Martin A Hogan | San Francisco, CA. (Hercules) | 10/16/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Fripp has finally outdone himself (and friend Brian Eno) with this collection of ethereal music. Where before the sounds of guitar were easily distinguished, here they are hidden in magical sound loops that remind one more of synthesized keyboards than a guitar. Recorded in lengthy oversampled sound layers, Fripp presents a sound totally new and unique. It is difficult to describe other than it has layers and depth in it's presentation. It's almost beyond spiritual and never sounds mechanical. This album can be used as relaxing background music or as an incredible meditation source on headphones. It is ambient sound matured."
Altered conciousness
marty hillsborough | Parralel World, USA | 10/18/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"True Story: I went to bed and put this CD on. The next day my roommate told me he had been standing in the kitchen and felt completely disoriented from this sound in his 'head'. It wasn't until he passed by my room that he realized the music was from my stereo. He thought he was having an acid flashback. That's the best way I can describe this sound - it's wonderful and relaxing - like a soundtrack to a space movie. Love it!"
Alternating haunting and beautiful
06/19/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is Fripp's latest Soundscape release, though it contains pieces collected over the past few years. For the uninitiated, Soundscapes are Fripp's solo instrumentals of sampled and processed sounds layered through a series of digital delays. Though Fripp plays guitar, reconizable guitar sounds are rarely heard. Because Fripp has mastrered the technology, there is a refinement and subtleness that define the path of chaos to introspection Soundscapes often travel.The result is a liquid, flowing sonic Jackson Pollack, sometimes organic, sometimes mechanical, always honest, and frequently heartfeltSoundscapes are not initially "easy" listening, but they offer a range of dissonance to resolution that bears countless repeat listenings. It's is not music you listen to, but listen through and within."
Fripp's Inferno
Paul Carr | Silver Spring, MD United States | 05/01/1998
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Fripp's electronic soundscapes have become increasingly programmatic in recent years, and it isn;t at all obvious to me how this helps the music. The Gates of Paradise is his darkest, and probably his most sophisticated work to date, combining pipe organ like tone clusters (did he sample an organ for this CD?) with the wailing of lost souls. I doubt that Hell would ever be as dramatic and interesting as this. The background music in Hell is more likely written by John Tesh or Ace of Base. That said, if you're interested in Fripp's work at all, you have to have this CD, but if you're not, you're probably better off starting out with "Blessing of Tears", Summers/Fripp "I Advance Masked," or the sublime "Let the Power Fall," as "Gates of Paradise" is relatively inaccessible."
Relaxing?
S. Mayo | 12/25/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Someone described this as relaxing background music. It would be a strange form of relaxation. Track 1 is 23 minutes of some of the most disturbing, unsettling music I can imagine (but see below). It's not quite atonal chaos - it has structure and form - but as an instrumental rendering of the misery of Hell I'd have to say it's very successful. It's not relaxing. It's a description of a state of being you don't want to get to, don't want to stay in, and don't want to remember.
Track 2, on the other hand, settles into beauty and peace. I can't see anyone categorizing it as traditional Praise music - this is Fripp, after all - but it's praise music nonetheless. Nothing you're likely to hear in church, though...
You'll wish track 3 was shorter. Track 3 is there to tell you that Fripp wanted to prove he could be more disturbing than track 1. It's a great success.
Track 4 is beautiful, if odd. It's a little too playful to be purely ambient; it invites you to pay attention."