I initially submitted this as a reader comment on THRAK but felt that it would also be an interesting discussion point.
THRAK has a very interesting road that led to its development. In 1990 Adrian Belew found himself working with David Bowie on the Sound + Vision tour. Tony and Bill were stuck in the mess that was ABWH/Yes - Union, with Tony later going onto Peter Gabriel tour duties. Fripp by comparison hadn't really put out any new material of his own or appeared on any major releases after 1984. A notable exception however was an album called "Gone to Earth" which was put out by ex-Japan frontman David Sylvian (Richard Barbieri of Porcupine Tree was a member along with Bassist Mick Karn and David's own brother).
Fripp asked David in early 1992 to head a possible new incarnation of Crimson which David declined. However the two decided to take the aborted Crimson project and turn it into a collaborative album called "The First Day" THRAK essentially picks up where this album leaves off. Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto would eventually become drawn in as backing musicians during the tour.
While "The First Day" is a bit uneven, "Damage" (a live album pulled from the last night of the tour) is definitely worth a listen, as is "Gone to Earth" along with most of David Sylvian's work, both as a member of Japan and as a solo artist.
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