THE CONSTRUKCTION OF LIGHT

Some great tracks. Larks Tongues 4 is actually (despite the name) very good though not totally new, and track 3 is equally good. However, despite some good pieces, there are problems. First, the sound quality on the drums (particularly the cymbals) is very poor (because they are electronic?). Second, Fraktured is terrible! It is such a rip-off of early Fripp compositions (without any of the energy too) that it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. The Project X stuff is boring (as it is during the concerts when Belew is forced to leave the stage). This sounds almost like a Crimson tribute band in places, particularly without Bruford's distinctive drumming.

The first KC album I enjoyed from a - z. LTIA 4 is the best Hendrix/Bartok effort yet: it's stunning, and it just plainly rocks. I really love those synthetic drumsounds, especially those weird swooshes that replace cymbals : that, plus the rocking riffs and polyrhythms turns ProzaKc Blues into a song I love. And I hate blues. Though keeping elements from the 80's, like the interlocking guitars, they also reach back to the Larks era, and use a modern metallic sound. The bonus track for PX made me order the PX cd, which is a great disc too, the improv alter ego of KC2k. Only snag about this is the production : it's completely squashed, no dynamics. I think they aimed for a dark sound a la Tool, but failed. Tool's sound is still open, this cd sound claustrophobic. But the material is very good. Later live versions benefit from better sound, and more developed interaction. Before hearing it, I thought I might miss Broof and TBaldy, but I don't. I love Pats drumming, and think he's a better teamplayer, which results in a more balanced group sound.

2.5 stars really!!

The double trio era only lasted so long, and by the turn off the century/millennium, Crimson was reduced to a quartet, but not exactly the one wished for. Indeed both Bruford and Levin are gone, but it didn't really appear as a permanent move back then, because as the title indicates, this album is a bit the continuation of the different ProjeKcts discs/albums, which saw many different formations of the double-trio line-ups, some without Fripp. Rest assured Fripp is still part of this KC line-up, but then again, this album is so heavy (as in slow and heaeaeavyyyyyyy >> weighs like a ton in your ears) that you'd wish he wasn't part of it. But he is, and there is no mistaking about it: Half the tracks sound like rehash of Crafty League of Gentlemen or his other forms acoustic guitar clubs, while the rest can be linked with the Wetton-era Crimson, mainly on the huge riffing. Hiding behind a construction of eclipse light artwork filled with grey and midnight blue, if Trey Gunn holds its own, I find that Matselotto's drumming very average, if not downright shocking at times. Hey, Bill, I'll double your wages....

Beyond the atrocious ProzaKc Blues, probably the most indigestible Crimson track ever, the title track, which besides its weird intro is a Crafty League work, while tracks like Frying Pan or Oyster Soup are more reminiscent of Thrakk or Red, partly due to the huge riffs, but in Frying Pan, the drums is definitely not Bruford's!! I doubt Bill would've dared such an ordinary binary pattern and the rest of the band being so obtuse, sounding like a troubled muddied soup.

Of course FraKctured can only draw comparisons with the SABB instrumental, rightly so, there are similarities and familiarities, enough to wonder what would be the point of reworking this piece outside of a live setting and releasing it as a studio track. Nevertheless, this is probably my fave track on this album, especially in the quieter arpeggios, where you'd swear Phillips Rutherford where around. In the same manner Lark's part IV can only draw comparisons with the first three, and you know it will, so the album is forcibly taking an upward curve. Linked to this rework is a weird short Coda, where Belew's dreams of peace find some sonic support, but it's a bit too bad it's all too distorted byeffects. But on another side this avoids Belew sounding like the pretentious bono. Only the closing Heaven and Earth and its ultra repetitive riff with a mellotron outro

Not really Crimson's best album (almost the opposite), I find TCOL is relying too much on elements of the past (and most notably winking at the Wetton-era) with these two elongated tracks. The real fresh material is left to be found in the excrutiatingly bad opener and in the so-called ProjeKct X trazck that closes the album.

This is the hardest work of King Crimson I ever heard, and I'm not completely satisfied. There are too much synthesizers, effects, soundscapes and experimental noises that made every song confused, heavy, indecifrable and sometimes inascoltable.Probably Fripp knows that the music he make his really hard but he just don't give nothing, but I don't know how many fans will resiste again at this musical mentality.

