Category: David Sylvian & Robert Fripp

David Sylvian & Robert Fripp – The First Day (1993)

posted by albums-update

The First Day is the first of three collaborations between British musicians David Sylvian and Robert Fripp. It was released in August 1993, featuring a driving rock style with elements of funk.

After scattered collaborations from the late 1980s, Fripp asked Sylvian to join a new version of his band King Crimson, but Sylvian proposed a collaborative album. They recorded in Woodstock and New Orleans. Chapman stick player Trey Gunn provided a foundation for Fripp to experiment on electric guitar. Percussion duties were filled by Marc Anderson (longtime collaborator with Steve Tibbetts) and Jerry Marotta (drummer for Peter Gabriel and Tony Levin), while co-producer David Bottrill provided percussion treatments and samples.

Robert Fripp and David Sylvian‘s first official release together, The First Day, is a much funkier and more percussive affair than its bootleg predecessor, The Day Before (which contained radically different versions of these songs). An obvious reason for its higher quality is that it was recorded in a studio, while the bootleg consisted of in-concert demos, and the songs here have been worked to completion. Fripp has found an extremely talented singer/partner in Sylvian, who adds a lot to his quirky compositions. Trey Gunn (who plays a bass-like instrument called the stick) makes each track practically groove and breathe on his own, and allows Fripp to stretch out and experiment in ways previously unheard by this guitar icon. The First Day is a very consistent album, with the musician’s excitement and energy easily being felt on such tracks as “God’s Monkey,” “Brightness,” and the ten-minute tour de force “Firepower.” Other lengthy tracks follow (the 11-minute “20th Century Dreaming” and the 17-minute “Darshan”), but it never becomes self-indulgent or boring. Certainly one of Robert Fripp‘s best and more inspired King Crimson side projects.

Track listing

  1. “God’s Monkey” (David Bottrill, Fripp, Gunn, Sylvian) – 4:58
  2. “Jean the Birdman” – 4:09
  3. “Firepower” – 10:25
  4. “Brightness Falls” – 6:05
  5. “20th Century Dreaming (A Shaman’s Song)” – 11:50
  6. “Darshan (The Road to Graceland)” (Bottrill, Fripp, Gunn, Sylvian) – 17:17
  7. “Bringing Down the Light” (Fripp) – 8:31

All songs by David Sylvian (music & lyrics), Robert Fripp (music), and Trey Gunn (music), except where noted.

Personnel and production

Additional personnel

  • Richard Chadwick – recording co-ordination
  • Natasha White – recording co-ordination assistant
  • Dan McLoughlin, John Yates, Mark Glass, Trina Shoemaker – assistant engineers
  • Catherine McRae – design co-ordination
  • Kevin Westenberg – photography
  • Dave Coppenhall, Vaughan Oliver – design
  • John Sinks – technical and strategic Liaison

Notes
Release Date: August 10, 1993
Recording Location: Dreamland Studios, Woodstock, NY / Kingsway Studios, New Orleans
Genre: Art Rock, Experimental Rock
Duration: 1:03:26

Label – Virgin Records