The FraKctured Zone Guestbook page

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"Fracture' smashes up the fabric of your mind and can wreck you for the best part of two days afterward."

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"The real payoff is the imposing Fracture, one of Fripp's delirious exercises in the tritone, which reaches such frightening degrees of hammering anger that it's a positive balm to the spirit."

"Worth the price of admission, however, is the brilliant Fracture - a glorious excercise in Robert Frippian guitar weirdness and subtle syncopation, ending in a head-bangingly heavy riff that's sure to take the plaster off your ceilings."

""FraKctured" shows Robert Fripp shredding like never before. One of my fondest memories of the band is seeing them play the piece at a concert in Philadelphia, and seeing RF blow smoke off his fingers at the end."

"That fast arpeggiated section in "Fraktured" seems almost impossible to be performed on guitar, yet then Fripp and Belew are masters of their Kraft (get it? he he)."

"Fracktured is just awesome I honestly cannot understand how anyone could not hear the differences between this and the Starless prototype."

"And in FracKtured, you find yourself actually searching for familiar themes from "Fracture" (from the album "Starless and Bible Black"), since that's all the joy you're about to get."

""Frakctured" is a complete rebuild of the 1973 classic "Fracture," featuring guitar playing by Robert Fripp on the hairy edge of impossibility (yes, he can do it live)."

"The track "Frakctured" is appropriately titled--it sounds like a sequel to the Wetton-era "Fracture"."

""Frakctured" is stunning: combining the best of all KC incarnations with a subtle jazz touch, this song is an instant Crim classic. Fripp's playing on this cut is superhuman."

"And for those who really want to hear Fripp in all his glory, check out FraKctured, at the same time both a flashback to - and an update of the 70s classic Fracture. The playing is incredible fast - frightening, in fact - not at all bad for a 54 year old!"

"A homage to/update of the 1970s Crim piece 'Fracture', 'FraKctured' ups the ante considerably in the intricate, interlocking, fast-picked arpeggio department."

""Fracture" from King Crimson's Starless and Bible Black and Nighwatch: Nearly technically impossible classically inspired runs between pops of guitar crunch whup. The rest of the band is mostly just along for the ride, although ace drummer Bill Bruford adds some effective accents."

"And so is "Fracture," the tune that ends the album. The convulsive explosion that distinguishes this track hits your body hard - the dynamic of the playing is awe-inspiring, the chordal/riffing structure purely original. The tune remains impressive. At their best, King Crimson prove that art for art’s sake may not be such a bad thing after all."

"...the claustrophobic picking trap of "FraKCtured" provides some further small variations on the harmonic webbing of 1974's "Fracture", but never once transcends its roots."

"Fracture: Epic instrumental showcasing the spooky whole tones and angular riffs of Fripp's guitar. It begins extremely quietly, becomes subtly aggressive, explodes into improvisatory fire, and ends with a bang. Quite a formula, and one which the band have followed successfully to no end."

"And lest you think King Crimson is getting "too staid", "Fracture" provides a frightening descent into the darkest pits of Gehenna, courtesy of Fripp's precise cross-picking technique and David Cross's wah-wah drenched violin screams."

"Fripp's playing on Suite #1 foreshadows the later, much harder rocking 1973 masterpiece Fracture."

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"Although Fripp often shies away from technical display, he is consistently brilliant throughout this performance. Listen closely to 'Fracture,' for example."

"Crimson, at its best, is calculated sonic violence. Robert Fripp has bridged the gap between anger and zen more successfully than any other artist in "rock". He executes a meditated explosion every time he picks up a guitar, it seems. If Crimson is not the envy of every would-be head-bangy type metal band, they should be. Maybe Crim are too "nerdy" to gain respect from the pop-metal types. But, insturmental Crimson monster tracks like "Red", "Satori in Tangier", "THRAK", "Larks Tongues in Aspic", and "Fracture" (and their various incarnations) are about as purely angst-ridden as music can get, and Johnny-Come-Goth bands would be lucky to capture just a fraction of that raw tension in their music. King Crimson is fury in the hands of virtuosos."

