Bridge Between [Import]

Robert Fripp | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 1, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Discipline Gm UK
• ASIN: B000024ER1
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,318,802 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Kan-Non Power

2. Yamanashi Blues

3. Hope

4. Chromatic Fantasy

5. Contrapunctus

6. Bicycling to Afghanistan

7. Blue

8. Blockhead

9. Passacaglia

10. Threnody for Souls in Torment

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars warm, challenging, magnificient, January 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Bridge Between (Audio CD)

Those who know of Robert Fripp only by his reputation as the genius behind King Crimson, the band known for extended song structures and blistering guitar chords, which has resurfaced in different incarnations from the 1970s through the present, may be surprised to hear him playing JS Bach tunes with a group of sidemen who have every bit the passion he has for precision, finesse, and expressiveness. "The Bridge Between" teams Fripp and Stick/Warr Guitarist Trey Gunn (also of King Crimson) with three acoustic guitarists (Bert Lams, Paul Richards, Hideyo Moriya) in a set of ten instrumental pieces, of which each member of the quintet is represented as the composer, in addition to the aforementioned JS Bach. Together, this ensemble plays seamlessly yet without sounding over-rehearsed or overdubbed. Their compositions range from the insistent, odd-metered "Kan-Non Power" to the bluesy ("Yamanishi Blues"), and a brash yet refined treatment of the Bach "Chromatic Fantasy". A mid-disc segue, "Blue" conveys a feeling of lament and latent anger, which leads directly to the compelling, urgent "Blockhead" composition. "Threnody for Souls In Torment", the final piece, finishes the disc with a sense of sublime, pensive finality. END

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JG Miller's Album of the Week No. 4, November 15, 2002

By 

JG Miller (Demorest, Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bridge Between (Audio CD)

This unique collection will not necessarily work for everyone and I should immediately confess that I am especially fond of Robert Fripp's guitar work, a prominent feature of this album. I tend to think of this as experimental music and much of it is, but the presence of three pieces by J.S. Bach, played not all that radically far from Bach's intentions, belies that as a general characterization. Most of it was recorded live during 1993 public performances but it does not sound like a live album. Post-performance overdubs have been added, one of the Bach tracks was recorded in its entirety in the studio, and there is no annoying crowd noise. Describing what the material sounds like is challenging because electronics are employed to expand the kinds of sounds electric guitars can make. At times one is convinced of the presence of keyboards, harpsichords even, but they just are not there.

The music is often rhythmically intense and emotionally bright: The quintet sound like they are having fun. But then we have the closing track, "Threnody for Souls in Torment" which is 13 agonizing minutes of arrhythmic, atonal desolation, while "Hope" provides a rhythmically muted and tender passage with a subtle (and I think clever) melodic hook. The subdued "Blue" contains a direct reference to the song "Starless", a King Crimson gem from that band's 1974 album Red. I bought The Bridge Between when it was released in 1993 having never heard a note and have never regretted the purchase. Taken as a whole, it sounds unlike anything else that I own and I hear something new each time I play it.

Frippertronics, as defined by Fripp, is "that musical experience resulting at the interstice of Robert Fripp and a small, mobile and appropriate level of technology, vis. his guitar, Frippelboard and two Revoxes". At least that's how he defined it in January of 1980 in the liner notes to his solo album God Save the Queen. Whatever it was in 1993 seems to make its most obvious (and ominous) appearance on the threnody. Lams, Richards and Moriya perform and record together as the California Guitar Trio. Fripp and Gunn represent one-half of the current line-up of King Crimson. The Quintet material was recorded during the year prior to the re-emergence of King Crimson in 1994, the so-called double trio lineup that also included Gunn.

J.G. Miller
Thursday, November 14, 2002
Demorest, Georgia

"Fortunately, it is not in the nature of music to hide from those who wish to hear it, nor from those who hope to give it voice. The benevolence of the musical impulse is greater than we can know, and sometimes more than we can bear." (Robert Fripp)

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two worlds meet..., March 17, 2004

By 

Manny Hernandez "@askmanny" (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bridge Between (Audio CD)

As much as I can see this album being a marriage of two rather distinct styles, with pieces delving into two different areas, I don't see it as weak, or laking coherence, as other reviewers find.

One side of the equation is made up of Bach and baroque explorations by Fripp's quintet. Whoever deems Bach's music as ambient or soft, simply needs to go back to the drawing board, specially because we're talking scales which in most cases were meant for keyboards, not for strings, taking the pieces to a totally new level of complexity (something that Fripp has never ran away from).

The other component of the album sounds more like your typical straight-up King Crimson type of haunted material, where there's a healthy dose of "high speed persecution" feel and paranoia built into the music (not the best combination to drive under stress, for example, but an excellent pumper-upper). However, without the rhythm backbone of KC, with strings alone, the music takes on an altogether different spirit: while it retains its darkness, it has a body that you can certainly touch and feel more comfortable with.

My favorite being the third track ("Hope"), which combines a bit of both worlds, with some scales on top of classic Fripp soundscapes, this 'solo' work by one of rock's biggest experimenters is a highly recommended album for prog rock fans and music adventurers at large as well.