) Re: Peter Sinfield Re: Sinfield/Eno re: Twiddly Beats The Greatest Concert That Never Was Toyah Singles Zappa & Crimson An Apology Adrian's non-sequiturs Stallone-->Picasso-->Belew Weird Person Guide Search Orb, not Orbital Music and business RE: Elephant Talk Digest #301 My concerns on Crimson King Crimson - NIN.. distant relations? Sensations Fix re : The emotional Fripp and his best solos ever re: petty gripes ? "1st message from a new spanish member" Great Deceiver lyric Re: KC & XTC Re: The Emotional Fripp thrakattak and show of hands Crimson at Asbury Park, (oops) FSOL Re: Orbital, not Orb? Mellotron link re: on several posts Fripp's Playing Area GIG REVIEWS 25/8/96 gig review etc. Gig Review-Aug. 26 Philadelphia, PA Philly 8/26 Show / First post! ------------------ A D M I N I S T R I V I A --------------------- POSTS: Please send all posts to et at cs dot man dot ac dot uk UNSUB/ADDRESS CHANGES: Send a message with a body of HELP to et-admin at blackcat dot demon dot co dot uk, or use the DIY list machine at http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/aig/staff/toby/et/list/ ETWEB: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/aig/staff/toby/et/ (partial mirror at http://members.aol.com/etmirror/) THE ET TEAM: Toby Howard (Moderator), Dan Kirkdorffer (Webmeister) Mike Dickson (List Admin), and a cast of thousands. The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors. ET is produced using John Relph's Digest 3.0 package. ------------------ A I V I R T S I N I M D A --------------------- From: Toby Subject: admin Hi, just a note to make you aware that due to excessive bouncing of ETs from subscribers' mailboxes (be they full, obsolete, confused by their Service Providers, etc), we're forced to institute a "one bounce and you're out" policy. We're sorry about this, but how that ET is up to 4000 subscribers and the bulletin up to nearly 800, we need to be tough on this. Also, can I remind ETers never to post to the following address: bulkmail at blackcat dot demon dot co dot uk. I know you'll want to join me in thanking Mike Dickson, our Administration guru, for the work he puts in. His life must be a nightmare!! Thanks Toby ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 10:14:23 -0400 From: dshaw at pop dot tiac dot net (David G. Shaw) Subject: Re: Elephant Talk Digest #301 In ET #301 leslabb at prolog dot net wrote: >How about a collaboration between Fripp and the funk master himself George >Clinton. George's recent soundtrack work on Showtime's "Red Shoe >Diaries" and other works have a tribal/Peter Gabriel kind of feel to it. >Imagine an earthy tribal movement layered with Fripp Soundscapes. If it >worked with Peter Gabriel's music I am sure it would work with Clinton's. The "George S. Clinton" who writes the music for "Red Shoes" is NOT the George Clinton of P-Funk. Do you honestly believe the captain of the mothership would be capable of writing such boring, derivative fluff? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 10:53:58 -0400 From: "Richard G. Bunker, Jr." Organization: Reality Online, Inc. Subject: re: attack on Adrian Belew > From: jeffw%wk dot com at cs dot man dot ac dot uk > Date: Tue, 27 Aug 96 14:55 WET DST > Subject: petty gripes [snip] > BUT > my big beef now is that i don't think adrian b. adds anything to the > band. i respect his talent but who needs another guitar player when robert > fripp is on stage? and to top it off, he can't sing or write to the level > of king crimson. how he can stand on stage and be the voice of a band that > once had gregg lake's voice, john wetton's and even boz b's. now, i feel > better. I could not disagree with your more. Adrian's guitar work is different than Robert Fripp's, but it compliments it perfectly, and is in many ways at least as good if not better than Robert's. Adrian's lead work is innovative and dynamic, set against Robert's controlled tension-building patterning. Even Robert knows that his brilliant style of play needs a melodious layer on top -- thus the synth added to USA. Adrian's lyrics and song writing have brought the group to new heights. I like the 70's stuff, too, but "canonize the ground he walks upon" just does not hold a candle to Adrian's poetry. I think that if any sanctification is to take place, it should take place for the current lineup. And I think he sings better than the others, too. Rick Bunker rick at bunker dot com http://www.bunker.com/~rbunker PGP keyID = B6CB9C4D Original keyserver (most keys are on it) is at : http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/~bal/pks-toplev.html ------------------------------ From: Matthew Nolan Date: Thu, 29 Aug 96 15:51:24 BST Subject: Zappa (and drugs) In ET #301 Michele Carenini asked about KC fans' opinions on Mr Frank Zappa and his works (about 56 albums!!) IMHO (and many others) Zappa was a compositional genius but from 56 or so albums it is relatively easy to pick out a turkey (or at least one at the wrong end of your taste spectrum). Zappa was a great guitarist (I don't remember if he got into that "interesting" mojo poll) but he annoys many of my guitarist friends by being so skilled and then "wasting" it on "dreadful-sounding" solos. He has always had very good musicians in his bands, especially the infamous '88 tour lineup. On that note, a good starting point for new listeners would be albums from that tour, I strongly recommend "The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life" and "Make a Jazz Noise Here", both double albums (more rocky and more jazzy respectively) as both cover material from a large range of previous albums from over the years and are, frankly (no pun intended), musically brilliant. There is much use of complex tonality and unusual time signatures, like KC, but this is employed mainly in comedic fashion, although there are some "masterpiece" moments in there. Also with Zappa you get the outrageous lyrics - it has been said that there isn't anyone who hasn't or wouldn't be offended by some part of his works (so if you're into "political correctness" steer clear!) The comparison of Frank Zappa and King Crimson is like the proverbial chalk and cheese, but they are both up there (and out there) on the top shelf. Simply speaking, Crimson makes you go "WOW!" and Zappa makes you go "WHAT?" An interesting point to note is that FZ (like RF) forbade the use of drugs before and during performances. Also, I hear that RF is a fan of Bartok - FZ was interested in Bartok, Stravinsky, Varese and others. Does anyone know if RF listens to these other orchestral composers too? Actually, Varese wrote stuff in the 1920's that isn't a stone's throw away from THRaCKaTTaCK (strange that - I'm comparing pre-meditated pieces with a 6 musician improv!) I found that listening to Zappa whilst revising for my Engineering Degree finals increased my ability to remember things! The year after (my "Masters" finals) I found that the Zappa stuff had lost this quality (I'd heard it before - it didn't exercise my brain the same) and this is when I bought a lot (and I mean a lot) of KC CDs - the results were as desired - top marks. It's a good job I'm at work now - there aren't many more such CDs left for me to buy. As Michele said, this is a tangential avenue so let's not have any Fripp/Zappa guitar wars like the recent Fripp/Hendrix fracas. Interviewer: Frank, you have long hair, does that make you a girl? Frank Zappa: If you had a wooden leg would that make you a chair? Matt Nolan. P.S. Has anyone with a discerning ear (that's most of you I hope) heard FZ's "Yellow Shark" with the Ensemble modern and his London Symphony Orchestra album - if so would you recommend one over the other, I've heard bad things about the LSO one(s). ------------------------------ From: dalane at bbn dot com (Dave Lane) Organization: Domain Solutions Corporation Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 11:45:58 -0400 Subject: Re: Peter Sinfield bigbang at alpes-net dot fr (A. Leroy) wrote: >>In ET#299, Ghezzi wrote : >>This is my second attempt to get some information from fellow ETers >>on Peter Sinfield the "words and inspiration" / and sometimes illustrator of >>early King Crimson vinyl albums. As far as I know he put out a solo album >>"Still" way back. Can any one bring me up to date on what he is doing these >>days? >Here is some info from a newsletter put out by the Voiceprint label in 1994, >for the reissue of "Still" (under the title "Stillusion", with bonus tracks) : Nothing to do with what he might be up to these days, but I'd like to mention that the recently released box "Supernatural Fairy Tales" features a cut from that album. It's "Under the Sky", which is familiar to anyone who has a copy of "Cheerful Insanity". The track seems to have been included as a surrogate-KC; the liner notes mention that the rights to include material from KC could not be secured. Interestingly, the Sinfield track is credited to Sinfield and MacDonald, but the Cheerful version is credited to Fripp. I wonder who's right? I highly recommend the box, 5 CDs of 67-75 prog. The only gripe I can come up with is why would they put on Golden Earring's "Radar Love"? --Dave ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 12:44:46 -0700 From: gondola at deltanet dot com (E.B.) Subject: Re: Sinfield/Eno >After leaving KC, Sinfield worked extensively with both Emerson Lake and >Palmer and the Italian progrock band PFM. Around 1980, he also released >the "From Ibiza" album with Brian Eno, which is narration against ambient >music, if I'm not mistaken. > >A. Leroy Just recently, I found a CD (used, even!) in a record store called something like "In Vision of Clear Colours"...it's some Eno drone mixed with Sinfield reading a story by, umm, Robert Sheckley (?). Is this the same album? And does anyone know what year this came out? However, I listened to the disc at the store, and it seemed pretty uninteresting, even for an Eno freak like me. Much of the album was PURELY spoken...yawn...and the Eno bits were unimpressive...texture more than music, really.... Also, regarding Roxy Music: Can anyone authoritatively state that the Heart Still Beating CD and the previous High Road EP are from different concerts? I know they CLAIM to be different shows, but jeez, they seem note-for-note identical! EB ------------------------------ From: "Lefferts, Jeff" Subject: re: Twiddly Beats Date: Tue, 27 Aug 96 20:39:00 PDT > Finally, does anyone know about Bill Bruford's contributions to a > product called Twiddly Beats? These are MIDI sequences performed by > professional musicians that you can incorporate into your own > recordings. They have been reviewed and advertised in Keyboard > magazine. > > Robert C. Parducci > 76206 dot 3036 at compuserve dot com You can look at Keyfax Software's web site at: http://www.gmedia.net/keyfax/ They don't have details, they just mention his name as playing on to the CD-ROM. - Jeff Lefferts ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 19:14:26 -0400 From: Lawrence Raniere Subject: The Greatest Concert That Never Was Hello. There has been a lot of chat about ideal Crimson line-ups. There has been suggestions that maybe there should be an ET-only concert. I believe that the most interesting thing that KC could do is to play one of their more thematic albums as a stand-alone concert, as if it was a symphony or the like, attended by ET-only members. I have always looked at LTIA as not only a watershed album in the KC discography, but as one of their more complete, focused and self-contained works. I have long said that I would love to hear such a live rendition of LTIA, but alas, I expect that this will never happen. However, various events have conspired to make this more of a reality than it may seem. These are: (1) the release of The Great Deceiver box set - an absolute must-have for the faithful, and (2) the introduction of digital home music recorders - namely the Sony MiniDisc. These digital devices can make unbelievable edits, and are the home taper's and twiddler's dream come true. In conjunction with a mixer, multiple CD players, and some careful planning and song selection, an incredible facsimile of a live LTIA concert can be created at home. Of course, some competent mastery of the devices is required. Prior to attending the 8/24 Asbury Park concert, my friend and I got psyched by spending all afternoon actually creating this masterpiece. I dare say that it is virtually indistinguishable from the real McCoy, with songs and audience sounds faded and blended with surgical precision. It is complete from the walk-on sounds and opening crowd enthusiam to the LTIA II finale, cleverly imbued with both improvisations and with Fripp attempting to thank the crowd after the show over their thunderous closing applause. We chose the most killer renditions of each song. I haven't stopped listening to it since. This is something that would be practically impossible to master on a cassette player to this level of seemless perfection, and is at a quality identical to TGD, which is vastly superior to a bootleg. The boys themselves provided a bit of inspiration by releasing THRaKaTTaK. Our next project may be a similar effort on Discipline, if we can cull enough source material from the various official live releases. It is about 53 minutes long, I believe. If any ET-er would like a cassette, MiniDisc or DAT copy, please e-mail me privately. Asbury Park turned out to be a great show, BTW. I echo most of the posted gig review sentiments. However, I can't help but hope that one day Fripp will come out of his 'shell' so to speak, and just start to wail again during his live performances. He almost seems like he's deferring a bit to Adrian, maybe intentionally, for some unknown Frippian reason. Making this live LTIA tape really drove home the difference of his Fripped-out riffs of the 1970s (and even the 1980s) vs. today. I guess we'll have to take what we can get from the master. On the other hand, Bruford is just all the more amazing each time you see him. Later! - LR ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 22:53:46 -0400 (EDT) From: Jed Levin Subject: Toyah Singles Just