Working with Peter Gabriel - Robert Fripp & David Singleton - City Winery, Washington - 30 Sep 2022

[@polygraphovich]

Here Comes the Flood, Exposure version is my absolute favorite version of that tune. So raw, soulful, and true.

[@davidmachemer1015]

"peter gabriel" iii was his first album that captured the same magic of old Genesis in a new context and flavor. And Kate was an integral part of that.

[@herculesrockefeller8969]

I've always liked Peter Gabriel on "Here come the Flood". He DOES sound compelling and authentic. Also always liked Daryl Hall on "North Star", also compelling.

[@MrFy2013]

PG II is my favorite of his solo albums. Larry Fast's scurrying sequencer on "On the Air", the colossal bass break on the same track, and Fripp's lethal solo on 'White Shadow" are among the elements that catapult the album into a category all its own.

[@MB-uw6eh]

I think maestro Rob may well be in the right frame of mind and mood to get the boys of Crim together now to create another King Crimson masterpiece. The world needs another King Crimson.

[@DirtyWindshieldSeries]

Seriously, Exposure's "Here Comes The Flood", had always been my Go To Version for PG's Classic. That is the Version that has True Soul!

[@crispyrobot77]

Great discussion Frippy and David. I could listen to you two for hours.

[@rhythmfield]

Embedded within Robert’s discussion is the true key definition of what a record producer does (or should do …). A good producer is a catalyst in the recording process, who strips away excess chatter (both within the artist and in the space around her or him), enabling or allowing the authentic and true voice and expression and Soul of the artist or band to come forth and be Present.

[@LaburnumAnagyroides]

Thanks for protecting Kate and Peter. Wow, you're at the center of every piece of music I love

[@ER-me1ii]

Fripp in his old age seems so much more humorous than he did in the 70’s and 80’s. He seemed so severe back then. Almost scary. I saw a frippertronics performance in NYC in the early 80’s. The room was set up with pillows. He was at the front with his set up. I could have reached out and untied his shoelace. I was only about 20. In any event of course the performance was brilliant but he was such an imposing figure to reckon with. He’s really lightened up.

[@gregoryg3256]

🌠Good One Mr Fripp..I'm gonna listen 2 some of the music u talked about now...

[@peterthompson8014]

Awesome.

[@julieblakeman9364]

I’ve never listened to a PG album but I could listen to Robert Fripp all day long

[@johndavy3073]

You really should, I am a huge fan of Fripp like you.

[@superfuzzymomma]

Fascinating talk

[@chrissolbe4034]

HCTF on Exposure is unequalled. Just perfect.

[@johndavy3073]

That was great as always.

[@memalley]

YES!!!!! Ive always though HCTF was peak Garbriel. And I am diehard Genesis fan.

[@paulsantamaria2605]

Responding to Robert's Steve Lilywhite story : I recorded with an engineer who shall remain nameless (forgot his name!) who recorded M. Jackson, and many others. I sang the lead on a tune and one word was funky. He wanted to punch in that one word, and being more of a live player, I thought that was cheating and I began to object. He retorted with: " I engineered for Jackson many times and he never sang two words in a row and the same thing with Rick James ... they'd do take after take after take until all the life was sucked out of it - this is one word - no one will know". Just sayin' Auto tune and all that "cheating" in the name of perfection destroys the humanity - we will need that humanity coming up fast, when everything is A.I. Food for thought.

[@tofybean]

PG2 flat out Rocks. No apologies. Sounds timeless. Before peter discovered Africa and his inner child. Just great songs and singing and production. Fripp should have produced more. Sacred Songs and Roches are perfect!!!!

