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From: kissell@flairvax.UUCP (Kevin Kissell)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: guitarists
Message-ID: <441@flairvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 10-Apr-84 13:48:52 EST
Article-I.D.: flairvax.441
Posted: Tue Apr 10 13:48:52 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 12-Apr-84 05:05:25 EST
Organization: Fairchild AI Lab, Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 31

(sigh)

>The only question that I have is; if Robert Fripp is such a phenomenal
>guitarist, why does he play second fiddle to a man (Adrian Belew) that
>admittedly knows not how to read or write music.
>Now don't get me wrong, I do like Robert Fripp. I have seen him perform 
>twice, once with KK, and once with the League of Gentlemen. I really
>did enjoy that show, even though he got repetive after a time.
>But to imply that he is the best is ludicrous.  Try listening to Steve 
>Hackett instead.  He is every bit as good as Fripp, but has a much wider 
>repertoire.
					-JR

One might just as well dismiss Eric Clapton on the basis of his work over
the last five years.   Steve Hackett is an adequite guitarist, and has
technique in some respects superior to Fripp's, but while Hackett has
mastered several styles, Fripp successfully *defied* style for most of
his career, opening whole new avenues of electric guitar improvisation
and creating (with Brian Eno) a new musical genre ("frippertronics").
His courage to do the melodically unthinkable in performance rivaled 
that of Jack Bruce.  I don't like most of what he's done since Exposure, 
but I feel he deseves a place in our electric pantheon.

Feeling no obligation to be rational while discussing music,

Kevin D. Kissell
Fairchild Research Center
Advanced Processor Development
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