Customer Reviews

Beat

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Here was a rarity for King Crimson fans, and for more reasons than one. First, it was the first King Crimson album ever to feature the same lineup as the previous album, that lineup being the always present Robert Fripp on guitar (as well as organ and "Frippertronics"), Adrian Belew on guitar and vocals, Tony Levin on bass and stick (and throwing in some support vocals), and Bill Bruford on drums and percussion. This lineup was set to change the way progressive music would be perceived, with their excellent mix of pop melodicism and experimental avant garde. There was the second surprise was that if people thought "Discipline" was poppy or new-wave, they weren't ready for "Beat." The songs may be radio-friendly, but they are not without a high degree of complexity.

These are not simple songs, the blistering fretwork of Fripp, Belew, and Levin just intertwine to form a tapestry of amazing musicianship. The melodies and guitar harmonies are all just an incredible mixture of melodic structure and flying off the handle. Fripp's solos are as off-kilter as ever, showing a great need to get as much out of both his own abilities and the technology (the three '80's King Crimson albums are pinnacles of synth-guitar technology). Between the soaring solos of "Sartori in Tangiers" and the neo-jazz-improvizations of "Requiem," Fripp proves that King Crimson have not abandoned their progressive roots, even if they've embellished it with a bit of '80's new-wave pop. Bruford's drumming keeps time very well, but people underestimate the nuances of his playing. He's not just playing straight to keep time...he's keeping the "beat" of the songs, mixing in his own subtle sense of quirky rhythmic flourish. It's there, you just have to listen for it, but he really is showing off a little occasionally. Belew also gives some of the best vocal deliveries of any vocalist's life, singing with enough bravado that he actually outdoes himself ("Indiscipline" was funny... but listen to "Neurotica" or "Neal and Jack and Me"). The album's best moment is "Waiting Man." Sure it's a pop song, but it's such a sweet exercise in musical craftsmanship.

"Beat" is definitely the more accessible of King Crimson's three albums of the '80's, but this is not a bad thing. It may have been poppier, but they never sacrificed their musicianship or their sense of progressive abandon for the sake of a hit. Even the simpler songs are full of moments of intense energy and complexity that you have to wonder where the line is drawn between pop and progressive. It was as if King Crimson were trying to prove that there need not be any division, as long as it's good music. Good point, and good music it is. Many people don't like "Beat," that's their choice, and I'll agree it's not as good as "Discipline," but it's still an amazing album.

The only negative comment that occurs to me with regard to this album is that it is short, five minutes shorter than most albums that KC produced, but what is here is so perfect.

Neil and Jack and Me is a great rocker with cutting edge guitar riffs. The ballad, Heartbeat, is an instant classic. More beautiful electric guitar.

Sartori in Tangier is a great instrumental, followed by the nervous, wound-up Waiting Man, which features a third world flavored percussion.

Neurotica gives more quirky, humorous social commentary, over a noisy, industrial background. After another calming ballad, Two Hands, we are treated to The Howler, which evolves into a frantically paced rocker during which Belew sings, quite desperately, "No, no, not me, burn, I don't want to burn."

The most King Crimson-like work, a typical side two outing, is Requiem. It is typical in the sense that it is relatively long (but at 6:30 much shorter than many previous KC pieces of the same ilk), but the story told entirely by instrumental music is grave. A grim industrial landscape is effectively evoked. The requiem is sung by fretless bass.

Despite the brevity, one of the all-time top KC releases.

King Crimson has always been Robert Fripp and whomever he chose to invite into the band. Until the 80's. When Fripp reformed Crimson with Belew (former guitarist with Zappa, Bowie, Talking Heads), Tony Levin (ace bass session player and terrific stick player as well) and Brufford (original Yes drummer, one time Crimson member), the band forged an identity beyond Fripp. This was a line up that, like the first, clearly showed the musicians as collaborative equals. While Fripp was in charge, the other members clearly had a voice in writing/performing the music.

Belew's Bryne-like vocals add a definite 80's edge to this edition of KC. The first album of this line up, Discipline, was the edgier of the the three this foursome released. On Beat the songwriting gelled.

This line up reformed (adding two other musicians on drums and stick/bass) and recorded a series of fine albums (including the live recording in Argentina) but Beat is the standard all the others have to be measured by. Who would have thought that King Crimson could be both progressive and dancable?

Although this album is probably the greatest stride towards "pop" that Crimson has ever made, I don't understand why so many hardcore fans, even of this period, hate it so much. It is true that it is not necessarily as good of an album as "Discipline", but it has its own unique merits as well.

Belew's fascination with beat poets runs through just about every lyric on this album, loosely defining a "concept". Just about every song has references to beat poetry or loosely reference by title famous beat poems or authors. Examples: "The Howler" (reminiscent of Ginsberg's "Howl"), "Neal and Jack and Me" (Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac and a handful of oblique "On The Road" references), "Sartori in Tangier" ( reminding us of William S. Burrough's flight during his "Naked Lunch" period).

