Fripp and Trey Gunn had been in Japan seven months earlier with David Sylvian and now they had returned with a small clutch of dates and a brand new line-up. [endtease]Whilst there, The Robert Fripp String Quintet recorded a TV show subsequently released on the video Live In Japan and released in 1994 back in the fledgling days of DGM.
The soundtrack to that show is presented here so if you already own the video please note that you do not need to download this concert.
However, having taken it directly from the master DAT means there’s a significant improvement in the audio quality. Additionally, Alex has restored the ending of "Threnody" (edited for the video), added "Eye of the Needle" and another encore version of Hideyo Moriya’s classic thumper, "Kan-Non Power", both of which were absent from the released video. Listening to Fripp’s solo pieces is especially interesting as they sit on the cusp between old school Frippertronics and the more nebulous, widescreen Soundscapes. Precision plectrum work from the California Guitar Trio on tracks such as Melrose Avenue and Bert Lams’ “Yamanshi Blues” is guaranteed to get your toes tapping and the pulse doing things it probably shouldn’t.
Mystery surrounded the exact date of the recording with the label on the Dat master claiming it as being 19th November 1992, though some listings said it was the 11th November. However Paul Richards of the California Guitar Trio was able to shed some light on the issue "While my memory may have fogged and blurred beyond retrieval, according to the CGT tour date archives, the RFSQ video was shot on November 11th, 1992. It was filmed at Tokyo FM Hall for "Wowow" TV. This is back when Bert still had hair! In 1992 and 1993, the Robert Fripp String Quintet did a few short tours in Japan, Italy, Argentina, England and the USA. We recorded this video and released one CD. These were very special concerts for the CGT. It was in the beginning years of the California Guitar Trio, back when we were really struggling to get by living in Los Angeles, taking any gig that we could. Just two weeks prior to the filming of the RFSQ video, CGT played a concert sitting in the dirt under a tree at a "party" hosted by a very eccentric woman at an animal refuge in Malibu Canyon. And a few days later at an auction hosted by Jeff Goldblum for the California Democratic Party. Performing CGT pieces at sold out venues with Robert and Trey was by far the most exciting thing we’d ever done. And sitting on stage next to them while they played amazing soundscapes was heavenly. Hopefully there will be another RFSQ project sometime in the future."
