09.09.1988
USA, New Haven, Palace Theatre
Live at the New Haven Palace
very good Aud.

01. The Island of Silk [10:26]
02. Penhill March (World Gone Strange) [5:07]
03. Naima [5:50]
04. In Praise of Shadows [14:17]
05. Emperor’s Last Straw [7:05]

[total running time: 42:47]

Source: Unknown recorder>unknown chrome cassette>SA90 via low speed dubbing>Sound Forge>FLAC

Notes:
This music is an outgrowth of the Fripp-Summers album "I Advanced Masked", but unlike that album, this music is full of wide open spaces, vistas, and landscapes if you will. It is deeply meditative, calm for the most part, and organized.
That isn't a backup band playing with Mr. Summers, he arrived solo on stage with a single, vertical container crammed full of equipment. The base tracks were programmed at least in part, and allowed for a certain amount of freedom for improvisation. Certain effects were achieved with pedals, some were done with switches on his guitar. Like Fripp before him, much thought must have gone into making a platform for producing this kind of sound.
That having been said, the two shows do sound remarkably different. I do think Mr. Summers was in awe of actually being on stage at Radio City. Not only does he himself sound impressed, the show itself is studied and very carefully played. Compare that with the looser, off-the-cuff playing in New Haven during the next show. If for no other reason, the pressure of having to play at Radio City was gone, and perhaps he could relax.

The New Haven show was unfortunately recorded much further away from the stage. The music is clear, but the conversation requires you to listen a little harder. The RCMH show is directly from the master tape, the NH show is from a direct copy of the master.