My first reaction to this music was: "What the hell is this?!!! Just one more minute of listening and I'll throw this f***ing CD out of my window!!!" It had been a long time ago so now I don't remember how did it come to this that now it's one of my KC's favourite albums. It's very strange I agree (even by King Crimson standards). Occasional Tool & Nine Inch Nails influences can be heard. Just don't give up after first listening! You may miss a lot of great music!

A strange record, one of the few ones that has no evolution from is previos effort (THRAK), however is as complicated and perfected as usual, the record has a lack of inspiration, a constant overdose of quirky sounds surrounding the main song, again, not a bad record, but a very simple if you consider the background of the band. Some may blame the absence of Tony Levin and Bill Bruford; to me this marks the 5th incarnation of KC, a line-up that has been busy up to date and as strong as the one of the 80's, may be not as creative but very solid

This album puts other artists to shame, the complexity and sheer musicionship of it are unbeiliveable. It's not music , it's musicions music, and you have to be a musicion (not a punk/metal power chord band) to acually appreiciate it. Consrtuction of light has enlightening lyrics which speak more truth than (obviously) most can understand.

(extremist) Hedonistic materialists lead our capitolistic society into the pit of hell (hell being the propigation of our pointless lives)

Miles Davis once said : "What's use at playing so many notes while you should play only the beautiful ones ?". This applies at 300% at "The ConstruKction of Light" that could have been called "The DestruKction of a Myth". And it's a really big Crimso fan who's writing this. The only good point about this album is that now i cannot consider "Lizard" as their worst album any longer...

Well you could also erase an half star at least, by regarding of a few genial works of the past,but it should be a mistake to compare it to their early albums, the most famous ones, whose spirit was completely different...moreover in some circumstances the repetition of the dissonances and the same harmonic solutions at the guitar as well, make me think that's a boring and tepid work too;nevertheless some interesting music features are hidden behind the corner and this new effort is the attempt by Fripp to make his old style emerge from the modern style of art rock, passing through a re-examination of the same dissonant passages of the early 70's period, but in a modern key.He likes to use the samplings and his usual never ending "sixth-tonal" scales, but at the end this sound is the typical "Crimsonian" style and that's a good idea!!

Make your own choice!!

First, let's all get over the fact that: the "original" Crimson was long gone; the "second" Crimson (w/Bruford, Belew, Levin) was gone; Mastelotto is not Bruford; and Senor Fripp did not feel the need to rehash everything he has ever written. Taken on its own, this new line-up - and Fripp's attempt (largely successful) at a new (or at least different) direction - is actually quite good. And although there are missteps, most of the compositions are interesting in that Fripp/KC sort of way. My major criticism is that this is a remarkably bad-sounding album for a band like KC and a leader like Fripp: it is not well EQ'd, and is actually downright muddy in places. Still, this is Fripp and KC, so one cannot really go wrong.

"ProzaKc Blues" is classic KC paranoia in blues form, with a "fritched" voice and lots of fun soloing from Fripp. "The ConstruKction of Light" begins with Fripp's newest obsession - contrapuntal guitar notes from the two guitars - and moves into a rather interesting composition in which the lyrics take a sort of "anti-Yes" form: i.e., where Anderson often joins positive words like "sun," "light," "love," "beauty," "joy," etc., here Belew gives us "pain," "die," "black," "empty," "hate," "ache," "rage," "sad," etc. It's not as negative as it sounds, as he intersperses positive words ("sun," "trust," "passion" et al). [N.B. Unlike my colleague, Bryan Adair, I consider the lyrics on this album to be some of Belew's best, for the most part far outwriting his work on "Discipline," "Beat," and "Three of a Perfect Pair," most of the lyrics for which I found at best "commercial," and at worst trite and naive.] "Into the Frying Pan" is a prog-rocker, the verse of which reminds me alot of Lennon, both lyrically and vocally.

"FraKctured" is a quasi-sequel to "Fracture" from "Starless and Bible Black." Beginning with some more contrapuntal guitarwork, it moves into some truly wild Frippmadness. The first half of the piece is basically a repetition of three sections, all with "clean" guitars. The second half is grittier, with "dirty" guitars and some mean playing from both axmen, and ending with some light contrapuntal guitarwork. There is no point in trying to determine time signatures here, as they shift so rapidly that they are almost completely non-discernable.

