King Crimson

Anyone who wants to get into the history of art rock will, at some point, come across the band King Crimson, who, for the most part, invented the genre 'progressive rock'. Well, okay, maybe that was the Nice, but without King Crimson, progressive rock probably would have never existed. This band is a very important one to me because they weren't just my introduction to the genre - they were my introduction to the world of music as a whole. I had liked some more modern stuff before then, maybe bought a few older albums here and there, but before King Crimson I never really had a reason to be interested in music as much as I am today.

But hey, enough about me, lets talk about the band. King Crimson isn't really just one band, but rather a whole bunch of them. The above picture was from their '95 double trio band, and I only used it because it had the most people in it. In fact, you can break King Crimson up into seven distinct bands over time. The only constant member in this Wesley Willis fiasco is guitar legend Robert Fripp. However, this is not the "Robert Fripp band"...when it was they sucked miserably. The quality of King Crimson's music was always dependant on the quality of the people Fripp was with. This is why the quality spiked in 1973 when a bunch of relatively unknowns left the band in favor of talented people like Bill Bruford and David Cross. As a result, the discography is very shaky, but every King Crimson fan will agree that several of these albums are absolutely necessary for any fan of progressive rock.

Obviously, it's tough to describe the band's sound because it was always changing. They went from mystical prog (1969), to jazzy prog (1971), to heavy prog (1974), to new wave (the 80s), to hard rock (94-present). It's easy to see how someone who loved Red isn't going to go nuts for Discipline - so really, deciding to buy a Crimson album depends on how much you like the style they're doing. The reason that guys like me bother to actually collect all this stuff probably has something to do with completeness, but also because while Fripp wasn't always making good music, at the very least it was always exciting and different. King Crimson was born out of the trio Giles, Giles, and Fripp, but Peter Giles left, being replaced by Greg Lake. They then recruited Ian McDonald as the main creative force and Pete Sinfield to write the lyrics.

Also, I'm doing a picture guide for this to help you at home figure out who's all in the band for each album. CapnMarvel did this for Yes in order to help readers keep all the various line-ups straight, but the 70's incarnation of King Crimson was more confusing than Yes ever was - after the first album almost every member had quit, and the band went through a couple of completely different groups of members before finally deciding on a semi-stable lineup that still had members leaving every album. Luckily, the future lineups of the band were a little more stable.

In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)

Best Song: 21st Century Schizoid Man or In the Court of the Crimson King

While this isn't the first prog rock album (that was The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack by the Nice), this is certainly the most important one. Take a look at the differences between Yes and Fragile, or From Genesis to Revelation and Foxtrot and tell me you don't see a change happening. TELL ME THERE'S NOTHING GOING ON HERE! All that was pretty much because of this album. While The Nice's debut wasn't bad, it didn't really force people to pay attention to it like this album did. After all, this was something completely different from what people were used to - all the furiousity, suspense, and grandeur of more normal rock albums were here, amplified by 1000%. It was way ahead of its time when it was released, and as John McFerrin says, probably what led progressive rock to its early demise around 1975, because prog at its peak was this, prog at its beginning.

Starting with the monster guitar riffs of "21st Century Schizoid Man", the listener is in for a full sonic assault of wailing saxes and fuzzed out vocals, which of course is nothing compared to the terrific, perfectly calculated jam session in the middle. I literally had to restart the disc just to make sure I was hearing this right halfway through - no wonder this has been known as the band's signature tune from here on out. There are two more songs that are just as good - the flute and mellotron-led epic "Epitaph" is another favorite, for being one of the most dramatic songs to ever come out of the band. But my favorite on the album is the fascinating title track. The multi-tracked chorus really does send a shiver down your spine, with the mellotron providing a sense of awe unmatched even after 35 years. That's right folks - 35 years old and STILL ahead of its time.

Of course we can't all be stars, which is why the other two tracks aren't quite as good. "I Talk to the Wind" is a pretty little flute ballad, probably giving the radios something to play (no "21st Century Schizoid Man"s on these stations), but it certainly doesn't drag down the album any. "Moonchild", then, is the real downer on the album and the obvious low point. The reason for this is that it's really just two minutes of song, followed by ten minutes of seemingly improvised nothingness, sounding akin to someone letting their kid in the studio to play all the instruments. In fact, the song has even been dubbed the greatest mistake in the history of rock - I wouldn't go that far, because I do sometimes enjoy the sound collage (it's similar to Brian Eno's ambient works), and it is somewhat of a breather between two great songs. Still, ten minutes is waaay too long but that to be going on, which is why you won't find too many utterly perfect reviews of the album.

So you wonder, how did the band put something like this together? Even the guys in the band thought that there must be something else at work here. Interestingly enough, the album is not Fripp-led - in fact, besides lyricist Pete Sinfield, he's the least important member of the band. The reason why this album is so great probably has something to do with the fact that each member besides Fripp reaches his peak here. Ian McDonald would never write songs like this again. Greg Lake would never sing like this again (or play like he does during the "21st Century Schizoid Man" jam). Giles would certainly never bash the hell out of the kit like he does here. And Sinfield would never write lyrics that actually make sense again.

If you're trying to get into prog, start here.

Epitaph (1969-1970, released 1997)

Best Song: 21^st Century Schizoid Man (Fillmore East)

Here's another quirk you'll soon learn about King Crimson - they released an ungodly amount of live albums. I actually have more live CDs of King Crimson than studio ones. Fripp absolutely loved to show off the band's live aspect, based off of mostly jamming and improv (also a good reason why you shouldn't bother). Surprisingly, this incarnation of the Crims are almost as good live as they are in the studio (in fact, legend has it that "21st Century Schizoid Man" was done in one take). Thus, it's deserving of no less than 3 and a half stars, but deserving of no more than that because the sound quality isn't particularly good, there's a lot of repeats, and the songs that didn't make the cut on the debut album or the next album are pretty weak. "Get Thy Bearings" is particularly offensive, given the way that it's basically the same as "A Man, A City", but with stupider lyrics like "hey guys let's all get stoned!". There is, however, an interesting section in the middle of the first disc two songs after an absolutely blistering Schizoid Man that shows Giles at his absolute peak (amazing how much they've improved since the first performance of the song where they just take it slow and steady). It starts with "Mantra", a very pretty acoustic guitar solo, foreshadowing the beginning of "Exiles" several albums down the road. After this we go to the rather boring "Travel Weary Capricorn", but that leads into a very interesting Spanish-style improv. Weird indeed.

Anyways, the second disc is the real winner, because not only is the sound quality the best, but it's a full show. Whereas the first disc was pieced together from three different sources and even contains repeats in itself, the second disc is a full show at Fillmore West in San Francisco. Here you get all three of the epics on the first disc, making three Schizoid Men, three Epitaphs, and two Courts total. The only bad song is a weird piece called "Drop In", taking the place of where something like "I Talk to the Wind" would go. Oddly enough, that song is totally absent, as is "Moonchild", which they've apparently never performed live. This show ends with the last song the incarnation of Crimson ever performed - a take on Gustav Holst's "Mars", which takes a standard marching beat and totally creeps it out with tons of mellotron noises. Unlike the adaptation that would appear on the next album, this one is really fierce and pounding, and really an awesome legacy for this mysterious band.

Also, if you love to give Robert Fripp your money ($14 to be specific, according to the little card you get), there's even two more volumes of this stuff, but keep in mind these are the performances that didn't even make this volume. Probably interesting because there's two more improvs, but also an 18 minute version of "Get Thy Bearings" that pretty much scares me off (but at the same time it's intriguing, wondering how the hell they filled up that much time).

