EXPOSURE

I remember I bought this album when it first came out. I had trouble with its noisier pieces. Now we have moved on 25 years. I decided to buy the new two-disc incarnation (from 2006) and it seems I've finally grown into this music. It sounds far better than it ever did on L.P.

The 'traditional' tunes, such as 'North Star', 'Mary' and 'Here comes the Flood' must be among the most moving Robert Fripp has been involved with. Because of star performances by Terre Roche, Daryl Hall, Peter Hammill (whose work with Van der Graaf Generator I'm not too familiar with) and Peter Gabriel, such songs alone are worth the entrance fee - and what's more, you now get 'Mary' in three different versions.

I was also bowled over by the uptempo (mainly instrumental) pieces, which feature Fripp, Tony Levin on bass, Barry Andrews (from XTC) on organ, and three different drummers (though they never play simultaneously): Phil Collins, Narada Michael Walden and Jerry Marotta. Just imagine a version of the 1973 (or early 1980s) King Crimson operating in a strange parallell universe... You know, I'm one of Bill Bruford's greatest fans, but I still find it amazing what these gentlemen manage to do here. Don't just picture Phil Collins as that jolly good fellow chirping 'You can't hurry love', picture him as the virtuoso he was on those early Brand X albums. And bear in mind that Walden was a similar kind of star in the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Now imagine such drum heroes (as well as Levin and Fripp, of course) working out on nerve-wracking tunes like 'Breathless' and 'Disengage' (both influenced by British punk). Prog doesn't get more intense than this!

P.S. One of the most amazing (and forward-looking) tracks on EXPOSURE is 'NY3', which contains samples of Fripp's shrieking neighbours from Hell's Kitchen, New York City. Listening to this (with headphones on; mustn't annoy the neigbours!) gives me an incredible adrenaline rush. Furthermore, Peter Hammill does sound truly glorious on 'Disengage' - guess I really have to check out some of his other work...

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