"The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum" is among my very favorite KC compositions of all time. Ostensibly a KC-style prog-rocker, it is lifted to new heights by Belew's fabulous free-associative, stream-of-consciousness lyrics, in which each word or phrase connects to the next one. For those who may not "get it," the title breaks down to "the world's my oyster," "oyster soup," "soup kitchen," "kitchen floor," "floor wax," "wax museum." My favorite line has to be "Cannibal dog house plan B happy as a lark's tongue in cheekbone china doll" (which breaks down to "cannibal dog," "dog house," "house plan," "plan B," "B happy," "happy as a lark," "lark's tongue in," "tongue in cheek," "cheek bone," "bone china," "china doll".)

"Lark's Tongues in Aspic - Part IV" is far better than Part III, which is the weakest of the lot. Indeed, it harks back more naturally to the original than a first listen might reveal. The best part is the mid-section, in which there is a furious "battle of the time signatures" between Fripp on the one hand (playing almost continuous sixteenth and thirty-second notes), and everyone else on the other, playing a disjointed, shifting time signature set. LTIA segues perfectly into "Coda: I Have a Dream," a truly paranoid rocker in which Belew makes note of the irony between Dr. King's speech and some of the horrible socio-political events that have occurred since then. Among many others, he invokes "tragedys of Kennedys" (before JFK Jr. was killed), and "Saddam Hussein, the bombing of the World Trade" - before 9/11. Truly eerie.

Finally, "Heaven and Earth" is an instrumental, credited to "Projekct X." It opens with "orchestral" Frippertronics (with occasional rhythmic background) and then moves into what sounds like a loosely structured improvisational jam. Although uncohesive, it is quite listenable.

Fripp and Belew are excellent overall; Mastelotto has an interesting approach that is different from Bruford's but equally appropriate to the music; and Trey Gunn (an original member of Fripp's "Crafty Guitarists," and a protege of Tony Levin on stick) more than holds his own in contributing to the overall sound. If this album had been more "crisply" recorded, it might have earned an extra star.

While not a complete disappointment, with Prozakc Blues having a certain charm to it and the interpretation of Fraktured being an interesting listen, even if not up to the standard of the original. Construktion of Light is most probably KC's least accomplished album. It's not that the musicianship is a fault, simply that the tracks all have a bit too much of the same feel about them and there is nothing that really captivates the listener's imagination in the same way that their earlier work and the Power to Believe, which followed a few years later, do. There are much better KC albums out there, so unless you're a completionist I wouldn't recommend this one.

I was a bit disappointed of this album as I first listened through it, but this was partly because my expectations for it were so high. And actually five songs out of eight are quite good compositions, so the major source of antipathy is probably the technic cold sound. This possibly much due the line-up changes, losing my own favorite drummer Bill Bruford and masterful Tony Levin from the double trio. Still, Pat has also good technique, and he has some interesting rhythms, though the digital drum set systems feel bit alien to my narrow sense of taste. Trey Gunn achieves to play here both technically and stylistically very good soft bass lines, and the album holds actually the best performance from him which I have yet heard.

From the songs I would mention especially the title track, which has very good rhythmic elements. "FraKctured" is a very moody composition, resembling naturally bands 70's masterpiece "Fracture". It has extremely violent parts in it, as does "Larks' Tongues in Aspic - part IV". These are very technical and cold pieces, and I think they please fans of oppressing (metal) music. The last track titled "Heaven and Earth" (which I believe is from their projekct sessions) has then an extremely laidback and beautiful ending. In addition to these tracks there are few songs on the album that irritated me a bit more, but the good parts are truly very good, and I see this as a worthy purchase. Actually last decent album from the band, later output eskcaping yet further to the violent turmoil of elekctronikc terrorism.

That troublesome two-star rating is entirely provisional, even after five years of retroactive hindsight. It's an accepted fact that every new King Crimson album will initially sound a little strange, and rightfully should, for such a forward thinking band. In my experience the more immediately appealing highlights of the Crimson back catalogue ("Red", "THRAK") invariably lose some of their freshness after too few spins, while the more difficult and challenging efforts ("Lizard" springs to mind) are the ones with legs.

It can typically take years before a new King Crimson album begins to sound normal, but this year 2000 release may prove to be an unhappy exception.

I'll be the first to admit it fell victim to unrealistic expectations, always a risk with those select few bands at the top of the aesthetic totem pole. After the revelation of the 4- disc ProjeKcts box set (to my ears representing the most exciting musical development in Crimson's long and varied career) I felt this one should have been a masterpiece: the breakthrough album that saw the belated flowering of Rhythm Buddies Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto, who for years were merely faces in the Double Trio crowd, always in the shadow of Tony Levin and Bill Bruford.

