Washington Square

Live Frippertronics performances taken from recordings in New York City between July & August 1981. Mixed and Produced by David Singleton from audio restored by Alex R. Mundy. Vinyl cut by Jason Mitchell at LOUD mastering. The finest example of Frippertronics in performance. After completing the first round of concerts with a revived King Crimson starting in May 1981, Fripp headed over to the USA where he began a week-long residency at Washington Square United Methodist Church on 135 W Fourth Street in New York. Built in 1860, the church had historically been home to many congregations but in more recent years had become the venue for groups such as the Black Panthers, Gay Men's Health Crisis and numerous arts organisations.

These are the two most popular LPs by this Dixieland octet, which saw huge success in 1963-1964, including a number two hit single with "Washington Square." The albums stand better together than they did on their own - Washington Square was heavily weighted toward folk-based repertory, as a kind of Dixieland/folk revival crossover that worked well in early 1964. The dozen songs from their follow-up album are more derived from pop and jazz sources (though there is a Dylan tune thrown in). The bonus tracks, bringing the song count up to 26, are "From Russia With Love" and "Fiddler on the Roof," both modest hits that originally appeared on subsequent LPs, thus making this CD a kind of best-of, or at least a one-stop location for the group's most familiar records. The sound is excellent, the annotation is fairly complete, and it's unlikely there will ever be much more out on CD in connection with this group.

Washington Square Serenade ultimately sounds a bit less focused than its immediate predecessors, the politically minded Jerusalem and The Revolution Starts…Now (despite the presence of "Red Is the Color" and "Steve's Hammer"), but it also finds Earle trying out some new tricks both as a performer and a songwriter, and it's exciting and encouraging to hear him exploring fresh turf after two decades of record-making, and there's lots of fine music to be had on this set.