Customer Reviews

Three of Perfect Pair

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The culmination, or perhaps the final death throe, of the revitalized King Crimson, reassembled by Robert Fripp in the early 80s, Three of a Perfect Pair also harks back to the earliest days of King Crimson--back when Robert Fripp conceived of a record album as consisting of two contrasting sides. In fact, with a little stretch of the imagination, one could say that this is a totally electronified "In the Wake of Poseidon". The distinction of sides is emphasized by the fact that (on the original album) the sides were designated as 'right' and 'left', not one and two.

In terms of sound, this means that one side is full of 'normal' songs, in the Fripp-Belew-Levin-Bruford vein familiar from the previous two albums, while the other side, by contrast, is a glorious maelstrom of seemingly improvised stuff, culminating in "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part III".

More specifically:

1. The album opens with "Three of a Perfect Pair", one of the most compelling songs Adrian has ever sung. Immediately, the parallel guitar lines of Fripp-Belew hook you, Adrian's voice soars gloriously above, and the exquisite Levin-Bruford rhythm section kicks in. Adrian's guitar solo is a particular standout here as well, as it sounds like he is literally tapdancing on all kinds of footpedals more than playing his guitar. And PS, to everyone who likens Adrian's voice to David Byrne, Byrneisms are rare for Adrian. And here he shows that it is Roy Orbison that is the best analog to his voice. ("Frame by Frame" from Discipline is another apt example.)

2. "Model Man" and "Man with an Open Heart" (as the man in both titles suggests) are fairly similar, and very straightforward songs. Both are, for want of a better word, sweet; neither quite rise to the level of the opener. But, one really must pay attention to the musicianship here. The entire band is playing with a virtuoso restraint that rewards attentive listening--especially Bruford's drumming. It is simply a joy of subtle variations to listen to.

3. "Sleepless", a Tony Levin show piece, is an infectious things with a very neat sounding bass line. Unfortunately, its novelty eventually tapers off, and the song seems rather long. A very solid effort all the same.

4. Side "One" originally ended with "Nuages (That Which Passes Like Clouds)". Even now, some 17 years after the debut, this songs remains a marvel of electronic instrumentation--drums, stick, guitar synths...at times, it is impossible to tell which instrument is responsible for which sound. And the piece itself is intensely gorgeous, with one of the most beautiful, almost acoustic guitar solos Adrian has ever committed to tape. It still impresses me that the song could never have been played on traditional rock instruments--inventions like the stick and electronic drums were necessary.

The grandeur of the opening and closing songs of this side more than make up for the comparative "shallowness" of the other songs on the side.

But then we come to the other side.

1. "Industry" begins with a bass thump that turns out to repeat itself for the entire 7 minutes of the song. Frippertronic washes then enter, a rather sorrowful guitar line, then Tony's bass (sounding like he's trying to snap a string), and Bruford with his usual unusual and scrumptious accompaniment. The whole thing increases, with Fripp building up a splendidly dissonant wall of parallel guitar notes, and then fades away to where it began again, slipping without pause into...

2. "Dig Me", the only improvisation with lyrics on side two--a classic example of Adrian's sympathy for machines (recall his "Rail Song" from Twang Bar King). This song tries my patience--the opening lick, actually. The whole song seems treated to sound completely metallic, even Adrian's voice in places. The chorus, however, sounds like it was kidnapped from the other side.

3. "No Warning" is aptly titled, and seems to be a brutally atmospheric free-form improvisation that succeeds brilliantly, owing largely to the intensity of playing by Bruford. A timid guitar line, like a foghorn in the fog, beeps briefly, as Frippertronics and drum waashes build ominously around another high-pitched guitar. Then the fun begins--Bruford kicks loose with what is virtually a drum solo, accompanied by Frippertronic backgrounds and minimalist soloing. Levin's bass, meanwhile, is skulking around underneath adding darkness to the atmospherics. Really, you just have to hear it--best at loud volume.

