Exposure

by

Robert Fripp

Edit

The late 1970s was a period of reinvigoration and rediscovery for Robert Fripp-- in 1974, after dissolving King Crimson, Fripp withdrew from the music industry only to be drawn back a couple years later working with Peter Gabriel and the David Bowie/Brian Eno partnership. A relocation to New York and musical reawakening due to the punk and new wave scenes burgeoning there led to the recording of "Exposure", Fripp's first and only "proper solo album" (his words, not mine).

Drawing on an unusual list of collaborators-- vocalists Daryl Hall (of Hall & oates), Terre Roche (the Roches), Peter Hammill (Van der Graf Generator) and Peter Gabriel with instrumental contributions by Tony Levin on bass, Barry Andrews (XTC, Shriekback) on organ, session man Sid McGinnis on guitar and drum contributions by Jerry Marrotta, Phil Collins (back when he was a drummer) and Narada Michael Walden, Fripp ends up with a pretty unusual stew. The music is like King crimson dragged through a New York filter-- post-punk, new wave, progressive rock, art rock and others all come filtering through. Commercial considerations limited some contributions-- Daryl Hall's label forced Fripp to remove some of his contributions for fear association with Fripp would damage his marketability (Hall's first solo album, "Sacred Songs", produced by Fripp, was also delayed several years by the label for the same reason) and a cover of "I Feel Love" featuring Blondie was stopped by their label, again for commercial concerns, but nonetheless "Exposure" works out to be one of those startlingly diverse and undatable albums.

From the start, this is an odd affair-- the first song (after an odd preface) finds Fripp, Hall (on piano), Levin and Walden sinking in to a punky almost stride groove on "You Burn Me Up I'm a Cigarette", with Hall's uncharacteristically aggressive vocal soaring over the fierce backing track. But the album doesn't embrace this sound for long, moving between Crimson-esque instrumentals ("Breathless" and "Haaden Two", both with the sort of monsterous riffing that made Fripp's reptuation), explosive art rock pieces (rambling "Disengage", featuring a shouted, ranting vocal from Hammill, Roche and Hammill duetting over Fripp's pounding riffing on "I May Not Have Had Enough of Me But I've Had Enough of You"), an oddly venemous love ballad (swinging "Chicago", check Hammill's bizarrely tortured vocal) to simply lovely and beautiful balladry (the delicate clean-tone guitar driven "Mary", ably sung by Roche and what to my mind is the definitive version of Peter Gabriel's "Here Comes the Flood", with Gabriel's plaintive vocal backed by his piano and Frippertronics).

The problem is with an album this startlingly diverse and quite unlike so many other things Fripp's been involved in, it's highly likely that people who love Fripp's music may find this unlistenable. But one of the things I love about "Exposure" is that in its diversity, it provides a number of opportunities for finding new things on repeated listens, and it really is a magnificent album.

This reissue is quite a package-- it presents the album as it was originally released (or close to at least), soemthing that hasn't been done ever on CD, it also includes a second disc close to the CD mix, but restoring all of the Daryl Hall vocals that were forcibly removed. Intriguingly, one is painted a drastically different picture of Hall than you'd get without this, and one wonders what direction his career would have ended up in had this been issued intact-- his vocal on "Disengage" is a piece of fierce energy that belies description. Additionally, a handful of bonus tracks, alternates from the sessions, etc. are included (although the Fripp/Blondie track never surfaced).

Sonically, the upgrade is fantastic-- I always thought the '89 remasters of the Crimson catalog sounded great until I heard the 30th anniverary editions, ditto for this release-- there's a sonic clarity and level of detail that makes this a worthwhile upgrade, and like the Crimson reissues, there's details here you never heard.

The album also includes extensive liner notes, both reproduction of the originals, lyrics and excerpts from Fripp's diary during the remastering process. It makes for a worthwhile lead.

The limited edition release packages this in a mini-LP sleeve-- while I like these, I'm kind of bummed they couldn't find a place to stick the booklet, and as a result, in the packaging it just comes wedged between the gatefolds of the case. The jewel case may have been a better option in this case.

Regardless of packaging, this is an album that has gone overlooked-- Fripp's legacy seems to be largely restricted to King Crimson, but "Exposure" is something no fan of his should overlook. Highly recommended.

Very simply, it's Fripp's most interesting album and the one in my collection that makes my hair stand on end. But in the process of transferring it to CD, it was butchered. There is a full minute and a half on music missing from the album, as well as Fripp's acerbic wit on some of the songs (esp. Haaden Two) and the most fasceted instrument lines were also eliminated from the album, like the missing echo from "here comes the flood", the synthesizer line from "NY3" and "Chicago". In the end it was given the same rotten treatment that they gave to Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk", an equally diverse and experimental album. Both CD's should be avoided like the plague. My best advice is just to get an LP Player and enjoy the vinyl.