Originally released on CD in 1996, this is arguably the most dramatic of all of the original Soundscapes albums.[endtease] Radiophonics is a densely layered release, employing orchestral timbres, FX-laden atonality and sublimely uplifting harmonies.
Mix and match composers such as Ligeti, Schnittke, Pärt and Gòrecki, even a pinch of Teutonic knob-twiddlers, Tangerine Dream, and you get close to the eclectic range of textures and vistas on offer here.
The centre-piece of the album to this listener is the four-part Buenos Aires Suite: a rare case of Fripp serving up a kind of programme music evoking the sights, sounds and some of the political and spiritual undertows of that city. The blissful Elegy (for Mothers and Children) is Fripp at his most humane and passionate, whilst the drive-by drones of Streets describe the rapid transition of a city waking up and rapidly filling with people and the internal combustion engine.
Fan reaction at the time of its release was mixed with many finding it harsher and more oblique than the previous year’s Soundscape release, A Blessing Of Tears. Demanding and full of foreboding, it’s fair to say that this isn’t an album for the faint-hearted Fripp fan.
At the time, these performances were Robert’s first solo concerts in over eleven years, with the peices here taken from two performances at the Goethe institute: tracks one and two from the first concert and tracks three to six taken from the second performance of the day.
The extensive sleevenotes which accompanied the original CD release will be made available in the WORD section of this page. There are no plans to reprint this album in CD format in the future hence its appearance on DGMLive.