trying to get an idea: are there people out there who would be interested in buying some Toyah 7" singles? If you want more info,let me know and I'll post details. Please respond directly to me if interested. --Jed Levin jlevin at panix dot com ------------------------------ From: leslabb at prolog dot net Date: Fri, 30 Aug 96 00:13:25 -0500 Subject: Zappa & Crimson In ET 301 Michele Carenini stated the following: MC>> the Court Of, when I was 10), and was wandering how Crimsonians and Eters MC>> feel like about Frank Zappa, both as a guitar and as a song writer. I don't MC>> want to believe that Crimson fans are so serious they cannot appreciate the MC>> man's music. I am a recent Zappafan ("recent" meaning from five or six MC>> years), and I think he was really a genius (as, obviously, Mr Fripp), one MC>> who could use a great amount of skill just to have fun with it. Important MC>> Warning: I am not interested in things like "Could Mr Fripp do what Zappa MC>> did" or the reverse, I just wanted to know what you think about a man who MC>> could put real good humor among marvellous guitar notes. Frank Zappa not only knew how to put marvellous guitar notes together, he was also able to orchestrate all instruments in his band. He was a genius at putting together lyrics and music that was able to make mockery of current trends and pastimes as evident in Joe's Garage, and Valley Girl. His humor in music was a fantastic combination of music and lyrics. Zappa was also always on the edge of jazz/fusion. His live shows comprised mainly improvisations of his songs. Peaches is one great example. The only thing I regret is not having seen a Zappa show :(. Les ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Aug 96 01:29:48 UT From: "Dan Wasser" Subject: An Apology Re: my Merriweather review. I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I've gotten enough E-HATE-MAIL to know that I've done wrong. Thus, I hang my head in shame. I'm sure glad that my phone number is unlisted. (Vic....that death threat was overdoing it, though). My apologies to all ETers and to Mr. Fripp. I even cringe when I read my not-very-nice assessment of RF's performance. I still say he could have, at least, had a decent spotlight on him. But, certainly, my unkind comments were totally unnecessary and uncalled for (I guess I was very tired). Nevertheless, I still say he owes the audience a bit more than he gave. (Hey, I can say "the emperor has no clothes"). But, I'm glad that Mr. Fripp keeps Crimson alive. Can I still be a member of the club? (I still live for Crimson). Dan Wasser Gaithersburg, Md. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 23:42:10 EDT From: MILHAME at woods dot uml dot edu Subject: Adrian's non-sequiturs In ET #299, Michael Kelly said >Indiscipline - I realize my interpretation of these interactions may be >completely off the mark but here is how I saw them. As Adrian started his >vocal "I do remember one thing" he paused and asked "Did I say that we are >King Crimson? I just wanted to make sure you realized who we are?". Now >this could be that he thought the audience to be clueless and slightly >slack, but I had the impression he and the band might have been pleased with >the response of those listening and perhaps thought the audience mistook >them for another band. I was pleasantly surprised by the small but >relatively attentive audience. Now that sort of comment reminds me of the point "Live in Japan" video when Adrian says (about RThree of a perfect PairS) something to the effect of: "We have a new album out. It's very...yellow." at which point the scrim behind the band goes all yellow, and the crowd goes all wild. Adrian's very good at these well-timed, deadpan non- sequiturs, and I'm forced to wonder if he didn't just re-introduce the band for the cheap applause I'm sure it netted him. sijalata, -Ed Milham P.S. to Michael Kelly: You whouldn't happen to be any relation to the tenor Michael Kelly who premiered the role of Don Basilio in Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" in 1786, would you? Even if not, I just thought you might like to know about your famous musical namesake. la, -EdM. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Aug 1996 00:51:31 -0400 (EDT) From: Ashley Edward Collins Subject: Stallone-->Picasso-->Belew On a rerun of David Letterman the other night, Sylvester Stallone was relaying one of his first, ahem, "acting" experiences in an Off-Off-Broadway production of the only play penned by Pablo Picasso entitled "Desire Caught by the Tail." I don't know how many people were aware of this (I don't have the album, so for all I know, it's plastered all over the liner notes), but I thought it was neat to hear the origins of this, um, evocative title. Sly, Pablo, Adrien; strange bedfellows, hmm? Ashley Collins aec200z at barbados dot cc dot odu dot edu P. S. Sly said he thought PP must have eaten some bad mussels when he wrote it. ;-) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Aug 1996 03:31:02 -0500 From: cars at i-link dot net Subject: Weird Person Guide Search I know this is probably a frequent request, but I am looking to trade for a copy of a Weird Person's Guide to King Crimson. Please e-mail me!!!!!! Thanks, David ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Aug 1996 12:21:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Samuel Gustas Subject: Orb, not Orbital For the person who posted that the FFWD>> project was done by the Orbital, I would like to mention that the credits for the CD do list: written by r. fripp/t. fehlmann/k. weston/d.a.r. paterson (orb music, big life music, crimson music) Sam Gustas sgustas at gate dot net ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Aug 1996 19:07:05 +0200 (MES) From: Ulrich Von Hecker Subject: Music and business I'm answering to some comments in earlier Ets (specifically from robadue in ET 302) about Fripp's and DGM's approach to business. To me it is striking that one outstanding musician from the early decades of this century, Charles Ives, whose music many Crimheads might like a lot (just check out the orchestral pieces "Central Park in the Dark", and "Overture to Robert Browing") had already developed a very unique approach to business. I'm giving a quote from his biography, written by Henry and Sidney Cowell (New York: Da Capo Press, 1983) to show the direction of his thinking. When reading the following, please keep in mind that Ives was VERY successful as an insurance businessman and that sometimes his partners, at business meetings, were completely surprised to learn that he was also a widely known music composer. Quote (pp 93-94): Ives makes no apology for his concern with economic security. Spiritual values may be paramount, but they cannot operate when their pathway is 'clogged up with unnatural economic arrangements'. As early as 1907, when he first went into business for himself, it had occurred to him that to wonder what each individual's share in the total wealth of the United States would be, if an individual maximum were set above which personal wealth