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An aura of delicious inevitability permeates the partnership of David Sylvian and Robert Fripp. For years, both men have challenged and intrigued audiences with their ensemble and solo work, earning well deserved reputations as two of music's most notable visionaries. Sylvian's early work with his group Japan has been followed by a series of ground breaking solo and collaborative albums, working with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bill Frisell, Mark Isham, and others. Frippfounder and leader of King Crimsonalso boasts a stunning resume of solo and collaborative ventures, including work with David Bowie, Brian Eno, and Peter Gabriel.
It should come as no surprise that the creative orbits of Sylvian and Fripp would eventually cross and result in a collaborative effort; yet it's tough not to be bowled over by the majestic scope of their first fulllength album together, The First Day. From the aggressive funk of opening track "God's Monkey," to the lush serenity of the album's final chords, The First Day explores its vast emotional expanse with unwavering confidence.

Throughout the seven tracks, Sylvian's supple vocals dovetail with Fripp's unmistakable fret work, full of chordal stabs and undulating, modal melodies. "God's Monkey," "Jean The Birdman," and "Bringing Down The Light" invoke moods of humor, hope, and desperation with equal dexterity. "Darshan (the road to grace land)" includes the alluring voice of guest Ingrid Chavez in its sonic flux.
"'Firepower' is a microcosm of the whole album," says Sylvian. "It's about dealing with the frustrations of life, and eventually finding the values that will help you become more centered and focused, and be able to respond to the world around you in a much more positive manner. In a way, there's a journey to be made on the album. A lot of the lyrics deal with the darker nature of life or survivalist existence. We do it in different wayssometimes it's more lighthearted, sometimes more intense. But as you move through the album, more hope and light comes into the work. It reaches a state of resolution, hope, and understanding."

The First Day unites two men who eagerly pursue new musical challenges, but approach the chase from divergent angles. "Robert and I have very different ways of working," laughs Sylvian. "Robert likes to record in a series of first takes. I work more laboriously. I like to work on details, fine tune things. We had to get used to each other's ways, but we found a method that works. It lends the work a certain power, because it does have the detail and textures, but it also has the directness and immediacy. It's a collaboration in the purest sense of the word, and we've really enjoyed it."
Fripp describes his musical approach: "I have no trust in myselfI have an unshakable confidence in the benevolence of the creative impulse. When a musician walks onstage and believes they are responsible for the music, the show is dead, unless music finds a way of acting through the egotism of this performer who actually believes they have anything to do other than allow the music to directly address their skills. The musician doesn't play musicmusic plays the musician. The musician acquires discipline so that they may present themselves in a position to be of use to the music. Discipline is a question of being readily available to the musical impulsesurrender."

Recorded in Woodstock, New York and New Orleans, LA, The First Day is one of a series of projects Sylvian and Fripp intend to undertake together. The innovative pair first worked with each other when Fripp guested on Sylvian's 1986 solo album, Gone To Earth. "I just called Robert up," recalls Sylvian, "and asked 'would you be interested?'. Two days later he was in the studio. Things fell into place rapidly. At that time we enjoyed working with one another, and expressed a desire to continue the working relationship at some future point."
Fripp acknowledges the importance of those initial 1986 recording sessions. "At the time I wasn't a performing musician. I hadn't been performing since 1984. I thoroughly enjoyed the session with David, and we stayed in touch over the years. When I returned to active service as a working musician in 1991, David was one of the musicians I hoped to work with."

Their mutual desire to work together again was rewarded in 1992: "I got an offer for a few concert dates in Japan," Sylvian says, "and we took that opportunity to spur us on to write specifically for live performance. We got together two weeks before the tour was due to start. We had a week to write the material, a week to rehearse it, and then went out and toured it as a trio, with a stick player, Trey Gunn." "The tour performances came together very quickly and simply," nods Fripp. "It was very freewheeling."
Sylvian continues: "It focused the concentration. This is a method of working that Robert enjoys. It was the first experience for me to be touring material that hadn't been recorded beforehand, where the material was still forming and evolving as we were touring. It was a wonderful, liberating experience. Also, Robert carried the weight of the show as much as I did onstage. Robert's focus and attention were intense. There were times that I would just watch him, while participating, and I would be totally drawn into his performance, to the performance. I think it was the most enjoyable live performance experience I've ever had."

The 1992 Japanese concert tour (followed by another tour in Italy) marked the true beginning of Sylvian and Fripp's collaboration, and eventually led to The First Day. "Some of the material on this album was taken from the live performance," says Sylvian, "and some was written specifically in the studio. We wanted to make an album that was dynamic and aggressive in some ways, and uplifting in others. We chose material most suited to that end." The flexibility of their new songs makes them ideally suited to live performance, and both Sylvian and Fripp look forward to a worldwide tour scheduled to begin in Japan this autumn.
The First Day reflects the continuing, restless enthusiasm of two veteran performers. After all his years as a working musician, "I am still not cynical," Fripp smiles. "If we were rational creatures, we would assess all the information available to us and make reasonable conclusions from that, and we would all abandon hope. The beauty, the power of the creative impulse is that it's absolutely irrational. Grace is unreasonable."