The treat is you get some of Crimson's best work here : "Neurotica", with its frantic spacey free-jazz fretwork by Belew and Levin is impressive and intense, reminding me a bit of "Thela Hun Jingeet". "Sartori in Tangier" is a funkier-than-usual, Levin-led angle on the Crim instrumental, recalled later for "Sleepless" on _3 of a Perfect Pair_. "Two Hands" with a lyric by Margaret Belew, is a very beautiful ballad, with some amazing textural guitar and percussion by Belew and Bruford respectively; the most impressive offering on this disc though has to be "Waiting Man", with its intricate Bruford-led percussion intro and chaotic time-signature shifting.

The lone straggler here has to be "Heartbeat", a song which Adrian liked enough to remake on his solo album _Young Lions_. Im told that Crim actually made a video for it (gasp !) and its an odd, poppy sort of ballad that sort of sums the less interesting aspects of the album up perfectly. Its not a bad song, just not something that one would expect from the same group of guys that gave us _Discipline_.

_Beat_ strikes an interesting tension between the KC that made the frenetic _Discipline_ and the ultra-polished, industrial-pop-ambient juggernaut that made the dark and soulless _3 of a Perfect Pair_. Its got some aspects of both the aforementioned albums, and some interesting subtleties all its own. Its pop music, but deconstructed and reassembled with its own very unique and somewhat disturbing character. Definitely a must-own album for fans of this period, and probably a really good, conservative, accessible starting point for non-fans of the band.

This album came out several years after Adrian Belew recorded, then toured with, Talking Heads. In several of the tracks, Belew sounds eerily like David Byrne. Add Robert Fripp into the mix, who also had recorded with Talking Heads ("I Zimbra" in 1979 and on other occasions), and it makes you wonder who influenced who. Maybe it was Eno who influenced Belew and Byrne. Regardless, this album fits neatly in with "My life in the bush of ghosts" and "Remain in light". On the tracks which don't sound like Talking Heads, the band degenerate into a free form jazz sound, which is appropriate, given the title of the album, an ode to the Beat generation. I'm not a Crimson completist, but to me, "Beat" (blue), "Discipline" (red), and "Three of a perfect pair" (yellow), like the colors they represent, are the primary colors, and therefore the very essence of the band.

It's generally a consensus among King Crimson fans that the Fripp/Belew/Levin/Bruford debut album "Discipline" from 1981 was a modern classic that KC wouldn't top for the rest of the decade. While Discipline is the best from this lineup, it would be unfair not to give this little gem from 1982 its due. Ostensibly a meditation upon the 1950s "Beat" poets (Jack Kerouac, Neal Casady, etc.) this work follows the sound and concept pioneered on Discipline with some interesting variations.

This album has more vocal pieces and is more of a highlight for Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp; Tony Levin isn't quite as prominent and Bill Bruford's role has shifted more into a melodic dimension. Adrian's voice, for those who haven't heard him sing with this lineup, sounds even better than on Discipline in places here; he has a wonderfully mellow tenor voice that sounds like Tony Bennett, giving a warm, almost jazzy shade to such beautiful songs as "Heartbeat" and "Two Hands." His guitar work continues even more in the strain of "guitar-as-automobile-accident" avant-garde solos he debuted on Discipline, with "The Howler" taking the prize as his most hair-raising and demented solo on the disc. Fripp, meanwhile, gets a great deal of mileage out of his Roland GR300 guitar synthesizer, delivering some soaring, haunting solos on the eerie "Sartori in Tangiers" and the meditative "Two Hands." While some reviewers have criticized the "pop" elements present on this album, one could hardly say things like "I talk to the Wind" or "Moonchild" weren't softer, pop-like numbers from the earlier KC lineups; perhaps the wonderfully lush, shimmering guitar textures on the lone "single" "Heartbeat" remind too many people of glossy 1980s pop, but it's a small deviation from an otherwise very adventurous album, containing some of Crimson's most experimental material of the 80s--the sampled marimba polyrhythms and gamelan-guitars of the worldbeat-inflected "Waiting Man" (the highlight of the record!), the deranged, frenetic pseudo-jazz postmodernism of "Neurotica," the angular odd-time riffs and Belew-torch guitar insanity of "The Howler," the Eastern-tinged Stick-driven pulsating "Sartori in Tangiers" instrumental, the almost free-jazz improv of "Requiem," and Belew's luminous, almost Bill-Frisell-like guitar riffs and Fripp's lilting GR-synth on the meditative, impressionistic "Two Hands" are all examples of a band pushing boundaries; not trying to cater to a mainstream audience. King Crimson's 80s work, on this and other records, blew contemporary efforts from Genesis and Yes out of the water; listen to "Invisible Touch" or "90125" alongside KC's "Beat" or "Discipline", and you decide which ones have aged better with time. Beat may not be the best KC album of that decade or of their career, but it's a treasure nonetheless.