"...but the highlight is "Fracture" which matches (if not surpasses) any song on their previous album in terms of being dark and scary music (especially the amazing end part)."

""FraKCtured" is Fripp's major showcase, and it burns. It may be both the prettiest and ugliest track, depending on the passage you play. It starts out with a section of contemplative clockwork guitar chimes, with little more than a bass drone in the background. Then it switches into typical Fripp double-picking patterns, before a really beautiful descending section of resolution. The music meanders along in a similar manner for awhile, but then bursts into a heavily distorted frenzy around the five-minute mark which is just *furious*. The Fripp monster is unleashed! A dizzying explosion of picking, which few others could manage. It then returns to a more subdued atmosphere, as in the opening section. Excellent."

"FRACTURE (by Fripp). Live recording. Fripp lays down a typically edgy angular ostinato. There's a lot of whole-tone-scale action going on in here. One of the most extensively worked-out pieces of the KC III period, "Fracture" places severe demands on technique. "One of the reasons I wrote 'Fracture' in the manner which I wrote it," said Fripp, "was to put myself (and the band) in a certain situation where I had to practice every day because it's so difficult."

"...whereas 'Fracture', despite its climactic ending, contained moments of calm and a guitar-solo midsection that continues to impress guitar students to this day."

""Fracture" is one of the absolute classic tracks of prog, and gives the album a crushing finish (I always end up turning the volume up throughout the album until it's near bleeding-eardrum levels by the end of "Fracture""

"The closer, "Fracture," is another masterpiece of Frippian construction, slowly building and releasing tension until it brings down the house in much the same way as "Larks' Tongues, pt. 2."

""FraKctured" comes roughly midway through the disc, providing an atmospheric but uneasy respite for the ears that cuts to a furious quaver between Fripp and Belew over top Gunn's touch bass and Mastelotto's V-drum foundation. This is Crimson at its highest: intelligent and charismatic with a frisson of danger, a hot fudge sundae with a hint of cinnamon. There may be no blood spurting or chains flying, but the ears feel flayed afterwards."

"Fripp's work on Frakctured, SSEDD and Lark's IV could well have stripped the polish from the ladies' fingernails."

"Two pieces, "FraKctured" and "Larks’ Tongues in Aspic Pt. IV," make direct references to the seventies Crimson with their titles, but offer a more abstract and less emotionally expressive music. The pieces which offered the original inspiration (and titles) have been reduced to elaborately performed riffs, heavy on technique but light on feeling. (Not that they are "light" musically - the reverse. They are full of metalloid ponderousness.)"

"By the time the band have found their feet, "Fracture" is fantastically brutal, its towering black-glass riffs (on the cusp between proto-punk and dark classical) alternating with Fripp's ever more complex, neurotically spiralling flat-picking passages."

"Finally, "Fracture" is a noisy, dangerous, epic-length piece of musical exploration. Essential."

"On television: about 30 seconds of 'Fracture' was used on a detective show on UK TV in the late 70s/early 80s called 'Hazell'. In the scene, Hazell was running down a fire escape in pursuit of a villain while 'Fracture' was playing."

"It's all here: Fripp's deceptively plaintive guitar chirps that swell into raging tidal waves of sound in "Fracture," barely masking Bill Bruford's ecstatic hoots as he pounds away at his barrage of percussion;"

"Finally, "Fracture" is a cousin to the previous album's title song, "Larks' Tongues In Aspic," though it's more musically subtle, spending much of its 11 minutes on the quiet side. Things don't really kick into high gear until almost eight minutes into the track, when the boys finally work up a serious sweat."

"Don't be so harsh on 'Fracture' - it's not the awful jam that 'We'll Let You Know', 'Starless and Bible Black', and 'Providence' are - it's actually quite structured, but at the same time flexible, giving the impression of an aimless 'sound collage' but it's actually nearer the prog-jam of 'Starless' off Red."

