King Crimson (minus the King)
Dec. 11th, 2024 01:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cjlasky7BEAT (Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Steve Vai, Danny Carey) Live at Kings Theater in Brooklyn 12/8/24
A bit of history first....
When King Crimson founder/lead guitarist/benevolent dictator Robert Fripp reconstituted the band in 1981, it was a fairly radical departure from previous incarnations. This was a progressive rock dinosaur surprisingly light on its feet, incorporating new wave rock and Indonesian gamelan music into Crimson's already heady mixture of classical and jazz motifs.
Along with long time drummer Bill Bruford, Fripp recruited guitarist Adrian Belew (whom he met while recording for David Bowie in Berlin) and ace bass player Tony Levin (snatched away from Peter Gabriel). Belew brought his guitar menagerie of roars, squeaks and squawks into the mix and his David Byrne-like yawp and surrealistic lyrics gave the oft-ignored singer/front man of the group an actual personality. (Often said, sadly true: nobody comes to King Crimson concerts to see the singer.)
This version of the band stayed together for three whole albums (a KC record!)--Discipline, Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair--and Belew fronted the group in the 90s and 00s long after Levin and Bruford had departed....
...which is why it came as a shock to Adrian when Fripp called him up in 2013 and told him his services were no longer required. Belew couldn't believe it. Fired? (Wasn't Crimson his band, too?)
But Fripp has been the guiding force and taskmaster behind King Crimson since its birth in 1969, and he has left a slew of talented musicians on the side of the road. And if Robert thinks it's time to move on....he moves on. Crimson toured in the 2010s with a new lead singer, an emphasis on the 50-year breadth of its catalogue--but with very little of the 80s material. (I caught them in 2017; they were faaaaantastic!)
But with a wealth of quality songs sitting there gathering dust, Belew petitioned Fripp for permission to take the 80s material out on the road. Fripp gave his blessing. That left one major road block: who do you get to play this shit?
Tony Levin was in. (Beats session work.) But if Fripp and Bruford were out, that's a problem. Guitar players have spent YEARS trying and failing to duplicate Fripp's technique. Most rock drummers can barely keep a four on the floor beat; let's see them keep up if the meter is in...oh, 21. 80s Crimson is some of the most rhythmically complex, knottiest music out there. Amateurs need not apply.
This time, though, the gods smiled on Belew. He reeled in guitar virtuoso Steve Vai (a fellow survivor from Frank Zappa's band) and on drums, he scored a major coup with Danny Carey from Tool--perhaps the one band working today that can legitimately call themselves Crimson's successor.
So when Belew took center stage at the opulently refurbished Kings Theater on Sunday, he was like a man playing with house money. The joy was palpable. The band ripped through two hours plus of Belew era material, and one powerhouse ringer from 70s Crimson ("Red"). Belew and Vai easily duplicated the hypnotic, interlocking guitar riffs that were a trademark of those 80s albums, and Carrey nearly stole the show with cascading drum fills played at maximum force.
So was it really a King Crimson concert--only without Robert Fripp? Not quite. Vai took great pains (literal and figurative) to duplicate a lot of Fripp's punishing finger work, but there were spaces in the show that left openings for solos and experiments that Fripp wouldn't allow. An extended version of "The Sheltering Sky" broke out of its meditative groove for some patented Vai pyrotechnics; Belew and Carey locked in for a gorgeous duet on standing drum kits on "Waiting Man"; and Belew went off the reservation on "Industry", veering away from the piece's metallic grind into Pink Floyd-ian ambient noise.
But if I went to this show to hear anything, it was songs from that first 80s album, Discipline. To me, Discipline is the platonic idea of a King Crimson album. Most lyrics on a Crimson album come off as superfluous or annoying, because the point of King Crimson is the process of four brilliant individual artists creating the music. The music doesn't help convey an idea in the lyrics; the music IS the idea. Discipline gets around the problem because all the lyrics are about the process of creating the album. (It's hilariously, perfectly meta.)
So when the guys played "Elephant Talk," "Frame By Frame," "Indiscipline" (spectacular!), and "Thela Hun Ginjeet" to close out the show, I was a happy camper.
