The First Day
RF@80 Vol. 12
In week 12 we look at Robert’s work with David Sylvian, with the sublime The First Day, recorded on The Road To Graceland tour in 1993 and released on the Sylvian/Fripp live album Damage, and on the Spotify playlist we add Wave from David’s second solo record Gone To Earth.
Sylvian rose to prominence as the frontman of Japan, the band he formed in 1974 with his brother Steve Jansen and school friends Mick Karn, Richard Barbieri, and Rob Dean. The band had broken up in 1982 and he had begun a successful solo career.
Robert Fripp and David Sylvian in 1985 (photo: Yuka Fuji).
The session for Wave took place in July 1985 with Fripp having just completed a short promotional tour of UK record stores, and about to return to the USA where he was establishing Guitar Craft courses at Claymont in West Virginia. It is notable as his first session using the New Standard Tuning.
Having famously turned down the offer to become the singer in a new King Crimson in 1991, David Sylvian invited Robert to join him for some solo performances in Japan the following year. This led to the Sylvian/Fripp collaborative project with Trey Gunn, touring Japan and Italy as a trio, and in turn led to a studio album and a full band and tour with the addition of Pat Mastelotto and Michael Brook.
Sylvian & Fripp play Paris, November 28, 1993.
The live album Damage was released in 1994, mixed by Robert Fripp and David Bottrill, and later remixed by David Sylvian and reissued in 2001. Now available through DGM/Panegyric.
Listen to this week’s commentary for the full story.
Download Robert Fripp @ 80 Vol.12 The First Day.
Listen to Wave on the Spotify playlist: Robert Fripp @ 80
Also available on the official YouTube channel:
I absolutely loved this project.
You guys were the soundtrack to my life for many years.
I am fortunate.