Customer Reviews

Soundscapes 2: Blessing of Tears

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although this is a very serious and measured album, I couldn't stop laughing when I read all the previous reviews. "A blessing.." clearly is the most beautiful and emotionally moving effort of Fripp's legendary "Soundscapes" series. Marked with the same stylistic integrity as previous releases, the music is characterized by violin-like, long-stretched soundwaves, originally created by guitar and then randomly sampled together. The most fascinating aspect about this guitar reinvention is the constantly shifting and turning nature of the music, so there's hardly any repetition. On the other hand, this album doesn't do much to develop the sound found on Fripp's last few albums, it it's not as enterprising as "The gates of paradise" or "Evening star". And over the course of a whole disc, the bright, humming noises are rather nerve-racking than relaxing. Since this is a concept album, it's pointless to pick winners, but the intro of "Returning II" is outstanding. It's like walking in the first morning light after an awfully cold winter night. Recommended anyway.

Soundscapes. As you can imagine from the name, Robert Fripp's experiments in noise are more sound than music. Describing them is never an easy task - I can throw out phrases like "hazy clouds" and "ethereal waves" and "ambient noise" all day and not even come close to really describing what these works sound like. This is an impressive achievement from a technical standpoint alone; looping and layering levels of music on top of each other can get complex enough as it is, but these 'Scapes don't just rely on one sound-delayed loop - there are *four* separate playbacks being worked on at once, running at different intervals and for different lengths. And as with the other albums in this series, Blessing of Tears is a collection of pieces that were all spontaneously created live. It's an exercise in concentration and improvisation that few mortals are even capable of. Alternately, offers Robert, it's "the best way I know of to make a lot of noise with one guitar."

Blessing of Tears is not just noise, however, not the chaotic guitar fury of his work in King Crimson or even the Soundscaping white noise of the other two discs in the 1995 trilogy. This is the album where he got it all down perfectly. This is the one I could play every night for the rest of my life and never get tired of. Even though there's no conventional harmony (or rather, what harmony there is never stops shifting and changing), it never even approaches harshness or unlistenability. The guitar parts - they don't even sound like a guitar, more like several keyboards or a batch of filtered voices - ebb and flow in peaceful waves over and around each other in a mishmosh that would probably sound like complete chaos if they consisted of actual notes.. but since this consists of vague hazy tones overlapping each other, the result is something completely elusive, like a dream that vanishes as soon as you try to remember it. It's something impossible to really follow and yet also difficult to ignore, as you would with plain ambient music.

The theme seems to be centered around grief and sadness (as the title implies - after all, it was created as an elegy for Robert's mother), but I'd hate to limit this album to that one mood. It does make for excellent listening for a sad mood or a reflective time of loss, but to me it's suited just as well to peaceful nights and times of quiet contentment. No matter - ABoT is something soothing to the ears and stunningly beautiful, whatever the mood. It's indefinable, elusive.. and absolutely perfect.

Throughout his career, Fripp has been a master of conveying emotional impact through his music, both Frippertronically and Crimsonically (if I may be allowed to get away with such). *Let the Power Fall* is a great example in which virtually the entire gamut of emotions is clearly expressed, as an example to those not familiar with Fripp's work.

If you thought LTPF was a great record, *A Blessing Of Tears* must be considered ABSOLUTELY indispensable. Just when you thought the bar couldn't possibly be raised any higher, Fripp has outdone himself (again). The previous reviewers have mentioned the occasion behind this recording, so I won't rehash all that here. Suffice it to say that this record packs as much of an emotional punch as you're ever likely to hear, but it's none of the Mephistophelian anger/edginess/sturm und drang that Fripp is known for.

The first thing I have to say is that, true to its subject matter, this is an overwhelmingly sad record, and perhaps the most personal record Fripp has ever made. The eight pieces are similar in structure; minor-keyed, elegiac Frippertronics looping and entwining together up towards the heavens (sorry if that sounds pompous, it's as accurate as my limited writing skills can get). About all I can add is that this is some very special music by a man who has made tons of special music already.

God bless you, Robert Fripp.

It's hard to convey to someone what a piece of music means to you, whether you are the writer, performer or audient. Something other always escapes. It is why we turn to music when confronting the ineffable.
I have turned to this disc often. Composed by Fripp in dedication to the passing of his mother, it is a deeply spiritual and profoundly emotional piece. When my wife's parents passed, this CD was a source of great comfort to her. As I have sought to pick up the tral where my own spirituality died off, I seem to sense its whereabouts in my soul as I listen to this.
The music herein will stay with you forever. Of all the brilliant pieces of music for which Robert Fripp has been responsible, this is the one for which we owe him deep and soulful gratitude. It is absolutely a blessing of tears...

