God Save the King

Artist: Robert Fripp , and Robert Fripp & the League of Gentlemen
Label: Editions Eg Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 017046155922
EAN: 0017046155922
ASIN: B000003S2D

Release Date: 1990-08-31

God Save the King

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Tracks:

God Save The King
Under Heavy Manners
Heptaparaparshinokh
inductive Resonance
Cognitive Dissonance
Dislocated
H.G. Wells
Eye Needles
Trap

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The League of Crafty Guitarists Live
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Intergalactic Boogie Express: Live in Europe 1991
The Equatorial Stars

Customer Reviews:

Evidence Tampering.......2007-04-12

Okay, this CD version has been out for a long time now, so I suggest it's time to reissue the CD as it originally existed.

This album is a combination of two albums, done in different times and different styles. It is quite frustrating.

League of Gentlemen finds Bob Fripp heading a lean mean dance band, with some flashy geetar music. It is a great side-trip on a career that has placed him in the role of pretentious guitar god (not without some merit). I like the stripped down no-nonsense Mr. Fripp here - it shows what he can really do.

The other half is a kinda lackluster extended jam album with David Byrne making a guest appearance. It lacks the punch or cleverness of his bandmates TomTom Club which came out around the same time. Yes I know it benefits from the additional layer of solos that the original release didn't have, but the point is that someone should never feel ripped off when buying a new CD, and I can remember feeling very ripped off.

Fortunately I have the vinyl for both of the albums that this release is derived from.

--hal

Fripp's League.......2006-03-30

OK, so it is not the same as the original albums...however the music here is completely astounding. It is new wave music played with Fripp's technical abilities on the guitar...

A re-release of a compilation of a "best of" and a remix -- what?.......2005-12-23

Reading the earlier reviews, it seems a little info might help:

This is a CD version of an album released in 1985; that album was a compilation / remake of some of Fripp's output 1980-81. As noted by others, the LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN had several entertaining snippets of conversation in addition to the music. That was in 1981. None were included here.

Previous to that was Fripp's album of Discotronics, UNDER HEAVY MANNERS. This is represented by the track entitled "God Save the King", but this song doesn't exactly appear there. What does appear there is a backing track called "God Save the Queen", which has no solo. You see, UHM was an album of the backing tracks which Fripp would use in concert to solo over. So the track entitled "God Save the King" is "God Save the Queen" PLUS a solo.

-- But there's more: "Queen" is only the first, danceable part of "King"; the droning second half is another track from UHM (called something like "Red Score Zero"; I've forgotten exactly). Evidently what Mr Fripp did was this: edit "God Save the Queen" and "Red etc" into a single track, record a blistering solo over the whole, and add other tracks from UNDER HEAVY MANNERS and THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN to fill out the rest of the album.

If this sounds a bit skimpy as a new offering, then you understand how I felt in the record store back in 1985, considering this latest Frippish commercial offering; I would in essence be buying just one song -- of which only the solo was actually new.

I debated, and rattled my coins; it seemed rather dear for the price. But the review I'd read still rang in my ears, unforgotten even today: "... a solo so blistering, he must have worn a welding mask and played with an asbestos pick..." I finally walked up to the register; I had to hear if it was true.

It was. Consequently, I've never regretted buying GOD SAVE THE KING, despite its meager stock of unique material.

Also, I do recommend THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN -- not just for the taped conversational comments, but because I don't think the songs included here were necessarily the best ("Minor Man" is especially missed). Even if they were, the mixes are not the same here; the original album hard-panned the guitar and keyboards, where GSTK finds both more centered. Both mixes have their value :-)

League of Gentlemen Best of CD.......2003-09-27

While using the same cover art as the original "League of Gentlemen" LP, it can be a bit deceptive when you actually realize what is on here. The original album had a lot of philosophical spoken interludes by J.G. Bennett. I would imagine that the copyright on that material ran out, when Fripp went to release the CD version. Or, he found it pretentious, and wanted an album that just represented songs. Whichever, whatever. If you can find the LP, do buy it though, because it's fun to hear the collage theme running through the peice. The two tracks that were added to the original "L.O.G." Lp, are great nevertheless. Again, I would guess that Fripp wanted to compliment the material on the "League" album, by including the song that David Byrne sang, and the other outtake from "God Save the Queen". What I simply CAN NOT COMPREHEND, is why Fripp would not use the extra length of a CD, and simply add more of the "God Save the Queen" songs. It's especially odd songs were cut from "L.O.G.". That great LP should have fully represented its original songs. (Again, since there are outtakes of music by "The Lemon Kittens" on "Minor Man", Fripp might not have been able to obtain the copyright, or was going to be charged too much for its use.) Other of Fripp's LPs from this era, like "The Lady or the Tiger", which he recorded with his wife Toyah, and the 2 LPs with Andy Summers, has simply been deleted. (Odd for someone who, until recently, had his own record company.) Fripp did release a CD of LIVE L.O.G. music a few years back, perhaps as an apology for his chopping job on this minor masterpiece. Or more likely, just Fripp's delight in representing his live sound. Overall, we have to respect Fripp's intelligence, and musical choices, even when he revises his past efforts. This is not a CD which would disappoint any Fripp fan, unless you only liked his 70's "Art Rock" period. Here is Fripp as NEW WAVE ROCKER, hanging out with members past and present of Talking Heads, XTC, and the B-52s. The pedigree of preformers alone demands one's attention, if you liked that era of music. Plus, had this musical experiment not occurred, Fripp might not have partnered with the GUITAR GOD of new wave, Adrian Belew, and DISCIPLINE might not have been recorded. So, what might Fripp say about this chopped up product of two great LPs? "Be Happy with What you Have to be Happy With."

Fripp Decapitates His Catalog.......2003-09-20

This is not one album, or the either. This is half of one, half of another. "God Save the King" is a blend of Frippertronic (ambient looped guitar) and vocal Discotronic (funky, disco-esque music) with David Byrne. The "League of Gentlemen" album was a mix of a punk/pop quartet that Fripp had in the late 70's-early 80's before reforming King Crimson. The latter had a blend of songs, concrete sounds (samples of a woman talking, possibly a girlfriend, along with J.G. Bennett the late philosophic mind/disciple of Gurdjeff).

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