In the same spirit of randomness that brought on �Moonchild�, everyone in the band started to leave. Greg Lake joined the band Emerson and Palmer resulting in the now famous trio Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. Ian McDonald quit and later joined Foreigner. Even Michael Giles went on to do who-knows-what. While it�s hard to say exactly what the problem is, it probably had something to do with the fact that the band didn�t know where they were going to go next. They all knew they couldn�t replicate the sound of �In The Court�� yet a deviation of sound probably would have pissed off a number of fans. Maybe the band just wasn�t getting along � Fripp was convinced it had something to do with him, even volunteering to leave the band if it meant that they would stay together. Regardless, Lake, McDonald, and Giles all left, leaving you with Fripp (who took over the mellotron) and�uh�the lyricist.

In the Wake of Poseidon (1970)

Best Song: Cat Food!

The second King Crimson album isn't nearly as bad as it should have been. It's a sheer act of heroism that Fripp decided that he'd give this Crimson thing another shot. The reason why this is a good album probably has a lot to do with the fact that he could still get some of the old bandmates to play on it, most notably Greg Lake who does (most of) the vocal parts on the album. He doesn't do the bass parts, which is instead done by Peter Giles, whose brother Michael agrees to fill out the drums on the album. Ian McDonald is replaced by Mel Collins, who is only a session musician at this point for "Pictures of a City". Songwriting, on the other hand, is up to the two actual band members, Fripp and Sinfield. Obviously Fripp is no songwriter at this point, so he chooses mostly to stick to what the band already has - "A Man, A City" is here, now called "Pictures of a City". "Mars" has been re-written to form "The Devil's Triangle", and "Cat Food", the single from the album, has a McDonald writing credit on it. But instead of going back to other songs like "Drop In" and "Travel Weary Capricorn", Fripp decides to please the fans and essentially rewrite In the Court (and why not, everyone else was doing it) again.

This album gets panned a lot for this, although to Fripp's defense only the title track really sounds like a cash-in on the debut's success. Keep in mind "Pictures of a City" was already written, but I do think Fripp could have arranged it so that it doesn't just sound like a jazzier Schizoid Man. "Cadence and Cascade" does fill the same role as "I Talk to the Wind", but it's actually a little prettier in places. This song is sung by future Crimson vocalist Gordon Haskell, who you can barely hear on this song (I couldn't even tell it wasn't Lake at first, but just you wait until the next album). The title track would then take the place of "Epitaph", and it's only slightly less dramatic. Lake's soaring vocals are just as good as they were before, but the lyrics are kinda dumb (this is the first phase in Sinfield's long decline). Also contributing to the unoriginality of the track is that they do the same "ahhhhh"s of the last album, to a much lesser effect.

When you turn the record over all similarities to the debut disappear, starting with the absolutely wonky rock song "Cat Food", featuring Keith Tippett on the piano (although it might just be an actual cat, because that's what it sounds like). A strange piano/bass rocker, with crazy lyrics and a crazier rhythm. But the real winner on Side 2 would have to be "The Devil's Triangle". I've heard "Mars" on Epitaph and it was nothing like this. This one literally sounds like someone is butchering a mellotron (apparently they're very hard to tune) and the mellotron just won't shut up about it. It fades in with the familiar theme from Mars which continues into the second part with a really strange mellotron noise (it sounds like you're standing on a cliff overlooking Hell, and then when the main theme comes back you get pushed off), but really it's the final section, "Garden of Worm" that really gets me. It is as chaotic as it could possibly be, with the strangest buzzing sounds coming out of the mellotron. It's downright creepy. Especially when the chorus section of the song "In the Court of the Crimson King" pop-up...I don't know how many artists sampled their own albums (or anyone's albums) at this point, but this really adds to the strangeness of the track. Best of all, it's not "Moonchild".

The only thing I forgot to mention is the little "Peace" interludes that don't really add anything, but don't aren't really a low point because they're short. But I do like the way they bookend the album (I suppose ending on "The Devil's Triangle" would be kinda strange).

Lizard (1970)

Best Song: The "Prince Rupert Awakes" section of Lizard, or Cirkus otherwise

Boy was finding pictures of these guys tough. Fripp and Sinfield and now full-time band member Mel Collins weren't tough, but those other two guys practically don't exist. The guy in the middle there is Andy McCullough (who knows if he's actually the drummer for the band), and the older looking guy to the right of him is Gordon Haskell, who, for some reason, has actually gotten some fame in recent days. Who knows how he got it, considering he does his best to destroy this album. Lizard is completely removed from the first two albums for all the wrong reasons - to put it lightly, I had to listen to this album twice a day for a week before I even started to like it. And I like it a hell of a lot more than most reviewers, but I just can't give it a good rating because deep down I know that it's really a disorganized jumble of jazz-fusion.

The reason why there are no low points here is because I can't really pick out one part of the album that's a problem. It's just messy as a whole, save for two efforts, the side openers, that make this album hold a little value. "Cirkus" is certainly a highlight, most notable for its buzzing mellotron "we are under attack" part. Personally I like the end of the song, with the triumphant trumpets sounding off, boasting the song to more than it's worth. Oh, it's pretentious, mostly due to the fact that Sinfield really goes off the deep end here. But the chaotic music fits the chaotic words, like in the other highlight (and probably the best song), the "Prince Rupert Awakes" portion of the sidelong title track. This is because good ol' Gord isn't on vocals anymore, but instead the lead singer of Yes, Jon Anderson. The fact that there's an actual vocal hook here makes a world of difference.

That's because on everything else the lead singer is Fripp's childhood friend Haskell, who for the most part destroys the album. Okay, he was good on "Cadence and Cascade", and he's also good on the short flute ballad "Lady of the Dancing Water", which ran by me at least seven or eight times without making any impression whatsoever. But when he tries to sing...no, actually sing, everything falls apart. This guy's got more than just a frog in his throat, made even more clear when they commit the cardinal sin of having him sing through a vocoder - it worked on Schizoid Man alright, but certainly not on "Happy Family". It's about the breakup of the Beatles, or so they'll tell you, but the only lyrics I ever got out of it was "Happy family, one hand clap, swallowed aphrodisiac". Prior to that we get "Indoor Games" which, believe it or not, got some radio play back then. All the bad parts (the silly mid-instrumental jam, the stupid lyrics, the way Haskell laughs himself retarded in the end for no reason) are somewhat balanced by a good guitar riff in the chorus, which sounds suspiciously like the one in "Cat Food".

So the real piece de la resistance is the jazz-mess "Lizard", otherwise known as a good pop song with a 20-minute coda attached. There are a few distinct sections, like the messy "Bolero" and the even messier "Battle of Glass Tears", which actually has a cool mellotron hook, before the tape gets all chewed up in the end with the surprisingly random "Big Top". I'm not exactly sure how Fripp wrote this beast, but I'm sure a lot of it involved getting a lot of session musicians in the studio and telling them to just "wing it", which would explain why this is very, very hard to enjoy. Haskell even gets another vocal section somewhere in the middle, during the quiet part, after which the song erupts into loud mellotron/trombone for what must be the seventeenth time at that point.

In conclusion to this near-term paper on the pros and cons of Lizard, the verdict is as such: it can be enjoyable, but it takes a hell of a long time to get there.

Islands (1971)

Best Song: Song of the Gulls/Islands

Following the release of Lizard, Fripp and Haskell apparently couldn't get along anymore so they split, because even they knew how bad they were. Fripp brings in future Bad Company bassist Boz Burrell, as well as drummer Ian Wallace to fill Andy "Mr. Obscure" McCullough's shoes. Boz may not be the best bassist (in fact Fripp had to teach him the bass parts), or the best vocalist (still, he's miles ahead of Haskell and can be quite interesting sometimes), but at least he's mostly tolerable. Mel Collins is brought center-stage for this new excursion into classical/jazz/rock territory. Islands is not an amazing album - it's not even a particularly good one, but somehow it's stuck with me as being a particularly interesting and soothing piece of work. This could be because, unlike most reviewers, I actually like the first two tracks, a whole lot in fact. "Formentera Lady" starts the album with cellos playing a soft theme, later joined by a variety of instruments, notably flute. It's a flawed, but still great track, particularly the uplifting chorus and drawn out ending with those girly like wailings providing the backing to a neat little string part, leading into the instrumental jam "Sailor's Tale", which suffers a bit from a weak middle section, but is a catchy jam nonetheless.

