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What’s Robert Fripp thinking while Joe Satriani and Steve Vai join him for a take on the King Crimson classic “Red?” Is this his version of watching a couple of guys do his wife?
Sorry, that was rude of me, but to my dismay I also stumbled across this:
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The world moves and it swivels and bops
My infatuation with female bass players is well documented and this thread could easily, especially for me, be a flippant, voyeuristic look at hot chicks thumping basses (don’t worry we’ll get there), but the truth is that I feel that there is a deeper connection between the bass and the female that is primitive and intoxicating.
Nothing against men bass players but more so, I feel, than any other instrument, the bass and woman have a unique connection. In fact I would haphazardly postulate that there are more female bass players in rock bands than female any-other-instrument players. The sexist hypothesis might be that the bass is easier to play. Well that’s as may be. But, regardless, I think women are drawn to play the bass.
My theory is that bass-chicks are modern-day Fertility Goddesses.
My first exposure to Robert Fripp was via Eno which quickly led to a love affair with King Crimson’s Discipline.
KC in turn led to exposure of Exposure his first proper solo album (his two previous releases were credited to Fripp & Eno).
Chris Stein directed this 1979 promo.
The UK music mag, WIRE said that Exposure is
the Sergeant Pepper of avant punk.
That is certainly debatable but it would for sure be a part of that debate. (In fact it is. See the Avant Punk nomination thread below.)
Exposure is chock full o’ the who’s-who of the late ’70s intellectual, stool-sitting, headless guitar and tapeloop set; Barry Andrews, Phil Collins, Eno, Peter Gabriel, Tony Levin and Daryl Hall. Yes, that Daryl Hall.
SIDEBAR: Then current Fripp girlfriend, Joanna Walton, wrote most of the lyrics. Joanna died in 1993 as a passenger of Pan Am Flight 103.
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Let’s not debate a winner quite yet. Instead let’s get some nominees. RULE: Each nomination must be seconded to be included in the final debate.
I’ll start by nominating Robert Fripp’s Exposure. Can I hear an amen?
Not everything old and outdated is worth revisiting – and even some things old and outdated are worth admiring, if not bringing back. There’s much I admire in the following King Crimson performance from 1973.
Let’s start with John Wetton’s Look. His hair and sideburns are perfect! Why can’t someone in a critically acclaimed band I’m supposed to love, like Wilco or White Stripes have hair like that? I also dig his floppy jacket and the excusable fashion faux pas of wearing his own band’s t-shirt onstage. Someone had to be the frontman for this nearly amelodic, seemingly asexual collective. Wetton lays it on the line.
Bill Bruford‘s sporting some good ‘burns himself, although they’re not quite matched. The right sideburn seems to be coming out further and it not as thick. That’s OK. As you’ll see toward the end of this clip, it’s not a tank top he’s wearing but some kind of stylized overall/jumpsuit. I guess lots of drummers don’t bother dressing up because they don’t get to jump off their throne and bang a rack of gongs.
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Townsman dbuskirk sent me the following clip, which I believe addresses some of the simmering concerns that have arisen from the open forum in tribute to The Minutemen. Mad props to db, Alan Watts, and the South Park creators for identifying this common RTH dynamic.
Isn’t I know what you’re thinking: No, it’s not Watts the guy whose voice is was used on Fripp’s The League of Gentlemen album? but J.G. Bennett.
Townspeople:
Other than an early, head-scratching introduction to the band through periodic spins of my Dad’s copy of “Lark’s Tongues In Aspic” (not bad for a guy born in 1930!), my experience with King Crimson is limited, and I am wary. A recent flyer at a used copy of “Beat” didn’t do much to make me like the band more — but I did spin 30 seconds of the title track from “In the Court Of the Crimson King” on iTunes and liked it well enough. Oh, and lest ye think I’m a knee-jerk prog hata, I can also put a check-mark next to the “saw Robert Fripp deliver lecture on Frippertronics at Georgetown University and liked it okay” box.
What I really want to know is: are King Crimson really Great, and — well, if so, why?
I look forward to your responses.
HVB