[@Alun49]

Fripp's anecdote about Steve Lillywhite is interesting. Fripp, I feel, was correct in his assertion of the role of the producer being to protect the artist. Lillywhite's rejection of Fripp's questioning of recording KB vocals again, having clearly 'nailed it', may have been a turning point for SL on a personal authority point of view, ie, 'I am in charge!, not the artist.' ST however missed the more specific turning point he might have engaged with, ie; to trust the artist, whilst not losing authority and indeed, expanding his role as a producer to that of facilitator of the artists vision, which is what, I think, Fripp understands far better than SL did. The dictatorial method of Bob Ezrin produced a disappointing 'product' feel for PG1, where he sounds the least like himself, and more like an American AOR artist. It is thus my least favourite PG album. PG3 is where he finds his voice however, which might suggest SL did a good enough job as a producer, but not necessarily as a growing individual.

[@dmatveev89]

Great story

[@tb-cg6vd]

After decades of perceiving Bob Fripp as somewhat coldly on the spectrum, the power of KZbin has melted my misgivings and it turns out he has a sharp, self-deprecating sense of humour. Either that or the miserable sod has lightened up in his old adage, hurrah!

[@mayhem492]

I think Toyah has probably greased his gears (metaphorically speaking!).

[@rhythmfield]

It is probably a little of both … most of us, if we are evolving, are able to laugh a little at ourselves a bit more, hopefully, as we age.

[@michael1]

You don't think people so-called "on the spectrum" can be sharp or have a sense of humour?

[@leechild4655]

Sometimes the artist nails it on the first take but the producer still wants as many takes as they can get to really see if that was the best take. You dont know until you have a variety of takes to chose from so, thats the producers idea of it.

[@JohnHancotte]

Those first 4 PG albums could all benefit from a remix/reworking - the 1st one especially. Maybe rewriting history isn't always the best option, though.

[@widescreennavel]

On the Air sounds pretty freakin good in my car. It will scare you.

[@Martin-ui3sj]

Robert must've come across a pre-published edition of Steve Lillywhite's autobiography as I've checked everywhere & it doesn't, as yet, exist. The sole reason for reading it would be to find out how the Changeling sessions were created with the lovely & talented Toyah Willcox & the aforementioned Kate Bush contribution ' Joux sans frantiers' with Peter Gabriel.

[@jameschavez6400]

Peter Peter Peter -car=great melt=great exposure=great👑

[@IanMcGrath70]

exposure AKA scratch

[@centralscrutinizer8369]

Re. Steve L. and Kate Bush - there is a similar story from Bill Szymczyk - he (albeit in a more benign way perhaps?) also asked the musician* to play a solo again, even though they had just nailed a great take. The underlying reasoning was - you had the comfort of knowing that the solo had already been nailed, so play it again, and maybe, just maybe you'll come up with something even better, because the pressure's off (vide R.F.'s tribulations with Sailor's Tale). *Joe Walsh on Hotel California, I think, but I don't remember... :/

[@bluntlaser]

I agree about the production on the first album. The second though is way better and while not a total success, has some truly great moments.

[@stefanopellegrini7094]

Peter wanted his second album to sound raw, and he achieved it, where's the failure on that? I love that album, my favorite too

[@IanMcGrath70]

I'd have been interested in him delving into why Scratch was a failure. perhaps he just meant the perception was so

[@stefanopellegrini7094]

@@IanMcGrath70 Perhaps comparing sales to the rest

[@FekLeyrTarg]

​@@IanMcGrath70Yeah it seems that Scratch is very much underappreciated compared to Car and Melt.

[@marktrimnell8245]

There are some very weird comments in this stream.

[@kevinogracia1615]

Love the Fripporino...

[@martiningram9432]

That Kate Bush story is a classic “leader versus manager” moment. A good leader will facilitate a member of the team to do their best work, not drive or micromanage them.

[@FekLeyrTarg]

For the record (pun intended): I love PG2 very much.

[@alexmorrison9156]

Some musicians would disagree on him protecting the artist.

[@James-pnwth]

The production on PG2 may well be an objective failure but it’s a subjectively (to my ears) glorious failure. And it’s hard to see how he could have gotten to 3, 4 and beyond without it. It’s my favourite PG album too.