It didn't quite work out that way. The effort was shortchanged by a rushed production job, and by the fact that the lengthy research and development of the ProjeKcts wasn't used to its fullest potential. Instead of extending the glorious freedom of the 'V'- drum driven ProjecKct improvisations, the group simply took some of the more accessible moments and force-fit them into labored compositions. The Light, Heavy, Contrary ConstruKction cycle from P2 was distilled into the title track here; the monster riffs of P3's "Masque 12" and P4's "ProjeKction" became "Into the Frying Pan", and so forth.

And the sound of the mix was relentlessly grim, even by King Crimson's well-established standards, with none of the contrasts between dark and light passages that so effectively color other Crim albums. Even Adrian Belew's melancholy acoustic coda "I Have a Dream" was nixed in favor of an all-too typically heavy full band blowout, closing the disc on another loud and overwhelming downbeat.

Only the epilogue, "Heaven and Earth", attributed not to King Crimson but to the mysterious ProjeKct X, gives any indication what the album might have aspired to, given more input from the under-appreciated and always inventive rhythm section. Anyone curious about where ProjeKcts 3 and 4 were going should search out the ProjeKct X album, recorded parallel to the ConstruKction of Light sessions. It's a natural fulfillment of the techno drum 'n' bass ethos in those earlier experiments, and I wish Robert Fripp had released it under the King Crimson banner, instead of hiding it under a pseudonymous blanket.

In the greater Crim history "The ConstruKction of Light" might almost be analogous to the "Lark's Tongues in Aspic" album and the post-"Earthbound" Crim. How's that? Think about it: a new and radical incarnation of the band stands poised to shake the cultural tree, but settles instead (in the studio, at any rate) for picking up the easy fruit already fallen to the ground. It's the same old story: King Crimson has always had trouble translating its considerable energy to the studio. Only with the release, three years later, of "The Power to Believe" would the promise of the Double Duo line-up be fully realized.

A very,very strange album. I have been listening to this for a while, and i still don't fully "get it". But either way, it is still a good album. There are many highlights from this album. Unfortunatly, there are bad parts to this album that really can slow the ablum down. First the bad, FraKctured, The Project-X song, and (at times) LTIA part IV. The rest of them are pretty good to great. The ConstruKction of Light is really powerful and the interplay of the instraments is really great. The World Is My Oyster Soup...is one of the best songs form Crimson (and again I mean form any era). The Lyrics are fantastic for that song. But for the rest of the album, excluding TCOL and C:IHAD, the lyrics are nothing spectacular. Fans really should not dismiss this album as "trash", but should embrace it. You probably won't like it the first go around, but keep listening, you'll get it (and like it) eventually.

announcement in 2000. It is a work recorded by four person organization. A sound common from at the beginning to CRIMSON after 80's explodes, and the expectation is not failed to live up to. Merotoron is not used, and seems also for all the sounds of the keyboard style to depend on the guitar synthesizer this time. I feel the power that should be called a starting point recurrence by no former work overall power. Personally, I think that the title tune in which a musical result after 1981 is consolidated is the best.

An unexpected and brilliant shift in the dynamic which the work of the projects was moving towards. To me, this is the most musical king crimson record in decades. The long composed instrumentals are what the 80s band was lacking, something they began to improve on Thrak. Comparing this albumn to the previous periods is futile, King Crimson is hopelessly innovative- and I wouldn't have it any other way. The only downside is the production, which is substandard. I also would have enjoyed a few more tracks from the Projekct X sessions.

Quickly- I have listened to "Fracture" and "Frakcured" many times and I think that they are completely different compositions, the naming is stupid- it only gets people worked up about how they are ripping off old songs. The same goes for "Larks" although I will admit that the opening section is quite similar to the other versions. (but so what, its like 2 minutes of music). If one took the time to appreciate the songs instead of being an elitest prog nerd our problems would be solved.

Whats amazing to me is how interactive King Crimson's music is with its time period, and the depth to which they understand the word progressive.

The "double trio" line-up is here reduced to a "double duo" which tried to blend Adrian Belew's lyrics, improvs with influences from the old days and new influences from the experiences with the ProjeKcts.

