King Crimson: The Thread

[The Man in Blak 0]

So, a tangent. The Power to Believe is just as bad as it was a couple years back when it was released. If King Crimson never releases a good album again, I think we'll be able to point to "Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With" as the point where Fripp and Belew jumped the proverbial shark.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I'm interested in checking out this:

 

 

Robert Fripp's only proper solo album, Exposure, has a tortured history that reflects everything Fripp loves about the creative process of making music and everything he despises about the music industry in microcosm. Fripp had walked away from music in 1974, following yet another dissolution of King Crimson and the mounting headaches of fame, management, and record companies. He returned to music in 1977 at the request of David Bowie and Brian Eno to play "some hairy rock guitar" on Bowie's Heroes, and these sessions allowed Fripp to regain contact with his creative side and a new album was planned. Working with an incredibly wide range of musicians (including Daryl Hall, Peter Gabriel, Tony Levin, Eno, Terre Roche, and former members of King Crimson), Fripp recorded an album with the working title The Last Great New York Heartthrob. Then, things got ugly. Hall's management (Tommy Mottola) said that Fripp could only use two of the seven tracks with Daryl Hall's vocals unless the album were co-billed to Fripp and Hall and released on Hall's label, RCA. Fripp refused, and decided to use the two allotted Hall vocals and redo the other tracks Hall appeared on. However, rather than simply replace the vocals with another singer, Fripp recut the songs in their entirety using the original musicians if he could, and replaced the original players if he couldn't. Of course, this delayed the intended release of the album and ended up changing the album itself, becoming the original version of Exposure, which was released in 1979. When CDs came along, the album was remixed by Fripp, so the "original" Exposure has never been available on CD until now. That's the first disc of this special edition. The second disc has the remixed versions of the songs, but instead of a straight reissue of the remixed version, three more of the original (and previously unreleased) Hall vocals are substituted back in to the album, and the remaining alternate vocals (some unreleased, some from the remix) are added at the end as "bonus tracks." And that doesn't even go into the debacle with the Fripp-produced Daryl Hall album, Sacred Songs, which is another aspect of the same ugly story. Confused yet?

 

OK, travails aside, what about the music? Fripp himself introduces the album by saying "Can I play you, um, some of the new things I've been doing which I think could be...commercial?" "Could be" is certainly the operative phrase there (although a few of the songs might have thrived in today's AAA marketplace), but this album is quite amazing in its breadth. From stomping, pounding, nearly punk rock ("You Burn Me Up I'm a Cigarette") to beautiful ballads ("North Star") to avant weirdness ("Disengage," "NY3") to incredibly beautiful, not-quite ambient Frippertronics ("Water Music II") to jagged instrumentals that would point the way toward the re-formation of King Crimson ("Breathless"), Fripp and company cover a ridiculously wide range of material and never miss a step. The album careens back and forth between beauty and power, tied together by Fripp's incredible guitar and Frippertronics. The vocals are uniformly excellent, with Daryl Hall and Terre Roche turning in some surprisingly feral performances alongside their beautifully sung ballads (Peter Hammill's feral vocals are less out of character). It's also interesting to contrast the songs that feature different vocalists in their different incarnations, like "Disengage" and "Exposure." Especially interesting is the previously unreleased Hall version of "NY3" (retitled "New York New York New York"), where the audio vérité of "NY3" is replaced by completely different lyrics and vocals by Hall. The version of Peter Gabriel's "Here Comes the Flood" on Exposure replaces the bombastic orchestrations of Gabriel's version with just synth (Eno), Frippertronics, and Gabriel's piano and vocals, completely transforming the song. Tony Levin's bass playing is fantastic, giving good reason why he's still working with Fripp more than 25 years later. Exposure was an underground masterpiece: there wasn't anything like it before and there hasn't been since. The passage of time has done nothing to dull its luster. Given the album's success on purely creative terms, it's interesting to note the paths here that Fripp didn't really investigate further — i.e., the more pop-oriented stuff (probably induced by the commercial wranglings of management rather than lack of interest in the material). This deluxe reissue not only offers the first digital opportunity to hear the album as it was originally released, it's a boon for the Fripp faithful who finally get to hear what the album might have been as well. It's an amazingly creative burst and a landmark album that sounds just as fresh today as it did decades ago.

 

Also, that Daryl Hall solo album mentioned therein sounds like something I need to hear.

[Slayer 0]

So, a tangent. The Power to Believe is just as bad as it was a couple years back when it was released. If King Crimson never releases a good album again, I think we'll be able to point to "Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With" as the point where Fripp and Belew jumped the proverbial shark.

I do remember enjoying the song "Eyes Wide Open", but overall it was an unremarkable album... I purchased it for XMas '03 and listened to it on my holiday road trip, but haven't touched it since then.

 

I too am also interested in checking out the Fripp solo album, especially if Hall did some of the vox.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

http://www.adrianbelew.net/adrianupdates.h...ay%2027,%202005

 

Granted, this is over a year old, but Belew went on record saying there'd be another Crimson album, with Tony Levin back in the fold. If I go see him next month, I'll be sure to ask him if that's still the case.

 

edit: looks like directly linking to the entry didn't work, but all you have to do is scroll down a little to see it.

[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.

Well, he was bothering me just now, listening to Starless and Bible Black. Though he acquits himself nicely on "The Great Deceiver."

 

For what it's worth, I appreciate SABB a lot more now than I did a couple of years ago. It's a combination of being more open to this kind of music and immersing myself in Larks' Tongues in Aspic and Red beforehand.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Where does he bother you there? I think that album has his best performances in "The Night Watch" "Great Deceiver" and "Lament"

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

"Lament"'s kind of a bore, with or without Wetton; "The Night Watch"—mostly in the verses—is pure prog twaddle. It's the soundtrack for gnomes frolicing in the forest.