4. The album closes with "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part III", the third installment of the eponymous title track of King Crimson's second most important album. (There is a Part IV now as well, from "The ConstruKction of Light".) The song begins with musical quotations from the first two installments, and then breaks into its own complex, impossible and articulated guitar line backed marvellously by Bruford and Levin. After a while, the song lurches into an extended section of gruesomely edgy guitar chords by Fripp over Belew's spry, whammy-barred rhythm section (which, humorously enough, contains a musical quotation of its own when Belew borrows one of his own riffs from a previous solo album). Once again, Bruford and Levin hold down the fort with right-on thumping.

Without question, this is my favorite King Crimson line-up (though Trey Gunn's replacement of Tony Levin since then is not the least bit disappointing), and "Three of a Perfect Pair" is probably the most well-realized of this line-up's three albums (as the name suggests). Pop songs with progressive edges, progressive improvisations with pop accessibility, "Three of a Perfect Pair" is a marvelous combination of both worlds, conveniently divided on the original album into sides, so you could listen to either one or the other.

Humor. It's in short supply in the world. One thing that King Crimson has been accused of in the past was a lack of humor. They were called "doom and gloom" prog rock. In some cases that was appropriate. Then Adrian Belew joined the band. He was just the catalyst. Fripp has always had a sense of humor he just hid it well.

The last in a trio of albums from the 80's line up, Three of A Perfect Pair could almost be called commerical. Almost. Sleepless became an alternative hit (before the term was coined)and the songs portion of Three are among the most straight forward of any KC songs. Is this a bad thing? No as it just allowed KC to continue to broaden their mastery of a number of different styles and turn them inside out. Prog pop perhaps would be a better term.

Although David Bryne is always pointed to as the main influence on Adrian Belew's vocal style most folks have missed the boat. More accurately it's John Lennon (particularly around Revolver) and David Bowie. Belew certainly bears a passing resemblence to Byrne's stylized vocal delivery but, then again, Byrne was influenced by Lennon, Bowie and others as well. He didn't spring fully formed from Zeus' forhead. Here Belew comes into his own as a singer. Always technically more gifted than Byrne, his soaring vocals recall his former mentor as much as it does Roy Orbison expansive, cinemascope singing style.

All of the songs manage to incorporate the lessons learned and demonstrated on the first two albums and also manage to break new ground for the band. The songwriting is crisp, concise and melodic. The best songs hold their own against anything in the KC canon.

Fripp and Belew are perfect guitar foils for each other; both are atmospheric guitarist and they bring different colors to the music. Fripp's playing is the more structured of the two. Belew's playing is the wild card incorporating an amazing array of sounds.

Levin plays stick like few other players at the time did; his aggressive and melodic style both fleshes out the band's four piece sound and gives added punch to the rhythm section. Bill Brufford (accompanied on tour with Belew on drums as well as guitar)has always been an imaginative and innovative drummer. The two of them are KC's secret weapon.

The sound quality on this reissue has considerably more depth and detail than the previously issued versions. I have to caution that it's not a huge difference on an average stereo. The big attraction are the six bonus tracks. Two instrumental outtakes from Industry are included. Both are interesting and would have made nice additions to the album. The three remixes of Sleepless are interesting but hardly essential.Kervokian's has the most life to it and reimagines the song in dancable, thought provoking ways. Contradictory isn't it? The real gem, though, is the funny as heck King Crimson Barber Shop. This isn't anything you'd find the previous versions of KC doing. They humorously poke fun at KC's back catalog, their reputation and promote their album all in less than 2 minutes. The vocals are stunning (and unexpected) to say the least. It really tickled my funny bone and was fun to listen to. Originally recorded as a promo only for radio stations and instore samplers, it's a blast to finally have this on this fine album.

The artwork (like the previous reissues) duplicates the original vinyl versions (although all three are gatefold sleeves vs. single sleeves) and includes a booklet with clippings, set lists, tour dates and other bits and pieces of info. The enclosed reviews, again, demonstrates that Fripp and company don't take themselves too seriously. There are some nice and nasty reviews included here. It's interesting to view in hindsight what expectations the critics had for 80's KC's third album. Hindsight also allows us to appreciate the fine qualities of this underrated album. I'd actually give this edition of Three 31/2 stars. That which passes on this disc passes with a chuckle or two.