"ProzaKc Blues" (very strange vocals here), "Into The Frying Pan" and "The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum" are very irritating to listen with the silly lyrics and melodies. "FraKctured" and "Larks' Tongues In Aspic - Part IV" are pale efforts to go back to the roots - I didn't like "Larks' Tongues In Aspic" and "Fracture" too much, and I like those two new songs even less. Rest the melodic "The ConstruKction Of Light" which would be a summary of the ProjeKCts era and the beautiful "Coda : I Have A Dream".

Rating: 66/100

This is widely considered King Crimson's "worst" album. However, anyone who doesn't understand this album doesn't understand what King Crimson has always been about. They've never stayed in the same place for very long, and they're known for radically changing musical directions. They're never going back to doing Symphonic Prog, so there is no reason to compare that era of KC to this one. If anything, this music has more in common with RIO/Avant-Prog acts such as Mr. Bungle (with the heaviness of Mike Patton's other projects Faith No More and Fantomas).

ProzaKc Blues opens the album with some very bizarre vocals, disjointed rythms, and distorted blues riffs. Right away you can tell this isn't the same Crimson that released In The Court 30 years ago. Belew does his best Tom Waits impression using some sort of voice distorter. Lyrically, this is probably Belew at his best, returning to his more abstract sarcastic style that could found in Discipline.

The opener is probably the most straightforward song on the album, what follows is a series of mostly instrumental improvisations. The musicianship is excellent. Mastello and Gunn, who until now were in the shadow of Bruford and Levin, finally get a chance to show off their abilties. While they may not share the legendary status of their predecesors, they are worthy replacements.

FraKctured and LTIA Part IV are far from "rehashes" of previous songs. The only thing they really have in common with Fracture and LTIA are the titles and a few familiar riffs. Everything else about these songs is completely changed, distorted, and disoriented. Crimson takes the basic structures of these classic KC songs and makes them into something completely new and unrecognizable.

In previous albums, Fripp took more of a supporting role, holding everything together with a few riffs while the other members went wild. On this album, Fripp finally gets a chance to show off his true skills, performing some of his best and most original solos.

This may be King Crimson's most challenging album, but it is far from their worst. Anyone who truly appreciates Fripp and the band should at least give this album a chance.

I give The ConstruKction of Light 5 stars. I have been a King Crimson fan since 1974. At the end of the 70's when progressive rock appeared to be gone I stopped listening to any kind of rock music (really). I started listening again a few years ago, partly because I was so impressed with this album, which I stumbled on by chance browsing at Tower Records. I prefer the music that appears most obviously to have the imprimatur of Robert Fripp: The ConstruKction of Light, FraKctured, Larks Tongues in Aspic Part IV. I don't like the Adrian Belew stuff as much, with the exception of Frying Pan. The aforementioned Robert Fripp music on this album is the best music King Crimson has ever created (as of 2006) with the exception of the original 1973 album, Larks Tongues in Aspic. The instrumental pieces FraKctured and Larks Tongues in Aspic Part IV contain the beautiful, heavy and boldly executed pattern interweaving and odd timing that has been the hallmark of Fripp since the original Larks Tongues. If the wildly spider-like guitar riffs and contrapunal, syncopated ax blows from the rhythm section don't stop you in mid breath in awe of this magic then you and I are not appreciating King Crimson for the same qualities. I would like to hear more of this kind of expression from King Crimson. There is no improvisation on this album that I can hear. When King Crimson improvises--assuming that it works--you notice it in a big way. For example, Moonchild on the first album and Providence on Red. This kind of instrumental orchestration with improvisation mixed in would be perfect.

This is my favorite of all the Crimson releases, the one I find myself listening to the most. What a powerful album. I have always preferred their edgier, more metallic albums over their more (dare I say) pastoral works, and this one is perhaps the hardest.

'Larks Tongues IV' is incredible and must listen for any KC fan. It references the prior works, yet brings it into the millennium, something'Larks Tongue III' failed at for the 80's. It is all angular beats, rapid arpegios and constanly shifting cadences, yet it evolves into a stunning coda, ' I Have A Dream,' where all the choas of what has gone before is summerized ending with a plea to end the insanity. Stunning.

Other highlights include Belew's clever wordplay on 'Worlds My Oyster Soup...", the moving tranquility of 'Heaven And Earth', and the edgy rocker 'Into The Frying Pan.'

