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The Grid/Fripp Leviathan vinyl

Vinyl

A 2021 collaborative album from electronic duo The Grid (aka Richard Norris and Dave Ball) and Robert Fripp, combining Fripp Soundscapes with synth, drums, programming and effects by The Grid.

2 x 200g super-heavyweight vinyl in gatefold sleeve.

‘Robert (Fripp) turned up with a truck load of amps and effects, two great big stacks including delay units with a 76 second delay and played and played and played.’ - The Grid

Though not intended as such, in some respects Leviathan and its creators represent between them one version of the history of British electronic music. In 1973, the curiosity of a significant chunk of the King Crimson and Roxy Music fan bases, along with an attractive price, propelled

Fripp & Eno’s No Pussyfooting into many thousands of homes where no such recording had previously registered a single sleeve, much less a gatefold. By the early 80s Dave Ball & Marc Almond’s Soft Cell were at the forefront of a wave of synth based bands who dominated the singles and albums charts. In the 1990s, The Grid – Dave Ball (again) & Richard Norris formed a key act in what was sometimes referred to as Electronica, sometimes herded under the (almost meaningless) “Dance music” category, occasionally (equally inaccurately/narrowly) described as “ambient” music, the struggles of music industry name-taggers never quite catching either the breadth of the music involved, nor recognising – until much later – the scope of its influence.

The Grid’s success - a number of hit singles and albums, including the million selling “Swamp Thing”, world tours, remixes for Eno, Pet Shop Boys, Yello, Sylvian/Fripp – could find a ready audience among those for whom, by now, electronic music was part of the everyday musical fabric and commonality of experience, even as it continued to evolve and develop as a form in itself.

The Grid were managed at the time (1992) by David Enthoven who had also managed King Crimson and Roxy Music from inception for many years and by now with a Sylvian/Fripp remix among their producing credits, it is no surprise that the duo and Fripp were keen to see if mutual recordings would produce interesting results – hence the arrival of the equipment described by Richard Norris above at Eastcote Studios in West London.

As Norris further notes: ‘Robert’s craft and musicianship was slightly daunting to us at first, being from a more DIY, post punk electronic background, but we soon worked out a language to communicate in. “Make it sound like a thunderstorm…”, “I’m going to make a sound like a bomb”, that kind of thing. After every track, Robert would say “Have you got any more?” and seemed to be greatly enjoying himself. He was a very generous guest’.

The resulting Fripp recordings provided material for much of The Grid’s second album ‘456’ and their Top 20 follow-up album ‘Evolver’.

But there was more, much more….

A few years ago, The Grid rediscovered tapes from these sessions, including unreleased tracks they’d worked up but never completed or mixed. A set of long solo drone pieces from Fripp was discovered along with a lost track that was then remixed to become ‘A Cabala Sky’ by The Grid / Fripp and released as part of Bill Brewster’s acclaimed ‘Late Night Tales’ compilation series in 2014.

Further Fripp Soundscapes from the same period were added to the mix by DGM’s David Singleton, which inspired The Grid to add new synths, drums, programming and effects to create the album ‘Leviathan’ a 2LP and CD/DVD-a set.

Inspired by the mythical whale ‘Leviathan’, the biggest prehistoric whale that ever lived, Norris adds ‘I like Philip Hoare’s book “Leviathan”, which is about his obsession with whales and whale watching and the awe of coming into contact with such massive creatures. They are quite mysterious. Their brains are enormous, and we don’t quite know what all the brain power is doing… A bit like Robert, really’.

Having completed the album’s stereo mixes, DGM suggested the music as ideal for a full 5.1 surround mix by The Vicar. Electronic music lends itself very well to Surround Sound mixing as the listener has no fixed notion as to where any sound should emerge from. This mix features on the CD/DVD-a edition (alongside the stereo mix) and while Surround Sound is sometimes regarded as “niche” in terms of audience, the same would have been said about any form of electronic music when Fripp turned up, guitar in hand, at Eno’s place in 1972.

But then inquisitive musicians, even (perhaps especially) when they approach music from very different perspectives, often arrive at places that are as intriguing to an audience as they were to the participants.

Side One

1. Empire

2. Milkwood

3. Pulse Detected

Side Two

1. Loom

2. Leviathan

Side Three

1. After The Rain

2. Fire Tower

Side Four

1. Zhora

2. Sympatico

CD/LP/Boxsets

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ARTICLES

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DIARIES

Satch Bus.

09.23

Satch Bus.