could not go, and the surplus evenly divided. Ives interested the treasurer of the Washington Life Insurance Company in the idea and they arrived at some figures: Suppose the maximum allowable annual income were set at $ 7500, everybody (each wage earner or family head) would have $900 as a starter toward making that maximum. Of this idea he wrote: A system under which each man had a minimum Natural Property Right recognized as his share in majority possessions, with the possibility of working to increase this as his initiative and the needs of his family suggest to him, up to an agreed maximum which would be high enough to encourage inividual action but low enough so as to rob nobody of his minimum share, has the good points of both the 'isms': capitalism and communism. This concept of the individual's relation to the wealth of his country under a democracy governed Ives's own behavior when his firm began to make a great deal of money; he limited his own income to what he calculated an individual's share of the country's wealth should be, taken in relation to the rights of other citizens. The surplus, which in Ives's case was large, war returned to the business. Ives believed a man who had a great deal more money than his neighbors was in moral danger, and he pointed out that too rich manuring of the ground is as damaging to crops as too little. End of quote. Ulrich von Hecker ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Aug 96 17:42:09 UT From: "Julius & Jennifer Saroka" Subject: RE: Elephant Talk Digest #301 >Now a few words for Mr. Fripp: F him! Sitting in the shadows. Barely >moving a muscle. Stone faced while the crowd was going nuts. Can >hardly see him and I was 30 feet from him. Why doesn't the band just put >a cardboard cut out of him and play a tape? I'm at a CONCERT. I want >to SEE. If I just wanted to LISTEN, I'd put on a CD. Pompous a'hole. >Screw him. All the other members were getting into it. Fripp's there >sitting on his stool. I'll "drop a stool" on him. Damn obnoxious bastard. it's just this kind of attitude that drove Mr. Fripp into the shadows! who the f--- are you to make demands on _any_ artist, let alone Fripp? i think he's an obnoxious bastard, too; but that has nothing to do with his performance style ( i could provide anecdotes, but that's not really the point here.) if you want another dancing monkey, go see the MTV flavor-of-the-week band playing at any venue of choice. personally, i think if more musicians would sit down and focus on the task-at-hand, there would be more _good_ music! ------------------------------ From: ossi at kerfi dot hi dot is (Orn Orrason) Subject: My concerns on Crimson Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 00:30:22 +0000 (GMT) Dear readers I am a deaf KC concert attender through only experiencing them through the ET pages. From the last posts the following facts have more than once appeared: 1) Fripp is bored 2) Fripp looks tired 3) Fripp does little or no soloing. I have therefore devloped the feeling that Fripp does not feel comfortable in this outfit. Other explanations could be travel=20 load taking it=B4s toll. Let's hope he is healthy. In last ET someone mentioned the fact that Fripp has stopped=20 playing beutiful parts. His parts seem mainly Evil these days or as someone described from his (what seems to be more livelier performance than usual) Ashbury Park performance ANGRY. Why is Fripp angry, Bill said recently that getting rid of his manager and finding a vife had made him a happy man. After playing the same material now for two years I think=20 everybody agrre that KC should offer a completely new material for the next tour. They seem to have perfected their current material. Anyway, let us hope that THAT Fripp thing will not lose interest in performing adn play music for us fans for the next 10 years or so. I want to hear him play Jazz! Regards Orn --=20 * Orn Orrason E.E. Univ. Iceland - Systems Engineering lab * * Tel +354 525 4699 Fax +354 525 4937 * * http://smyrill.kerfi.hi.is ossi at kerfi dot hi dot is *=20 ------------------------------ From: Tim Read Subject: King Crimson - NIN.. distant relations? Date: Sat, 31 Aug 1996 22:44:20 -0500 Well, aside from the fact that the mention of Nine Inch Nails possibly could result in my expulsion from the list, I'd like to bring something to the attention of the mailing list, *if* it wasn't already known. I purchased NIN's "The Downward Spiral" in a fit of many other albums today. (Also picked up TG's "1000 Years", very cool.) When I was looking through the liner notes, I noticed on two tracks, Adrian Belew is credited with guitar work. Yes, really. I mean Adrian Belew. If this was known, I apologize for bringing in old news. However, I was quite suprised to see any sort of mention of anything remotely KC near NIN. Anyway, just an interesting "sighting". -Tim Read ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 01:57:36 -0800 From: wagabu at earthlink dot net (Steve W. Small) Subject: Sensations Fix Dear Sir(s), I am a guitarist who is very interested in this work. Especially, at least for the time being, any recording I can get my hands on by Franco Falsini or Sensations Fix. I have the "Boxes Paradise" album, but no turntable. (Pretty lame, huh?). I've played professionally for 17 years and have had some teensie-weensie success locally (San Francisco bay area). Good reviews in local music mag ("BAM") which compared us to "Court of the Crimson King". I personally thought this review was kind of wierd in that we had gone for a decidedly "poppy" approach with a nod to Oingo Boingo. Whatever. I reeaally just want to hear some Sensations Fix. In particular, the "Finest Finger" album. 2nd on my wish list would be "Fragments of Light". I'm Jonesin'. I just saw mention of an album called "Tapes in Flight" which I'm also curious about. Please let me know if you know of any recordings available. Thanks in advance for your time and energy, Steve Small PS. Sorry about rambling about my music. I mean, who cares? ------------------------------ From: max dot bracco at iol dot it Date: Sun, 01 Sep 96 19:09:37 Subject: re : The emotional Fripp and his best solos ever In 298 Jim Sciarra said that probably the best Frippian solos are in non KC collaborations : I think that RF prefers retain a tight discipline on his own records favouring a stronger ensamble sound and gets loose more easily being a guest because he hasn't the responsability of the entire project. You may find interesting to know that in '92 Fripp quoted his partecipation to Brian Eno's album NERVE NET "my best playing in the last ten years". Indeed his wild feline sharp attack in "Distributed being" is the fastest and most ferocius Frippian solo of the last decade and his distant thriller-callings in "WEB" are really frightening. It's also true that his solos on the "Damage" live CD are longer and more passionate than on KC "B'boom" live album. Next time we'll talk about other underrated RF great moments. Thrakbyes MAX from Italy ------------------------------ From: max dot bracco at iol dot it