On the 21st November 1996, Robert, David Singleton and Hugh O'Donnell made their way from DGM HQ near Salisbury to a restored Victorian railway station in Bath. The trains had stopped arriving at Green Park Station a long time ago, replaced instead by a steady stream of shoppers visiting the various market stalls and supermarket nestling beneath its broad iron arches.
With his Soundscapes being relayed in quad around the space, Fripp spent three hours in cold November temperatures slowly building up sounds observed by an audience that included former Crim, Michael Giles and collaborator, Peter Hammill. The performance had been scheduled to last eight hours but was cut short by a combination of the team’s late arrival and over 100 complaints from the public. "Nominally, these focussed on the volume. One stallholder threw up" recalled Robert in his sleevenotes. "Our overall impression was that it would be better for us to stop, and even better for us to stop very soon."
What is presented on November Suite is a quad recording condensed into stereo, and a three hour performance edited down to an hour. Yet despite its reduced circumstances, this is one of Robert’s most beguiling Soundscape releases to date, with November Suite IV in particular being amongst the most poignant of Fripp melodies to ever grace the air and well worth the price of admission on its own.
Originally released in 1997, with no plans to reissue it on CD, it is now available as a download. The extensive artwork that accompanied the album will be made available as a PDF for viewing on your PC at a later stage.