[@JohnEaganMedia]

Bookmarked to use as a reference for people who might not understand how widely people can vary in their approach to assuming the role of "producer". Aside from that... when I first heard "Here Comes The Flood" on "Exposure", first, I was awestruck. Then, I thought "why was THAT not on the first Gabriel solo album?!". This also hugely magnified my opinion that I already had, which was that the production of the first Peter Gabriel album sucked sweaty donkey balls. My god, it really was a travesty.

[@Theoriginalbigbrillo]

Tickets must of cost a fortune that night Robb Lar ? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@Runicen]

I would easily rank the Exposure version of "Here Comes the Flood" as the best reading. I like some of what Ezrin brought to it in terms of bombast on PGI, but he drove it way too hard. Exposure had prime voice PG singing earnestly with an amazing accompaniment without the super dramatized slow reading from the greatest hits.

[@Sebastian-lo3hn]

Peter Gabriel II was not a good at album in any measure. Fripp is correct in his analysis.

[@sweetnighter]

Fripp disses Bob Ezrin without mentioning his name

[@kathowed]

Never thought I'd say this, but I think Robert's wrong. I just had another listen to PG II, and It's not a failure. Sure, it sounds a bit thin and brash at times, but it was 1978 for goodness sake! It's an album of its time; constrained by the available technology and zeitgeist of the day. Time has proven PG II to be a crucial stepping stone for both PG and RF. To paraphrase someone much wiser than I… a failure (or mistake) is only a failure (or mistake) when you name it thus, rather than use it as a trigger to explore new terrain, the previously unknown.

[@rareguitargallery2203]

PG2 was a commercial failure but not an artistic one. Lots of risk taking and great songs.

[@MrFy2013]

Steely Dan's Aja was made in 1977; there was nothing inadequate or constraining about the technology then. The 'raw' sound of PG II is Fripp's choice, a similar sound can be heard on his Daryl Hall production, and to some degree, Exposure too. He called it 'audio verite' at the time. The Roches is another example, albeit mostly acoustic.

[@Sebastian-lo3hn]

Fripp seems to not be a really nice guy, almost bitter even.....that's a shame.

Deair sir, with all due respect please excuse me but working with dear Mr. Gabriel is not something to be proud of ı suppose because ı think he's one of those old rocker dudes who sold his soul to the devil for cheap, in other words he had begun to produce popular music and even disco souds instead of real deal Rock 'N' Roll lately just to make profit which is utterly unacceptable in my terms, ı am a real rocker most of you guys however are not ı believe sir.

[@rareguitargallery2203]

Peter Gabriel’s music is rich, deep, resonant and spiritual. The production on PG2 is sparse, but it works well for the music. I disagree with Fripp about Bob Ezrin’s production- it is cinematic and the closest to Genesis stylistically. There is a bootleg I have from a radio show in Pittsburgh where Peter performs flood twice - stripped down and with full band and both are great versions. None of it is rock except for the Kinks cover and Modern Love. Larry Fast’s work on PG1 and PG2 are great.

@@rareguitargallery2203 Nothing more than cheap budget popular music in my sight sir.

[@rareguitargallery2203]

@ not sure what you mean by that - nothing cheap or superficial about PG music but to each his own - many rock critics dismiss anything with more than four chords and longer than three minutes. Modern music is a more complex beast than that and also less complex depending on the marketing.

@@rareguitargallery2203 Mr. Gabriel's music is considered to be a kind of pop music, that's so obvious ı guess. Early Genesis however well yes, it was Rock 'N' Roll, ı trust my background and musical knowledge.

[@rareguitargallery2203]

your accomplishments pale in comparison to Peter Gabriel’s body of work. Rock and Roll in its most essential form is black electric blues with volume and sexual primacy. Rock is an entirely different animal, good luck being a real rocker, what ever that means to you,