The Gates of Paradise

Artist: Robert Fripp
Label: Discipline Us
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Enhanced
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 633367960825
EAN: 0633367960825
ASIN: B000006FBS

Release Date: 1998-04-28

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Listmania:

5-Star Albums (in no particular order)
Fun with Fripp
Ambient adventures into new places.
THE instant prog collection part II
The Darkest Music ever Recorded
The Best of Robert Fripp
Dark Ambience

Tracks:

The Outer Darkness: I. The Outer Darkness/II. Perimeter I/III. Perimeter II/IV. Wailing I...
The Gates Of Paradise: I. Abandonment To Divine Providence/II. Pie Jesu
The Outer Darkness: XI. In Fear And Trembling Of The Lord
The Gates Of Paradise: III. Sometimes God Hides/IV. Acceptance

Similar Items:

A Blessing of Tears: 1995 Soundscapes, Vol. 2
The Equatorial Stars
Love Cannot Bear
Radiophonics: 1995 Soundscapes, Vol. 1
That Which Passes: 1995 Soundscapes, Vol. 3

Customer Reviews:

Sistine Chapel ??.......2007-03-01

You would anticipate your descent into hell to be intense and foreboding. Likewise as you stand in acceptance before the gates of paradise one should be filled with light. With titles like "wailing" and "gnashing" you would expect massive musical arrangements to unfold as we stand transfixed between the gates of heaven & hell. This music should act as an intermediary between rapture and tragedy. No Sibyl songs here... Fripp synthesized his guitar beyond recognition into some hybrid church organ missing some bellows. Electric guitar organs wax and wane through a shallow soundscape. Never inciting feelings that might bring us closer to promiced divine realities.

The Gates Of Paradise........2007-02-16

"The Gates of Paradise" is Robert Fripp's 1997 solo Soundscapes album and his last release of this nature until 2005 with the release of "Love Cannot Bear" and subsequent live downloads on his website.
"The Gates of Paradise" can loosely be called a concept album as its track titles and liner notes deal with subject of mortality. Musically, the album encompasses everything that Fripp has covered with his Soundscape music up to what was then the present day.
At times the music is unsettling and intense as displayed on sections of the two "Outer Darkness" suites (especially the second one). Here, the music echoes that which was heard on Fripp's "1999" and "Radiophonics" CD's. Other times, it's the exact opposite with beautiful layered ambient sounds reminiscent of "A Blessing of Tears" and "November Suite". The two title track suites are prime examples of just how lush and atmospheric Fripp's Soundscapes can be especially in the "Pie Jesu" and "Sometimes God Hides" sections. Portions of the opening "Outer Darkness" suite have their share of serene moments too inbetween the dissonant chaotic excursions.
Overall, "The Gates of Paradise" is a very satifying release from Mr. Robert Fripp. Whether it's pure ambient or extreme experimentalism, all of Fripp's guitar Soundscape releases (whether it's on CD or download) contain some great and inspiring music including this one.
One of the very best from one of the very best.

Relaxing?.......2005-12-25

Someone described this as relaxing background music. It would be a strange form of relaxation. Track 1 is 23 minutes of some of the most disturbing, unsettling music I can imagine (but see below). It's not quite atonal chaos - it has structure and form - but as an instrumental rendering of the misery of Hell I'd have to say it's very successful. It's not relaxing. It's a description of a state of being you don't want to get to, don't want to stay in, and don't want to remember.

Track 2, on the other hand, settles into beauty and peace. I can't see anyone categorizing it as traditional Praise music - this is Fripp, after all - but it's praise music nonetheless. Nothing you're likely to hear in church, though...

You'll wish track 3 was shorter. Track 3 is there to tell you that Fripp wanted to prove he could be more disturbing than track 1. It's a great success.

Track 4 is beautiful, if odd. It's a little too playful to be purely ambient; it invites you to pay attention.

An essential Fripp album.......2004-12-05

R Fripp is capable of doing things other guitarists can t create. But then again there is something every guitarist has that makes him / her unique or original.

In this disc we have four movements. Be aware that these movements happen in a way that it is very musically succesful. The first, is a very ugly or horrifying sounding experience. Just read the song segments - which I ll share w you because they are not listed: a gnashing of teeth, Wailing I, Wailing II. Those are some examples of what the song titles are. The ugly and horrifying obviously have a positive to it. You have to make your evaluation having listened to the entire disc.

The second song, The gates of paradise is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard. It s stunningly beautiful.

On the third movement, we go back to hell, and some of the most hellish sounds I have heard made out of a guitar.

It is known that Fripp was and is a big admirer of James Marshall hendrix. R Fripp has said that his playing is somewhat of a continuing of what J Hendrix would have done had he lived longer. I sometimes think listening to this disc that it s Fripp, but the Hendrix passion is there.

Anyhow, the fourth song is a return to harmony, and again Mr Fripp leaves me speechless at the capability to show you hell, then heaven, then hell again, and at last, musical beauty.

Mr Fripp s guitar playing on these soundscapes Cd s have a resonance of ambience music. His guitar sounds like 4 synthesizers at once at times.

Ambience music is one of the finest - objectively speaking - genres in our planet. It soothes and relaxes. It is a perfect way to contrast the beautiful ambience with the other ' darker ' pieces. This cd carries Fripps trademark playing and style. One that to some folks is difficult to understand or figure out, and to others is just another guitarist.

Altered conciousness.......2002-10-18

True Story: I went to bed and put this CD on. The next day my roommate told me he had been standing in the kitchen and felt completely disoriented from this sound in his 'head'. It wasn't until he passed by my room that he realized the music was from my stereo. He thought he was having an acid flashback. That's the best way I can describe this sound - it's wonderful and relaxing - like a soundtrack to a space movie. Love it!

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