Gunn, Trey - Untune The Sky

Year of Release: 2003
Label: InsideOut
Catalog Number: IOMCD 145
Format: CD
Total Time: 68:29:00

Those of you who only know Trey Gunn from his stint with King Crimson will be pleasantly surprised to hear that the guy's solo output contains much more than the often weird and complex time signatures he delivers for big boss Robert Fripp. In order to make the solo material from Gunn known to the unsuspecting music lovers out there, his new label Inside Out has just released Untune The Sky, a retrospective sampler containing selections from Trey's previous six solo outings. Knowing his great ear for detail, you simply can't hear that "The Glove" was recorded live, as it sounds as if it was recorded in a studio. For sure the audience present knows how to appreciate a great piece of music. With "Killing For London," Trey demonstrates his great technique on the Warr guitar, a 10-string touch guitar with the range of a piano which he taps. To my ears the sound evokes the march of camels in the desert. Camels in London? In order to make this CD interesting even for the most diehard Trey Gunn fan, two alternative mixes also grace this album next to an previously unreleased 9-minute track. The alternate mixes are different to the mixes done by David Bottrill, who left out certain parts that are introduced again here. "Take This Wish" really is a very captivating song, mainly backed by inventive percussion. Here you get the full tabla outro as delivered by Bob Muller. Very addictive indeed!

Also in "Rune Song" percussion plays a very important part as counterpart to the Fripp-like drones. Tablas most certainly play a very important part in the life of Trey. In "Puttin' On The White Shirt" he lets them combine with a Herb Alpert-like trumpet backed by Frippertronics, adding a lot of rhythm to the song. Towards the end even a slight salsa-feel creeps in as well. With "Arrakis" the tone mainly becomes ominous, mainly due to the dark chords, whilst the bass keeps on repeating the same sequence over and over again, as if it's a loop. A more modern approach is noted during the so far unreleased "The Cruelest Month." By fusing bits of narration into the music and its repetitive nature, this song kind of makes me think of a band like The Orb, who also introduced a lot of studio trickery into their work. Long stretched ambient soundscapes form the basis of "The Gift," which acts like the ideal soundtrack to go with images of desert places, whether on earth or on a distant planet. This compilation ends with the short "Hootenanny At The Pink Pussycat Café," which contains a lot of freaky organ and fretless bass to make it the kind of work you could expect from Derek Sherinian's Planet X.

This wonderfully packaged set also contains a bonus DVD featuring seven live performances, interview footage and several video montages. As Trey has just started his very own multimedia company in Seattle called 7 Directions, he could experiment for his own DVD. Untune The Sky most certainly is a well documented comprehensive look into the solo escapes from one of the world's leading musicians, including some very tasty instrumental explorations.

Tracklisting:
Sozzle (4:41) / The Glove (Live) (5:02) / Killing For London (6:26) / The Third Star (Alternate Mix) (3:42) / Take This Wish (Alternate Wish) (6:41) / August 1997 (1:37) / Rune Song (5:40) / Puttin' On The White Shirt (7:59) / Brief Encounter (5:49) / Arrakis (5:20) / The Cruelest Month (Unreleased) (9:00) / The Gift (4:14) / Hootenanny At The Pink Pussycat Caf? (2:10)

Musicians:
Trey Gunn - Warr guitar, Chapman stick, voice
Bob Muller - drums, percussion, tabla
Dave Douglas - trumpet
Tony Geballe - saz, guitar
Joe Mendelson - guitar
Pat Mastelotto - drums
Bill Rieflin - drums
Robert Fripp - organ guitar

Discography:
(selected discography)
The First Day (w/David Sylvian, Robert Fripp) (1993)
One Thousand Years (1993)
Darshana (w/Sylvian, Fripp) (1994)
Damage (w/Sylvian, Fripp) (1994)
King Crimson - Vrooom (1994)
King Crimson - Thrak (1995)
King Crimson - B'Boom (Live In Argentina (1995)
The Third Star (1996)
King Crimson - Thrakattak (1996)
King Crimson - The ProjeKCts (1999)
Raw Power: The Surfacing Series (1999)
The Repercussions Of Angelic Behavior (w/Bill Rieflin, Fripp) (1999)
King Crimson - The Deception Of The Thrush (1999)
The Joy Of Molybdenum (2000)
King Crimson - The ConstruKCtion Of Light (2000)
Food For Thought (And Other Vicious Circles) ()
Playing With Borrowed Time
Live Encounter (2001)
King Crimson - Level Five (2002)
King Crimson - The Power To Believe (2003)
Untune The Sky (2003)
Tu - Tu (w/Pat Mastelotto) (2004)
KTU ? 8 Armed Monkey (2005)
Quodia - The Arrow (2007)
Music For Pictures (2008)

King Crimson - Deja Vrooom (DVD) (1999)
King Crimson - Eyes Wide Open (2003)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin US

Added: November 16th 2003
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website: www.treygunn.com
Hits: 2526
Language: english