As you can probably tell by this point, this album is Crimson's most orchestrated work, even having a pure classical piece ("Song of the Gulls"), leading into the breezy title track. Although the track never really develops, it's still plenty meditative. It even ends with a "hidden track" (probably the first one of these you'll hear on a record), which is just the orchestra rehearsing. But really, it's a nice track...too bad I can't say that about the release as a whole, but a good 1/3 of this album really isn't that good, those being the middle two numbers, "The Letters" and "Ladies of the Road". The former is completely aimless and formless, too quiet to really rock out during most of its duration, but too jarring during the rest. The latter was actually the single of the album, more of a traditional rock song. I can't really appreciate it much, especially since the beginning sounds too much like it was recorded on a cheap four-track and the lyrics are as sexist as Crimson would ever get. Thanks a lot, Sinfield. "Ate all the meat I gave her"? Jesus, pawn this stuff off on ELP already.

Still, you're left with a somewhat good album, a far cry from what any other incarnation of Crimson would ever do. I do make sure to pull it out and listen to it every so often because there are times when you really get in the mood for it.

Earthbound (1972)

Best Song: Schizoid Man

For absolutely no reason Crimson decides to release an absolutely abysmal live album from a period of time when the band was only touring for contractual reasons (Burrell, Collins, and Wallace had already joined a band called Snape at that point). As a result, the band is just playing against itself for most of the album (which was pieced together from like, five different shows). Further adding to the awfulness of the album is the sound quality which is atrocious - it doesn't just look like a bootleg on the cover, it really sounds like one too. And not even a good bootleg - hell, most of this stuff sounds worse than Epitaph, due to the fact that it was recorded directly to cassette off the soundboard. Because of how bad the album is, it's actually taken on a life of its own, achieving near-legendary status for being such a huge mistake.

Okay, so on to the actual songs. Only "Schizoid Man" is really any good, despite some horrible effect being used on Boz's voice. But this song is just furious otherwise, leading to an amazing jam session where everyone goes nuts all over the plastic. But good times end there. "Peoria" and "Earthbound" are two jazzy improvs that seriously go nowhere, allowing Boz ample time to make a bunch of mouth noises all over the songs. It sounds something like "Mappnn amapa maaamaaa whoooohoooo, uh-huh, wooohooo, uh-huh, don't make no difference what you think about me", except this goes on for quite a while. Even worse is "Groon" - what was once a respectable (and short) B-side to "Cat Food" is now a 15-minute atrocity that's mostly just a drum solo with Sinfield applying stupid VC3 effects to it the whole time.

So bad live sets are one thing, and bad sound quality is another, but combine the two and what do you get? EARTHBOUND!

Ladies of the Road/Schizoid Men (1971-1972, released 2002)

Best Song: Hard to tell, so I'll say Schizoid Man again...

Further proving that Earthbound was unnecessary, Fripp digs out a bunch of recordings from the vaults of this band that were not only in good sound quality but also during performances that was much more tolerable. They are pretty much all strung together to form one coherent performance, providing a good picture of what a show for the band was actually like. Not only are there actual songs here, but it's free of the improv-jams that cluttered Earthbound. Each album is represented - obviously the jazzier stuff like "Pictures of a City" and the first half of the Islands album fits this band pretty well. It's amazing how well they do "Formentera Lady" without any of the extra instrumentation - this band was pretty wild, even if they couldn't get along. The exception to the rule would have to be "Cirkus", which is apparently a staple of this band's live set (and also the only track off of Lizard that they would ever do live with any consistency). They actually slow down the tempo, which works really well, spending more time to develop the circus themes and imagery in the song. Another welcome surprise is just how well "21st Century Schizoid Man" is done - I do believe that this band was the best at playing it, because they were able to provide ample parts of jazziness and craziness. And hey, if one "Schizoid Man" isn't enough, you get a whole second disc full of Schizoid jams, starting with the beginning of the song. Yep, that's 50 minutes of jamming, which actually isn't too bad to listen to (I listened to it on the highway once and it wasn't so bad), but it's really not anything you'd ever listen to often, considering how most of the jams are the same shitty quality of Earthbound (in fact, one of them is from Earthbound). The last one would be the best, too, if not for a minute of silence that was apparently the tape breaking down and getting changed or something. Collins really goes nuts (the same can be said for the album as a whole, this guy really tears).

But the minute of silence isn't even the most frustrating part, it's actually the last song on the first disc, a totally awesome blues version of "In the Court of the Crimson King". They do it in normal blues fashion (if you've ever heard "Trouble" by Elvis you'd know what I'm talking 'bout), then they bash out the main riff, and then...it cuts out after just 45 seconds. It was actually pretty interesting and it's too bad we don't get to hear it all.

Lark's Tongues in Aspic (1973)

Best Song: Exiles, or The Talking Drum/Lark's Tongues in Aspic Part Two

The Islands band breaks up, and this time, Sinfield goes with 'em, being replaced by a man named Richard Palmer-James, who only writes lyrics (and is not pictured here because unlike Sinfield, he had really no influence on the band). Thank God for that, last thing we need is Sinfield to go all 'creative' on another album. The most notable addition to this band is Bill Bruford on the drums, formerly of some band called Yes. Funny story, Fripp actually told the guy that he was "now ready for King Crimson", as though this band actually had standards before. Does "Gordon Haskell" mean anything to you, Mr. Fripp? How about the fact that by now King Crimson only really had one, maybe two, good albums to its name, while Yes had just released The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge? Luckily, the rest of the band was pretty damn talented as well - the new bassist/singer was to be John Wetton of Asia (well that was later). On violin, the talented David Cross. And, on "percussion and allsorts", Mr. Jamie Muir. A bunch of talented guys, really, who drive King Crimson to do rock music that really was progressive.

Anyways, for your information buddy, this album is amazing. I was really confused the first time I heard it, but in my HO (otherwise known as IMHO), this is the best album these guys ever made. There's something so appealing about how listener-unfriendly it is (the first three minutes is just Muir playing on a thumb piano, for Chrissakes)...more of an experiment in volume, really, as some of the album is quiet and some of it is very loud. That's only if you follow my expressed instructions of turning the volume up when you listen to it, so the quiet parts are more audible and the loud parts achieve their full effect. This is quite possibly one of the most psychological albums instrumentally - the lyrics are there but don't really play much of a part, seeing as most of the album is instrumental (half the songs, but a longer running time).

The instrumentals are the two title tracks, the first one being more of a showcase of the cool things each member can do. After the quiet intro comes Fripp bashing out this monster riff, followed by Cross playing a tense little theme and Bruford smashing everything around him. It's tense alright, but not as tense as the second title track near the end. It starts with an amazing instrumental lead-in, "The Talking Drum" (which most people consider to be part of it). It's a bolero, not like "Bolero" from Lizard, but an actual bolero that starts out quiet and slowly getting louder and louder. It starts with Muir banging on his bongos with fly noises in the background, and then Wetton adds his two-note bassline, which slowly gets louder and more distorted as Bruford is introduced and Cross plays all around it. Not soon after Fripp's soaring guitar line comes in does the song literally come to a screeching halt, leading into the extremely crunchy riffage of "Lark's Tongues in Aspic Part Two", an amazing 5/4 rocker showing Cross knows how to get every painful sound out of his violin (and with an ending that tops even Schizoid Man).

There are three vocal songs as well, most notably the absolutely beautiful "Exiles", probably the most bittersweet ballad even penned by the band. "Book of Saturdays" and "Easy Money" serve more as the singles - the former in particular, as it's only two and a half minutes long, but then again there's not much to it. It's just a calm piece with lots of backwards guitar and some interesting lyrics. "Easy Money" would quickly become this band's signature song - really based on a real drudging rhythm and a catchy vocal line, but the meat of the song comes in those overly quiet and tense jam sections...were these guys perfect at this, or what?

