Let The Power Fall - 2021 Remaster＜限定盤/200g Vinyl＞

KING CRIMSONの中枢としてバンドを牽引する名ギタリスト/アーティスト、'81年にEditions EGから発表されたソロ名義の3rdアルバム『LET THE POWER FALL』が久々のリイシュー!こちらは200g重量盤限定アナログ。
本作には'79年のツアーより4月から8月までの5公演から編纂されたライブ音源を収録。前作『GOD SAVE THE QUEEN / UNDER HEAVY MANNERS』の'GOD ～'サイドで確立された、ギターとテープ・ループを組み合わせ連動させた"Frippertronics"を使いゆったりと展開してゆくアンビエント・ミュージックを奏でております。後のSaoundscapesシリーズに繋がってゆく独自のイマジネイティヴなサウンド/世界観を、当時の機材によるアナログな質感ならではの掠れ具合と色彩によって堪能出来る作品です!

Let the Power Fall is an album of Frippertronics, which to the uninitiated can sound like electrical hum. In reality it's a technique developed with Brian Eno, which allows the guitarist to play against a tape loop of sustained notes. With Frippertronics as his mantra, Robert Fripp creates impressive instrumental structures by building layers of sound atop one another. This sort of ambient music is conducive to a specific frame of mind, but like Eno's Discreet Music it rewards the careful listener. Let the Power Fall can be seen as a refinement of the music explored on earlier Fripp & Eno collaborations, though with Eno out of the equation the songs take a decidedly more mathematical bent. The record begins with "1984," picking up where Under Heavy Manners/God Save the Queen left off. The song titles are better seen as successive numbers in a catalog than specific dates, as they're all of a piece. You could make a case that "1984," "1987," and "1988" are the most impressive constructs, but it's foolish to put much meaning behind that. While Fripp employs the same soothing waves of sound that Eno used on Evening Star and Discreet Music, there's only so much that can be made from Frippertronics (think Yosemite Sam and his coconuts), and the end result feels a little cold and remote when compared with Eno's warm ambient textures. Let the Power Fall may be the ideal album of Frippertronics, yet it's a technique that, while fascinating at times, has its own limitations. ~ Dave Connolly