Take Five: Robert Fripp Guest Spots

Robert Fripp is a guitarist capable of conveying massive power and ethereal subtlety, sometimes in a single piece of music. As the sole constant member of King Crimson, Fripp has been responsible for helping usher in the progressive rock era; over the on-again/off-again course of the group, his exploratory work with King Crimson redefined genres over and over again. King Crimson’s influence on music is incalculable.

But while Crimson represents many of Robert Fripp’s most high-profile credits, his creativity has ventured into many other noteworthy areas. From his pre-Crimson days with art-pop group Giles, Giles & Fripp to his many collaborations with Brian Eno, from his League of Gentlemen dance-art-punk group to his short-lived band with wife Toyah Willcox (Sunday All Over the World) and across his many fascinating guest credits, Fripp has always brought his unique and multifarious gifts to bear on every project with which he has been involved. In celebration of his 80th birthday on May 16, here are five of countless guest spots featuring the unique guitar work of Robert Fripp.

“St. Elmo’s Fire” from Brian Eno’s Another Green World (1975)
Fripp guested on many albums in the early 1970s, from playing on Van Der Graaf Generator’s 1970 album H to He, Who Am the Only One to production work on Septober Energy, the sole album from avant-jazz superstar big-band collective Centipede. By 1975, with King Crimson on one of its hiatuses, Fripp collaborated with Brian Eno on ambient projects. He also provided distinctive and dazzling guitar textures on Eno’s comparatively commercial offering, the tour-de-force album Another Green World.

“Don’t Blame it On Love” from Hall & Oates’ Along the Red Ledge (1978)
Soul-pop duo Daryl Hall and John Oates are perhaps not the first names one would think of when called upon to cite boundary-pushing musical artists. But Hall would work with Fripp on his Sacred Songs solo album (recorded in 1977 but held back for release until 1980) and Fripp’s own 1979 Exposure solo LP. And even before those sessions, Fripp added his subtle “Frippertronics” textures and wild lead runs to a song on Hall & Oates’ seventh LP. (Frippertronics is a tape-loop system developed jointly by Fripp and Eno, first heard on their experimental album No Pussyfooting).

“Hammond Song” from The Roches’ The Roches (1979)
Even in a career filled with unlikely musical associations, Robert Fripp’s work with The Roches stands out. The New York City folk trio of three sisters made their recorded debut with Fripp producing (in what he characterized as an audio vérité style) and adding his searing, atmospheric guitar runs to their otherwise wholly acoustic arrangements. Nowhere is the pairing more effective than on The Roches’ sublime recording of “Hammond Song,” one of their self-titled album’s most emotionally searing numbers.

“It’s No Game (No. 1)” from David Bowie’s Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)
One of Robert Fripp’s most famous and celebrated guest spots is his signature guitar work on David Bowie’s “Heroes.” But Fripp worked with Bowie on several occasions, and perhaps none was as out-there as his dissonant, aggressive and angular work on one of Bowie’s most wild and challenging tracks, “It’s No Game (No. 1).” Fripp’s guitar provides the perfect foil to Bowie’s gloriously unhinged vocal.

“Nil Recurring” from Porcupine Tree’s Nil Recurring EP (2007)
As the new century dawned, Robert Fripp continued to work as both a solo artist (often staging Soundscapes concerts with a modern version of Frippertronics), within King Crimson and on other projects. In 2007 he guested on the title track of Porcupine’s brilliant followup to their breakthrough Fear of a Blank Planet. An EP in name only, Nil Recurring featured a title track in which Fripp set aside the subtleties of his Frippertronics and Soundscapes in favor of a blistering, roaring guitar solo.