Track Listing

1. Three Of A Perfect Pair
2. Model Man
3. Sleepless
4. Man With An Open Heart
5. Nuages (That Which Passes Passes Like Clouds)
6. Industry
7. Dig Me
8. No Warning
9. Lark's Tongues In Aspic
10. King Crimson Barber Shop
11. Industrial Zone A
12. Industrial Zone B
13. Sleepless
14. Sleepless
15. Sleepless

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4213 in Music
• Released on: 2005-03-28
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

CD Description
After spending the second half of the '70s on various solo projects, the irrepressible Robert Fripp decided to reinventKing Crimson. Instead of building on the group's '70s legacy, Fripp burned his bridges and started from scratch, even though KC drummer Bill Bruford returned to the fold for the '80s version of the band. The new Crimson was influenced equally by funk, world music, Balinese Gamelan orchestras, minimalism and the new pan-cultural sounds being made by the likes of Talking Heads and Peter Gabriel (in retrospect, the former's REMAIN IN LIGHT, which featured future Crimson guitarist/vocalist Adrian Belew, seems an undeniable influence).
The interlocking melodic/rhythmic patterns of Fripp and Belew's guitars, Tony Levin's Chapman Stick and Bruford's electro-acoustic kit combined the Gamelan approach with a PhillipGlass-like repetition. With each cycle, a note or phrase would change slightly, altering the rhythm and focus of the pattern. The effect is both hypnotic and invigorating. Fripp'sfrenetic guitar-synth excursions and Belew's feedback-heavypost-Hendrix leads merge with this technique to fine effect. Belew's David Byrne-like tenor, unpretentious lyrics and pop (!) songwriting sensibilities make the package complete.

Customer Reviews

Last gasp of classic 80s Crimso
King Crimson were a '70s prog rock band with everything that implies: pretensiousness, self-indulgent noodlings, atonal "experimental" sound collages... occasionally inspired but often tedious. Robert Fripp reformed Crimso in the '80s and confounded fans and critics because the new look Crimso turned out to be sleek, contemporary and really bloody good, replete with unique interlocking guitar effects (mesmeric) and Adrian Belew's "Talking Heads"-style vocals. The excellent debut Discipline was followed by the rather formulaic Beat and then "Three of a Perfect Pair" completed the triptych, whereupon Crimso once again imploded.

"Three of a Perfect Pair" nods to Fripp's earlier '70s preoccupations, being something of a 'concept album'. The first 5 tracks (the original side one) being rather poppy confections, the more 'serious' instrumental soundscapes spreading out over side two, the last 4 tracks. If instrumental soundscapes are your bag, then these are up there with anything else in that line Fripp has put out, but personally I'd head for the second side of David Bowie's Low if I was in the mood for that sort of thing. The reference to Crimso's earlier prog incarnation is completed by the last track, "Larks' Tongues In Aspic Part III", a sequel to the sort of jazz-rock malarkey the '70s Crimso got up to.

The first five tracks, though, are unalloyed joy, both honouring and subverting the '80s dancefloor fillers of the period. One track, the hypnotic "Sleepless", was actually a dancefloor hit, very briefly. These are all highly original, strangely timeless compositions. If you hit the stop button after track 5, this CD will still have earned the purchase price.

This remastered edition contains a set of 'bonus' tracks. Most of these are rather redundant remixes of "Sleepless" but one, "The King Crimson Barber Shop", is a charmingly jokey exercise that goes to show there's more to Fripp than serious beard-stroking and self-important 'guitarcraft'.

Overall, a must-have complete-the-set purchase for Crimso fans; the first half being a very rewarding slice of '80s obscuriana for the more casual listener.