It seems that when Robert Fripp puts together a Crimson line-up, that it only remains really viable creatively for it's initial studio offering; then what follows is either an attempt to re-make it's debut with lesser tunes, or an entire breakup. Beat isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, just a letdown after Discipline, one of the greatest and most inspiring progressive rock albums ever made. Beat seems almost too mainstream for a follow-up, especially the single "Heartbeat", which had MTV era (they did play the video)written all over it. I learned to appreciate more of this one as the years have passed, especially after seeing them perform some of this material on The Noise video release. "Neal, Jack And Me" is a great cut, as is "Waiting Man". The rest is not that memorable, and overall has none of Discipline's groundbreaking edge.

This was the second release from the strongest lineup of King Crimson, a tight, focused album rather unlike their earlier prog-rock work in the late '60's and early '70's that featured Greg Lake as the vocalist. The four folks (Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Tony Levin and Bill Bruford) are OUTSTANDING musicians, with Levin perhaps the best bass player ever (he played quite a bit with Peter Gabriel also). From the opener "Neal Jack And Me" to the closer "Requiem," it's a tight, propulsive tour de force. "Heartbeat" is a great tune, and the odd "Neurotica" showcases the slightly skewed nature of the band.

After the marvelous "Discipline", we were hoping for great things from the 80s incarnation of King Crimson. What we got in "Beat" was a fine effort, with singer/guitarist Adrian Belew moving solidly to the front, but not an adequate follow up to the remarkable developments of thier first effort.

Belew is one of the best balladeers in the business, and we get that here with "Heartbeat" and the lovely "Two Hands," and as we would expect, flawless instrumental performances throughout, with guitarist Robert Fripp superb in those few moments in which he steps forward.

Still, as with many studio efforts, everything is restrained, polished, and careful. Even the highly improvisational 'Requiem' seems somehow held down.

I'm not particularly fond of King Crimson's Beat. It's just severely dated and strongly reminiscent of several other early 80's dance/rock bands, which definitely isn't the same situation concerning Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Lizard and Starless and Bible Black (albums that still stand the test of time these days because they don't resemble what took place in the 70's in the least, or for THAT matter, don't resemble anything before or since).

Another problem is a noticeable lack of diversity. I swear, at least 60% of this album sounds exactly the same. Upbeat dance songs that remind me of the Talking Heads, with only the occasional doses of weirdness tossed in, possibly in a weak attempt to recapture what King Crimson already mastered back in the 70's.

The one song that drastically stands apart from the pack happens to be the longest song here, the closer "Requiem". THIS song is downright incredible. A very passionate guitar jam that's chaotic and uncontrollable in an experimental kind of way resembling the King Crimson of old (particularly some of the heavier moments from "Larks' Tongue in Aspic Part One") and just being a major standout compared to, not only the rest of the Beat album, but pretty much everything else that took place back in the early 80's as well.

Let's face it- by the time the 80's rolled around, these kind of passionate, freak out guitar jams were a thing of the past. Nobody was writing music like this anymore. But somehow King Crimson found a way to create it, despite the dreadfully dated 80's holding them back for the rest of the album.

Another standout (in a negative way) is "Heartbeat" with a terrible vocal melody and an artificial attempt at a sincere ballad. It's a bad song. At least it's the only truly bad song here however- the rest of the songs just blend together, unfortunately. Okay so "Two Hands" resembles "Heartbeat" and stinks about equally, but whatever. I'm in a forgiving mood today so I'll just disregard that one.

The introduction to "Waiting Man" reminds me of the Knight Rider theme song before eventually becoming a major disappointment to me personally by sounding like SO many other bands of the early 80's, particularly Peter Gabriel or Paul Simon with the vocal melodies. "Neal and Jack and Me" sounds exactly the same, with perhaps slightly more Talking Heads connections in the vocal melody (the more dancey 80's version of the Talking Heads I mean).

That's the only thing that separates the two songs, I'm afraid- a very slight difference in vocal melodies. It's just not enough diversity for me. Not when you had mellotrons, saxophones, chaotic guitar jams, sincere vocal melodies, etc. dominating the classic period of King Crimson back in the 70's. This comes up WAY short in comparison.

Fripp's legendary guitar work feels extremely weak throughout the album too, not only because of the lightweight 80's production making it sound "cute" but because it's obvious the band is trying to blend in with the fashion of the 80's by this point, so none of his guitar playing stands out to me. He probably didn't even have a desire to make his guitar playing stand out, to be honest. It certainly doesn't sound like it.

"Neurotica" is another disaster with sirens, whistles and who knows what else making an appearance in the beginning, but completely misses the mark by TALK-singing through most of it, UGH!! Some of the drumming is cool, though. The way "The Howler" begins is really good because it features dreamy guitar work and it just sounds appealingly insane. The vocal melody comes along and ruins it, however.

Overall, skip it. It's not worth owning.