 

Red remains the only Wetton-era album where his voice is just fine; mainly for the lack of it, as well as when he does sing, his voice is very low in the mix. Which was the way it always should've been.

[Slayer 0]

I'm guessing Inc and I will not see eye to eye on Wetton's voice.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

IN THE HEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAT OF THE MOMENT

 

Really, the fact that I can't get behind Wetton's pipes is a shame, because, musically, I'd definitely agree with anyone who says that that era of King Crimson is their strongest.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I think we can all agree on just how much "The Great Deceiver" rocks, at least.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

That is not gnome frolic music. It's nerd frolic music. I think the main melody on the guitar is among Fripp's finest. Unbelievably smooth transitions, and gorgeous in its simplicity.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

"Fracture" is the best track on the album.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Speaking of "Fracture," I like when bands reference their earlier material, as they do on that one. Apparently THRAK-era KC does that, too, which is cool.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

And hey, I'm listening to SABB again right now, and I think I may've been a little too harsh on "Lament." I still don't like "The Night Watch" much.

[Slayer 0]

Have you checked out The Night Watch (album, not to be confused with the song itself)? Very good live CDs of mid 70's KC

[The Man in Blak 0]

If you're looking for a live CD of the 70's KC lineup, I'd recommend that you check out the USA album. Easily the best live take on "Lark's Tongue in Aspic, Part II" and the version of "21st Century Schizoid Man" is one of their best as well. If it weren't for the butchered stab at "Starless" (which, to be fair, is one of the only KC tracks that seems to consistently fare poorly in a live setting), it would probably be my favorite KC album.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

So I was pretty dumb to think Beat is better than Discipline, huh. Discipline finally, truly connected with me about a week ago, though I didn't bother bumping this thread until now. "Frame by Frame" might be their finest moment, regardless of era.

 

Also, which of the two do you guys think is better: LTIA or Red? I am unable to pick one over the other. And I still haven't bothered to fully explore post-ITCOFTCK/pre-LTIA yet. I need to do something about that.

[Guest Felonies!]

Well, Red has such a cool confrontational and angry sound. It sounds so misanthropic. On the other hand, LTIA probably has more meat to it, musically, if that makes any sense. It's basically Red/Another Red Nightmare vs. Larks 1/Easy Money/Larks 2. I'm going to go with Red by a hair.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

It's basically Red/Another Red Nightmare

 

Uhm, Starless?

[Guest Felonies!]

d'oh

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

So I was pretty dumb to think Beat is better than Discipline, huh. Discipline finally, truly connected with me about a week ago, though I didn't bother bumping this thread until now. "Frame by Frame" might be their finest moment, regardless of era.

 

Also, which of the two do you guys think is better: LTIA or Red? I am unable to pick one over the other. And I still haven't bothered to fully explore post-ITCOFTCK/pre-LTIA yet. I need to do something about that.

 

I was hoping you'd come to your senses.

 

I like Red a LOT more, actually. Czech mentioned the angry feel of the album, which I love, but it's also very claustrophobic. There's no empty space on there at ALL to take a breather or a break. Everything is pretty tight and overwhelming. Even "Providence" is so on-edge that the negative space employed is more unsettling than it is a slowdown for things to develop.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Right now, I'm leaning toward LTIA, if only for Jamie Muir's percussion work. The clanging, junkyard sound—which I fell for when I first got into Tom Waits so many years ago—has a soft spot in my heart. (I also really love the second part of the title track, which gives "Frame by Frame" serious competition for my favorite KC song.)

[Guest Felonies!]

I agree that the title track feels very claustrophobic, like I've been backed into a corner. Not so much on "One More Red Nightmare." There has to be enough open space to clap my hands along with it.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Sometimes that high synth on "Red" grates on my nerves, but the guitar tone there is just so rough and gorgeous that it doesn't matter.

[The Man in Blak 0]

If the tracks from Larks' Tongue in Aspic were even half as good of their live versions between The Night Watch and USA, I wouldn't even flinch before picking LTiA over Red. As it stands, though, Red is the much tighter studio album.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

So, Absent Lovers is real good.

 

And check out this Adrian Belew video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8jIItdTUks

 

Hilarious. For me, that I actually remember seeing that video a number of times on MTV during my childhood makes it even better.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Now that I've spent some time with Three of a Perfect Pair, I can almost—almost!—agree with the assertion that Absent Lovers is the definitive statement on the 80s line-up of KC. Holding me back from full-on agreeing is that I'll take Discipline over AL and any other Crimson release—hell, I'll take it over most albums by anyone; I feel that strongly about it now (I can't believe I ever prefered Beat over this). Both the songs from Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair benefit from the live setting (particularly the limp ToaPP).

[Guest Felonies!]

Just got around to Absent Lovers. Holy cow, "Waiting Man" is something else. Great selection here; the only thing this is missing is "The Sheltering Sky."

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Absent Lovers renders Three of a Perfect Pair superfluous, wouldn't you say? On AL, every song from ToaPP is superior to the studio version. It's not even close.

 

An aside re: ToaPP, I like the Tony Levin mix of "Sleepless" better than any of the songs on the proper album, including the main version of "Sleepless" on there. Anyone know the story behind the Levin mix? I know the other two remixes were for radio airplay and the dancefloor, respectively, but what's the deal with Levin's?

[Guest Felonies!]

Yeah, they're better on here. Too bad there's no "Model Man" on here, because I always liked that one. The big studio-superior track here is probably "Thela Hun Ginjeet," it's a little messy here. Belew's phrasing on "Matte Kudusai" is a little off as well.