Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Constant craving, May 18, 2000
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.
|
|
|
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond words - beyond thought, June 4, 2003
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.
|
|
|
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sad, sad, sad., December 24, 1999
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.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.
~ Robert Fripp
~ Robert Fripp
~ Robert Fripp
~ Robert Fripp
by Robert Fripp 