Although this is my favorite KC release, I must give a lower rating than I would like, due to some glaring miscalculations. Much of the album is a little to similar to previous works, 'ConstruKction of Light' and 'FraKctured' (is anybody else glad that they got away from the annoying "Kc" titles on 'Power To Believe') really go nowhere new and I am not a big fan of Belew's use of heavy distortion on his vocals, 'ProzaKc Blues' being a good example of this being too distracting and hurting a fair song. The biggest crime this album offers is in its track breaks. 'ConstruKction' and 'Larks Tongues' are spread over several tracks without any real reason (bothersome as it makes these songs useless on my iPod on shuffle).

I know this review seems schizophrenic (both praising and damning at the same time) but I must be critical because I care so much.

Throughout the years, King Crimson has always been tweaking their sound so greatly that one might believe that a different group. From the symphonic In the Court of the Crimson King to the glorified progressive pop of Beat, to the quasi-avant-metal of Thrak, Robert Fripp has always been able to shape the sound of the band in such a way that it completely leaves the old sound behind. This album, released 5 years after the double trio madness of Thrak, shows a King Crimson on the verge of some great ideas, but some poor execution hurts this album. Joining Fripp on this venture are long time collaborator and friend Adrian Belew on guitar and vocal, and Thrak newcomers Pat Mastelloto and Trey Gunn. Together, they take the Thrak sound and give it a grungier, heavier spin, taking the listener through avenues unheard of.

ProzaKc Blues opens the album, a driving guitar drenched intro accompanied by Adrian Belew's distorted, morphed, heavily deepened vocal. One can already tell from the start that something is different. The lyrics are disjointed and off the wall, not as concise and quirky as Belew's past efforts. The ConstrucKtion of Light is a two part song, the first part being a heavy and dreary piece of music, very dense and powerful, while the second part takes a more ethereal approach with angelic call and response vocals from Belew, saying words that would seem to have nothing to do with each other when put next to each other. Into the Frying Pan is one of the weaker tracks on the album, bland guitars, bland vocals, cheesy lyrics, it's all there.

FraKctured is a reworking of the song made so famous on Starless and Bible Black. The interplay between Belew and Fripp on this song is quite stunning, almost breathtaking. The complexities of the guitar riffs and the musicianship from each individual member is stunning. But really, is it really necessary to rework a masterpiece of a song already into something almost completely different? It may be a wonderful track, but it wasn't really necessary to record. The World's my Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum takes cues from Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream from Thrak, off the wall lyrics, dissonant guitars, and wonderfully zany lyrics... almost too zany if you ask me.

Larks Tongue in Aspic, pt. 4 is the showpiece of the album. An epic working of riffs surrounding the classic LTIA mode, and taking cues from the instrumental Red, this song really is another showpiece of musical talent and prowess from the guitar standpoint, with Belew and Fripp being perfect counterparts to one another. It segues into Coda: I Have a Dream, with some epic working from the guitar synth from Fripp. Belew's lyrics are hauntingly true, even though they were written in 2000, years before any of the events really occured. A truly eerie ending. Heaven and Earth in the conclusion to the album, the song attributed to ProjeKct X. Expect some very ethereal and spacy work with some interesting drumming in the middle.

Overall, this seems to be the bastard child of King Crimson's later works. Some believe that it doesn't belong, it's uninspired, contrived, no good, and just an overall disappointment. This is where I disagree with the norm. I believe this album has a lot of merit, it's just that some of the songs could have used a tweaking, a little more refinement and been questioned of their worth... but I can't complain too much. There is a lot worse out there, and this is not... I repeat not... one of those worse things. 3/5.

There are many unbelievable albums from KC. Probably more than from any other champions league progband. Perhaps the most important progband at all. But this one ist their masterpiece! Absolutely! Although Bill Bruford isn't playing here. 'Cause on "The ConstruKction of Light" (please think about this title!) is important what is played and and how it is played and sung; yes, 'and sung'! The often critizised strange voices from Adrian Belew - besides his well known brilliant singing - are exactly what fits here. 'The ConstruKction of Ligh' is a unique construction of soundy songs or songy sounds, extremly sophisticated and probably extremly rehearsed also; and then played with full verve ... stunning. It will be fun, fascination and efforts for the next 10 years to really perceive, discover and understand everything that's happening on this record. For sure the peak of KC's musical creations. Even Robert Fripp and his great bandmates couldn't keep this level. The next studio album "Power to Believe" was just a little more than finger exercises, well, KC-finger-exercises ...