Full of impulsive, irrational beauty, The First Day is a fascinating musical summit for Sylvian and Fripp, and should ensure that their vital influence will flourish through the 1990s.

Background

Throughout their respective careers, both David Sylvian and Robert Fripp have embraced a wide variety of influencesranging from rock, jazz, electronic, and orchestralin the process of creating provocative, challenging music.

David Sylvian

David Sylvian first attained prominence as the lyricist, composer, and vocalist with Japan, one of the most refreshingly original British groups of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Japan's albumsincluding Quiet Life, Gentlemen Take Polaroids, Tin Drum, Oil On Canvas, and Exorcisinq Ghostsand their seminal singles "Ghosts" and "The Art Of Parties"earned the group an intensely devoted legion of fans. By mid 1983, however, the band had decided to separate and pursue individual projects, marking a transition point for Sylvian as he began an exciting, new phase of his career.
A 1982 collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto, the 12" single "Bamboo Houses / Bamboo Music," was followed in 1983 by Sylvian's vocal version of Sakamoto's theme from his score for the film "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence." Titled "Forbidden Colours," this recording ushered in the new chapter of music making, and Sylvian embarked on a series of ground breaking solo and collaborative albums, beginning with his 1984 debut solo album Brilliant Trees. Subsequent solo disks, 1986's Gone To Earth and the 1987 landmark Secrets Of The Beehive, the 1988 "In Praise of Shamans" world tour, and guest appearances, found Sylvian working with a variety of fascinating artists, including Holger Czukay (with whom he made two collaborative albums, Plight and Premonition and Flux and Mutabilitv), Jon Hassell, David Torn, and Britain's Danny Thompson and Bill Nelson.

In the spring of 1989, the former members of Japan reunited to work on an improvisational album. The result was the formation of Rain Tree Crow, and the 1991 release of their selftitled album. In February 1992, Sylvian and Ingrid Chavez were married in Minneapolis (where they currently reside), just two and a half months after meeting while working with Ryuichi Sakamoto on the third Sylvian/Sakamoto single "Heartbeat (TanaiKaiki II) returning to the womb," which was included in Sakamoto's 1992 Heartbeat album.
Sylvian's collaborative album with Robert Fripp is the newest phase in their ongoing musical partnership, dating back to Fripp's guest appearance on Sylvian's Gone To Earth disk. The two men are already planning a world tour, scheduled to begin in Japan and to continue through Europe, North America, and Great Britain.

Robert Fripp

Robert Fripp is well known as the founder of Britain's innovative King Crimson, and over the course of its celebrated existence, Fripp has remained the guiding force and sole constant member in the group's ever evolving lineup. From 1969 to 1974, the group toured relentlessly, and released a series of ground breaking albums, including In The Court Of The Crimson Kinq (their debut), Starless And Bible Black, Larks Tonques In Aspic and Red. At the peak of their artistic and commercial success in the mid1970s, the group promptly disbanded, but was resurrected by Fripp in 1981. Featuring a relatively stable lineup, the reformed King Crimson released Disciplines, Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair before disbanding in 1984. Among the group's stellar alumni: Bill Bruford, John Wetton, Greg Lake, Adrian Belew, and Tony Levin.

Following the demise of the 1970's edition of King Crimson, Fripp maintained a deliberately low profile, apart from occasional collaborations with Brian Eno. He reemerged towards the end of the decade as a solo artist with the album Exposure, and as a producer for the likes of Peter Gabriel, Daryl Hall, and The Roaches. He appeared as guest guitarist on records by Blondie and David Bowie (including the unforgettable solos on both "Heroes" and "Fashion"). This spate of activity was followed by a new band, The League Of Gentlemen, further solo albums featuring his "Frippertronics" system of loops and delays, and finally the revamped King Crimson from 1981 to 1984.
Throughout the remainder of the 1980s, Fripp devoted himself to presenting Guitar Craft to groups of students in various parts of the world, and as part of that process toured and recorded two albums with students under the banner The League Of Crafty Guitarists. He made several joint recordings with his wife, musician/actress Toyah, and their occasional group Sunday All Over The World.

His new album with David Sylvian is one of several projects Fripp is currently pursuing. He has been featured on recent recordings by The Orb, The Grid, and on the forthcoming album by exKing Crimson band mate John Wetton. Fripp is cataloging King Crimson's entire output (both existing and unreleased), while remastering and supervising various King Crimson CD reissues.