Robert Fripp's 1980 solo album God Save The Queen/Under Heavy Manners and his 1981 Frippertronics set Let The Power Fall are to be reissued on heavyweight 200g vinyl and CD through DGM on July 1.
Both releases have been unavailable in any format for many years, and while the CDs are both included in the recently announced 32-disc Exposures box set, which is out this month, the vinyl versions are available for the first time since the mid 1980s.
After the abrasive nature of Fripp's 1979 solo debut Exposure, both releases found Fripp in more experimental mode. God Save The Queen/Under Heavy Manners is an album of two halves, as the title implies, the second disc featuring what Fripp termed 'discotronics', a bespoke meeting place between Frippertronics’ repetitious loops and a pulsating four-to-the-floor beat. It featured a guest appearance from Talking Heads' David Byrne.
Let The Power Fall, released a year later, is the only full album of Frippertronics that was released during the original vinyl era. Both albums were supported by a unique tour that took in record shops, offices, public spaces, canteens, planetariums and, later, some conventional venues and theatres.
The CD version of God Save The Queen/Under Heavy Manners will feature two extra tracks, comprising almost half an hour of additional material, one unavailable since the 1990s while Let The Power Fall will feature three extra tracks, all previously unreleased on individual CD.
