Description

Robert Fripp – Exposure, Fourth Edition, 200 Gram, Remixed by Steven Wilson, Panegyric, 2022

Limited 200gm vinyl LP pressing. Robert Fripp’s classic debut (fourth edition) newly mixed (from the original multi-track tapes) by Steven Wilson. Mastered by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering. After King Crimson’s dissolution in 1974, Robert Fripp embarked on a lengthy sabbatical away from the public eye. His relocation from Great Britain to New York in February 1978 marked his return as a producer, solo artist, and ‘wild card’ collaborator with an impressive roster of artists including Daryl Hall, Blondie, Peter Gabriel, and David Bowie.

Fripp’s first solo album, Exposure, was released in 1979. The term ‘Classic album’ has been devalued somewhat through overuse, but if ever an album has proved worthy of the term it’s Robert Fripp’s 1979 solo debut Exposure. Recorded at the Record Plant in New York, the album was originally conceived as part of a trilogy alongside Daryl Hall’s Sacred Songs and Peter Gabriel’s 2nd solo album (both Fripp produced). Exposure was delayed from it’s scheduled 1978 release date by RCA’s postponement of the release of the Hall album (that remained unissued until 1980) and Hall’s then manager’s insistence that some of his vocals be removed from the album. When the album finally appeared in 1979, it’s mixture of songs, singers, instrumentals, snatches of speech, audio verite sound collages – all linked by an autobiographical/diary approach – presented a very different musician from that of the initial King Crimson period 1969-74.

Now presented in single LP form as remixed from the original multi-track master tapes by Steven Wilson as part of his work on the Exposures boxed set, the album retains all of the power and vitality that made it such a compelling listen when first released. One of the seminal albums of the period revisited.