The Stranglers And Friends – "Live In Concert, Rainbow,London 1980"

Oooh Look! A one-off collaboration for two 1980 live concerts by The Stranglers from the spring of 1980. Naughty Hugh Cornwell was in Pentonville Prison for drug possession. With two gigs scheduled at the London Rainbow for 3 & 4 April, the management decided to turn things around by approaching a number of well-known artistes to fill in for the absent Cornwell on vocals and guitar.

However,what is notable about the various guest appearances is the number of deceased individuals on one stage.....not deceased at the time one has to note, but recently deceased, as in the case of Jet Black,Nik Turner ,Nicky Tesco and ,my guitar and sartorial hero, Wilko Johnson. 

There are other less recently deceased artistes of course, like Ian Dury and Larry Wallis,but mainly we're concentrating on the new wave of dead pop-stars,wot I have wrote about in the last few posts,with the exception of Wilko Johnson,for whom I couldn't find any words to express this great loss!

He being the only musician I know of who has a spoonerism for his nom des plumes. I also could not find anything (good) he did that I haven't already posted before.....that is, until discovering his guest spot on these live recordings by a Hugh Cornwell-less Stranglers. Nestling uncomfortably alongside Robert Fripp and his terrifying wife, Toyah......later to haunt us all with their insufferable social media appearances....another dreadful consequence of the Co-Vid Lockdown.....among various Pub legends,skids,blockheads and ex-proggers. Sure enuff an impressive turn out,and a more interesting way to listen to the Stranglers back catalogue. One of the few Tribute albums that actually features the band who are the subject of the tribute.

Farewell Wilko.

Tracklist:

1 Introduction by Jet Black 1:53

2 Get A Grip
Guitar – John Ellis, Robert Smith
Vocals – Hazel O'Connor 3:42

3 Hanging Around
Guitar – John Ellis , Robert Smith
Vocals – Hazel O'Connor 4:09

4 Tank
Guitar – John Ellis , Robert Fripp
Vocals – Pete Hammil 3:03

5 Threatened
Guitar – John Ellis , Robert Fripp 3:21

6 Toiler
Guitar – John Ellis , Robert Fripp
Vocals – Phil Daniels 5:19

7 The Raven
Guitar – Basil Gabbidon, John Ellis
Vocals – Pete Hammil 4:30

8 Dead Loss Angeles
Guitar – John Ellis, Wilko Johnson
Vocals – Phil Daniels 2:18

9 Nice'N'Sleazy
Guitar – Basil Gabbidon , John Ellis
Saxophone – Nik Turner
Vocals – Nicky Tesco 6:44

10 Bring On The Nubiles
Guitar – John Ellis, Wilko Johnson
Vocals – Richard Jobson 4:00

11 Peaches
Guitar – John Ellis , John Turnball
Saxophone – Davey Payne
Vocals – Hazel O'Connor, Ian Dury, Toyah Wilcox 4:34

12 Bear Cage
Guitar – John Ellis , John Turnball
Keyboards – Matthew Hartley
Saxophone – Davey Payne
Vocals – Hazel O'Connor, Ian Dury, Toyah Wilcox 4:41

13 Duchess
Guitar – John Ellis
Vocals – Toyah Wilcox 2:44

14 No More Heroes
Guitar – John Ellis
Vocals – Richard Jobson 3:49

15 Five Minutes
Guitar – Larry Wallis
Vocals – Richard Jobson 4:13

16 Something Better Change
Guitar – John Ellis , Steve Hillage
Vocals – Toyah Wilcox 3:43

17 Sewer
Guitar – John Ellis , Steve Hillage
Vocals – Jake Burns 7:36

DOWNLOAD from over the rainbow 1980 HERE!

