RE: Bitchery vs. Fair Comment

[jprice@intcpi.com (John Price)]

The latter seems to be something Fripp places a lot of emphasis on for the 
purpose of not having to be weighted down as he sees it by demands that 
take you out of the spirit of listening, hearing and knowing all music has 
to give you. Read any of his interviews, follow his career paths and 
various incarnate projects and such and theres a pattern of someone who is 
always looking for ways to step outside of himself and grow into something 
new that was not present before.


The reactions Ive read thus far seem to say more about the expectations 
and wishes of the listener or audience as opposed to what the music needed 
to be and what it said or was trying to tell them.

There are many ways to listen and there is always great difficulty in 
hearing something free from our own perceptions which can often times be a 
distraction and misleading.

I saw Fripp at The Painted Bride in Philly and I came away with a lot of 
things: Boredom, Beauty, Repetition, Balance, Chaos and Extreme 
Calculation, Discipline, Mega-Extreme Organized thought Patterns that were 
Improvisationally intuitive. All this stuff was happening all at once at 
any given time.  

I tend to view music vividly as constantly contrasting and moving colors 
and The Painted Bride Performance at times was really cool, thrilling and 
concurrently really dull to the point of ennui - but I could appreciate it 
and hear some - not quite all but enough of what was going on to see what 
the big picture could be and was probably about. 

My only complaint was there was just way too much going so subtly  at The 
Bride Show - Fripp was a pretty busy player just in a way you wouldn't 
recognize it. Ironically he was giving in (IMHO) to what so many people 
wanted to see him do - play a lot of notes or make lots of noise - he did 
it his way.

None of this "insight", came to me overnight. Its been unraveling ever 
since I saw his performance and still keeps unfolding the more I reflect 
on the experience.

No it aint the best thing since Ziplock bags Or Christy Canyon but its 
truly something else which is often missing way too often in music lately 
- an original perspective that can easilly be dismissed and overlooked - 
which is somehow where Fripp wants and seems to be right now.

JP


-----Original Message-----
From:   Peter Thompson [SMTP:pt205@hermes.cam.ac.uk]
Sent:   Tuesday, February 03, 1998 10:45 AM
To:     Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com
Subject:        Bitchery vs. Fair Comment

As the co-accused in the Goodman Bitch Trials I would merely like to say 
the
following:

I don't see how my comment can be considered as bitching.  I simple wished
to amplify Andre's point about Fripps use of patches.  I neither commented
on nor do I agree with any of the points that he made about Fripp being
exciting.  Nor do I agree with the previous comments about Fripp being the
'bottom line'.

I have no doubt Fripp adores what he is doing - I have a lot of time for 
his
music.  I have no desire at all for him to be 'exciting' if the definition
of that word includes sounding like Satriani.  Restraint is a highly
underrated virtue, one that some posters to LD might like to consider.

If we are going to have Mr Goodman jump down our throats every time we
express an opinion, however anodyne, then perhaps we better all just stick
to talking about SIMMs and mixers and stuff.

Pete


-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen P. Goodman <sgoodman@earthlight.net>
To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com <Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com>
Date: 03 February 1998 14:45
Subject: Frippery vs. Bitchery


>You know, at no point in this strangely looping discussion has anyone
talked
>about the idea that - wonder of wonders! - perhaps RF LIKES what he's 
>doing
>right now...!
>
>I believe we've all been there, hm?  But if you're looking for blazingly
>fast technique guitar, go listen to one of the fellows from the G3 tour.
>Amongst the things I get out of listening to music (and yes!  Fripp's work
>too), "being impressed" is not high on my list of expectations before the
>performance.
>
>Just listen to it, and if you don't like it, listen to something else.  I
>just think this bitching about his work is pointless unless someone can
come
>up with an alternative guitarist/style/etc that one likes Better.  Or
>perhaps it's your own work you like better, just say so.
>
>Who ever said it was supposed to be exciting ALL the time anyway?  Or did
>yez think it was a marketing ploy when Fripp said (back in the early 80s,
>pre-KC2) that at times he made an effort to be as boring as humanly
>possible?
>
>I'd have kept my keyboard untouched on this one, if it had not denigrated
>into this whiningly annoying bit.  It smacks a bit of the Satriani-heads
who
>were also disappointed in Soundscape works.  Oh brother, whatta buncha
>consumers THEY are. :)
>
>Stephen Goodman  * It's... The Loop Of The Week!
>EarthLight Studios    * http://www.earthlight.net/Studios
>
>>>..whatever... i agree - it's some of fripp's most..... non exciting
stuff.
>>>but , yes, i respect the fact - that was what he was going for.. but on
>the
>>>2 soundsscape CDs i have , plus the G3 show, it never seemed to take 
>off,
>>>beyond simplistic, basic synth patches thru cool stereo FX. not as
>>>adventurous as he usually is, by far!
>>>
>>>andre'
>>>
>>>
>>
>>This is a good point.  Fripp does rely too much on synth patches.  Now
that
>>can sometimes work very effectively such as on A Blessing of Tears, but
>more
>>often than not it just gets cloying.  I would like to see him use the
>>natural sound of the guitar more - essentially i would like him to sound
>>like a guitarist, rather than a keyboard player.
>>
>>Pete
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>