So anyways, this album is my pick of the litter - not a single bad song, in fact, with the exception of maybe "Book of Saturdays" and "Easy Money", there isn't a song which isn't downright amazing.

The Night Watch (1973, released 1998)

Best Song: uhhh....

Out of all the King Crimson live releases (and there are a lot to choose from), this is the most superfluous. See, they got this excellent idea that since they liked to play live a lot, they would actually record their next album live and take out the audience (plus add a few overdubs). Kind of a stupid idea really, unless you're talking improvs, which they (somewhat) were. Unfortunetly, the improvs mostly suck here, with the exception of "Trio". Furthermore, since these guys would later release the single disc USA that has only ten minutes less music than this (and is a much better performance), this release is entirely unnecessary. They aren't just doing "Lament", they're doing the exact "Lament" that would appear on the next album. The only things that aren't on Starless and Bible Black or USA are the extremely crappy "The Fright Watch" and a fairly good "Talking Drum". Since I really don't want to talk about the actual songs from Starless and Bible Black, there's really not much for me to say about it, except that even the band knows they weren't doing too hot (Cross even admits it in the liner notes). But still, the songs are mostly good and the performance (and sound quality) isn't horrible (besides the mellotron breaking down in the title track, calling for an impromptu ending).

Also in the liner notes it's noted that Muir left the band, which really kinda sucks because he's part of what made Lark's so great. Word has it he went to join a monastery.

Starless and Bible Black (1974)

Best Song: The Great Deceiver

Okay, so all this so-called "live recording" and "improvisation" really took its toll on this album. The live thing isn't so bad, after all you can really hardly tell that it is, but the improv is pretty bad, considering only "Trio" is any good, and even that one's a little boring (it's just a pretty little violin tune). The other ones, including the god-awful title track, the only slightly funky "We'll Let You Know", and something called "The Mincer" are pretty much terrible, especially "The Mincer", where...get this...the tape stops right as the song is getting interesting. And everyone (well, everyone but Bruford) was all, "Well, fuck it, leave it in! We're motherfucking King Crimson, we don't do second takes!". And do I have to mention just how baseless and formless the title track is? They're even generous enough to include the whole thing from The Night Watch, resulting in almost ten minutes where Wetton is the only one playing anything interesting at all.

Regardless, some of this album ain't so bad. "Fracture" is a neat finger-twister for Fripp and certainly a fan favorite. It would be a favorite of mine, too, if I weren't so convinced that you could have a better song if you just lopped off half of it. "Lament" isn't too offensive, being that's it's more or less a simple rock n' roll song, so at least they can get one thing right. "The Night Watch" was the single, and really isn't too bad, except that when the mellotron broke down during the actual concert, they just re-recorded it so that it doesn't sound as sloppy, but they didn't bother to actually continue the song. It really sounds like this could be another three minutes longer but they just decided to keep the sudden ending there (WE DON'T DO SECOND TAKES).

The real conundrum for collectors is that this does actually contain one really good song, and that's the lead-off track "The Great Deceiver". And it's not even the whole song that's great. It's that jam that starts the album (they do it twice in the song), and it absolutely rocks hard, electric violin and wonky rhythm and all. The slower parts of the song aren't too bad (and I must say I found the "health food faggot" line pretty funny), and it's interesting how Bruford plays against the beat, but it's that jam that really makes this disc worth anything at all.

USA (1974, released 1975)

Best Song: Lark's Tongues in Aspic, Part Two

An incredibly fast and furious (you could almost say it's too fast and too furious) live set from these guys, shrugging off all the weakness of the past performance in The Night Watch. This King Crimson's actually song-oriented, and even they do improvise ("Asbury Park"), it actually fits the mood of the rest of the set. We start with an amazing "Larks Two" that shows just how far this band has come. They aren't making mistakes, they aren't just standing (or sitting, if you're Fripp) around waiting for Bruford to do something, they're bashing out song after song and making quite a lot of noise while they're at it. This is Crimson at their most intense, so those of you who loved the fiery jams of "Larks 2", "Schizoid Man", and "Lament" will find a lot to like here. They do show their softer side once in a while, as they do not only a flawless "Exiles", but future album track "Starless" which is quite calm and controlled for the first half. I would probably recommend this to the beginner more than even Lark's Tongues in Aspic, because this one's a lot easier to get into - this is just good, ol' fashioned progressive rock. The only flaw I can see in this album is "Easy Money", and how it just sort of fades out during the jam session. My guess is that the tape cut out there so Fripp decided to end it gracefully instead of inexplicably like he did for Ladies of the Road. Another flaw is that for some reason there's a few overdubs on one or two tracks by a man named Eddie Jobson deciding to replace Cross. There's really no explanation for this, because listening closely, it's pretty easy to tell they're overdubs, which kind of kills the live feel a little.

Anyways, if this isn't enough 73-74 Crimson for you, you might want to check out The Great Deceiver, a 4-disc 5-hour collection of live material from this band, specializing mostly in improvs. It's very hard to find, and, besides Epitaph vol. 3&4, (and the various King Crimson Collectors Club releases), the only thing from this band that I don't own. Seeing as I'm a college student and therefore pretty poor, I can't really afford to buy it new from Fripp's company (although if you're nice some 'enthusiast' on Amazon will sell you one for the bargain price of $299).

Red (1974)

Best Song: Red or Starless

"No," says Mr. Cross, "the violin is not an instrument of rock!". "Fine!" extorts the lovable Fripp, "we don't need you anyways! (but can you guest star on a few tracks?)" Cross says okay and there's your album. Red is everything that Starless and Bible Black wasn't, furious and scary and blastful on the eardrums. It starts off with the actual sequel to "Lark's Tongues in Aspic, Part Two", the title track "Red", a tight and perfectly done jam in with an equally tense middle section. About six minutes of sonic perfection (well, the other one was too), unmatched in this album except maybe with the amazing "Starless" which most King Crimson fans consider to be the band's highest point. It starts out a worried ballad, as Wetton forsees the apocalypse, and then after the infamous amazing build up of Wetton's awesome bassline and Fripp plucking the same string over and over again, generating more suspense than perhaps any other song I've ever heard (well, besides "The Talking Drum"), it goes into a swingin' jazzy J jam session complete with raging saxes courtesy of Ian McDonald who actually wanted to rejoin the band at this point before coming to an amazing crescendo that provided the perfect ending to an almost perfect album from a sometimes perfect band.

The other three songs obviously couldn't be as good, but the second and third tracks come close. For the first time since "health food faggot" the lyrics are actually notable, the former being about the singer's brother getting shot to death, and the latter being about nightmares on a bus (actually, those lyrics were written by Wetton himself). "Fallen Angel" is sure enough a pretty damn heavy ballad, complete with Ian McDonald wailing all over the place. Then "One More Nightmare" comes, with not one but two hooks, using distorted handclaps out of all things to keep the beat.

Well, the only pitfall is the improv "Providence" which is still miles ahead of any of the improvs on Starless and Bible Black because it actually goes somewhere. And even though the first few minutes are almost perfectly executed violin torture, it's not as if that's something that counts as being "listenable" anyways, so the good part would be at the end when the band just rocks out the way they should have been during the whole thing (which is why I liked "Asbury Park" so much).

But still, this album is downright essential, especially if you're into newer prog-rock which happens to sound a lot like a weaker version of this. While In the Court of the Crimson King was certainly an influence in it's day (which had more than worn off by now), Red is still being felt today. Even the almighty Kurt Cobain listened to this album a lot (especially right before he killed himself) (if this is why he killed himself I'd give Red the extra half point). Unfortunately this was the last of this incarnation of King Crimson would ever release - could you just imagine if the mastermind behind the debut had joined the 73-74 band? Then again, Fripp broke up the band at a good time - prog rock was definitely on the way out at this point, and ELP would later prove exactly why the progressive rock bands had to either make an inspired style change or break up.

