Robert Fripp and the League of Crafty Guitarists 1990

Paul Richards recently found and emailed a link to a rare Robert Fripp and the League of Crafty Guitarists bootleg from the 3rd leg of our 1990 tour.

Here is the link to the bootleg.

IMO, listening back now, this was one of the ‘peak’ shows of that era.  We did five legs of touring in 1990 after an intense year of work in 1989 that completed with the infamous 1989 “Bogo Tour.”  Bert was beginning to introduce Bach into our repertoire, and it was a musical turning point before the “Nigel phase” erupted in late 1990 and into the 1991 US and international tour(s.)  

Boston Paradise Show Setlist
Aug 7^th 1990

0.   Tuning the Air (group)

1.       Askesis (group)

2.       Wall Street (group)

3.       Scaling the Whales (PaulR, HidiM, TobinB, SteveB)

4.       Tony or Ralph / Herni piece (name?)

5.       Intergalactic Boogie Express (group)

6.       Here Comes my Sweetie (PatriciaL)

7.       Circulation (group)

8.       Burning Siesta (HernanN, SteveB, RalphG, BertL)

9.       Spasm for Juanita (RalphG, SteveB)

10.   Lark's Thrak (group)

11.   tuning

12.   Doo do un doo do un doo,this Yes (PatriciaL)

13.   The Breathing Field (group)

14.   Bach Prelude (group)

15.   An Easy Way (group)

16.   The Moving Force (RobertF, BertL, TonyG, CurtG )

17.   Digitalis (GuidoE/DavidP)

18.   The Driving Force (group)

19.  Listen (Patricia)

20.   Eye of the Needle (group)

21.   Fireplace Circulation Em (group)

22.   Fireplace (group)

23.   Asturias (group)

24.   Fragments of Skylab (group)

25.   Flying Home (group)

26.   The Woman in You (Patricia)

27.   Are You Abel? (RalphG, SteveB, PaulR, HerniN, TobinB)

28.   Leap of Faith (TonyG, CurtG, RalphG, SteveB, PaulR, TobinB, SteveJ, BertL)

29.   Bicycling to Afghanistan (CurtG-mid, SteveB-top, RobertF-bass)

30.   Echoes (PatriciaL &  EddieG)

31.   Bach Prelude (again!)

32.   When You Give Yourself (PatriciaL)

33.   Symetrical Circulation (group)

34.   Lark's Thrak (again!)  

Tour Personnel

• Bettina Nuñez
• Curt Golden
• David Pittaway
• Eduardo Galimany
• Guido Ernst
• Hernan Nuñez
• Hideyo Moriya
• John Sinks
• Karen Thomas
• Martin Schwutke
• Patricia Leavitt
• Paul Richards
• Ralph Gorga
• Robert Fripp
• Steve Ball
• Steve Jolemore
• Tobin Buttram
• Tony Geballe

Participants and audients: please amend or correct this data as necessary!

Q: was this the famous “silent Martin” Paradise show? 

 

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Comments

[Jeff Duke]

Funny, track 4 was pretty much the only one I didn't recognize either. Thank you very much for sharing this Steve!

[Curt Golden]

Martin was silent when we played VH1, which would have been spring 1988. I can't imagine he was still at it 2 years later, and AFTER the bogo tour. But the only references I have in my files to The Paradise are in 1990 - August and October - and that just doesn't compute. A mystery, or a hole in my records.

[Curt Golden]

Further thoughts...

I wonder if this really is from August 1990. If it is, I was not in the performance team. I was in for the first half of the year - 2 legs of the North American tour, the short tour of Italy, and back to NY for the Show of Hands sessions, but then had to step out for family reasons. 3 days before the August 90 Paradise gig you all payed Central Park, and I was definitely in the audience for that one. Someone recently gave me a bootleg tape of Central park, BTW.

[Steve Ball]

Thanks Curt - some more details here:
http://steveball.typepad.com/diary/2005/03/plague_of_craft.html

[turuk]

It was a while ago; but, I was at a Paradise show of LoCG in which there was a player at the end of the string of guitarists who did nothing the entire show. There was an audience member question, if I remember correctly, along the line of "does the guy at the end play anything?" Fripp answered that the person in question was a good guitarist but his role in that nights performance was to listen. Is this the same night?

[turuk]

P.S. I forget to mention that I thought it was a terrific show. Others did not agree. I remember listening to people as they were leaving and one person was holding the sides of his head saying "too many fucking notes to digest." I didn't think so.
One summer, a few years later, I saw them in the Berkshires. I think there were 18 people in the audience. At the first huge chord of "Thrak," I remember everyone slammed themselves back into their seats. It was the exact same audience reaction as when Ben Dollard's head bursts into view in the sunken boat scene of "Jaws." Unforgetable

[turuk]

P.P.S. Ok last one, As I am finally listening the the concert it is apparent that this was from the same summer as when I saw them in the Berkshires. The Paradise show where somebody did not play was a year or so year before. With this ensemble, I was at first thrown by Leavitt's performance, then I noticed that her vocalization was the same sort of patterning as the guitarist's, so it fit in. I always wondered what role she had in the practices, did she join in the circulations.?

[Tobin]

Track 4 is "Jimbo's Lament" by Tony G. But I thought we dropped that from the set early in '90... That and the lack of Groove Penetration made me think this was misdated, however there's a whole set segment after "Listen" that got overlooked somehow:
20. Hard Times, 21. Beeline, 22. Jaqueres (sp? - a Ralph/Herni production), 23. Groove Penetration (too fast, missing Bert's little melody, and NO COMPRESSOR on the slap part - oy...) 24. Ease God's Sorrow.

[Boris]

To answer the first poster's question: the famous "silent Martin" Paradise show was on April 13, 1988 (I still have the ticket stub). I know this because I was the person in the crowd who asked Bob the question why this guy wasn't playing a note during the first half of the show. I'm a musician and it seemed kind of odd to me that someone sitting at the front of the stage was not participating for such a long time. Bob should have had the decency to seat him in the middle of the ensemble and not have him be in full view of the audience. Steve, perhaps you can elaborate on Bob's train of thought during this time period or did he just want to punish the guy for not being able to perform up to his standards.

[lacoste mens shoes]

Hard Times, 21. Beeline, 22. Jaqueres (sp? - a Ralph/Herni production), 23. Groove Penetration (too fast, missing Bert's little melody, and NO COMPRESSOR on the slap part - oy...) 24. Ease God's Sorrow.