Come back soon, guys! (Maybe some 90s material next time?)
A bit of history first....
When King Crimson founder/lead guitarist/benevolent dictator Robert Fripp reconstituted the band in 1981, it was a fairly radical departure from previous incarnations. This was a progressive rock dinosaur surprisingly light on its feet, incorporating new wave rock and Indonesian gamelan music into Crimson's already heady mixture of classical and jazz motifs.
Along with long time drummer Bill Bruford, Fripp recruited guitarist Adrian Belew (whom he met while recording for David Bowie in Berlin) and ace bass player Tony Levin (snatched away from Peter Gabriel). Belew brought his guitar menagerie of roars, squeaks and squawks into the mix and his David Byrne-like yawp and surrealistic lyrics gave the oft-ignored singer/front man of the group an actual personality. (Often said, sadly true: nobody comes to King Crimson concerts to see the singer.)
This version of the band stayed together for three whole albums (a KC record!)--Discipline, Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair--and Belew fronted the group in the 90s and 00s long after Levin and Bruford had departed....
...which is why it came as a shock to Adrian when Fripp called him up in 2013 and told him his services were no longer required. Belew couldn't believe it. Fired? (Wasn't Crimson his band, too?)
But Fripp has been the guiding force and taskmaster behind King Crimson since its birth in 1969, and he has left a slew of talented musicians on the side of the road. And if Robert thinks it's time to move on....he moves on. Crimson toured in the 2010s with a new lead singer, an emphasis on the 50-year breadth of its catalogue--but with very little of the 80s material. (I caught them in 2017; they were faaaaantastic!)
But with a wealth of quality songs sitting there gathering dust, Belew petitioned Fripp for permission to take the 80s material out on the road. Fripp gave his blessing. That left one major road block: who do you get to play this shit?
Tony Levin was in. (Beats session work.) But if Fripp and Bruford were out, that's a problem. Guitar players have spent YEARS trying and failing to duplicate Fripp's technique. Most rock drummers can barely keep a four on the floor beat; let's see them keep up if the meter is in...oh, 21. 80s Crimson is some of the most rhythmically complex, knottiest music out there. Amateurs need not apply.
This time, though, the gods smiled on Belew. He reeled in guitar virtuoso Steve Vai (a fellow survivor from Frank Zappa's band) and on drums, he scored a major coup with Danny Carey from Tool--perhaps the one band working today that can legitimately call themselves Crimson's successor.
So when Belew took center stage at the opulently refurbished Kings Theater on Sunday, he was like a man playing with house money. The joy was palpable. The band ripped through two hours plus of Belew era material, and one powerhouse ringer from 70s Crimson ("Red"). Belew and Vai easily duplicated the hypnotic, interlocking guitar riffs that were a trademark of those 80s albums, and Carrey nearly stole the show with cascading drum fills played at maximum force.
So was it really a King Crimson concert--only without Robert Fripp? Not quite. Vai took great pains (literal and figurative) to duplicate a lot of Fripp's punishing finger work, but there were spaces in the show that left openings for solos and experiments that Fripp wouldn't allow. An extended version of "The Sheltering Sky" broke out of its meditative groove for some patented Vai pyrotechnics; Belew and Carey locked in for a gorgeous duet on standing drum kits on "Waiting Man"; and Belew went off the reservation on "Industry", veering away from the piece's metallic grind into Pink Floyd-ian ambient noise.
But if I went to this show to hear anything, it was songs from that first 80s album, Discipline. To me, Discipline is the platonic idea of a King Crimson album. Most lyrics on a Crimson album come off as superfluous or annoying, because the point of King Crimson is the process of four brilliant individual artists creating the music. The music doesn't help convey an idea in the lyrics; the music IS the idea. Discipline gets around the problem because all the lyrics are about the process of creating the album. (It's hilariously, perfectly meta.)
So when the guys played "Elephant Talk," "Frame By Frame," "Indiscipline" (spectacular!), and "Thela Hun Ginjeet" to close out the show, I was a happy camper.
Come back soon, guys! (Maybe some 90s material next time?)