Discipline (1981)

Best Song: Matte Kudasai

In the seven years between Red and Discipline, Fripp had worked on a number of side projects, including his very own solo album (which I own and will review one of these days), but he decided it was about time that he got into a band again. He called this band "Discipline", until all the members decided that they should call it "King Crimson" instead and have Fripp include a sheet of paper explaining why King Crimson was coming back after Fripp said it would be gone forever. The lineup this time keeps Bruford, and for the first time, the singer isn't the bassist but the second guitarist. This man, Adrian Belew, is for the most part the leader of this incarnation of the band - he worked with the Talking Heads on Remain in Light (only a year before Fripp helped with Fear of Music) as well as Frank Zappa on Sheik Yerbouti. Belew's got a nice ear for pop and is a fairly decent songwriter - his main strength is that he's an excellent guitar player and a pretty good singer as well (think of a cross between David Byrne and John Lennon). The bassist is Mr. Tony Levin, a guy who's worked with just about everyone in music and was also the brother of Lenard in New Traditionalists (this was the best picture I could find of him). He's an awesome bass player, just as innovative as anyone in this group, and is responsible for a lot of the pop elements as well.

The result here is a completely different King Crimson album - really no heavy stuff here at all (a fan of the Talking Heads would probably like this stuff more than a 70's King Crimson fan), instead (mostly) shorter pop masterpieces. It's also the only King Crimson album besides Lark's Tongues in Aspic that's completely consistent - but unlike that album, there's really not much to look forward to or to just sit through because almost every song is the same quality. If anything, I'd say the amazing ballad "Matte Kudasai" is the best song just for how Belew wails his heart out (plus the bird calls played on guitar are pretty cool), and that "Thela Hun Ginjeet" is the worst because it's the only song that doesn't add a whole lot to the album. But besides that, every song is different, but more importantly they're all good. "Elephant Talk" starts off the album, becoming the band's signature tune. It's a pretty crazy song, with Belew rambling on his synonyms for 'talk' according to letter as Levin does this strange trick with the bass to make a high-pitched sound (Les Claypool did the same thing on "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver"). Add in a few elephant noises (courtesy of the electric guitar, again) and there's your song. And if you think that's crazy, check out "Indiscipline", the only track that shows traces of the old Crimson. Belew plays a man who's absolutely obsessed with something (I later found out that it's about a painting, presumably the perplexing cover art that Fripp thought was an ancient symbol of some sort), and then, on key lines such as "I wish you were here to see it!", the band totally rocks out (not to say it's not all perfectly calculated, what a jip).

Anyways, this band's trick was that there was two guitarists, and damned if Fripp's gonna waste the opportunity to do something neat with them. The trick was that the two guitarists would play interlocking guitar lines. The title track really shows this off the most, sounding about as soulless as this version of the band would get (it doesn't even have a real ending). In song form "Frame by Frame" is a good way to show it off - sometimes they play the same thing, sometimes one guitar plays the backing rhythm as the other one circles around it, and sometimes they're just making strange noises with it. Either way, the song's a hit! (not really) "Thela Hun Ginjeet" does this as well, but the main focus of the track is really just some taped conversation that Belew's having (I'm not really sure what is happening in this, but it's a little interesting) about being mugged in the city. This leaves the only real oddball track, the long meditative instrumental "The Sheltering Sky". The first minute is really good, and then after that it just turns into a slow jam with Fripp's guitar soaring all over the place. Now this was the time when Bruford was experimenting with worldbeat, shown this time in how he plays the bongos throughout.

When all is said and done, Discipline remains one of those albums that ought to be in everyone's collection. It's not like Lark's Tongues in Aspic or Red in that it might be too heavy, and not like Islands in that it's too soft. Discipline is an album that everyone can enjoy, and while it's not completely perfect, it is one of the defining achievements of the New Wave era, with Remain in Light being the only album close to it around this time period.

Beat (1982)

Best Song: Sartori in Tangier

The thing that made Discipline so great is that there were obviously two forces at work, the chaotic noisemaker Fripp and the normal songwriter Belew. When you combine the two, you get something really interesting and strangely listener-friendly. For this album, it sounds like Fripp isn't even really trying and that Belew just had to write his own album. Which, for the most part, he does. Taking a cue from the song "Discipline" the album's opener uses the same trick in "Neal and Jack and Me", which is just too derivative to really be very enjoyable. But besides that, an exciting instrumental called "Sartori in Tangier", and Belew's crazy "Neurotica", the album is extremely bland and unexciting. Ballads like "Heartbeat" and "Two Hands" just don't do anything for me, although the former was some sort of a radio hit at the time (and deservedly so, it's one of the better songs on the album).

Now really, the first five songs of this aren't so bad. "Waiting Man" shows a lot of effort on behalf of Bruford who plays this steel drum-sounding thing (forgive me for not remembering what it's called) while Belew gives his best vocal performance on the album (close even to "Matte Kudasai"). I even like "Neurotica" better than most reviewers who can't see it past the fact that it sounds a lot like "Thela Hun Ginjeet", mainly because of how chaotic and recaptures the spirit of "Indiscipline" that kept the last album so interesting. But after that it's all crap, with half-ideas like "The Howler" populating the rest of the second side. And if it weren't obvious enough that Fripp and Belew were starting to part styles, check out Fripp's "Requiem", the biggest load of atonal bullshit to come out of the man since Starless and Bible Black. And this is the six minutes that closes the album.

Interestingly enough, this is the only King Crimson album that isn't named after a song on the album, instead being named after the Beat Generation which this album is about. I know that "The Howler" is a reference to Alan Ginsburg and "Neal and Jack and Me" is a reference to Jack Kerouac and some guy named Neal (actually I think it's Neal Cassidy but don't quote me on that).

Three of a Perfect Pair (1984)

Best Song: Sleepless

In some freak accident, King Crimson keeps their lineup for a third album in a row. But it's not as if these guys would stay together for long, as Three of a Perfect Pair shows the band drifting apart a hell of a lot more than Beat did. Here it's either mostly Fripp or mostly Belew, with side 1 being Belew's side and side 2 being Fripp's. Guess which side is better. Yeah, Belew's is better by quite a bit, including four easily accessible and catchy tunes, from the confusing title track (using that "Discipline"-style guitar trick again) to the would-be 80s smash "Man With An Open Heart". Belew has another vocal performance on par with "Matte Kudasai" and "Waiting Man" in the somber "Model Man" that provides a great distraction to the real masterpiece on the album, "Sleepless". It's mostly Tony Levin's fault this song is so good, because the bassline is about as sweet as they come, so good in fact that my brother had once asked me if this was Primus on the gramophone. This was actually King Crimson's big hit of the 80s, so much so that there is was even played on the dance floor (this version is included on the CD).

It should be no surprise then, considering Beat's "Requiem", that the rest of this album sucks, save for the next installment on this "Lark's Tongues in Aspic" thing. Part Three is no Part Two (and not even a Part One), but after hearing Fripp screw up the album the best he can for like 20 minutes (well, there is a wonky number called "Dig Me" that's at least interesting due to Belew playing the part of a junked car), this is certainly a high point in the album. Now, contrary to what most people will tell you, there actually are throwbacks to the first two parts, but they're very subtle. For the most part, it's the first half that really rocks up this joint, with Fripp doing this almost "Fracture"-like solo guitar thing before the song really takes off in a mess of rock that this band had before failed to achieve in all but "Indiscipline". But wouldn't you know it, the second half just plods along, as Fripp practically admits that they're out of ideas and just fades out the song as a 'stunning' goodbye to the band for ten more years.

That is, unless you have the CD version, which has six bonus tracks. Three of them are mixes of "Sleepless" - the Tony Levin mix being the definitive one that the record company wouldn't let them put on their album because it wasn't radio friendly enough. There are two "Industrial Zones" which is just Fripp playing around with his shit, and something called "The King Crimson Barbershop" where Levin sings a multi-tracked barbershop number, making fun of this band he's in (mostly Fripp).

