ROBERT FRIPP IS widely hailed as the king of progressive rock guitar - but he squirms visibly under that crown. In 2014, asked by Classic Rock if he's always taken issue with King Crimson's "prog” label, he made his feelings blatantly clear: "Yes, it's a prison," he said. "If you walk on stage and you're playing music, fine. But if you're walking on stage and you're playing progressive rock - death."
In a way, that discomfort makes sense. As King Crimson's key guiding force - and lone consistent member - since their debut LP, 1969's In the Court of the Crimson King, Fripp has typically veered away from popular tropes and trends. Across 13 studio albums (along with a smattering of EPs and live records), he's evolved from the band's early pseudo-symphonic style to infuse the avant-garde, classical, borderline jazz-fusion, free improvisation, heavy metal, New Wave, industrial and multi-drummer mayhem. No style has ever been off-limits, and every Crimson era is an island unto itself.
You can attribute much of that range to Fripp's vision as a bandleader: No other rock musician is more willing to call it quits, embark on an extended hiatus and start from scratch with a new lineup. (And few have recruited so well for a particular artistic aim; it's hard to imagine King Crimson's sleeker Eighties revamp without the two American recruits, singer-guitarist Adrian Belew and bassist Tony Levin.) After all, Crimson have never been a guitar-first band - it's almost always been about ensemble composition, using the unique tools of the musicians in his company.
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Denne historien er fra April 2022-utgaven av Guitar World.
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TC Electronic TC 2290P Dynamic Digital Delay
THE MID EIGHTIES was a golden age for digital delay, thanks to the proliferation of pro- and studio-quality rack effects units from Eventide, Korg, Lexicon, Roland and Yamaha.
Danelectro Doubleneck
WHEN I THINK back to the Seventies, the famously coined “Me” decade, it seems the only surefire way you could leave audiences awestruck was to strap on a doubleneck guitar.
CARLOS ALOMAR
The former David Bowie guitarist talks Young Americans, Station to Station and the Berlin Trilogy, plus recording (and co-writing) \"Fame\" with John Lennon
GEORGE TERRY
It turns out Eric Clapton's Seventies guitarist (and co-writer of \"Lay Down Sally\") also played on ABBA's \"Voulez-Vous.\" Below, he looks back on a decade-plus of E.C., Bee Gees, Diana Ross and more
FRANK MARINO
The Mahogany Rush frontman charts the band's Seventies lows and highs, plus SG's, pickups and how he was definitely not visited by the ghost of Jimi Hendrix
DEWAYNE "BLACKBYRD" MCKNIGHT
The jazz/funk/fusion veteran on his smooth segue from Herbie Hancock sideman to full-on Funkdaledic member -plus his '70s gear and what he learned from Shuggie Otis
PAT TRAVERS
The Canadian-born virtuoso discusses the rise and fall of the Pat Travers Band, witnessing the U.K. punk revolution and the riotous roots of \"Snortin' Whiskey\"
JOE PERRY
The iconic guitarist looks back on Aerosmith in the Seventies, the decade that literally made and temporarily broke apart those Bad Boys from Boston
DAZED and CONFUSED
Providing more hits and misses than a vintage K-Tel Top 40 compilation, the guitar industry during the '70s was anything but boring
BEST 70s SOLOS, RIFFS and FORGOTTEN HEROES
A horde of guitar stars including Warren Haynes, Doug Aldrich, Sophie Lloyd, Frank Marino, Vernon Reid and Mike Campbell (not to mention Blackbyrd McKnight, Jared James Nichols, Steve Lukather, Steve Morse and Charlie Starr) choose the best stuff from the '70s