This 1984 release is probably the best recording with the lineup of Adrian Belew on guitar, ex-Yes drummer Bill Bruford on the skins and bass virtuoso Tony Levin joining founding member and guitar guru Robert Fripp.
Although by some said to be their most "commercial" album, I found it to be highly enjoyable.
Split into two sides (the left and the right) at Fripp's request the Left Side is more radio friendly while the Right Side is what the Crimson fans are more accustomed to.
On the Right Side the quartet opens with the title track "Three of a Perfect Pair" which I liked quite a bit. Followed by "Model Man" and the radio release "Sleepless". It is some of Belew's best lyrics with the band.
The Right Side opens with "Industry" a very Crimson-esque industrial rock instrumental. With Levin and Bruford's driving rythmn section, Belew's futuristic guitar and Fripp's haunting guitar this is a great KC track. I really enjoyed the very funny "King Crimson Barber Shop". Where the band singing in their best acapella impression of a Barber Shop quartet exclaiming they won't sing "21st Century Schitzoid Man". I've always enjoy bands that are great but don't take themselves too serious. This band is one of them.
Four very talented and top knotch rock musicians putting together a great disc. Get it.

I bemoan a world where rock critics and so-called purists still routinely pass off everything that came after John Wetton in the history of King Crimson. As if the majority of people know the first thing about King Crimson outside of perhaps hearing "21st Century Schizoid Man" and a few other noteworthy tracks from _Court of the Crimson King_, a great moment almost four decades removed and certainly remotely connected to the mastery, emotion, and experimentalism exhibited on _Three of a Perfect Pair_.

I've never really understood why people dismiss Crimson after Belew came in the band. The reason that Belew has led the band twice as long as all its other singers combined is because THIS IS THE BEST LINE-UP!!! _Three of a Perfect Pair_ is a better album than their most famous release, _Crimson King_, and its only rival for best KC release ever is the Belew-led _Discipline_. Don't get me wrong, KC had many a moment before Belew, especially _Islands_, _Lizard_, and a handful of classics from the otherwise bloated _Crimson King_. What they finally got with Belew is a match for Fripp in all the most important departments: songwriting, guitar-playing, and bold spirit. And perhaps their first totally coherent release with _Discipline_. Add the fact that Belew creates harmonies worthy of Yes and writes existentially intriguing lyrics (and doesn't sound like a feathered college boy like John Wetton), and you've got albums that works on more fronts than most anyone else can dream of creating.

_Perfect Pair_ starts in pop nirvana with a quartet of songs that, yes, seem to put the new wave in Crimso (spec. Talking Heads), but have an infectiousness, musical dexterity, and poetic scope that mark them as being all their own. The album nimbly and uncannily switches gears on the second side (yeah, we're going back to LP days, kids), which doesn't contain any lyrics until its third song, "Dig Me," that rare paean to a junked automobile's emotions that despite all odds is able to attain choral transcendence after the pre-NIN industrial grindscape of the verse. An unforgettable rock moment, that, alas, far too few of my compeers can claim to have encountered even in passing. What kind of world do I live in?

One where I alone amongst my friends can know the subtly jagged instrumental interplay between Bruford, Levin, Fripp, and Belew. One where I have yet to hear a song by one of the top ten rock bands ever played on classic rock radio (that band is Crimson). A lonely world made so much more tolerable by the enduring genius displayed on _Three of a Perfect Pair_.

After the somewhat uneveness of Beat, the band bounced back into top form with this album which is one of the band's best. I find this album to be a perfect mix of songs. From classics like Sleepless and the title track to less known songs like Model Man(another classic by the way). The instrumental tunes like Larks, Tongues In Aspic Part Three are some of the most interesting tunes recorded. I feel that this album has never quite gotten the respect it deserves. The new cd version also has some cool bonus songs. If your getting started or if you have others by the band DON'T MISS THIS.

