When did you first hear this album?
Did it seem like a bridge between 70s and 80s Crimson?
"Episode 62 - Exposure by Robert Fripp. Sean goes deep into Robert Fripp's approach to music. Vaylor has anxiety about punk and new wave. At least two Leagues are involved."
I saw it as part of an explosion of creativity as "prog" fell apart and boundaries were being pushed in all directions.
As noted in the video, it had some of almost everything.
A favorite for sure.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
-- Aristotle
Nostalgia, you know, ain't what it used to be. Furthermore, they tells me, it never was.
“A Man Who Does Not Read Has No Appreciable Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read” - Mark Twain
It gave street cred to some of the prog purge survivors.
Energy up the wazoo.
I've never really been thrilled about this album. I mostly just play the Frippertonics pieces, Breathless, Haaden II and Here Comes The Flood. Never cared for New Wave, which is why the 80s Crimson is my least favorite era. I did buy the box, of course.
I love this album. Really eclectic but somehow it hangs together anyway.
My progressive music site: https://pienemmatpurot.com/ Reviews in English: https://pienemmatpurot.com/in-english/
Didn’t used to be much of a fan of it, but now that I can replace some of the spoken word and Terry Roche sung tracks with extra Daryl Hall or Peter Hammilll singing, I’m a big fan.
Last edited by yesstiles; 12-19-2022 at 07:24 AM.
This is actually the first album I heared from Fripp/KC. I heared Peter Hammill sing Chicago as an encore in one of his shows in the 80ies and sought out the album directly after.
Loved it from the start and explored the whole KC catalogue after that.
I love all Crimson incarnations to some degree so inevitably have tried this out. As a callow teen, I found it to be tiresome, atonal noodling, dipped again about 18 months ago and can't say my opinion has changed.
This week we're taking a look at Soft Machine's second album..... Arriving Friday.
LOL! "I just handed my fondling crown to him..."Originally Posted by Dave (in MA)
I've never really been thrilled about this album. I mostly just play the Frippertonics pieces, Breathless, Haaden II and Here Comes The Flood. Never cared for New Wave, which is why the 80s Crimson is my least favorite era. I did buy the box, of course.
I like the album, even with how disjointed it is, but I've somehow been able to resist the box. Sorry, Robert!
Hmm, I suppose I should listen to this at some point, but yeah, never heard it. I'm not a fan of KC after Red really, though I do appreciate it and none of it is bad of course, I just don't find I enjoy listening to it very much. As a guitar player / musician though, the 80's era band is pretty damn impressive and innovative.
Anyway, I should give it a listen at some point.
It’s really a mix of the Red era and the Discipline era. I don’t think it leans any more heavily towards the 80s era.
The most Crimson sounding tunes on it are very Red era inspired. Heck, "Breathless" is basically a rewrite of "Red". Reverse Red I sometimes call it. :-D The League of Gentlemen album has more of the 80s sound than this album does, easily.
First picked up Exposure in 1981 (just before the release of KC's Discipline). And as others have pointed out, I hear the album as a bridge between the mid '70s and the '80s Crimson (as well as an overview of Robert's work with New Wave Rock and Frippertronics).
Would you believe this was our most viewed vid so far? Guess there's more searches for Fripp on YouTube than the other artists we have discussed. The better known ones (Anderson, Hackett, etc) all did pretty well too.
I probably enjoyed this album more in the 80s and 90s than I do in the present. I recall connecting Sacred Songs and Peter Gabriel to the Exposure album. I often listened to the three albums.
I was a huge fan of "Breathless" I have an interview with Fripp where he states the following: "Crimson could have never played Breathless. When we were recording Red I wanted to be more Heavy Metal and Bill Bruford didn't understand the piece Red" "Nor did he understand what I was trying to do"
I was shocked to hear that. 😳 Maybe he was bitter then
Love it, but its a little frustrating with the shifting moods and styles.
The lack of coherence is a bit overwhelming.
Welll, it was a time of great experimentation for Fripp, and so I am totally fine with its apparent lack of focus. I say apparent because I wouldn't actually go so far as to suggest it lacks focus, because pretty much everything Fripp does is for a reason.
When I reviewed the set (for those who missed it, here it is), which meant listening to it multiple times (barring the Frippertronics Archives, for which there simply were too many shows for me to give my usual 8-10 listens before writing), I marveled at just how broad his brush strokes were, and how he managed to create so much music of both relative simplicity and disguised complexities throughout.
Which is why it's on my "Best of 2022" list....
John Kelman
Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
Freelance writer/photographer
Got this upon release...my first exposure (pun intended) to Peter Hammill!
It's a postcard of his abilities at the time. Great stuff. Best version ever of 'Here comes the Flood'
Saw your list and discovered Gary Husband: The Trackers - thanks!
Last edited by Zeuhlmate; 01-05-2023 at 10:23 AM.
Boring. Never cared for it.
The Prog Corner
I had Exposure on vinyl but when I switched to CDs I didn't prioritise getting a copy in that format.
Not long ago a sale at Burning Shed prompted me to buy the fourth edition. The sale is still active - see link below.
I was surprised at how familiar I was with this album despite it being a while since I listened - I think I must have played the record a lot.
I think Exposure is a great overview of the many facets of Robert Fripp's musical endeavours. I hear many Crimson-esque passages of course (both pre-Discipline era but also some forerunners to the 80s KC sound and beyond), sections reminiscent of The League Of Gentleman, there's Frippertronics - both pure and incorporated into structured songs and other material in various genres - some of which I would not necessarily have expected from Mr Fripp.
The fourth edition has all (I think) of the alternate vocal takes done by Daryl Hall that were forced off the album by Hall's management. I like these as much as the takes on the original release - I think I'll make up an Exposure playlist with all of the Hall vocals as Fripp originally intended.
https://burningshed.com/robert-fripp...ry=true&page=2
"One should never magnify the harsh light of reality with the mirror of prose onto the delicate wings of fantasy's butterfly"
Thumpermonkey - How I Wrote The French Lieutenant's Woman
"I'm content to listen to what I like and keep my useless negative opinions about what I don't like to myself -- because no one is interested in hearing those anyway, and it contributes absolutely nothing to the conversation."
aith01
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks