Having spent most of May in Europe the following month, the Frippertronic roadshow turned its attention toward America. By the time he pitched up in Cleveland Ohio, Fripp had already notched eleven appearances in radio stations, coffee shops, clubs and record stores. The session took place in what is reckoned to be Cleveland’s oldest record store. Established in 1967, Record Revolution is apparently still going strong, and according to their advertising slogan, the reason for this longevity is that they’re providing people with what they want.
Whether the crowd who turned up to see Fripp plug his Les Paul into the two Revox tape recorders that Thursday in 1979 expected what they got is a matter of speculation. However, the yelp of shock quickly followed by applause from the audience when the swirl of arcing guitar abruptly cuts out after Loop and solo pass 1 suggests they were pretty pleased about it all.
This is a classic Frippertronics concert painstakingly restored by Alex Mundy from the source reels and audience recordings wherein short and long lines accrue like a febrile morse code transmitting strange signals, gathering together in vibrant, intense clusters underpinned by the rippling undertow of bass. Hindsight lends us a degree of familiarity with the process yet despite this the way in which notes flicker delicately like a candle in the wind to then suddenly take on the ferocity of a blow torch is still breathtaking stuff.
