Revisited recently my old CD stockpile and dug out an appreciable
number of the releases on E'G Records (Eno, Crimson and affiliated
projects). That, quite predictably, led me to dust off projects
involving David Sylvian and his former associates. I will probably
touch upon these later as there are quite a few amazing releases, but
currently I am in a Fripp mode so bear with me.

A few belated notes here. While both Sylvian and Fripp lack the
commonly perceived ability to sing/play, which is especially apparent
in case of the former, in the collaborations of both with other musicians,
including those within their main projects these traits somehow played
to their advantage. All King Crimson did up to Starless and Bible Black
is absolutely awesome (with the exception of Islands which is totally
forgettable). While in the later career Fripp managed to pull some
good tricks KC as a project went south pretty rapidly. The 80s output
is a hit and miss and everything after Thrak (an OK album) is downright
boring.

Sylvian's output beginning mid-90s is either an acquired taste or
damn unlistenable, depending on your disposition (I certainly
belong to the former camp). However, the two managed to produce
a release that somehow topped the catalog of either of them.
That's the original version of "Damage", a live show
recorded on the tour for the support of their collaborative studio
album "The First Day", but also includes material from prior
albums by Sylvian and Rain Tree Crow (a one-time Japan reunion
under a different name). The studio album suffers from poor production
and somehow stifled performance; both of these trappings are gone
on Damage; the sound quality is exceptionally great, especially by the
live recording standards and the mix is well balanced. Additionally,
all numbers are improved by Fripp's improvisations on the originals
themes that improve all of the tracks, both from The First Day and
also from Sylvian's albums ("Gone To Earth" is actually listenable
and enjoyable). To boot, there are three additional tracks not found
elsewhere, all three are better than anything the band cared to
include in the studio album. Given all that, the album is perhaps
the best thing that came from either of the two since at least
the beginning of 90s.

One note of caution though. All I wrote applies to the pompously
released original version of the album. After being some sort of
rarity, it was later rehashed by Sylvian and re-released by a bunch
of outfits, including Fripp's DGM imprint. This version from 2001
is different from the original as the order of the songs is changed
and "Darshan" is replaced with "Jean the Birdman". Additionally,
at least in the version found on Youtube, there are 2-second
gaps cut into the the live material that is supposed to flow
seamlessly otherwise. This is damn fucking annoying and
destroys much of the atmosphere of a live show that added much of
the aural quality of the original, not even mentioning that Jean
the Birdman is inferior to the Darshan and all that leaves me wondering
why one would mess up a perfectly good thing. Fordet the reissue and
find the original in whatever form you like.

Current Music: David Sylvian and Robert Fripp - Damage
Tags: chronicels, kultur-multur

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