EXPOSURE

This is the first real solo album from the somber genius. And a fitting resumé of his 70's musical activities and even a preview of things to come in the next few years. As he left Crimson to rest , Robert Fripp then meddled with Eno for two albums (listed here as his first two albums but not so IMHO), then went into production and guesting on many successful albums (he was no stranger to that success either) before actually recording this mixed-bag album. He will then re-form Crimson with some of the musicians he came to meet in this era.

I used the word mixed bag for this album and it is just that. This is very disjointed collection of tunes but that is so representative of the "Fripp"character. A star-studded cast of guests (from his many collabs) make this album very attractive but also rather uneven. Apart from two or three very short non-musical tracks, the doctor visits punk (track 2) , his earlier Crimson carreer (track 3 - Red - and 12 I believe), reminds us of his Frippertronics works with Eno , revisits also his production collabs with others (Peter Gabriel - track 9 and 15 - and Peter Hammill - track 4 - on four different tracks - all my personal favorite on this album) and even previews a future King Crimson style on another track. Not everything is succesful but the album as a whole is rather entertaining. The only hole in Fripp's carreer I find is that his work with Bowie is actually completely ignored.

I am not all that convinced this "Pot-Pourri" actually really is all that essential , but on the merits of Fripp's overall achievements , I rounded up this album rating to the upper fourth star.