Crimso's third and last album in a trilogy of colorful early 80's albums with the same members may or may not be one of their best, but is my personal favorite. Much music is said to be 'industrial', but this is the one that truly lives up to that definition. I haven't heard anything like the instrumentation on 3OAPP before or since. It's the only KC album that makes full use of technology that, though dated to some, still sounds fresh and groundbreaking today possibly because there's nothing else to compare it to. This particular album features Bill's Simmons electronic percussion, Ade's fretless guitars, a slice of Fripp's most ethereal soundscapes(then called 'Frippertronics'), Tony Levin's always unique Chapman Stick, flanger pedals up the wang, and metallic guitar fx that would give a robot a stiff one.
3OAPP is one of those 'Yin & Yang' albums (like Bowie's 'Low' or Talking Heads 'Remain In Light') which featured an accessable side one and an experimental side two. This version features bonus trax. Here's a brief run-through:

3OAPP: title track is the only one to retain the interlocking guitar style from 'Discipline' and 'Beat' and is one of their most accessable tracks, despite a guitar solo made up of sonic effects.

MODEL MAN: very 1984 and almost Talking Heads, with funky use of fretless guitar and anthemish chorus. They never did it live and remains a forgotten album track, but I dig it.

SLEEPLESS: There are several mixes of Sleepless, the one used here is the choppier mix which has appeared of cd versions of 3oapp since 1989. The only real issue I have here is using this mix instead of the original one which appeared on the original 1984 3OAPP.

MAN WITH AN OPEN HEART: the most laid-back track here with more fretless guitar and it sounds as if Tony Levin is using a keyboard bass sound filtered in through some pedal. It does say 'synth' in the credits, it may be a keyboard, but Crimso hardly uses sythesizers. It's all guitar.

NUAGES(THAT WHICH PASSES, PASSES LIKE CLOUDS): here, Robert Fripp creates a beautiful, haunting soundscape over a blurping robotic percussion. It's one of Crimso's most pastoral, reflective instrumental moments, like 'Trio' before it. Indeed, its silent, mourning quality does conjure images of a vast, cold afternoon sky.

INDUSTRY: less vast is Industry, a seven minute romp through an aural factory. Here it is said the band went in with the intention of ignoring what the other was playing, in effect creating a claustrophobial clash of heavy machinery, broken robots and hissing devices- pushing the boundaries of instrumental effects over a pulsating bass line.

DIG ME: Peter Sinfield coundn't have written better lyrics here, written from the point of view of a lonely scrapped vehicle in a junkyard remembering its days of life on the open road. Musically, Dig Me sounds as if they welded two song fragments together, giving contrast between the chaotic, mechanical verses which sound as if the song may flake apart any moment and the 'normal' Beatles-esque chorus.

NO WARNING: Crim in the deep end! Don't throw 'em a rope, beacuse it's often intriguing to hear them drown in their sea of improvised technology. Ive never heard Bruford drumming like this before or since. A dark and industrial track suggesting that the machines aren't playing very nice any more.

LARK'S TONGUES IN ASPIC(part 3): The frantic industrial New Wave guitars and plodding jam of Lark's Tongues 3 bears no resemblance to the first two parts from 1973 and more to something from Fripp's New York days in albums like 'Exposure' or 'Under Heavy Manners'. With the fading notes or Larks 3, Crimso 1981-84 is over.

KING CRIMSON BARBER SHOP: Tony Levin provides all the harmonies in a humorous 'barbershop' peice.

INDUSTRIAL ZONE A & B: these industrial outtakes are more robotic improvised fun similar to NO WARNING.

SLEEPLESS: more mixes of this track, including the superior original mix.

anyone who loved this album as much as I did should go to Discipline Global Mobile and order Collector's Club # 21: Champaign-Urbana Sessions 1983. It's a cd of instrumental outtakes prior to recording 3OAPP, similar to the experimental material. Also 'Absent Lovers', recorded live on the TOAPP tour.