We arrived at Hotel Adeq...

Satch Bus.

10.53

Route 66 gives a route of 1535 mil...

Cabin 6020, Silja Ferry >Stockholm.

16.21

Cabin 6020, Silja Ferry >Stockholm.

...

Satch Bus.

10.29

Bags at 09.30, lobby 10.00, set off for Got...

Satch Bus, outside venue, Copenhagen.

24.47

An experientially long overnight drive, inc...

Hotel Pricey And The Staff Are Superb, Amsterdam.

10.47

Breakfast this morning with Joe alone. He w...

Hotel It-Is-Almost Posh, Amsterdam.

09.10

Into the breakfast room at 06.30 for a quie...

The Basement, Chateau Belew.

10.28

The Basement, Chateau Belew.

The su...

The Basement, Chateau Belew.

05.30

One proper response to being alive is joy....

The Basement, Chateau Belewbeloid.

16.41

The event of the day: Martha Belew is 31 to...

Los Molinos.

07.23

Rising at 05.52, or 04.52 UK & body tim...

Crimson Tourbus, Outside Hotel Acceptable, Phoenix.

01.00

Crimson Tourbus, Outside Hotel Acceptable,...

#504, Hotel Quite Acceptable, Vancouver.

00.15

A supportive & generous audience and wh...

Hotel Quite Acceptable, Vancouver.

11.03

The weather is changeable, a blue sky rapid...

Hotel Quite Acceptable, Vancouver.

23.57

We arrived at Denver International Airport,...

Hotel Quite Acceptable, Denver.

10.42

The sun is shining, the sky is mostly blue,...

Hotel Quite Acceptable, Denver.

20.04

Snowbound in Denver. Rising at 08.30, a not...

Room Most Acceptable, Hotel Quite Acceptable.

11.00

Driving snow is blowing past on the other s...

Hotel Quite Acceptable, Denver.

23.15

And with free Ethernet access, too. A call...

Mobile HQ, Crimbus.

12.47

We left our hotel punctually at noon and ar...

DOWNLOADS

World Financial Centre1st Performance

Robert Fripp
World Financial Centre 1st Performance
3 Dec 2010

Orchard Hall

King Crimson
Orchard Hall
19 Dec 2018

Washington Square Church

Robert Fripp
Washington Square Church
8 Sep 1995

ND Ateneo

Robert Fripp
ND Ateneo
7 Jun 2007

Teatro Central

Robert Fripp
Teatro Central
18 Apr 2007

TRAX

The League Of Gentlemen
Trax
21 Jul 1980

The Bottom Line 2

Robert Fripp
The Bottom Line
13 Dec 1997

Auditorio Murcia

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Auditorio Murcia
25 Apr 2007

Teatro Principal de Zaragoza

Robert Fripp
Teatro Principal de Zaragoza
16 Apr 2007

Music For Quiet Moments 51 - Opening (Nashville 17 Apr 2004)

Robert Fripp
DGMHQ Soundworld 1
16 Apr 2021

Music For Quiet Moments 40 - Doubt (Greenville 23 Feb 2006)

Robert Fripp
DGMHQ Soundworld 1
29 Jan 2021

The Kitchen New York USA

Robert Fripp
The Kitchen
5 Feb 1978

Villa Arconati

Robert Fripp
Villa Arconati
29 Jun 2006

Riviera

Robert Fripp
Riviera
29 Jun 1997

Music For Quiet Moments 2

Robert Fripp
DGMHQ Soundworld 1
8 May 2020

17 April 2004

Robert Fripp
Studio Belewbeloid
17 Apr 2004

I Advance Masked

Summers & Fripp
Arny's Shack
1 Jun 1982

Robson Square Theatre

Robert Fripp
Robson Square Theatre
5 Aug 1979

Music For Quiet Moments 28 -Time Stands Still (Udine 24 Jun 2006)

Robert Fripp
DGMHQ Soundworld 1
6 Nov 2020

Robert And Trey

King Crimson
DGM Sound World I
26 Sep 2022

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The next step is Discipline

The 1980s see a very different King Crimson incarnation originally touring under the name Discipline . The presence of Adrian Belew meant that Robert Fripp was working for the first time with another guitarist. This incarnation of Fripp, Belew, Bruford and Levin becomes the first one to record successive studio albums with the same lineup.

The Grid/Fripp Leviathan vinyl

ARTICLES

DIARIES

DOWNLOADS

ARTISTS

PHOTO GALLERY

DGM HISTORY

The next step is Discipline