| Daryl Hall can sing! I mean it's no great revelation that | | | | two of Hall's contributions remaining.So in this re-issue |
| he can, it's just stunning to actually hear it. He is | | | | you get the original release, a later 1983 remix and |
| blessed with a voice so strong and acrobatic, it's a | | | | then a few of the unreleased Daryl Hall tracks. I have |
| wonder he's not more lauded.Perhaps it's the instant | | | | no idea how these two artists came to work |
| recognition that his tone brings. It only takes a note | | | | together on this album but I'm glad they did. On |
| or two and most radio-aware folks can peg a Hall & | | | | paper the pairing seems so unlikely as to be absurd. |
| Oates tune cold. Recognizability and ubiquity tend to | | | | It's just hard to imagine the precise and hypnotic |
| dull our perception of the genuine quality of a given | | | | guitar figures of Robert Fripp being caressed by the |
| thing. It's as if we're using the sense organs and | | | | soulful and rich voice of Daryl Hall. The fact is though, |
| mental processing of countless other individuals to | | | | it works.On the song "North Star" we hear the true |
| engage with our experience of life.Take for example | | | | nature of that Daryl Hall voice and it simply is a |
| Mount Rushmore. Its been photographed and | | | | flooring experience. The tone is rich and sweet while |
| sculpted and drawn and put on stamps and printed | | | | still remaining raspy. The phrasing of the lyrics and the |
| on license plate and emblazoned u-haul vans and used | | | | occasional use of sustained falsetto sent me running |
| as a location for movies.Close your eyes for a | | | | to the ipod to dial up Hall &Oates "She's Gone" and |
| second and think, " Mount Rushmore ". Please, go | | | | "Sara Smile" and realize that he's always been that |
| ahead and do it. I'll bet a fairly solid image came to | | | | good. In that voice I was hearing something not |
| your mind's eye. Some vaguely tannish and grey | | | | actually related to the lyrics. There was an intensity, |
| rocks sculpted in the likeness of a group of | | | | depth and presence I'd never allowed through before. |
| presidents. Maybe a chain of associations sprang | | | | I heard the voice of a seeker. I heard the voice of |
| forward in the wake of your initial image. Some of | | | | loss. I heard the voice of tender resignation to the |
| these might relate to actual facts connected with the | | | | wounding ways of life. Sometimes we are privileged |
| site. You may know the name of the artist. You may | | | | to experience a blissful moment and Daryl Hall brings |
| have been there with your family. Someone in your | | | | many on this album.The music bears the stamp of |
| family might have been born, died, gotten married, | | | | Robert Fripp's quests and inquiries into the nature of |
| won the lottery, given you a present, played "Smoke | | | | guitar sound. Using a tapeloop system dubbed |
| on the Water" on accordion, stolen something from | | | | "Frippertronics" he creates complex webs of notes |
| you, lost their mind, etc. right after your visit and | | | | that repeat a shimmering metallic mantra and shift |
| when you see a picture of Mount Rushmore your | | | | upwards and down. All of the instruments on this |
| mind shuffles through these events. Along with these | | | | album are played with virtuoso cleanliness that never |
| associations are the endless images you've seen of | | | | is a means unto itself. The technical aspects of the |
| the site.These images and conceptions, while intrinsic | | | | playing are harnessed and brought to bear on the |
| to our knowledge of Mount Rushmore have no real | | | | overall groove of each piece. At times this lends a |
| relationship to the actual thing. They are in fact a | | | | surprising funk quality to some of the music which if |
| cloudy barrier or filter we have placed between | | | | not present could come across as stiff and |
| ourselves and an object. Occasionally, particularly | | | | herky-jerky.There is an inscrutable element to Robert |
| when our focused perception is otherwise occupied, | | | | Fripp and his music. You get a sense of ambiguity |
| we have a powerful and direct experience of | | | | about his motives. Is he trying to tell us a musical tale |
| something. Perhaps we're sick or tired or just in a | | | | with a new language or is he simply following the call |
| very calm and receptive state. Whatever the set of | | | | of an internal and unknowable muse to satisfy his |
| circumstances are, for some reason the familiar | | | | agenda. This ambiguity provides a palpable tension in |
| suddenly reveals its true nature and stuns us. We | | | | his music and this tension is so interesting we are |
| look at the faces of Mount Rushmore and they just | | | | compelled to keep listening. It's like listening to |
| simply are. Their nature confronts us and we see | | | | someone ask themselves questions and hearing the |
| them for the first time. The message might be | | | | various answers they come up with. None of which |
| beautiful, it might be horrific but we're getting a hit of | | | | the questioner seems to attach more meaning or |
| the true essence of something and it's not being | | | | fondness for than any of the others. I often feel |
| mediated by either a pre-existing image bank or our | | | | that Robert Fripp isn't a person who wants to be |
| associations. This is how Daryl Hall's voice hit me while | | | | trusted. He likes to keep us on our toes. It's like he's |
| listening to the recently re-issued Robert Fripp album | | | | a mountain guide who's not sure we're worthy of |
| "Exposure".The album was originally released in 1979 | | | | making it to the summit. While this can be frustrating |
| and was radically alter between the recording of it | | | | it's perhaps better for us in the long run. We're not |
| and the eventual release. Central to this alteration | | | | provided with any easy answers in his music so we |
| were the objections of Daryl Hall's manager Tommy | | | | have to actually listen. In this listening we are |
| Mottola and the people overseeing Debbie Harry's | | | | rewarded. The rewards vary and can range from |
| career in "Blondie". The tracks were deemed to | | | | hearing Daryl Hall's magnificent voice for the first time |
| experimental, the association with Fripp viewed as | | | | to understanding the power of repetition and |
| commercial suicide and as per usual in the music | | | | juxtaposition.No matter what, we come away from |
| business, the "business" won out. Big chunks of it | | | | "Exposure" enriched and expanded and if that isn't |
| were re-recorded and used the voice talents of | | | | worthwhile, I don't know what live music reviews, cd |
| Peter Hammill (Van der Graaf Generator) with only | | | | reviews, music news & features are! |