“It’s very exciting to be in Frankfurt yet again. In days of old it was in fact the Zoom Club, “ says Fripp. “The first simpering whimper of enthusiasm tonight from the band was in fact the legendary LTIA Pt 1.” Despite that slightly disparaging reference to the opening number, the cross-picking section is taken at a fearsome pace.
After a rendition of The Night Watch, in which Wetton seems to jump into the ascending bass part and thus curtailing Fripp’s solo just as it was getting going, the band enter the Fracture zone. A somewhat down-tempo version this makes it more of a bulldozer as they go into the grinding finale. it’s nevertheless a real blast by the coda though not without some tuning issues.
The improvisation begins with a cautious, impressionistic sequence on pianets making atmospheric use of the volume pedals. As Bruford drops twinkling glockenspiel into the mix, the mood becomes starker and and more angular as Wetton makes his presence felt.
As the group break into a strange, lurching march, there’s a sense of uncertainty as to which way this might go. Fripp introduces a plucked chordal solo normally deploy in Easy Money and for a while it sounds like a reprise of that number until they make their way into Exiles. A night of varying levels of energy and excitement are captured on this good quality audience recording, concluding with a tragically truncated LTIA Pt2.