Date: Sun, 01 Sep 96 19:09:35 Subject: re: petty gripes ? In ET 301 Jeffw%wk wrote : "...my big beef now is that i don't think adrian b. adds anything to the band. i respect his talent but who needs another guitar player when robert fripp is on stage? and to top it off, he can't sing or write to the level of king crimson. how he can stand on stage and be the voice of a band that once had gregg lake's voice, john wetton's and even boz b's. now, i feel better. but if robert fripp wants him(a.b.) in the band then who cares what i think!" Mr. Jeff%Whatever, I was so surprised to read such a bad opinion on Adrian (as probably are surprised hundreds of Eters) because his contribution to present KC and also in the 80ies edition is fundamental ! If only you had seen one of the recent KC gigs, and watched with spirited attention, you should have noticed hundreds of Mars-Attack guitar-inventions flowing out of Adrian hands. Belew was the one who brought the Elephantosity in KC ! He his the goblin who took crazy sounds and animal effects in the 80 edition. And many of his solos are really memorable : check out on "Discipline" the warped arabic solo in the second Elephant Talk break, or the splendid slide bird-calls in "Matte Kudasai" (so lyrical that RF himself took out his own short solo from the CD Definitive edition, because "Adrian was playing much better than me and my solo didn't add anything to that beauty"). The problem is some clay-ear people mistake Belew playing for Fripp's inventions : many of the stellar feedback sonic paintings in the last KC records come from Adrian fingers. Sometimes this misunderstanding (i.e "Fripp does it all and the others are just side-men") happens also concerning Trey Gunn playing. As for Belew's singing and writing role : I think his voice is the right one for current KC music and he took high pitch parts to a grinding effect. The raucous Wetton was OK for the metallic/romantic 70 edition, but had far less variety and dinamic. Anyway, Belew writing is of great importance in present KC. I'm sure you don't know that some of the best tracks of the last albums start from songs written by Adrian, then arranged by the whole band : for instance the effective "Dinosaur" and the haunting "One time" (this information was told to me by Bruford himself). Fripp is responsable for the more aggressive guitaristic side , i.e. Vroom, Thrak, Vroom Vroom. I think my opinion will be the same of many other Eters, but I'm also afraid you're going to get many angry posts from people much less patient than me. ThrakByes to all ETers MAX from Italy ------------------------------ From: "Francisco Diaz" Subject: "1st message from a new spanish member" Date: Dom, 01 Sep 96 20:35:11 +0200 (MET) Hello to all, My name is Alberto Diaz. This is my very first message to the Et members. I'm sending it from Barcelona (Spain). I have always had an special attraction to the experimental and avant-garde music, but once I discovered in 1985 the"Larks' tongues in aspic" album, it changed my point of view in musical terms. From then on I play the guitar in a Rock Avant-garde oriented band , and we used to do some cover versions of King Crimson. In 1988 we recorded a cover version of one of the Crimso masterpieces "Larks' Tongues In Aspic (Part II)" , and I gave Robert Fripp a copy of it in one of the Crafty Guitar courses that were held in Firence (dec-89). The name of the band in these days was CLAN, and our actual name of the band is "DIFICIL EQUILIBRIO" or "Hard Balance" if we translated it. Well, regards and I will keep you posted. Attentively... BERTO VIAN. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 01 Sep 1996 18:46:16 -0500 From: Chris Mitchell Subject: Great Deceiver lyric Regarding the "Great Deceiver" lyric: well, the G.D. himself is the devil, n'est pas? "He'll charm your life 'til the cold wind blows" etc.etc. Brings to mind good old Doctor Diamond: "I'm the driver of an underground train... your loss and my eternal gain... climb aboard...your life is mine, my life is yours" If anyone can decode all of Wetton's vocal on that track, shed some light please. But let's not start a Crimson/satanism thread, eh. It's just a bit of Faustian fun. Chris M. univ of tenn ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Sep 1996 12:44:19 +1100 From: james dot dignan at stonebow dot otago dot ac dot nz (James Dignan) Subject: Re: KC & XTC Robert Cervero wrote some interesting comparisons of KC & XTC. While I am sure that these are valid comparisons, it surprised me that of the six mailing lists to which I contribute, four are dedicated to musicians who share so many points in common - the other two being Australian band The Church, and eccentric Englishman Robyn Hitchcock). In each of these other cases, the artists shared more than half of the "commonalities" that were listed for King Crimson and XTC. Which either says something about my taste in music, or the generalisability of the common points. What is perhaps more interesting in the connection between the two bands is that Belew and Gunn have both expressed a great interest in XTC's music, and - if a recent comment on Chalkhills is to believed - Trey may have recently recorded some tracks with XTC. (Trey - are you reading this? If so, can you confirm or deny these rumours???) James ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Sep 1996 12:45:42 +1100 From: james dot dignan at stonebow dot otago dot ac dot nz (James Dignan) Subject: Re: The Emotional Fripp "Jim Sciarra" wrote: >Finally, a few issues back someone spoke about the relative lack of >emotion in Fripp's playing with King Crimson, and noted that Fripp has >demonstrated an ability to play with extreme passion outside of the group. >The poster asked if anyone else had felt emotion from Fripp's work outside >of Crimson, but the thread did not get picked up. I would like to follow >up by mentioning some of the non-Crimson tracks where Fripp can actually >move me to tears: >St. Elmo's Fire, from Brian Eno's "Another Green World" The Hammond Song, >from The Roches first album as a trio. Teenage Wildlife, from David >Bowie's "Scary Monsters" Wave. from David Sylvian's "Gone To Earth" >Threnody for Souls in Torment, from "The Bridge Between" agree with all the above - the Hammond Song being perhaps the single most beautiful piece of Fripp guitar on CD. Other pieces worthy of mention include: The Grid - Ice Machine (4-5-6) Peter Gabriel - White Shadow (PG II) Brian Eno - Distributed Being (Nerve Net) James (who still wants to hear an album by Fripp and Laurie Anderson!) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Sep 1996 11:38:51 +1000 From: j dot keens at rmit dot edu dot au (Jeremy Keens) Subject: thrakattak and show of hands in case anyone missed me i'm back with a new address! have just picked up Thrakattak, somewhat concerned after reading the reviews in the archive, but willing to give it a go, especially based on the positive ones. well i was pleasantly surprised.rather than being unlistenable, this is a release which seems to carry some essential crimson, and i find it exciting, compelling and very approachable. i have never been able to see the group live, but have TGD, E'bound and USA. Add to this that the lark's togue/starless crimson is my favourite and this could explain it. as noted by one reviewer, the tones in some tracks are reminiscent of that period, when (it seems to me) the recorded crimson was more open to experimentation and 'thraking'. on this cd we have all of that testing trying music in one place. and, from such a dinosaur, it sounds surprisingly current to my ears. if i had to classify it, it would fall mainly into the dark ambient, noise category and sit there quite comfortably. i was concerned i was wasting my money, but am now excited to have one of the best crimson releases, up there with larks and starless. on an alternative note, i also got show of hands (yeah, its old, but it has resurfaced in a shop here so i grabbed it). iy has the familiar sound of other crafty albums - i like the fact each has its own aspect - the first had frippertronics on it, etc. the aspect of this one is Patricia Leavitt's singing. after a few listenings i have got used to it, but am still unsettled by it. how do others feel it fits in the crafty vein? glad to be back - i think. the noise ratio is still a little high, but, hey, who am i to complain having added to it. jeremy ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 08:35:10 -0400 From: Edward Banatt Subject: Crimson at Asbury Park, (oops) Just read my review of this concert in ET#302. Just wanted to clarify. Indiscipline began with the Tony Levin/Bill Bruford "prelude", not Waiting Man. (oops) Also, some interesting anecdotes from the tour are at Tony Levin's Website, http://www.papabear.com/tlev.htm. My favorite is the airborne sausage pizza, courtesy of Fripp. (I said artichoke, dammit!) Edward Banatt Fairlawn, NJ ebanatt at internexus dot net http://www.wp.com/EBANATT/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Sep 1996 13:22:26 -0400 (EDT) From: Gideon B Banner Subject: FSOL Something to add to the discography: On the latest Future Sound of London album, _ISDN_ (which I haven't heard but which looks to be interesting), selections from Fripp's performance on BBC radio with FSOL are included in a number of the songs. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 15:47:21 -0800 From: james dot dignan at stonebow dot otago dot ac dot nz (James Dignan) Subject: Re: Orbital, not Orb? dshaw at pop dot tiac dot net (David G. Shaw) wrote: >Regarding the posts about Fripp's collaboration on the FFWD recording: >That project was done with Orbital, not the Orb. Check the credits - it >lists the Hartnoll brothers, who are Orbital. Sorry, David - The FFWand D of FFWD stand for Fripp, Fehlmann, Weston and (Dr.) Paterson, i.e., Fripp and the Orb. The album credits state: written by r.fripp/t.fehlmann/k.weston/d.a.r.paterson (orb music, big life music, crimson music) produced by the orb & thomas fehlmann guitar & treatments, robert fripp electronics by kris weston & thomas fehlmann ambient tratments, d.a.r.paterson percussion, hasson ramsey sounds pretty conclusively Orb to me... James ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 04:53:10 -0500 From: tim siefkes Subject: Mellotron link At the risk of stepping into dead-topic territory, I stumbled onto a link for those still needing to know more about the mellotron. The Mellotron page at: http://www.users.cts.com/crash/r/rgs/mtron.html even includes sound samples from the 'tron, including ITCOCK. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 13:30:33 +0200 From: kriskras at knoware dot nl Subject: re: on several posts Hi there, I'd like to react on some of the things said in the past few ET's. Michele (ET#301) asked how the Crimsonites feel about Frank Zappa. I would like to say that I love Frank's music, how many American rockstars wrote a song in my mothertongue: Dutch? He played it in the early seventies and it's a translation of the lyrics of 'Once Upon A Time/Sofa' which can be found in German on 'YCDTOSA 1'. Besides that strong point I love all the stuff he's done. Some of my favourites include 'Civilisation Phase III', 'Does Humour Belong In Music?' and the hilarious 'Broadway The Hard Way', to name a few. As a guitarist he's very difficult to follow so the 'Guitar' records aren't my favourites, but still. You really have to sit down and concentrate to get the whole package. I don't want to kill the Bootsy/Fripp thread yet, I'm sorry Thomas B. (ET#30= 2). People who are wondering how Fripp would sound with a funk bass (King Crimson and the Sunshineband? :-) ): check out the latest record of the 70 years old Algerian ra=EF-singer Cheikha Rimitti! The bass is played by Flea (of Red Hot Chili Peppers fame), while Fripp does his thing. The record is very powerful (or should I say massive?)! And then there was this post by David Shaw (ET#301) who has a version of the FFWD album with the Hartnoll brothers on it! I checked mine, and I couldn't find anything that even sounds like Hartnoll, I'm sorry. I thought =46FWD stood for: Fripp, Fehlman, Weston, Dr. paterson. Dr. Paterson as in The Orb. One Jeff (ET #301) thought Adrian Belew didn't fit in KC. I think he *does*, very well! he has a beautiful voice and is an innovative guitarplayer. His singing can move me to tears ('One Time'). Which brings me to 'tearjerking' music. Besides Fripp (esp. 'Blessing Of Tears'), Bill Frisell has a strong capability of doing that. Songs like 'Strange Meeting', 'Rag' and 'Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Hair' are *very* sad. :-( Dan Wasser (ET #301) made a strong point when saying people should be quiet during the soundscapes, I agree. When I saw KC 1 year ago in The Hague people started going away at the end of the show, at least, *they* thought is was the end. I was sitting there like: I want to fade away *with* the soundscapes, slowly get back to earth, so to say. But the rest of the audience seemed to have a different idea about that. :-( that really sucked, big time! I hope I can get to Crimson really soon, because the last time they were in Holland I was in the USA for vacation! During that vacation Slayer played in a small venue in Amsterdam and John Zorn's Masada played in Amsterdam also... Talk about bad timing! =46ew people mentioned Fripp's sitting in the dark was rude. What I heard an= d always thought was that Robert suffers from malfunctioning eyes. They do not adjust to strong light like the sun or stagelights. So he gets blinded by them. Does someone (Robert for instance) know if this is true? =46urthermore I would like to compliment Trey Gunn on his last record, 'The Third Star'. Really nice! Well, that's all folks! Martijn Martijn Busink kriskras at knoware dot nl ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 10:04:43 -0400 From: "Gordon Emory Anderson" Subject: Fripp's Playing In ET #302, Gregg said: >I greatly admire his skills as a player or especially as a composer, but >merely as a listener (and one that has listened closely since the 1980's), >I find I'm telling myself its good only because it's Fripp. As I myself mentioned last November in a NYC Longacre review, I too wondered about Fripp's playing with KC. But after listening to his fantastic work on "Damage", I have to conclude that for some reason he has consciously chosen not to play the kinds of lines Gregg is talking about. Maybe in the context of King Crimson, he does not want to fall into the Guitar-God mode, or something. It is intersting to note that he apparently was practically invisible during the Damage concerts, so perhaps he feels kind of self-concious playing that way or something. -Emory. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 17:22:25 +0200 From: Marco Brucale Subject: Area Area was an italian band of the 70's. If you wonder what KC would had sounded like if they were more into jazz than into rock, listen to Area. Realize that before I heard Area, KC was my favourite band. Now KC is my favourite *ROCK* band... Area CDs are published by CRAMPS. For a good start check out 'CRAC!' (crscd003) AVE MARCO P.S. If you don't have the new 21CSM single, definitely buy it! It's Fripp-solo heavy and the '74 version is killer. ------------------------------ GIG REVIEWS ------------------------------ From: "Mathews, Thomas J." Subject: 25/8/96 gig review etc. Date: Sat, 31 Aug 96 12:27:00 EST Threw the frisbee. Reminded a taper of Fripp's well known views on this activity. Ate tomato sandwiches. Lost a grey tour info book. Headed down to the first row. Sitting in front of me now is the 25/8/96 playlist as handed to me by Trey at the end of the show. The list itself is divided into seven sections. Two tunes were switched as marked in felt pen after the list was printed out. ELEVENS' THELA RED DINOSAUR ******************************* ONE TIME VROOM VROOM ******************************* WAITING MAN 3 OF A PERFECT PAIR ELEPHANT TALK (switched) ******************************* SHELTERING B'BOOM THRAK ******************************* SEX INDISCIPLINE LARKS _______________________________ PRISM VROOM _______________________________ SCHIZOID MAN (switched) [VV:CODA added] >From my ever weakening memory in part: RED seemed early to me. It rips my soul each time. DINOSAUR made me want to sing (uhoh). Tony and Adrian just belting it out with their whole bodies mustering tremendous vocal power. VROOM VROOM was reported in a post parking lot talk to have a screw up that upset Robert. Did Tony cause this? WAITING MAN seemed to begin in an unusual tone. Somehow this made it seem wonderfully new to me. SHELTERING opened with Bill squatting stage left playing the wooden drum attempting to convince several yahoos that he would prefer sealed lips just then. He walked up behind Adrian and Trey to far stage right when Trey cut a solo that dreams are made of. His lead gave a whole new meaning to what is already great art. B'BOOM lacked that long space out as from the studio album. Pat is completely there giving Bill everything he needs. Thank evolution we don't have three arms (upsetting the universe no doubt). THRAK had two major space outs. Pat removed one of his cymbals and was cracking it back and forth like an aluminum pop can into a mic. Tony seemed to lose the feeling and switched instruments during the space. Adrian got bored and started to play a bit silly. Robert played some choppy harsh chords in the second space, a sound rather non-Frippish. I felt he was really trying something entirely new then. Pat and Trey seem at total ease improvising (I really think most at ease.) SEX was "sitting in the fireplace". That madness part is just a blast live. This could produce interesting improv. in the future. INDISCIPLINE had a lengthy duo intro of Bill and Tony that just sucked you into the terror that follows. Something akin to waste these crimheads now and they won't even notice . . . LARKS. Poetic torridity. PRISM featured Pat crossing himself, acknowledging a friend in row one and a huge smile the entire time. VROOM is indeed powerfully demonic but to my ear it hasn't progressed the way others songs have. Thankfully the M475:CODA with it's simple reminder of JPG&Ringo is just so tasty that I don't really mind. SCHIZOID MAN has Robert really enjoying himself with the solo. Tony plays his funk fingers for this. VV:Coda seemed nearly out of place after 21st. tj's coda: Robert was in complete view. He did not play during one piece and stood behind his stool during this. I saw three brief smiles. He was mostly still and economical. He watched Adrian and Trey most. After the set he stood and did his traditional hand over eyes looking out over the audience (hey I'm over here Robert!). The others made no attempt to invite him downstage. Trey is also stolid and at times did not play (not unlike RFSQuintet). At times he just slaps his Warr Guitar with full hands. Bill was having an endless blast although I thought challenged by the improv. The entire band depends on him for most endings. I really enjoyed the work of Pat. His look is misleading to me. He is a great drummer and I suspect he can recite Shakespeare also (hold that flame). Adrian singing continues to be powerful and sincere. He broke one string and his tech was there instantly. Tony is just a rock. Perhaps his constant and excellent updates of the tour on his www have caused me to take him for granted (shame on me). Postscript: If we could hear a Robert Fripp Trio this winter with Pat and Trey I would be a happy man. They now interest me most. I would enjoy more orchestral Adrian also. dream sweetly, tj ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 00:15:59 -0400 (EDT) From: ajax at postoffice dot ptd dot net (Daniel Hildebrand) Subject: Gig Review-Aug. 26 Philadelphia, PA *Sorry for yet another review, but I started it on Tues. and didn't get a chance to post it until now! It has many details left out of the normal reviews I see posted. Feel free to ask me any questions about the concert. My expectations were high as I took my seat in the lovely Mann Music Center. I was still in the clouds after their performance last June here in Phily, and I was unsure if "The Guys" could pull it off again. The good news was for the most part they did. The set list: (in as close an order as I remember) A Drum Piece -great Thela Hun Ginjeet -OK, but plagued with sound problems. The taped lyrics were too quiet (I couldn't even hear the 2nd verse at all!) and I think this lead to some problems with everybody getting in sync. Red -excellent (then again, I do hold a special place for this song in my heart) Vrooom Vrooom -great, they REALLY played this tight, everybody sounded on the same wavelength. *(Bruford messed up on a little fill, I wouldn't have been able to tell, but I play drums as well. It was a minor bass/snare exchange, but his foot slipped up. He made a comical face w/ head tilt and kept playing. The next chance he had for a fill he played it again - this time perfectly. Anyone else notice?) Dinosaur -excellent, much more powerful than the last show. *(It seemed Adrian fumbled a bit with the intro and "bridge". Just nit picking.) One Time -beautiful. B'BOOM -good, wasn't AS knocked out as before. *(I think Bruford's new setup doesn't let him do the as tasty tom work.) Thrak -OK, really mellow. I know that sounds impossible, but it seemed there was zero enthusiam for it. Nobody took control of the impov section - it sort of meandered along. Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream -Great, just about as good as it gets! Elephant Talk -Great, a crowd pleaser. People were dancing to it ***(which is about time, KC's music is at times prone to cause gyrations, WHY DON'T MORE PEOPLE DANCE OR AT LEAST STAND FOR SOME SONGS!!!!??????) Waiting Man -ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, the best song of the show AND I don't really care for the album version. This version sounded SO alive! Neurotica -Great, It really rocked. The album version has Bruford giving a swingin' bop beat, but he was crackin' backbeats instead! (on beats 2 and 4) BUT ALAS, the dialogue tape was on the fritz again! Only an occasional lyric could be heard (chorus was fine) LTIA 2 -Incredible, but then again I LOVE THIS SONG!! Sheltering Sky -Wow! What a treat. So seductively beautiful. I get SO into this song it's not even funny. (I wanted to dance badly! Oh well...) Indiscipline -Good, but same problem as above. Adrian sang the lyrics very hurriedly. Encores: Prism -Great, Pat sat down for Bill's solo w/ an exasperated look on his face (joking I hope). Everybody had fun with it. 21st Century... -Lots of fun, well done except lyric slip up. Vroom w/ Coda -Great, but here's my gripe - why choose this for an encore?! Just switch it for LTIA 2, Red, Indiscipline... something much more powerful. The coda section sounds like a clock winding down -this to me doesn't fit as an encore. Anyone else agree? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 04:58:00 -0700 From: Rich White II Organization: No organization, whatsoever... Subject: Philly 8/26 Show / First post! This is my first post to E.T. I'll try not to make it my last ;-) I attended the Philly show at the Mann Music Center... seats were about 8 rows behind the sound board, almost DEAD center. This was my FIRST CRIMSON CONCERT ever.... seeings I've only become a fan in the past year. (And I've been lurking on ET for most of that time too!) My overall impression of the show: WOW! I've seen all my favourites perform: Genesis, Floyd, Moodys, Gabriel, and Yes.... but NEVER have I broken a sweat enjoying music like I did on Monday night. The energy on that stage was incredible... and everyone says that they were tiring for touring... WOW... what were they like on the first day of the tour?! I attened the concert with two non-Crimson fans, my girlfriend and a buddy. My girlfriend was bored thru most of the show, only taking real attention to the drum solos and some of the hits she recognized from me playing in the car (Dinosaur, One Time). "What are they saying" during T.H.G., she asked... along with Neutotica. After the show, all she said was, "I can't beleive you don't like grunge music!". My buddy, whom enjoys mostly big band and 80's stuff (?), was sorta impressed. Again, he was into the drum solos and "accessible material", but was lost during peices like Thrak and Red. (although he likes LTiA2!) He loves the soundscapes... and 21stCSM... His overall impression: Interesting... but boring at times. Today, 3 days after the concert, he was still singing parts of 21CSM! I'll turn him into a Crimhead yet ;-) Of course, both didn't care for Masque.... Personally, I think I'd like to hear their album before making any decisions about them, because their sound wasn't "with it"... nor was KC's for that matter... Now onto my critique. Granted, I'm new at this, and have nothin to compare to... so this is completly un-biased from any other Crim shows... Highlights: 1. Entire set list, except THG. (This song just doesn't do it for me) 2. Bill and Pat's (and Ade's) drum solos, & Waiting Man intro... 3. Bill's expressions and control behind the kit. 4. My fav. bass player, Tony. Love the upright! 5. Sheltering Sky... Bill w/ his wooden block thingee.. 6. Elephant Talk... I just love this song! 7. Indiscipline, LTiA2... also love these... wish Pat would use more gadgets though during LTiA2, like on the studio album... 8. Simple, yet effective lighting. Of course, Fripp in shadows. 9. CHEAP merchandise! $20 for a T-Shirt! $8 for programs! Thanks Possible Productions! (I thought $30 was the norm for a T-shirt anymore!) 10. Audience was very attentive... except for some yelling during quiet parts... but this is to be expected EVERYWHERE anymore... Bummers: 1. The sound SUCKED... Peter Gabriel still, IMHO, is the best-sounding show I've ever heard (US tour). Like I mentioned, we were behind the mixing board and center, and I expected a lot better than what we heard. 2. No People & Walking On Air... really wanted to hear these live. 3. Why do they need Trey? I could barely make out what he was playing, and he didn't seem to be needed for the pre-Thrak material. (Sorry Trey) 4. No lighting on Fripp to illuminate his front.. always in shadow. 5. Those damn crickets always chirping during the quiet parts! Now, like I said, I've only been a fan for about a year now. I started with the "first three" boxed set... and fell in love with ItCofCK and ItWoP... however Islands doesn't "do it".... Then I bought Thrak, which I loved at first play. Then onto the 80's stuff, Disc, Beat, and ToaPP... I love Disc and most of Beat.... ToaPP is still growing on me. Next came Red and the Great Deceiver... of which I love both of... and finally (in the past month), Islands, LTiA, and S&BB.... I am truely in love with LTiA now... Islands is alright... and S&BB is growing fast on me. My favourite line-up is the the 70's LTiA thru Red and GD lineup, followed by present, then lineup #1 and #2. Just picked up ThrakAttack today... and I love it already! (somewhere in there, I bought Bboom when it came out... excellent but it sounds so compressed, IMHO) This is my first posting to ET... so be gentle with me... I'm new at this ;-) Now for my questions: 1. What *WAS* that block of wood called that Bill played for Sheltering Sky? 2. What's THG stand for? 3. Is there a FAQ regarding the following: a. Frippertronics (creation, playing, etc) b. various instruments/techiniques used in songs, unique sounds, etc. c. attempted meanings of songs/titles, etc... 4. Is there any "sound booths" on the internet to sample some other KC-related titles... such as the RF albums, CGT, Trey Gun, etc etc... I just don't have the money to "load up" on albums right now... (esp w/ Rush, Yes, Collins, and a Genesis box on the way too!) Thanks much for your time. Hopefully, I can become more active on ET now that I've seen KC live and can say "I was there!" (and I'm glad I was!) TTFN... -- // Rich White II <*> rwhite2 at prolog dot net <*> Reading, PA (( == C=ommodore Computers... 64 or '95? I pick 64! \\ Moody Blues.King Crimson.Pink Floyd.Yes.Genesis.Gabriel.Rush ------------------------------ End of Elephant-Talk Digest #303 ********************************