#16
January 1980
Robert Fripp
God Save the Queen/Under Heavy Manners
Genre: Ambimental
3.25 out of 5
Highlights:
Under Heavy Manners
As I’ve gotten older I’ve developed a deeper appreciation of both post-rock experimentation and ambient music.
The former is probably because, once you recognize the patterns in standard “rock” it becomes boring and I need something to wake me from my 1-4-5 pentatonic stupor.
The latter is cuz…fuck, sleeping is like a job. It’s hard. My body wants to wake up all the time, toss around, I hear everything, every breath, every outside noise, and I need something, ANYthing to help me get there.
For about 4 months it was Music for Airports by Brian Eno, every night.
So, instead of fighting against the inclusion of something like this, I welcomed it.
Til I heard it.
Side One will not help you sleep. It will, however, answer the question: “I know how self-important Robert Fripp has always seemed, is there a way to prove that he’s pretentious, too? Perhaps an album of him in the studio, doing whatever the hell he wants?”
I did write two memorial pieces for friends who died on the day I listened to this, though. So, there’s that.
I’m glad I stuck around for Side Two, though. No, not for Fripp. But that first track features the only vocals on the album and they are sung by Absalm el Habib, which is the pseudonym for David Byrne and it’s very very Byrney.
The rest of that side are taken up by a calliope of electronica and guitars and, it really redeems the whole experience.
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