Fripp: That's not funny! *breaks up band for ten years*

Absent Lovers (1984, released 1998)

Best Song: All of them

I don't know, some people who liked the aural assault of albums like Lark's Tongues in Aspic and Red just wouldn't go for 80s Crimson. Well, if you're one of those people, this album has 18 good reasons why you should like the 80s band (actually 17, as the first track is just the Crims warming up their instruments). From the beginning the guys launch into an amazing "Larks 3" that goes into an amazing "Thela Hun Ginjeet" and everything after that is amazing as well so why don't you just buy the damn thing? The only 80s songs on here that don't surpass their studio versions are "Matte Kudasai", which is just as good, "Sartori in Tangier", which lacks a bit from Fripp not using the same high-pitched guitar line, and "Frame by Frame" which loses a little of its pop sensibility.

Besides that, everything there is constantly kicking the shit out of its respective studio version. Even previously bad songs like "Industry" and "Dig Me" are exciting, and any song like "Thela Hun Ginjeet", "Heartbeat", or "Man With an Open Heart" that needed to be spruced up a little bit gets more than a little extra energy. Especially notable is "Waiting Man"...was this song ever so moving before? Or even "Sleepless" - listen as they absolutely nail the bit. "Dig Me" too, as the guys actually add sounds that sound like a car being revved up. They even do a few old glories - "Red" and "Larks 2" obviously aren't quite as good as their studio version, but it's not as if they're strictly less enjoyable either.

It's amazing just how well these guys can play together. I didn't think it would be possible to get "Discipline" this perfect live, but somehow they did. Levin is practically on fire. Bruford (who considers this to be his peak) goes nuts on his new set of electronic drums, showing how the things can actually be used for good. He gets this roaring solo at the beginning of "Indiscipline" that validates their invention entirely.

So if this live set was any indication (and I have a DVD called "Neal and Jack and Me" that confirms this), 80s King Crimson was made to play live. Even Discipline has started to get boring since I got this, and songs like "Waiting Man" and "Industry" are almost impossible to listen to in their studio versions without wondering why they didn't do them the way they were done here. In short, the only live set besides maybe USA that's absolutely essential.

VROOOM (1994)

Best Song: Cage

King Crimson returns for the 90s with its lineup intact. Except now, there's an extra bass/stick player and an extra drummer. Together, this forms one of Fripp's sillier ideas, the "double trio". The idea is, hey, let's have two people at each position! That said, these guys were pretty noisy, but at least under control, except for in one section (the weird jamming sections on "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream"). Basically, it was the goal of these guys to combine the improvisational and powerful nature of the 70s group with the accessibility of the 80s group. Think "Red" combined with "Frame by Frame", if you can imagine such a thing. Except they certainly didn't make anything on par with "Red" (although they try, with the instrumental jam "VROOOM" that sounds a lot like "Red", but it's not as good). I suppose the pop sensibility is still kinda there - "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream" is quite a radio friendly song (well, most of it is, anyways). The ballad "One Time" is quite nice, as well, as is the crazy minute and a half "Cage" which features Belew practically rapping. But for every song, there's a non-song, in this case stuff like "THRAK", which is another instrumental, but this time of an interesting concept - it's the two trios, one in each speaker, almost trying to drown the other one out. It's pretty exciting, but a little overlong. Then, there's "When I Say Stop, Continue", which is a big atonal mess for a while (a lot like "Requiem from Beat), constantly threatening to break out into something awesome, when the only thing that happens is the addition of drums. The title probably comes from Belew (or somebody) shouting, "Okay, come to a dead stop!", and only a couple of people do. And that's your EP. Not a bad 30 minutes, but for about five dollars more you can get the full release THRAK, so why bother?

THRAK (1995)

Best Song: Dinosaur if you like to rock, Walking on Air if you like to sing

I don't know a whole lot about the VROOOM EP, but I doubt anyone bought it. Were there any King Crimson fans left? That's where THRAK comes in - basically this is Crimson's attempt to shoot back into the mainstream. While there's no doubt that THRAK is generally good, the problem is that it's really not very relevant. Like how Beat came off the heels of Discipline and added absolutely nothing to the previous album, THRAK is exactly what you'd expect a band like this to sound like. However, unlike Beat, this album is at least worth listening to, at least most of it. For you see, for some reason King Crimson wanted to put a hell of a lot of tracks on the album. There's fifteen track here, but if you're really counting there's about eight distinct selections (or seven if you're picky) . Two soundscape fillers called "Radio" are just there, as are two identical unfinished ideas both called "Inner Garden". Then subtract the fact that "VROOOM" goes into "Marine 475: Coda", and is later reprised in "VROOOM VROOOM" and "VROOOM VROOOM: Coda" and that "B'Boom" is just a prelude to "THRAK" and what you get is that this album is long but doesn't have a lot on it.

What it does have, however, is mostly good. Most of what's on VROOOM is polished up and put on here, save for "When I Say Stop, Continue", and "Cage", a song I really liked, for some reason. Luckily, the two best songs, the near-perfect rock song "Dinosaur" and the amazing ballad "Walking on Air" weren't even on VROOOM. These songs alone make the album worth it. There are other gems scattered throughout - after those songs comes a glorified drum solo, "B'Boom" and a much noisier and shorter "THRAK". Other than that there's a few actual pop songs, like the please-play-me-on-the-radio "People", which is an okay song that's made much better by Tony Levin who really lays down the funk, especially in the coda. "One Time" is back, with the electric keyboard in the chorus removed for whatever reason, and "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream" actually approaches single quality, being much faster and more polished than before. The only things left are the "VROOOM" parts. To be honest both the first one and the reprise have their moments, with the first having an awesome bass line and the second having an awesome guitar line. On the other hand, "VROOOM VROOOM" totally rips off Red's middle section (in fact, there were apparently two middle sections written for "Red", and this was the second one). The "Marine" coda is nice, with Belew's distorted vocals being pleasantly buried beneath the mix, but "VROOOM VROOOM" doesn't get so lucky, having a coda that's basically like "Marine", slowed down and drudged through until it was just a pile of noise. And the keyboard thing at the end is so like the way Lark's Tongues in Aspic ended.

While it's certainly not the In the Court of the Crimson King or Discipline that starts a Crimson era, it's still pretty enjoyable. Ideally, this would be cut down to about 7-8 songs and 40 minutes to make an album only slightly worse than Discipline, but these guys had a lot to say. Too bad most of it is meaningless.

B'Boom Official Bootleg - Live in Argentina 1994 (1995)

Best Song: Whatever

There's a reason why it took so long for me to do the 90s King Crimson - namely, because they are (at least the double trio was) the least interesting of any of the King Crimson groups. At least the Lizard band was an entertaining mess, and at least the Islands band was always fun to listen to. THRAK is a good CD, okay? But B'Boom here is very much an uninteresting live show. First off, it's clear this band hasn't been together long (technically speaking, this was recorded (but not released) before THRAK, but if I reviewed it first my review wouldn't make much sense) (I wonder if multiple sets of parenthesis inside each other is good (probably not)). The reason why this is so boring is that no matter how many crunchy guitar-heavy instrumentals they do ("VROOOM", "Red", "THRAK", "VROOOM VROOOM", "Lark's Tongues in Aspic, Part Two", "THRAK" again...), they never sound anywhere near as furious and proficient as they did on USA. Oh, but they're trying. Secondly, the song selection is very predictable - they do pretty much everything off THRAK (except for my two favorite songs), as well as everybody's 80's favorites - no feeling is left in "Sleepless" or "Elephant Talk", and even the ballads like "Matte Kudasai" and the now extremely cheesy "Heartbeat" give any indication that this band is at all helped by having extra players that weren't in the 80s band. Now I can't complain too much about this, after all, at least the songs are pretty good. But the performances are so mundane you'd be better off just listening to THRAK and Absent Lovers. And what the hell is up with them doing "B'Boom" and "THRAK" twice? They can't even be bothered to do them differently both times?