I don't care much for the majority of the previous reviews of this disc, and I don't think you should, either. This is an amazingly gorgeous music, so moving, so absolutely enchanting. This has to be Robert Fripp's most personal recording, dedicated to the memory of his mother. I doubt that when my mother is no longer among us, I could ever hope to do anything so loving and so beautiful.
The only real flaw with this music is that it all has a same-ness to it: it's almost as though each piece were a rendition of a particular theme, which may very well be the case. Most of it sounds improvised, although "Midnight Blue" seems to be composed, almost as though it were thought out completely before hand.....it is definetly the stand-out piece, and is what I imagine heaven would be like, if it were sound instead of a vision or a state of mind, etc. etc. Don't get me wrong, all of the music is great, very relaxing.....almost TOO relaxing....you might find yourself either drifting off, or falling asleep entirely! This isn't a bad thing, though, as the music gently caresses the senses, gives you a feeling of utter peace and.....oh, words are useless when it comes to describing music. Just listen.....if you've read this far already, you must be interested! It's the most 'accessible' soundscape recording, and I highly recommend it.

Even though I am a fan, some of Robert Fripp's solo ambient recordings can be a bit harsh on the ears at times. This is not one of them. The sounds blend smoothly and weave across each other throughout, creating a sad beauty that stands the test of repeated playing. There is an almost orchestral sound at times, but the structures and forms here are more flowing and more beautiful than most classical music.

Robert Fripp is an extraordinary guitarist (and an extraordinary man) who has recorded and performed a very wide range of music over the years. Although this is possibly the best and most accessible of his Frippertronic and Soundscape works, I would recommend "Let The Power Fall" (original release 1981) and "The Gates Of Paradise" (somewhat more challenging listening from 1997) if you are inspired by this.

A big thank you for your music and intelligence Mister Fripp, you are an inspiration on many levels!

Robert Fripp's "A Blessing of Tears" consists of improvised live performances from Fripp's solo soundscapes tour in the beginning of 1995. Soundscapes is a form of digital guitar looping based on Frippertronics-- tape-based guitar looping that Brian Eno concocted. Fripp performs this in many contexts, in the case of this album, as a solo performer. The music on this album is entirely improvised, with only Fripp's guitar and processing in place. The result does not sound like a solo guitar record, but closer to electronic orchestral ambient music. It is fragile and often of stunning beauty, in particular on this album-- "A Blessing of Tears" is a reflection on the death of Fripp's mother, whose eulogy (by the guitarist) is included in the liner notes.

From the opening track ("The Cathedral of Tears"), the mood is set. The piece is achingly beautiful, suggestive of loss, prodding but in a gentle way, and overall mournful. This theme and feel is developed over the next two pieces ("First Light", whose loops hint at Fripp's solo line in 2003's "The Power To Believe II" and the album's standout track, "Midnight Blue", a piece of such a delicate nature it demands its listener to stop and listen) before sort of resetting on "Reflection I", whose gentle themes provide an openness not found on the previous tracks. Again,there seems to be a trilogy of pieces on this one, as "Second Light" and "A Blessing of Tears" build on this mood and establishment. The couplet at the end of the album, "Returning I" and "Returning II", is actually the same track, only the tape is played in reverse on one of them. It is interesting to contrast the two, as they are evocative in different manners.

This is certainly the best of the 1995 soundscapes series and likely the best of Fripp's ambient catalog. If you are a fan of ambient music, or of Robert Fripp, this is essential, if you are curious, this is where to start. Highly recommended.

This CD deploys an essentially identical guitar looping Soundscapes technique to "Gates of Paradise," but is a very different sort of achievement musically and expressively. These are live performances by Fripp that were edited and "composited" by Fripp's production partner David Singleton.

Here the theme is loss, grieving remembrance and consolation. The liner notes are largely taken up by a transcription of Fripp's eulogy for his mother, which sets the tone for the entire work, which can be moving and beautiful at times. Note that this is not 'easy listening' or 'nice, relaxing music.' It is too emotionally and intellectually charged for that sort of spiritual flatulence.

The uplifting power of this music was brought home to me in 1999, when far too deeply absorbed in my personal grief, it came down to whre I was and lifted me up to point from which i could see hope. It turns out, there was a lot of hope.

Includes some really arresting cover art.

I find this work heartbreakingly beautiful. It's a fine example of Soundscapes' ability to evoke tender, deep emotions. Some of the other Soundscapes recordings cause me to feel fear and unease...but not this one.

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 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. And with the laboratory being the foundation for this stagecraft, Fripp delivers the definitive CD on this revolutionary vision.