rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (06/27/84)
[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!rlrrlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (06/27/84)
A couple of things that accidentally missed out on getting tacked on to my
previous article on the Crimson concert:
What I found most refreshing about the band and the show was the fact that
here we had a combination of BOTH originality AND craftmanship. In an age
where so often both these artistic facets are simply missing, or (at best)
only one is present, it's great to hear music that involves both elements.
My usual complaint about the progressive rock dinosauritis is its obsession
with flash. Not Rod Stewart in shiny outfits, but rather musical flash.
("Watch me play this really difficult phrase in 7/8 while the rest of the band
plays in 22/7 [TT time??]...") It's a difficult virus to get rid of, as I was
often asking myself "what time signatures are they using?" during the show.
For the most part, the band has overcome the prevalent tendency to abuse their
skills just to "show off", but sometimes it seemed as though songs had been
written in 7/8 just for the sake of having written them in 7/8. Overall,
King Crimson seems to be at the point where they are using their incredible
proficiencies with a direction and purpose of an intended sound, rather than
just using them to show us how good they are.
--
This unit humbly and deeply apologizes for having and expressing opinions.
This will not occur again. (BEEP) Rich Rosen pyuxn!rlr