THRAK

There's an old adage to the effect that if you give an infinite number of monkeys a typewriter each, one will eventually write the complete works of Shakespeare. Now I'm not intending for a minute to equate the members of King Crimson to monkeys, but to me their modus operandi here follows a similar theory. Noodle away in a directionless manner for long enough and eventually you'll create something which some people will enjoy.

"Thrak" was recorded by what has become known as the double trio King Crimson line up, a reference to the fact that pretty much all of the constituent instruments are played by at least two members of the band. For example, we have two drummer/percussionists (Mastelotto and Bruford), two bassists (Levin and Gunn, although technically the latter plays "stick"), and so forth. Fans of the band will be pleased to see so many long term contributors to the band appearing on this album, which followed closely on the heals of the "Vroom" EP. While there had been a considerable gap since the previous album, "Three of a perfect pair" in 1984, the style adopted there remains very much in evidence here.

With no less than 15 tracks, the individual tracks tend to be kept short, with just three running to over 5 minutes. The opening "Vrooom" has something of a rock feel to it, with aggressive guitar and a dominant bass line. The relatively tight constraints of the track are quickly dispensed with though as we move into "Coda:marine 475", a thrashing, uncontrolled piece. There's a delightful mellotron (like) intro to "Dinosaur", but it proves to be a false dawn, and within seconds we are back into the heavy repetitive rhythms. Surprisingly though the song has a very retro sounding vocal, not unlike the style of John Wetton at times.

In another twist, "Walking on air" has all the sound of a John Lennon ballad from his solo career, even down to the multi-tracked vocals in places. As delightful and unexpected as this piece is, it is disastrously followed by "B'boom", the first ever drum solo on a King Crimson album. This in turn is followed by an equally aggressive assault on the guitars for the title track.

There is a certain diversity to the album, but for me the common theme is a lack of attention to the musical content. The sounds can be pleasing and the musicianship is unquestionably proficient, but it seems to me that little of the material was written in advance, the music being improvised and lacking in focus. There are exceptions, especially in the lighter number such as "One time" and the aforementioned "Walking on air", but these stand as isolated beacons surrounded by less memorable material. This I find immensely frustrating, as all the signs are there that King Crimson have another great album in them. somewhere.

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