THRaKaTTaK (1996)

Best Song: There isn't one

Apparently Fripp wasn't satisfied that Earthbound was the worst live album of all time. THRaKaTTaK is, to quote Fripp, "what all our concerts would sound like if we didn't know the audience would kill us afterwards". Basically this is Fripp admitting that no one likes this stuff. What is SHaQaTTaK? Basically, whenever the band played "THRAK", they'd improvise a little, focusing mainly on soundscapes (and stupid guitar pianos). This is a collection of a bunch of them, a few of them up to 11 minutes long. The total is about 57 minutes of this nonsense - basically a non-stop improv, where everybody is too afraid to start something, and when they do, they work hard to crush it right away. Definitely one for the fans only, as it's pretty damn hard to see how anyone could enjoy this stuff - it's basically a bunch of tension that basically goes nowhere (except maybe in the beginning and ending "THRAK's").

Regardless, there are a few good parts - both title tracks are at least a little tolerable in some parts. It is as least a little interesting to hear the band repeatedly try to grasp a good musical concept (and 9 out of 10 times fail). The problem really here is Bruford - he's not really doing anything, and damned if Mastelotto wants to pick up the slack. As it usually goes with atonal Crimson improvs, the best parts are where the drummer is at least bashing his kit, making Fripp's random noodlings seems like they actually have purpose. But for the most part, THRaPPaRaP is basically a mostly failed attempt at creating a tense-sounding atmosphere. At least "THRAK" is played proficiently both times.

VROOOM VROOOM (1995-1996, released in 2001)

Best Song: Red

Even though I bashed the hell out of B'Boom, I'll actually stick up for this one. Here is another live set from the double trio, except this time the two discs are two different shows, the first one being a Mexico City show in 1996 and the second being a Broadway show in 1995. The reason why they're out of order chronologically probably has something to do with the fact that the Mexico City gig is really the only reason to buy this thing, with the Broadway disc being more or less a toss-off after B'Boom. If I were to give them ratings, I'd say the first disc is four and a half, and the second disc is three and a half. That means the first disc is about on par with USA and damn near close to Absent Lovers. This is where the double trio finally figures out exactly what they're trying to do after two years - play so that the addition of extra (and unnecessary band members) actually augments the band instead of hindering it. Bruford and Mastelotto are finally working together throughout this set, playing with and off each other instead of merely both at once. This results in a lot of tracks showing off these two (at least more than you'd expect) - in addition to the two "B'Boom"s, there's an adaptation of something called "Prism" which is basically a percussion showcase, and "Conundrum" which starts off the second disc, where the two basically pound their drums in unison.

But that's only part of why the first disc is great - the other band members actually know how to play the songs fast and dangerously and not just rip off the studio. Likewise, a lot of instrumentals made their way here - "VROOOM VROOOM" (and "Marine 475"), "B'Boom", "THRAK", "The Talking Drum", "Lark's 2" "Red", the aforementioned "Prism" and a pointless short improv "Biker Babes of the Rio Grande". That means there's but three actual vocal tracks on the disc. They're all surprises, too, because all the predictable stuff was pretty much left to Disc 2 (the shows were edited so that besides "B'Boom" and "THRAK" there would be no repeats) - "Dinosaur" is certainly welcome here, but the real shocker here is "Nuerotica", performed flawlessly and is about as much an improvement on the original as the versions of songs on Absent Lovers were. They even dig up "21st Century Schizoid Man" and shake off a rocky start (the reason why the 80s band never did this song is because Belew's voice does not fit the song at all - here you'll find out why) with a blazing jam session in the middle that shows these guys maybe aren't as settled down as they came off to be for the last two years.

The second disc sounds a lot like B'Boom - most of these songs are on that album. But a lot of it is better. They do "Thela Hun Ginjeet" with a mesmerizing drum line (although I really don't think they should have used the taped conversation), and an "Indiscipline" that shows Belew doing the opposite of what he did on Absent Lovers - he blazes through the words so quick you can't even hear most of them. Besides that...hmmm, another weak "B'Boom" and "THRAK", a pretty shaky "Elephant Talk" (if for no other reason than that the elephant noises sound pathetic, like somebody stepped on the elephant), and all the rest of everyone's favorite King Crimson pop. There are, however, two extra tracks tacked on at the end, extending this to 26 tracks total (and over two hours) - one is a Belew (solo?) cover of the Beatles' "Free as a Bird" off some album called Belewprints. It doesn't add much to the album, but at least it's different. Plus there's also a live "Walking on Air" that's pretty nice.

The ConstruKction of Light (2000)

Best Song: FraKctured

Here's what happened: basically Fripp realizes what his audiences did two years earlier, that King Crimson should have have six people playing three instruments. He does this thing called the "ProjeKcts", where he splits King Crimson into like four (or five, if you count ProjeKct X) different groups of three or four people. Sometime shortly after Levin and Bruford both leave - Bruford is apparently fed up with Fripp (for good this time), and Levin goes to do whatever the hell Levin usually does (like make albums, something King Crimson hadn't done for five years now). Meanwhile you've got a bunch of improv-based King Crimson fractalizations which don't really accomplish much (oh, they've released material, but it just doesn't seem too exciting - maybe if I can find a decently priced copy of something...). But anyways, it's not hard to see why exactly Fripp wasn't happy with the way King Crimson was circa 1994-96 - they never sounded more like a washed-up dinosaur band. A dinosaur band (probably what was referenced in THRAK's "Dinosaur") is one that had its heyday like 20-30 years ago but is still playing shows. Usually these bands will release material every now and again but most shows are just greatest hits concerts. Looking at the tracklisting for the first disc of VROOOM VROOOM, King Crimson became just that for a while. But this King Crimson is a totally new ordeal, slimming down to four pieces (they are not a "double duo" like everyone says, after all there's like one drummer and one bassist). Bruford and Levin leaving brings down rhythm by 50%, but to compensate noisemaking is up by at least 400%, resulting in an album that's about as loud and angry as anything released in this timeframe.

The problem with the release, then, is that they've never sounded so derivative of themselves. There's only six songs here (seven, if you count the "Heaven and Earth" ProjeKct X bonus track), and the two longest ones are called "Lark's Tongues in Aspic Part Four" and "FraKctured", prompting fans to ask "How can it be five years since THRAK and you guys have no material to work with?" It's even worse once you consider that the title track is essentially the same double guitar thing they used on "Discipline" (from the album Discipline).

Well, at least "FraKctured" is quite a bit better than that "Fracture" thing from Starless and Bible Black - it's cleaned up and exciting, and sounds even trickier than the original (hard to believe Fripp can still play that!). "Larks 4" on the other hand is real industrial garbage, showing that despite Mastelotto having like a thousand electronic drum sounds at his disposal, he's only going to play a whole ONE of them, over and over until it doesn't even sound like percussion any more. It's just more noise to the tune of "Larks 2" and "Larks 3", and for some reason, uh, "FraKctured".

The other songs are mostly hit or miss, but they're all at least tolerable. "Into the Frying Pan" is the best of them for my money, mainly because I actually see justification in distorting Belew's vocals - it's quite catchy for a heavy rock song. "ProzaKc Blues", however, is certainly a standout track (not really in a good way), showing the guys taking a normal blues rhythm and basically fuKcing it up until it's unrecognizable, featuring Belew's half-speed blues vocals confusing the hell out of anyone who's never heard the track. The lyrics here are as good as they'll ever get on the album, because for the most part, the lyrics, while not horrible as a whole, are horrible in certain places. "The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum" would be a good example of this, being basically a free word association song (that actually starts really good but in a matter of seconds is as incomprehensible as anything else on here) that boasts such great lyrics as "get set get wet get it over with", and the absolutely retarded "Get jiggy with it WHOOOOOOO!!!!".

