The Robert Frip String Quintet - The Bridge Between (1993)

Genre: Prog-Rock/ Art Rock
Format: flac + cue + log
Released: 1993
Label: Discipline

1. Kan-Non Power

2. Yamanashi Blues

3. Hope

4. Chromatic Fantasy

5. Contrapunctus

6. Bicycling to Afghanistan

7. Blue

8. Blockhead

9. Passacaglia

10. Threnody for Souls in Torment

Robert Fripp (guitar, Frippertronics)
Bert Lams, Hideyo Moriya (acoustic guitar)
Paul Richards (acoustic guitar, Fuzz E-bow guitar)
Trey Gunn (Chapman Stick)

Producers: David Singleton, The Robert Fripp String Quartet

THE BRIDGE BETWEEN's charismatic wonders evolve right out of your speakers like prog's bastard offspring. After the staid acoustic concerns of the League of Crafty Guitarists, Fripp's latest ensemble indulges, thankfully, in both electric and electronic applications. Fripp is accompanied here by longtime associate Trey Gunn (on grand stick) and by The California Guitar Trio. His choice of material--some traditional Bach pieces in addition to original works--is cogent, breathtaking, and absolutely absorbing.

THE BRIDGE BETWEEN contains excellent performances from the Quintet proper as well as a number of compelling Frippertronic passages and Crimson-soaked guitarritude. With eyes closed, one can almost visualize Fripp, Eno, and Summers all trading licks in capricious delight. The darkly pulsing "Blue" realizes that hallucinatory collaboration. Fripp's ideals push both him and the Quintet to their artistic limits. He challenges both his own earnest reputation and an illustrious catalog of sounds in a precognition of 21st century classical music.