Robert Fripp - Exposure. 2-disc remaster, 2006.

I will not rehash the checkered history of Robert Fripp's Exposure album. For those who would like to read up on it, I will refer you to The Exposure Pages.

Here's the scoop on the new release:

Disc one contains the entire album in its original 1979 form. This version has not been available for over twenty years and had never been released on CD before.

Disc two contains the Definitive Edition version of the album except that the songs "Disengage", "Chicago", and "NY3" have been replaced by previously unreleased versions with Daryl Hall on vocals. The lyrics to "Chicago" are identical to previous releases. "Disengage" contains different lyrics, written by Daryl Hall, and has been retitled "Disengage II". Hall, also, wrote lyrics to "NY3", which has been retitled "New York, New York, New York", and his vocals replace the tape of the domestic dispute ("Your house, my house").

Disc two, also, contains bonus tracks: previously unreleased Daryl Hall versions of "Exposure" and "Mary", the Definitive Edition versions of "Disengage" and "NY3, and a previously unreleased version of "Chicago" with Peter Hammill and Terre Roche on vocals.

The Definitive Edition version of "Chicago" is not included on the collection, but few will miss it. I will explain.

The new bonus track of "Chicago" is identical to the Definitive Edition version until the word "obscenities". Peter Hammill's phrasing of the word "obscenities" is different and the rest of his vocals have been replaced by Terre Roche's.

Here is the irony: From the word "obscenities" on, Peter Hammill's vocal from original version (which is on disc one) and the Definitive Edition version were from the same take. What this means is that all of the pieces of the definitive Edition version are on this collection, they are just not on the same track. There is method to Robert Fripp's madness.

The sound quality of this collection is superb, as are the liner notes. (Hall's lyrics for "Disengage II" and "New York, New York, New York" are not included, but this is a minor quibble.) Despite the subtitle of the 1990 release, this is truly the definitive edition.

(For rippers who want to try to recreate the "Daryl Hall" version of the album should replace "I May Not Have Had Enough Of Me But I've Had Enough Of You" with "NYCNY" from Daryl Hall's Sacred Songs album. It's not the same version as the original test pressing, but it's as close as you are ever going to get.)

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Robert Fripp - Exposure

Disc One - First Edition
All tracks are from the original 1979 vinyl mix.

1. Preface
2. You Burn Me Up I'm A Cigarette
3. Breathless
4. Disengage
5. North Star
6. Chicago
7. NY3
8. Mary
9. Exposure
10. Häaden Two
11. Urban Landscape
12. I May Not Have Had Enough Of Me But I've Had Enough Of You
13. First Inaugural Address To I.A.C.E Sherborne House
14. Water Music I
15. Here Comes The Flood
16. Water Music II
17. Postscript

Disc Two - Third Edition
Tracks are from the 1990 Definitive Edition version of the 1983 remix unless otherwise indicated.

1. Preface
2. You Burn Me Up I'm A Cigarette
3. Breathless
4. Disengage II (previously unreleased with vocals and alternate lyrics by Daryl Hall)
5. North Star
6. Chicago (previously unreleased with vocals by Daryl Hall)
7. New York, New York, New York (previously unreleased with vocals and alternate lyrics by Daryl Hall)
8. Mary
9. Exposure
10. Häaden Two
11. Urban Landscape
12. I May Not Have Had Enough Of Me But I've Had Enough Of You
13. First Inaugural Address To I.A.C.E Sherborne House
14. Water Music I
15. Here Comes The Flood
16. Water Music II
17. Postscript
18. Exposure (previously unreleased with vocals by Daryl Hall)
19. Mary (previously unreleased with vocals by Daryl Hall)
20. Disengage
21. Chicago (previously unreleased with vocals by Peter Hammill and Terre Roche)
22. NY3

The Remaster Hell blog is officially launched

Have you ever walked into a store and seen a CD of an album that you haven't thought about in years? I mean, you used to have this album on LP, 8-track, or cassette. Hell, maybe you still have it, but you never listen to it because you don't have working equipment anymore. You forgot about it even though it was one of your favorite albums and you know it inside and out. Maybe you had looked for it on CD before, but couldn't find it. Now, here it is, in all its glory, with a big "Digitally Remastered" label on it. You buy it immediately.

As you get in your car, you painstakingly remove the wrapper and that top sticker-seal, open the jewel case, remove the disc and insert it into the CD player as you pull away from the store. You drive down the road but you realize that something is wrong. "Wait a minute. This doesn't sound right. What's going on here?" As you begin to think that you are imagining things, something comes out of your car speakers that is drastically different from the album that you knew and loved. You scream. You stare at your car stereo in horror. "What happened? What did they do to the music that I loved?"

Then you look up from your stereo and realize that you are about to barrel into a stopped 18-wheeler. You swerve to the right, only to end up jumping onto the curb. You try frantically to regain control of the vehicle, but it's no use and your car runs head on into a telephone pole. You are killed on impact.

All because some asshole decided to remix an album.

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Okay, maybe the last part didn't happen, but as those of us who grew up with vinyl records have transitioned over to the digital age, we have discovered a disturbing trend. The powers that be whose job it is to take the music that we love and make it currently available to the general public have, at times, been doing some undesirable things that have detracted from our enjoyment of the music.

Sometimes, it's a record company. Sometimes, it's an engineer. Sometimes, it's the artist's management or even the artist him/herself.

As a lover of rock music, I find this phenomenon fascinating. I used to find it appalling and, more often than not, I still do. Every once in a while, though, someone will make changes to a recording that I like. Nevertheless, I prefer it when the original recording is still available and the "new version" is made available as an addition, not a replacment.

So, I've decided to chronicle the various issues that I have discovered with reissues that I have become aware of.

The above example is only one of many things that are currently happening with reissued music and, over time, I am sure that a pattern will emerge as far as what content will be included here, but much of this all started from the trend of remastering older albums for CD, hence the name "Remaster Hell".