This is the culmination of (in my opinion) the most radical and effective version of King Crimson. "Discipline" and "Beat" are this disc's precursors and are amazing recordings in their own right, but with this cd the pop and avant-garde tendencies of Crimso are most clearly delineated. One side is accessible "pop" songs, while the other side is challenging music of the highest quality.
What makes this version an essential purchase is the inclusion of bonus tracks. Fans who are used to hearing the lp and original cd release of "Sleepless" will be shocked by the version on this edition. Instead of the Bob Clearmountain "single" mix (which is excellent in its own way), we finally get to hear the mix that the band intended (Adrian Belew has been quoted as saying that WB records put the single mix on the album over the vociferous objections of the band members). The first impression the listener has is one of spaciousness and clarity. Every instrument is very clearly recorded and the soundstage is wide-open. What a revelation! The Clearmountain mix is included as a bonus track, as well as a Francois Kevorkian dance club mix. Also added is a hilarious "Barbershop Quartet" song extolling the virtues of KC, and a couple of tracks that are in the style of "Industry". Also, the 24-bit remastering really does accomplish a huge improvement in the sound.
After the release of this album, Robert Fripp disbanded KC once again. It probably was inevitable, but while they were together, they made some glorious music. Tony Levin is the finest and most sympathetic bassist to ever work with Fripp. Bill Bruford is a model of restrained and tasteful drumming. Adrian Belew is a delight, both as vocalist and counterpoint guitarist, and Robert Fripp continues in his role of underpinning the whole undertaking.
If you enjoy this disc, then you really need to have "Discipline" and "Beat" as well. The three albums form a cohesive and organic whole. The double live set, "Absent Lovers" captures this version of KC at its peak.

Three of a Perfect Pair is certainly a strong CD, but of the 3 released during the mid 80s (Discipline, Beat, and Three of a Perfect Pair), it is not as strong a Discipline, but certainly much better than Beat. I really wish I could give 4 ½ stars because it is a very strong CD. The CD adds some interesting materials to the original album such as KC as a barber shop quartet on track 10 (which is a hoot - my 15 year old son loves to listen to this track) and the 3 different versions of sleepless. Likewise, Industrial Zone A and B are interesting tracks. I've always loved the variations on Lark's Tongues but found Part III to be the weakest of these - but it is still an interesting take on the original song that KC has developed across the years. I strongly recommend it but don't feel it was as strong of an effort as Discipline - but I feel Discipline is one of KC's top studio efforts up there with Red and In the Court of the Crimson King.

This was my introduction to King Crimson, and so far my favorite KC album. However, I would say I am more of an Adrian Belew fan than a Crimson fan. I recommend this album to someone looking for something different. As a guitarist, I like to hear all the things that can be done with a guitar...especially through playing techniques ("Fripper-tronics" don't do much for me). What makes this album stand out for me, and what every other reviewer has failed to mention is that the uniqueness to several of the songs here has as much to do with Belew's fretless guitar as anything else. I have never played a guitar without frets, but I hear it can humble the best of players. Belew pulls it off well, here. It creates a mood that suits the music. I cannot imagine songs like DIG ME being played on conventional guitar. Beyond that, all the performances here are excellent, including Bruford, Levin, AND Fripp. Belew's vocals are top-notch.

With the lineup of Robert Fripp, Tony Levin, Adrian Belew, & Bill Bruford, _Three of a Perfect Pair_ contains one of the most impressive lineups of musicians ever assembled. Whereas other progressive rock bands such as Genesis and Yes became more pop/AOR-oriented in the early 80s, King Crimson were still making music that was very hard to categorize. "Dig Me" is about as "out there" as you can get and the instrumental, "Nuages", is a combination of subtle percussion and ambient guitar textures that sounds like it could come out of the third side of _Tales from Topographic Oceans_. However, King Crimson does show their more melodic and "song-oriented" side on the title track, "Model Man", and "Man With An Open Heart." Belew's vocals are very reminiscent of David Byrne's work with Talking Heads. The bass extravaganza "Sleepless" never gets old and is a showcase for the powerful rhythm section of Bruford and Levin. Recommended not only to prog and King Crimson fans, but also to fans of 80s New Wave who prefer their music with a little bit of an edge.