Fripp & Eno ‎– "Live In Paris 28.05.1975"

Everyone's had an Eno collaboration haven't they?....except me!
The suffix,"...and Eno", has appeared many times ,stuck on the end of another experimental, or otherwise, musicians family name. Another common appearance of Eno's own family name , was as producer; where he committed his worst faux-pas's as the man behind the desk of some of U2's most offensive work. I guess that the money was good at least.
In contrast, some of "...& Eno's" greatest work was done with Mr Toyah Wilcox himself, Bobby Fripp. Sharing the oxygen with our Brian's manipulated tape-loop, electronics and delay mechanisms providing an ethereal ambient backing for Fripps heavily sustained guitar accompaniment.
Nowadays, we all have a little electronic box to do all this looping malarkey,so it's nothing special for granny and grandad to put together an experimental ambient album in their lunchtime; but back then, one had to use two chunky reel to reel tape recorders and yards of analogue tape streaming back and forth, a razor blade and some splicing tape. A bit cumbersome but quite effective.
Here we have three cd's documenting the duo's performance in Paris during the technically malfunctioning tour of 1975.Problems with the equipment beset our hero's frequently during this short trek around europe,including cancelled concerts, audience booing and walkouts,and general difficulty for the public to accept this as music. Nowadays this kind of set-up is normal, and goes to prove that if the public 'Boo' your work you are probably doing something right.....Fripp and Eno certainly were doing something very right.
One concert when it all went very very right,even if the audience didn't know it at the time, was on the 28th of may 1975 in Paris. Luckily this superb couple of hours of pure innovation was captured on tape and bootlegged. Here's the 'official' 3 CD bootleg version, complete with some of the backing loops faithfully recreated for you to do your own accompaniment to, and play at being Fripp and Eno for an evening.

Tracklist:

1-1 Water On Water 10:46
1-2 A Radical Representative Of Pinsnip 9:39
1-3 Swastika Girls 7:44
1-4 Wind On Wind 2:00
1-5 Announcement 1:13
2-1 Wind On Water 9:44
2-2 A Near Find In Rip Pop 7:21
2-3 A Fearful Proper Din 4:12
2-4 A Darn Psi Inferno 4:59
2-5 Evening Star 5:59
2-6 An Iron Frappe 10:33
2-7 Softy Gun Poison 12:31
2-8 An Index Of Metals 7:20
3-1 Test Loop I 4:07
3-2 Test Loop II 0:47
3-3 Loop Only: A Radical Representative Of Pinsnip 10:39
3-4 Loop Only: Wind On Water 9:53
3-5 Loop Only: A Darn Psi Inferno 5:40
3-6 Loop Only: Softy Gun Poison 14:45
Bonus Tracks
3-7 Loop Only: Wind On Water Reversed 9:50
3-8 Later On (Single B Side) 4:56

DOWNLOAD some rock'n'roll without the rock or the roll HERE!

The League Of Gentlemen - "The Greyhound,London 19-09-1980" (Bootleg)

An very good quality audience recording of a rather hot gig at The Greyhound.....in Fulham?
A very tight and cohesive unit The League of Gents were by this time in the year.
Theres some Fripp banter too, and some expert handling of a heckler in the audience.All good stuff.

Tracklist:

01 Inductive Resonance 05:45
02 Trap 04:54
03 Heptaparaparshinokh 03:30
04 Thrang Thrang Gozinbulx II 03:11

        (Fripp Speaks)

05 Boy At Piano 04:04
06 Christian Children Marching, Singing 03:45
07 Dislocated 05:30
08 Thrang Thrang Gozinbulx III 03:30

09 Untitled
10 Minor Man 03:28
11 Farewell Johnny Brill 04:09
12 Eyes Needles 03:24
13 Inductive Resonance 05:01

14 Encore 1

15 Encore 2

DOWNLOAD from a greyhounds rear end HERE!