It's ridiculous to do a song-by-song review here, because there's no more tones in the palette other than the digital experimentation and the polyrhythms (their greatest gift). It has the most amazing guitar interplays in the same context of "Discipline", but the thing has the same goshdarned mood all over. There's no "Exiles", no "Night Watch", not even a "Matte Kudasai" to relax your eardrums. It's the same freak show over and over.

All in all, this is probably the best "double duo" band around: Fripp has a lot of technicality and in my opinion he is very underrated; so is Belew (who also has amazing vocals, even though they are disguised here by strange vocal harmonies and studio tricks); Trey Gunn could compete with Levin anytime (even though he doesn't play bass per se, rather a "Warr Guitar") and Pat does amazing works with the drums, whilst the pulsating electronic effects become irritating after a while).

Perhaps the softest song here is the second part of the title track, but maybe I'm talking too much nonsense. There are no soft songs here, and even as I like to hear polyrhythmic experiments and guitar duets and groovy bass lines, you have to push the pause button once in a short while to take a rest; it's just too much. This is what I like to call a "wankfest".

"Prozakc Blues" is the "Elephant Talk" of this album, with an eerie blues feel and weird vocals by Belew. "The Construkction of Light" is the highlight, with sudden breaks, and if I can decipher correctly, some instruments play at 7/4 while others play at 4/4 (correct me if I'm wrong); it's the Discipline-related song. "Into The Frying Pan" continues as a weird rocker with lots of time shifts. "Frakctured" is the gloomiest song on here, and although it might contain some of the most beautiful harmonies of the album, it also contains some frenetic shreds and terrifying sound effects. "the World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum" incorporates a stupid play on words that would sound better coming from Peter Gabriel, dubbed above the samey guitar riffs all over. "Larks' Tongues" is a reworking of the original part 2 of 1973; but with more frenetic interplay and electronic drums. "Coda: I Have A Dream" is the last song (speaks for itself: coda), and it consists of simple chord progressions and not much variation.

So for me, this is 3-star material, I suggest you start progressively from "Court" and end here or in "The Power To Believe"; that is, to understand the evolution of this band.

First album of the new millenium for King Crimson, The ConstruKction of Light marks the end of the short double trio era. Tony Levin and Bill Bruford left the band before the recording of this album and the Crimson king is now reduced to a line-up of four members : Robert Fripp (guitars), Adrian Belew (guitars and vocals), Trey Gunn (Warr guitars, Chapman Sticks and baritone guitars) and Pat Mastelloto (drums). The departure of the two legends that are Levin and Bruford finally gives both Gunn and Mastelloto some space to shine. They delivered what is often and widely considered as King Crimson's worst album. Sure, the album is challenging but it's a long way from being their worst. While Thrak was mostly uninspired and wasn't bringing anything new to the table, The ConstruKction of Light is a step forward what future King Crimson could sound like.

The album flows really well and is really cohesive. From the first to the last track, the same mood is kept. I personally get a heavy sci-fi vibe from it. Only two tracks break the flow of the album and those are the opener (ProzaKc Blues) and The World's my Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum. Both are good songs on their own and showcase Belew at his best as a vocalist. Both have great lyrics and are great pop tracks. The rest of the album is captivating though. ConstruKction of Light part 1 and 2, FraKctured and Lark's tongue in Aspic part 4 are all in the same vein and they are all extremely succesful. FraKctured and Lark's tongue in Aspic part 4 in particular are essential listenings to heavy prog lovers. Both are in the same style as the first three Lark's tongues but they are only heavier and speedier. They feature greats riffs like we are used to with the Larks parts. The ConstruKction of Light part 1 and 2 are also really good and the rythm guitar is reminiscent of the best 80s exploration of gamelan that Fripp accomplished.

This album features some of the most impressive musicianship in any King Crimson album. Robert Fripp, who's usually pretty laid back and who had often took care of the rythm guitarist job since Belew joined, lets out some jaw-dropping solo guitar here. From the crazy riff of FraKctured to the solos of Lark's tongue part 4, he's amazing. Pat Mastelloto also does a fantastic job on the drum kit here. He doesn't try to sound as weird as possible as Bruford always do but he gets the job done perfectly.

Overall, this album is really enjoyable. It may be one of the Crimson King's albums I get myself to listening often. If you loathe heaviness and still think symphonic King Crimson is the only worthy incarnation of the band, but if you want to dwell into what modern Crimson is all about, The ConstruKction of Light is a perfect album. 4 stars.

