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From: rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: King Crimson concert review (*****)
Message-ID: <787@pyuxn.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 27-Jun-84 10:37:28 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxn.787
Posted: Wed Jun 27 10:37:28 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 28-Jun-84 05:25:56 EDT
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[KING CRIMSON, 6/26/84, Concerts on the Pier, NYC]

Some unexpected things:

1. Fripp played *standing* for much of the concert, but was seated (along with
	Belew) by the end.  I'm always reminded of Fripp's vitriolic attack on
	musical dinosaurs when I see/hear King Crimson (in effect, a
	reformation of his own private dinosaur in the closet).  I wondered
	whether naming this band King Crimson was inevitable (according to
	Fripp) or just a cash-in (like Steve Howe's belief that Squire said:
	"Let's get Anderson in this band and call it Yes!").  After seeing this
	show I am convinced (partially) that it was indeed inevitable.

2. Bruford played a drum (percussion) solo.  (!!)  In fact, during part of it
	he was accompanied by Belew (doing a sort of back steady beat while
	Bruford was out in space----Yes could have used a combination like that
	in their waning years [1973-74]).  Belew also joined in on tuned mallet
	percussion (a marimba-esque sounding instrument that may have been
	either electronic tuned drums or some sort of tympanic tuned drums).
	Bruford was absolutely magnificent, playing in top form, using his kit
	(still sounding as unique as ever) along with a variety of acoustic and
	electronic percussion (including an array of hanging Simmons drums
	tuned for various sundry sounds) with exquisitely haunting and
	beautiful results.  My friends commented that they thought he was
	playing with four hands.

3. No "21st Century Schizoid Man".  In fact, very little "old"-incarnation
	Crimson material.  They did do a great version of "Red" and they closed
	the show with "Lark's Tongue in Aspic, Part 2".  They had opened with
	"Lark's Tongue in Aspic, Part 3" from the new album, Three of a Perfect
	Pair, which was extremely powerful.  Most of the material was from the
	three albums recorded by the current incarnation of the band (three
	Crimson albums in a row with the same personnel???????), especially
	Discipline ("Discipline", "Frame by Frame", "Thela Hun Ginjeet"
	["Lark's Tongue Part 3" led into this], plus two encores that included
	"Elephant Talk" [oooh, that elephant sound from Belew's guitar!!] and
	an incredible version of "Sheltering Sky"]).

4. People were dancing.  A lot.  Not what I would have expected when I last
	saw King Crimson (their "final" 1973 show).  I was thinking during the
	concert that this band has NEVER had a REAL bass player until Tony
	Levin came along.  He was really fantastic, and his use of bass and
	Chapman stick showed his incredible proficiency.  As in his work with
	Gabriel, a lot of the sounds you might attribute to the guitars comes
	from Levin's Chapman Stick, which allowed for incredible interplay
	between Belew and Fripp.  [I'm trying desperately to restrain myself
	from making some denigrating statement involving some sort of
	comparison to the likes of "good" bassists like Geddy Lee, as some
	would have it; there simply is no comparison.]

All in all, I'd rate this as an incredible show.  The playing was articulate,
precise, together, clear, and the sounds were [I know I'll regret using this
word] awesome [but it's the only word I can think of to describe them].
It's funny, though; it seems that their recent attempts at writing actual
"song" songs seem more forced than the other material, much of which you would
expect [from the nature of the material] to sound forced.  If I had to lump
the other types of sounds into categories, I'd call them the repetitive-drone-
like sounds in counter-rhythm so prevalent on the Discipline album (with Fripp
and/or Belew soloing over the drone), the purely experimental outings (reaching
out to the avant garde), and what might be called "real Crimson-like material"
(like Lark's Tongue in Aspic, Part 3), recalling the "Crimson sound".  But ALL
of the material was played extremely well, and they put on a show that sent
shivers up and down your middle ear.  Fripp's compositional abilities don't
seem to have deteriorated one bit (LTiA Part 3 has sections that would make the
Residents proud), and in combination with the incredible musicianship and
writing of the other members, we were all treated to a magnificent concert.

-- 
Now I've lost my train of thought. I'll have to catch the bus of thought.
			Rich Rosen    pyuxn!rlr