The League Of Gentlemen ‎– "Thrang Thrang Gozinbulx (Official Bootleg Live in 1980)"

Recorded live at El Mocambo, Toronto, 17-18 June 1980, and Harpo's, Detroit, 10 July 1980, during The League's lengthy tour that comprised of virtually their entire existence as a band.
Fripp wanted to return to making music for people, specifically to 'Dance' to,and this was the result. A sped up version of 1980's King Crimson, with organ. It certainly gets some kind of foot tapping reaction at times, yet still retaining that artsy edge to raise it above being a wedding Disco band with pretensions. They definitely come under the label of 'Concept Band', in a twist from the classic prog rockers penchant for things conceptual, thee 'Concept Album'; which I assume the official album is.
The 'High-brow Guitarist plays in jobbing dance band' concept.They could have been XTC.

Tracklist:

1 Inductive Resonance 5:15
2 Thrang Thrang Gozinbulx I 2:17
3 Trap 4:53
4 Boy At Piano 4:24
5 Heptaparaparshinokh 2:09
6 Thrang Thrang Gozinbulx II 3:20
7 Christian Children Marching, Singing 3:46
8 Ooh! Mr. Fripp 4:34
9 Dislocated 4:25
10 Minor Man 3:31
11 Thrang Thrang Gozinbulx III 3:38
12 Farewell Johnny Brill 3:58
13a Inductive Resonance 5:25
13b [Silent] 5:21
13c [Untitled] 0:49

DOWNLOAD this gentlemanly combo in action HERE!

The League Of Gentlemen ‎– "The League Of Gentlemen" (Editions EG ‎– EGED 9) 1981

All ex-prog rockers loved XTC, so if you wanted to do some post-punky thing for the kids you had to have an ex-XTC member in your new dance group, hadn't you?
XTC were never the same for me after Barry Andrews's steam organ and stripped down upright piano left the line-up after "GO 2"....and where did he go too (see what I did?)?......Robert Fripp's new mutant Disco inspired dance combo, "The League Of Gentlemen".
Understandably they sound not unlike a combination of XTC and discipline-era King Crimson, with some inspired contributions from Danielle Dax as the cherry on this particular cake.
They did a massive tour,following on from Fripp's massive Frippertronic's tour from the previous years. One has to admire Robert's work ethic.A musician,although he didn't see himself as one, who actually works hard to earn his money.This is all in tandem with his revinvented version of King Crimson,which was also happening at the same time.
You get sick of hearing Pop Stars moaning about illegal downloads costing them money.Why don't they take a leaf out of Fripp'sbook and actually work for a living like everyone else has to.It's the modern era, the recording some crap tunes then sitting back watching the cash roll in has died due to market forces,move with the times, shut up, and play live.

Tracklist:

A1 Indiscreet I 1:47
A2 Inductive Resonance 4:35
A3 Minor Man 3:45
A4 Heptaparaparshinokh 2:03
A5 Dislocated 4:35
A6 Pareto Optimum I 2:07
A7 Eye Needles 3:12
A8 Indiscreet II 2:35
B1 Pareto Optimum II 1:27
B2 Cognitive Dissonance 3:38
B3 H.G. Wells 3:25
B4 Trap 4:45
B5 Ochre 3:07
B6 Indiscreet III 1:26

DOWNLOAD and conduct yourself like a gentlemen while you're doing it HERE!

Robert Fripp - "Frippertronics @KSAN-FM, San Francisco, 28th July 1979" (Bootleg)

As a Frippertronics recording you can't get much better. This came from a visit Fripp made to KSAN FM radio in 'Frisco,the day after his Tower Records appearance in Hollywood, and recorded these four tracks for the Phil Charles Show later in the night.
The context for these performances is slightly different, as they were intended for broadcast, probably only once, and not part of a live performance with an audience. He often spoke of the 'Vampiric' relationship between audience and performer.Something which is altered drastically on record and on radio.These tracks fall somewhere between live and studio,and musically are some of the best recorded versions of Frippertronics I've heard.It's just missing Roberts between track banter.

Tracklist:

01 Music For Streets 4:49 
02 Music For Wrong Ways 4:46 
03 Music For Madams 13:01 
04 Music For Backward Ladies 8:11 

DOWNLOAD fripp in the home of hippie HERE!