"Not their best. Indeed, nothing here really touches my soul save for the last few minutes of 'Fracture', which I never tire of listening to. When that track comes on there is no doodling or FPS-ing going on, its me and the stereo"

"By the way, `Fracture` for me is not an atonal mess at all, it has a solid structure, a pack of excellent melodies, it has its atmosphere & mood, it has the rises & the falls (sinusoida!), and, of course, it has an unbelievable coda, the top, the climax, which beats all breath out of your lungs! And the instrumental parts!.. Fripp`s playing is also breath-taking, so many guitarists tried to repeat it!... And Wetton`s part, so incredible, which has quite parallel way to the main theme leading by David Cross!.. Well, i stop myself. The rest is silence."

"Still stands as the 1973-1974 KC's finest achievement. You just never know what's going to happen next in this long instrumental: hexatonic scales, distortion, mathematically precise guitar riffs and poignant violin lines, and a mad mix of off rhythm patterns: it's a weird ride all the way. The absence of Palmer-James lyrics and Wetton voice is also a plus. KC at it's most adventurous, and it's aged beautifully as well."

"This is the climax of an excellent, but confused and disorienting album and this song is disorienting, but in good way. The first movement alternates bizarre Fripp stuff with embellishments by the band with an evil, crunchy unison. Then, out of nowhere, Fripp starts playing something that sounds like "Suite No. 1" (Giles, Giles, and Fripp) on acid, while bass, bells, and violin play themes over it (way to go, Bruford, on those bells!). A somewhat weak interlude enters, but it serves its purpose- to leave you unprepared for the next movement: a mad, apocalyptic blitzkrieg! The violin and guitar weave themes over Wetton and Bruford's great rhythm section, which slips in a short bass solo and the fluidly changes rhythm. It ends with Bruford thrashing his gong."

"Likewise, 'FraKctured' is certainly reminiscent of 'Fracture', a similar nine-minute long monster which I do like a little bit more than the "original", mainly because the guitars are sharper and I like Crimson's New Wave production style better than Crimson's mid-Seventies production style, but who cares, it's essentially the same atonality blast. The guitars are REALLY powerful, and for any band of lesser stature this interplay could only be dreamt of, but unfortunately, KC had already set a certain standard for themselves, and this isn't up to the standard."

"The theme from Starless and Black's Fracture is the seed for FraKctured. After a statement of the theme and a brief gamelan guitar segment we're treated to a bit of Crimson thud then its back to a few statements of the beginning. And then we're treated to the heaviest KC known yet. Fripp thrashing out variations of the theme and once you think it's over, they start it again."

"The piece requires massive technique, and doubtless the whole is memorized. But while Fripp was playing, technique fell away in favor of performance and he appeared almost to be inventing each note for the first time."

"The album closes with yet another Concertgebouw track that defies expectations. Just when you think it can't get any more complex - it does. Just when you think the main theme can't get any higher and faster - it does. Just when you think you can't possibly dance the Watusi to it - you can!"

Whereas, as any fule kno, Fracture goes (altogether now...) DIDledidleDIDledidleDIDleDIDleDIDleDIDleDIDledidleDIDledidleDIDledidledidledidle etc etc

"'We have moved via 'A Man, A City', 'In The Court' to 'Fracture'. I believe this is the first whole-tone piece in rock.' Robert Fripp, online diary 12/1/99 re Volume Two of 'Cirkus'" Robert Fripp

""Fracture" remains one of the hardest pieces I have ever played in public. During the moto perpetuo, in the middle of the piece, if the group's time drifts the guitarist is hung out to dry. Often, the time drifted in the group. The guitarist is stuck with an endless (it feels) series of equal semi-quavers at 124-136 with cross-picking over two and three strings. Twenty-five years later this continues to provide technical challenges. The musical challenges remain, but more so for an American: the piece is distinctly European. Very little power rock is uncompromisingly European and convincing. Crimson metal of the early seventies is a rare exception." Robert Fripp