King Crimson: The Thread

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Adrian Belew is playing here in August. I've never listened to any of his solo work.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

What I've heard I'll leave at "ehhhhh..."

[The Man in Blak 0]

Adrian Belew is playing here in August. I've never listened to any of his solo work.

 

"Eh" pretty much covers it, but there are some high spots throughout. I like the title track on Young Lions (probably his strongest album), African chanting be damned. You might dig the Bowie collab from that album as well, "Pretty Pink Rose."

 

He also has (or had) a tendency to play some of his Crimson work on his solo tours - one of his albums had live cuts of "Three of a Perfect Pair" and "Dinosaur", IIRC.

[The Man in Blak 0]

Upon further inspection, I guess he's got a new run of albums out with Les Claypool and the drummer from Tool on board. That definitely sounds like an intriguing lineup - do you know if that's the group that's performing at your concert?

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

No clue. His website is no help, either. As for his solo work, I d/l'ed the three albums he released in the last year or two (Side One, Side Two and Side Three) last night, though I've yet to listen to any of them.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I'm listening to Side One right now. It sounds a lot like Discipline-era KC, though a little more "21st century," I guess. The lack of Fripp's guitar sets it apart, of course; Belew's voice is nowhere near as manic as it was a quarter century ago, but I'm sure age has something to do with that.

 

I'm digging it so far, but I dunno how it'll hold up. Plus, in a live setting, this sounds like it could easily turn into jam band nonsense.

 

edit: I should note that he'll be playing a venue that usually books jam bands. Hence, my concern.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Listening to Beat for the first time. Can't say I expected anything like "Heartbeat" to appear on a King Crimson album. And I'm surprised that I'm liking the song as much as I am.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

That's an odd one. "Heartbeat" and "Neurotica" are about as far from one another as two songs by the same band on the same album can get. Have you listened to Three of a Perfect Pair yet?

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I haven't, though I'll get to it sooner than later. I'm currently listening to Beat for the second time today; I think I'll rank it higher than Discipline. I'm glad I followed my whim yesterday and bought this, sound unheard. It's paying off.

[Slayer 0]

Tough call. Great songs on both albums (as well as TOAPP which rounds out the 80's trilogy of KC).

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

This picture makes me chuckle. Good for Rob.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Better than Discipline? Oh I can't help you at all with that one.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

It's so much more immediate than Discipline, which sounds a little too much like Talking Heads. Which isn't a bad thing, but you know.

[Slayer 0]

It is a tough call

 

"Elephant Talk", "Frame by Frame", "Matte Kudesai" and "Sheltering Sky" vs. "Neal and Jack and Me", "Sartori in Tangier", "Waiting Man" and "Neurotica"

 

One thing though is that (as with most KC) the live performances of songs from the 80's trilogy are far superior to the studio recordings (most notably on Absent Lovers)

[The Man in Blak 0]

Even though that is definitely true for the 80's era, you could almost make that argument for just about anything that King Crimson has ever put out, as the group has a ridiculous live repertoire.

 

As far as ranking the 80's albums goes, I'd still consider Discipline to be the strongest of the era by a large margin, with Three of a Perfect Pair and Beat hanging around on a second tier. Maybe I need to give Beat another spin - it's been awhile since I heard "Sartori in Tangier" anyway.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

It's really good, but Incandenza's still nuts for the >Discipline thing.

[The Man in Blak 0]

Having shuffled through both Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair on the way to work the last couple of weeks, I've come to the following conclusions:

 

1. "Three of a Perfect Pair" is still my favorite song from the 80's KC run and, the more that I listen to it, the more that I think it's probably one of my three favorite KC songs overall. In fact, it's one of the only studio recordings that comes close to trumping the live version, if only because of the super-glitchy guitar solo.

 

2. The beginning of "Sartori in Tangier" is used in the first episode of The Maxx cartoon that used to run on MTV Oddities. Hot damn.

 

3. Beat does happen to be better than I remember it, though I still can't go listen to the rest of the album after "Neurotica" without wincing. The second half of "Waiting Man" is a little bit of a drag as well, once they introduce the modern drums. "Heartbeat" and "Neal and Jack and Me" have aged much better than at first glance, though.

 

4. Outside of the title track, "Sleepless", and "Man With An Open Heart", you can probably safely file away the rest of Three of a Perfect Pair and forget about it. I may have had a soft spot for "Lark's Tongue in Aspic: Part III" a few years ago, but that affection is a long time gone.

 

5. Discipline still trumps them both, even though I like the production on it the least. The title track might be the weakest track on the album and it's miles ahead of "Dig Me" or "The Howler" or any of the other second-half garbage on the other two albums.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

"Requiem" is the only track on Beat I don't care for. This sort of improvisation flew during the 70s era, but it's a sore thumb on an album like this. Plus, it's not even one of their more interesting improv tracks, anyway.

[Guest Felonies!]

I'm loving Larks' Tongues in Aspic so far.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Really? I think that's a great album, but it's not very lovable. I think it's the weakest of that set of records, with way too many slowdowns during the improvs. Red tends to have this really consistent pace, minus "Providence" which serves as a nice break.

[Guest Felonies!]

I see what you're saying, but I really liked it nonetheless, especially the cool gamelan-style percussion in the beginning.

 

I'm going to check out Red next.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Czech, as much of a jazz-friendly prog dork as you can be, I'm genuinely surprised you haven't already hit this band. Chrissakes, just start buying their records.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I don't mind John Wetton as much as I once did. He's still the weakest link (for his voice, not his bass) from that era of Crimson, but I find myself having little trouble getting through the stretch of vocal tracks on LTIA as I would have a few months ago.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Have you sampled any of the Peter Sinfield led material yet?

[Guest Felonies!]

I have:

In the Court of the Crimson King

In the Wake of Poseidon

Larks' Tongues in Aspic

Discipline

Beat

Three of a Perfect Pair

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Have you sampled any of the Peter Sinfield led material yet?

Just the debut. Which is good, but yeah, as you've said, that's a lot of mellotron.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Lizard is a real trip.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

How much mellotron? Because it wasn't until I first heard ITCOTCK that I realized I had a tolerance level for the instrument.

[The Man in Blak 0]

Lizard is a real trip.

 

Yeah, that's one way to put it.

 

There's plenty of mellotron throughout the whole album, IIRC. It's very prominent in the opening track, "Cirkus."

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Nowhere near the levels of the debut or Poseidon, but yeah, it's there.