Robert Fripp - "Frippertronics at Tower Records,Hollywood 27-07-1979" (Bootleg) 1979

This is a high quality audience recording from Robert Fripp's "Small, Mobile, Intelligent Unit" Frippertronics tour at Tower Records, Hollywood, on July 27th 1979. Despite him specifically asking the audience not to record any of the music.
I do like the idea of something happening just once, then left to disappear and mutate in the memories of the persons present at the time.To eventually die altogether with the ultimate demise of the beholder. Some things should never be repeated or reanimated, and allowed to live their natural lifespan; like improvised music.Which is designed for a specific time and place and should be remembered as a total experience that lived briefly and died,like a sickly child. To reproduce it on a tape and play it back in your living room out of the context in which it was made,changes it completely.
So having said that, here's your chance to change the context and experience some classic Frippertronics in your own living room.Much to the disgust of Mr Fripp,who has successfully clamped down on any being easily available on the net or anywhere else for that matter.....so grab it while you can.
If you don't know what "Frippertronics" is, uncle Bob himself will explain it for you on track 2,interlaced with his mannered dry wit.

Tracklist:

01-Greetings
02-What is Frippertronics?
03-Frippertronics 1
04-Frippertronics 2
05-Frippertronics 3
06-Frippertronics 4
07-Buy my record

DOWNLOAD bob in hollywood HERE!

Robert Fripp ‎– "Let The Power Fall" (Editions EG ‎– EGED 10) 1981

Fripp, as he referred to the touring version of himself,a 'small compact unit', treating us to a album of Frippertronics; which,if you didn't know, is Bobby improvising with tape loops of himself, through various delay units and effects.

The effect is very hallucinogenic,and meditative. The studio version of this music lacks a little bit of the immediacy that cold be generated on the many live appearances he made in cafe's and shopping malls all over the western world on the cusp of the eighties. He dressed like a business man and certainly saw himself more as a business man than a musician,and wasn't afraid of a lot of actual hard work.Something that frightens the living shite out of a self-titled musician.Refreshingly, our Robert,always made it clear that he wasn't a natural, and created his style(s) through sheer endeavor, rather than the Jimi Hendrix route.The result is a thoughtful, considered style, full of technical exactitude.Something reflected in his manner and self-presentation.An admirable anti-rock stance that was invigorated by the onset of the so-called 'Punk Explosion'.He stood apart, but ultimately fitted in. 

The end of his so-called 'Drive to 1981' concept, and the start of 'The Decline to 1984' period.   

Fellow outsider,Lemon Kitten Danielle Dax provided the artwork by the way....certainly a step up in collaboration class from Darryl Hall.

Tracklist:
1984 12:09
1985 11:20
1986 5:21
1987 5:14
1988 6:33
1989 11:32

DOWNLOAD some falling power HERE!

Robert Fripp ‎– "God Save The Queen / Under Heavy Manners" (EG ‎– EGLP 105) 1980

The more experimental follow up to "Exposure" was this Frippertronics heavy tribute to 'Our' Queen, with much of the work being performed by improvisation.

On the Under Heavy Manners side of the album, the effect was modified in what Fripp described as "Discotronics", adding a solid drum beat, a bit like those 'Hooked On Classics' records, and a funky bass line to create a dancier sound.Obviously influenced by that Mutant Disco stuff from the clubs of New York,where he was living at the time.David Byrne guests on urban ethnic vocals,straight from the 'Mudd Club'.

"God Save the Queen" itself bears little resemblance to the British national anthem, although it is based on the opening notes of that tune. It was inspired by a comment from an audience member at a Frippertronics gig, who suggested that, as the performance was taking place on the tenth anniversary of the Woodstock Festival in August 1979, Fripp should reprise Jimi Hendrix's performance of "The Star Spangled Banner".I would love this to be the new anti-anthem for the English at the commonwealth games and other such events; completely lacking in Jingoism and rousing knuckleheadedness. It more than adequately portrays my own personal emotional connection to my motherland, which i have recently fell out of love with.Don't worry it's just a lovers tiff,i'm sure it'll all work out in the end when all the bigoted loony tunes go back into their bunkers after this new wave of populist politics reveals itself to be a disaster.

