Customer Reviews

Gates of Paradise

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Fripp's electronic soundscapes have become increasingly programmatic in recent years, and it isn;t at all obvious to me how this helps the music. The Gates of Paradise is his darkest, and probably his most sophisticated work to date, combining pipe organ like tone clusters (did he sample an organ for this CD?) with the wailing of lost souls.

I doubt that Hell would ever be as dramatic and interesting as this. The background music in Hell is more likely written by John Tesh or Ace of Base.

That said, if you're interested in Fripp's work at all, you have to have this CD, but if you're not, you're probably better off starting out with "Blessing of Tears", Summers/Fripp "I Advance Masked," or the sublime "Let the Power Fall," as "Gates of Paradise" is relatively inaccessible.

This is Fripp's latest Soundscape release, though it contains pieces collected over the past few years. For the uninitiated, Soundscapes are Fripp's solo instrumentals of sampled and processed sounds layered through a series of digital delays. Though Fripp plays guitar, reconizable guitar sounds are rarely heard. Because Fripp has mastrered the technology, there is a refinement and subtleness that define the path of chaos to introspection Soundscapes often travel.

The result is a liquid, flowing sonic Jackson Pollack, sometimes organic, sometimes mechanical, always honest, and frequently heartfelt

Soundscapes are not initially "easy" listening, but they offer a range of dissonance to resolution that bears countless repeat listenings. It's is not music you listen to, but listen through and within.

Fripp has finally outdone himself (and friend Brian Eno) with this collection of ethereal music. Where before the sounds of guitar were easily distinguished, here they are hidden in magical sound loops that remind one more of synthesized keyboards than a guitar. Recorded in lengthy oversampled sound layers, Fripp presents a sound totally new and unique. It is difficult to describe other than it has layers and depth in it's presentation. It's almost beyond spiritual and never sounds mechanical. This album can be used as relaxing background music or as an incredible meditation source on headphones. It is ambient sound matured.

True Story: I went to bed and put this CD on. The next day my roommate told me he had been standing in the kitchen and felt completely disoriented from this sound in his 'head'. It wasn't until he passed by my room that he realized the music was from my stereo. He thought he was having an acid flashback. That's the best way I can describe this sound - it's wonderful and relaxing - like a soundtrack to a space movie. Love it!

Someone described this as relaxing background music. It would be a strange form of relaxation. Track 1 is 23 minutes of some of the most disturbing, unsettling music I can imagine (but see below). It's not quite atonal chaos - it has structure and form - but as an instrumental rendering of the misery of Hell I'd have to say it's very successful. It's not relaxing. It's a description of a state of being you don't want to get to, don't want to stay in, and don't want to remember.

Track 2, on the other hand, settles into beauty and peace. I can't see anyone categorizing it as traditional Praise music - this is Fripp, after all - but it's praise music nonetheless. Nothing you're likely to hear in church, though...

You'll wish track 3 was shorter. Track 3 is there to tell you that Fripp wanted to prove he could be more disturbing than track 1. It's a great success.

Track 4 is beautiful, if odd. It's a little too playful to be purely ambient; it invites you to pay attention.

The amazing thing about Soundscapes is that any trace of "melody" that you may hear is actually synthetic -- that is, composed of individual notes on separate layers that happened to fall together in a linear sequence when played together.

The overall effect is that melodic lines sound "implied" rather than explicitly stated, making for a totally different way of listening to music. It is almost as if you can invent your own melodic line out of the multitude of notes flying around.

Try humming along with it. You will find yourself humming one line that skips between bass, melody, and harmony -- one possible combination out of the infinite number of latent interpretations.

Better yet, hum along with it while listening to it on headphones while recording your humming on a tape recorder. Play back the tape and see how it compares with the Soundscape.

It is music that exists only in your mind.

I've asked myself this question countless times but it took a pseudo near death experience to answer it.

I am a fan of Robert Fripp's Soundscapes as I enjoy the ambience, the dark dissonance, and the playful melodies that he somehow manages to incorporate all in one track, let alone one CD. However, it was only when I was lying in bed with a flu (that was trying very hard to become pneumonia) that I realized how much I liked this album. I was listening to "Pie Jesu," in particular, and I said to myself (without a hint of cynicism) that I could die at that moment and it would have been okay because the music was so beautiful. I know it sounds pretty corny but it's true; it hit me that deep.

Maybe you won't die with a smile on your face if you buy this album, but I think your ears will be happy for a while...

R Fripp is capable of doing things other guitarists can t create. But then again there is something every guitarist has that makes him / her unique or original.

In this disc we have four movements. Be aware that these movements happen in a way that it is very musically succesful. The first, is a very ugly or horrifying sounding experience. Just read the song segments - which I ll share w you because they are not listed: a gnashing of teeth, Wailing I, Wailing II. Those are some examples of what the song titles are. The ugly and horrifying obviously have a positive to it. You have to make your evaluation having listened to the entire disc.

The second song, The gates of paradise is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard. It s stunningly beautiful.

On the third movement, we go back to hell, and some of the most hellish sounds I have heard made out of a guitar.

It is known that Fripp was and is a big admirer of James Marshall hendrix. R Fripp has said that his playing is somewhat of a continuing of what J Hendrix would have done had he lived longer. I sometimes think listening to this disc that it s Fripp, but the Hendrix passion is there.

Anyhow, the fourth song is a return to harmony, and again Mr Fripp leaves me speechless at the capability to show you hell, then heaven, then hell again, and at last, musical beauty.

Mr Fripp s guitar playing on these soundscapes Cd s have a resonance of ambience music. His guitar sounds like 4 synthesizers at once at times.

Ambience music is one of the finest - objectively speaking - genres in our planet. It soothes and relaxes. It is a perfect way to contrast the beautiful ambience with the other ' darker ' pieces. This cd carries Fripps trademark playing and style. One that to some folks is difficult to understand or figure out, and to others is just another guitarist.

When restarting his solo career in earnest in 1994, Robert Fripp updated his Frippertronics technique with digital technology - instead of tapes - to create loops of sounds.

The Soundscapes projects included six CD releases of new material and a "single" collection, which includes three selections from this release.

The cutting-edge textures are oftentimes quite metallic and non-melodic, but Fripp is attempting to expand the potential of the electric guitar. Not for the faint of heart, the exploration delves deep into the darkness of the soul, but leaves the listener with the task of finding the way back home.

"The Gates of Paradise" is Robert Fripp's 1997 solo Soundscapes album and his last release of this nature until 2005 with the release of "Love Cannot Bear" and subsequent live downloads on his website.
"The Gates of Paradise" can loosely be called a concept album as its track titles and liner notes deal with subject of mortality. Musically, the album encompasses everything that Fripp has covered with his Soundscape music up to what was then the present day.
At times the music is unsettling and intense as displayed on sections of the two "Outer Darkness" suites (especially the second one). Here, the music echoes that which was heard on Fripp's "1999" and "Radiophonics" CD's. Other times, it's the exact opposite with beautiful layered ambient sounds reminiscent of "A Blessing of Tears" and "November Suite". The two title track suites are prime examples of just how lush and atmospheric Fripp's Soundscapes can be especially in the "Pie Jesu" and "Sometimes God Hides" sections. Portions of the opening "Outer Darkness" suite have their share of serene moments too inbetween the dissonant chaotic excursions.
Overall, "The Gates of Paradise" is a very satifying release from Mr. Robert Fripp. Whether it's pure ambient or extreme experimentalism, all of Fripp's guitar Soundscape releases (whether it's on CD or download) contain some great and inspiring music including this one.
One of the very best from one of the very best.