And if you thought that was bad, check out this title track, which is really good until Belew says something about an alien penis that really made me wonder how strapped up for rhymes this guy was. It's one thing to reach for symbolism going, "pain, hope, beauty, anger, light" and so on, but things only get worse from there.

But if you ignore the lyrics and self-cannibalism, you actually have a pretty decent album that even the non-hardcore Crimson fan can enjoy. The only problem is that a real King Crimson fan will probably find almost nothing to like here, as never since Beat has an album been so unimportant to the King Crimson legacy.

Heavy ConstruKction (2000)

Best Song: Too many

Incomprehensibly long (over three hours) three disc set of neo-Crimson live. For my (and your) money, this is the better buy of this and The ConstruKction of Light, because not only do they do all those songs anyway, but with the exception of one ("Into the Frying Pan"), they're all better than their studio counterparts. Even "Lark's Tongues in Aspic, Part Four" is interesting enough for me to be able to pay attention through the whole thing. The thing I like about this here recording is that even with the highly derivative ConstruKction of Light being the basis for this album (they do their share of THRAK tracks as well), they don't sound at all like a dinosaur band. In fact, they sound freakishly close to what the 73-74 band did most of the time, and that's really saying something (except, of course, the material is weaker). Of course, the mellotron and violin have now been replaced by different elements, such as all those weird soundscapes as well as Mastelotto techno-like drumming, but the concept is the same and these guys are as furious as ever.

Because there's really only six songs on ConstruKction and they only do four from THRAK, that means they have to rely a lot of improvisation, much like the '73-'74 version did (there's thirty tracks on here). They could delve into back catalog, but they only do that once, and it's not even for "Red" - oddly enough you get to hear a totally acoustic "Three of a Perfect Pair" (twice, if you're listening to the second "Deception of the Thrush"), but that's it. They do two equally creepy "The Deception of the Thrush"-es from the ProjeKcts, but that's still only half the tracks. Now to be fair, the last disc, almost a 'bonus disc' (considering how cheap this is for a 3-CD set, that's not a bad theory), kinda screws up this ratio, being almost all improvs, but this is King Crimson at their most interesting. Thing is, this gets weirder and weirder as it goes on, each of the three discs being weirder than the last.

Anyways, this band's really got its shit together, not only performing the hell out of the songs they do know, which results in a damn near definitive "Dinosaur" and a "ProzaKc Blues" that left me wondering why they needed to alter Belew's voice in the first place, but also improvising in an even more furious manner, resulting in improvs that are about as far removed from THRaKaTTaK as you can get. "Improv: Munchen" is probably the best, showing Crimson performing in a flawless, almost machine-like manner, but most of them are pretty good, the exceptions being a few towards the end of the third disc. But the first half of that disc rocks uncontrollably, so who cares. And there are a lot of little hidden gems on here, too, like a much-expanded "Cage", and even a cover of Bowie's "Heroes" (and to a lesser extent, a really strange experiment called "Tomorrow Never Knew Thela").

My only real complaint is this - Fripp has always had a policy of not allowing cameras to be used during performances. Which is fine, by the way, after all, it's no good to have a band find its groove only to be ruined by a flash. Now it's one thing to ban them, another to have security guards actually pat people down to make sure they haven't got a camera (or weapon, if that's important), and another to stop a show because someone used a camera, but if you tape this and release it on CD, then you've got a problem. The two "Lights Please" tracks are just Fripp stopping the show (actually, they're the same track, but the second one is longer) to snatch a camera from the audience. What, is he proud that he can be such a dick to his audience? Does the audience actually support this type of behavior? (Apparently so, as they're cheering quite a bit when this happens) I was almost gonna dock it half a point for this, but at least the beginning groove is good.

Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With (2002)

Best Song: ??????

Not quite a total toss-off, but damn close. This is even less of an album teaser than VROOOM was, considering that only two of the tracks (the title track and "Eyes Wide Open", which is here in acoustic form) would make it to the final album (although a third, a short Eastern percussion piece called "Shoganai", would eventually be part of the next album). Other that that you've got a pretty soundscape piece ("Mie Gakure"), a more or less standard (but interesting) blues song ("Potato Pie"), and another performance of "Lark's Tongues in Aspic, Part Four", making this the third release in a row where this track dominated the album. The rest is just Belew artificially heightening his voice with a vocoder to make himself sound like an even manlier Cher. The only interesting thing is the hidden track (usually referred to as "Einstein's Relatives"), showing snippets of Crimson doing about a billion things in the studio, even including the tail end of a performance of "In the Court of the Crimson King"! Okay, so you really don't get to hear anything but the audience sing the "ahhhhh"s in the chorus, but damn, what I wouldn't give to hear this band play that song (hell, even "Schizoid Man" would be amazing) (hell, even "Lark's Tongues in Aspic Part Two"). In short, you should probably skip it.

The Power to Believe (2003)

Best Song: Level Five

If nothing else, at least now the 90's (actually 00's, but you can't pronounce that) band has one good album behind its belt. This is the 2000-period Crimson coming into its own, delivering an album that's not only worth listening to the whole way through (which hasn't been done since Discipline), but also actually prove that King Crimson is actually capable of releasing a no-bullshit solid album once in a while (once again, Discipline was the last one). Now, this album ain't perfect, but it has a lot of really good parts in it. Granted, they're pretty much all instrumentals, but then again, mostly all of Crimson's defining moments are. "Level Five" is the real heir to the throne of "Red" - it's just as furious and fast faced, and arguably even more menacing. As is "Dangerous Curves", which has been pointed out many times to sound like "The Talking Drum" (not that I'd care, as it's one of my favorite Crimson songs), but this time the psychological aspect is replaced with a technical menace, a grinding guitar line that gets louder and louder until someone (I think it's Gunn) lets loose this entirely fucked up guitar chord that lingers until the end. "EleKtrik" would be the catchy one, sounding strangely similar to "FraKctured", but so what. It's almost better, if you can believe that. Especially during that 'chorus', where you can sometimes hear these little weird sound clips (they did this during "The Deception of the Thrush" on Heavy ConstruKction, and it was awesome - Mastelotto's idea I believe) of Belew (or somebody) speaking, and it's absolutely perfect. Top this off with the second part of the title track (the title track is split up into four parts, and besides the heavily vocodered vocals, they don't have anything in common), which incoporates "Shoganai" into an actual song (with a great bassline), and you've got a killer set of instrumentals that carries the album to four starts regardless of what else is on it.

Unfortunately, what's left is slim pickins, with only "Eyes Wide Open" and "Happy With What You Have to be Happy With" from last year's EP having any real value. The former is a nice ballad, nowhere near "Walking on Air" or even "One Time" from THRAK (the last time they even did ballads), but still pretty enjoyable (besides the fact that the bass tone is the exact same as the preceding track, "Level Five"). The latter is actually - get this - a parody on nu-metal, boasting lines such as "we're gonna have to write a chorus!", and the hilarious verse, "and when I have some words, this is the way I'll sing, through a distortion box, to make them menacing!" King Crimson never really wrote a typical song in their lives (even the 80s stuff had its own weird twang to it), so not only are they allowed to do it, but the fact that the song they do it in is deceptively complicated (it sounds normal, but it's in 11/4, of all things, coincidentially the same amount of syllables in the title). Other than that, you've got "Facts of Life", which sounds a lot like something from The ConstruKction of Light - noisy and without much purpose. And in ConstruKction fashion, the lyrics are mostly bad. This only leaves the other three title tracks, the only notable one being the third one, but even that's just "The Deception of the Thrush" all over again. The first one's just acapella and the last one is just soundscapes (with the vocals).

But still, with the exception of "Facts of Life", pretty much everything on here is pretty good, with four instrumentals achieving a level not seen since "Red". It's good to have the guys back and as good as they ever were.

Links:

The Elephant Talk newsletter which is more or less the hub for all things Crimson

Adrian Belew's website