In the meantime we can listen to the stuff that made that sceptered Isle full of noises the culturally great place we all knew, instead of a book burning hinterland land for dumb bigots.....excuse me for a moment while I snarl....WANKERS!.....better out than in i suppose....that's anger not a reference to the EU, if there's any thick Brexshitters reading this?....which I very much doubt.Don't think yer average bigot has even heard of 'Art' never mind Fripp, or even left the country beyond the Costa del Scunthorpe. Soon, if Fripp and Eno want to go and play another gig in Paris, they'll need a visa and a work permit.Ah, the Freedom of it all?

Tracklist:

God Save The Queen:
A1 Red Two Scorer 6:54
A2 God Save The Queen 9:50
A3 1983 13:20

Under Heavy Manners:
B1 Under Heavy Manners 5:14
B2 The Zero Of The Signified 12:38

DOWNLOAD and save yourself from missing out on more Fripp HERE!

Robert Fripp ‎– "Exposure" (EG ‎– EGLP 101) 1979

Back to the theme of the Prog influence/infiltration on Post Punk. Who better to start with than thee arch-prog experimentalist on the six string,Robert Fripp.
As a teenager, brought up on glam,a bit of prog and the new wave, I always wondered who this smart looking gentleman was who was always pictured in the music press. One was very impressed at how out of place he looked, like a stockbroker who'd accidentally stumbled into a music store. He was often seen with Eno, who used to be in Roxy Music,so one knew who he was, therefore the conclusion of that was that this Fripp chap couldn't be all bad. I had heard of King Crimson,but didn't know he was in them, so hearing this unusual take on rock music was a revelation to someone who thought The Ruts were a bit too good on their instruments for their own good.
Fripp,was and still is, my favourite Guitarist, and the most 'white' by far.You won't find Fripp relying on Blues licks to flesh out a tune.Unusual time signatures, and fractured riffs, coupled with some ambient sustain driven Frippertronics, make his style hard to pin down for more than five minutes.And the fact that he insists on playing while sitting on a stool,scores the highest anti-rock points currently available.
This album is a kind of Prog super group album, with that other great forward moving dark-progger Peter Hammill of Van Der Graff Generator contributing some vocals and lyrics, and various Genesis chums Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel contributing the stuff they do best.
There is but one faux-pas included here.....Darryl Hall!!!!..but we can overlook that can't we?
Of all the progressive rock bands,it was probably these luminaries who absorbed the Punk message the best,and produced something new from it,in sync with the rest of the Post Punk/prog brigade.
This era of Fripp,also produced one of the great images of all time, up there with Doctor Feelgood, and the Magic Band.

Tracklist:
A1 Preface 1:15
A2 You Burn Me Up I'm A Cigarette 2:23
A3 Breathless 4:41
A4 Disengage 2:46
A5 North Star 3:06
A6 Chicago 2:12
A7 NY3 2:16
A8 Mary 2:06
B1 Exposure 4:25
B2 Häaden Two 2:53
B3 Urban Landscape 2:35
B4 I May Not Have Had Enough Of Me But I've Had Enough Of You 3:50
B5 First Inaugural Address To The I.A.C.E. Sherborne House 0:03
B6 Water Music I 1:27
B7 Here Comes The Flood 4:01
B8 Water Music II 4:16
B9 Postscript 0:39

Bonus Track:

18 Exposure (Alt Take)

19 Mary (Alt Take)

20 Disengage (Alt Take)

21 Chicago (Alt Take)

22 NY3 (Alt Take)

DOWNLOAD for some decent exposure HERE!