Robert Fripp — Love Cannot Bear

It's been a while since the King Crimson guitarist released a solo-album. Love Cannot Bear is a collection of Soundscapes recorded in various places in the U.S. People who are waiting for Fripp to play some 'real guitar' or Exposure - The Sequel can stop reading, because 'it's one of those New Age albums' again.

The linernotes state than these soundscapes are all diatonic, which makes these pieces more contemplative, less disturbing than some of the polytonic and dissonant whirlings found on other Soundscape albums. The Blessing Of Tears, a eulogy for his mother Edie, is the reference here and the track Midnight Blue is lifted from that album. A reprise that is no problem to me: it's one of most breathtaking and emotional soundcapes in the entire catalogue. It fits perfectly between the other pieces that have the same calm and melancholic feel over them. On My Mother's Birthday is made with the recurring piano-like sound that will never be a favourite of mine, but on the other hand it's a nice change from the sweeps and clouds of sound that normally make up a Soundcape.

These days the one guitar orchestra is made with the help of a digital effects unit that was dubbed "The Lunar Mode". In Easter Sunday we're transported back to the the "Frippertronics"-era, which did indeed have a charm of its own (check Let The Power Fall if you haven't done so yet). The foundation of this track is recorded in 1983 and it has been overdubbed with an acoustic guitar part and a lengthy electric solo. It's a very nice change of sound but the track after it, Love Cannot Bear, features another surprise. In the form of vocoder vocals, at first it seemed a bit odd, but with a few spins it starts to find its place in the overall listening experience.

As said before, Love Cannot Bear, is a pleasant trip. Never suffocating you in depression, but rather romantic, celestial even. As usual the booklet is filled with linernotes about the road adventures of the people involved in these shows to keep it somewhat 'rock 'n' roll'. In the meanwhile Fripp assured himself of a high position in my 2005 yearlist.