Having just finished four nights at London’s Jazz Cafe with ProjeKct One, Fripp travelled to Newlyn Church to perform a benefit concert for the Shallal Dance Theatre. Part-concert and part-sound installation, we hear the slow, careful construction of the layers and atmospheres that make up the peformance. Indeed it’s not until the best part of an hour before Fripp plays anything that might be regarded as a guitar solo. Of course ‘scape fans won’t be put off by such procedures, especially when you get pay-offs such as the truly stunning Improv VIII. Lasting 28 minutes, it’s a deeply moving reverie suffused with light and yearning. It is perhaps little wonder that a portion of this particular improvisation was used for The Power To Believe III by King Crimson. By contrast, the equally epic Improv X veers to somewhere darker in tone and feel, a sense of unease or foreboding creeping and seeping up through the chords.
Navigating his way through these changing moods at the gig was Michael Madden, attending his very first soundscapes concert. “The sounds of Robert's guitar started to wash though the church at 2.pm he was situated to the right of the main altar... many of John Miller’s canvases had been placed around the church, some hanging from the wall, others placed on large easels... Each Soundscape would last for about 30 min, Fripp would then remove his guitar walk to the front of the church drop his head slightly, walk to the back of the church stopping to look at a picture, acknowledging people as they entered or left the church. Meanwhile the Soundscapes continued, Fripp would then return to his stool to start the process over again.”
Ending with the uplifting Improv XII this is an exquisite souvenir of a very special performance.