-Bern

Ripping off themselves

Not only this, but the vocals in track 1 sound as if from a drunk. This was the worst of KC other than the deplorable Beat. Most of the songs here feel like ripoffs of material they've already done, and while I'll admit there's a similarity between a lot of KC works, here it's more noticeable and less unique, especially LTIA Pt 4 which sounds like a poor version of LTIA Pt 2.

I would never start someone here with KC, unless I just happened to not like the band and didn't want them to like KC either. It's not dog terrible, but with a band with such a large catalog, there's so much other material that's infinitely better. The fact that Belew sounds drunk on track 1 just turns me off, even if that is the desired effect, it's not very enjoyable. Certainly the instrumental effects have lost their luster with the loss of the great KC musicians, with only Fripp and Belew remaining.

I really get very little out of this record, but it is better than Beat, if that means anything. More a rocker than a progger, but not exactly any enjoyable rock tunes. Stay away from unless you want all of KC's discography, as I do.

In a word, difficult.

Even as a King Crimson fan for... well, fine, about a year... before listening to this disc, I was very, very confused by this at first. In fact, I'd had it for about a month before I listened to it but enough about that. When I first put it on, I had a pretty fair warning already about what I'd be hearing. Purportedly, this album was the worst KC album, even worse than Islands had been - which I didn't think was that bad, anyway - and was borderline-unlistenable.I found out one very simple thing: Those people were wrong.

I started at the start, of course. "ProzaKc Blues" was my opening track. I had my lyrics sheet all set up. I expected much better from this, to be honest. The vocals were slowed so that it was... It was Darth Vader singin' the blues! What was this thing?! I've not grown to like it. That's just not going to happen, because that's just weird... Weirder than KC usually is, anyway. If only they could release a version without the slowed vocals...

Next in line was the title track - both of 'em. The first is an instrumental; the second actually had some lyrics. I was pleased to hear a more natural voice from Ade this time around. The lyrics consisted of a bunch of very negative words interspersed with a few comments about mankind overseeing "the Construction of Light" and the occasional positive... well, particle. At this point I went back and looked at the title. "The ConstruKction of Light?" There was no light in sight. I had been expecting to get my fair share of dark lyrics from Ade, but, come on...

Up next was "Into the Frying Pan". Great stuff. The lyrics are easy to pick up, simple and to the point, and the music kept me interested for a while, but, again, those vocals are disgusting. The distortion seems to be poorly done as it gets very warped at points and sounds even more robotic to the point of painfulness. Were it not for those little... faults, this song could easily have pulled the weight for almost everything else that didn't work.

"FraKctured" was next. I'd read that, depending on what parts of the track you listen to, this was either the most beautiful or the ugliest on the album. Fair enough. I think the track is beautiful in its ugliness. It's a guitar-heavy workout which made me think of many other monstrous instrumentals by artists like Zappa. I didn't see much relation to "Fracture," but maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

"The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum" - in a word, weird. More loud guitar work and distorted vocals. I was not really sure at any point where this song was going, but that was part of the fun, really. Okay, whatever. The big problem with this track is the staccato rhythm of the vocals, combined with that distortion, feels too robotic and tends to play on the nerves, as it doesn't quite sound right...

Now, we come to the moment most of us have been waiting for - "Lark's Tongues in Aspic, Part IV"! This one feels much closer to Parts I and II than III did. As with the rest of the album, these tracks - annoyingly, the song has been split in three! - are heavy on guitar and very loud. It ends with a coda that cites many of the events of the age, and even two which hadn't happened by the release of the album. As with the title track, this coda is mostly dark clouds and other such depressing imagery.

We end with a ProjeKct X demo - "Heaven and Earth". Let me put my opinion on it this way - I'm sold. I'll surely buy that album once I find a place that sells it - which has been my problem with getting King Crimson stuff for a long time.

All in all, this is not a bad album. It's not as dense as THRAK and VROOOM were, but they're still very heavy. This is not, however, a starting point for King Crimson. I'm certainly fortunate that I didn't start here or I would never have gotten into the band. Guitar-driven, yet does not break huge amounts of new ground and with no hugely stand-out tracks or impressively creepy lyrics - remember Sleepless ("It's alright to feel a little fear") and Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream ("They're fishing in the kitchen, but they haven't caught up to me")? You won't quite find that here. There is, however, a lot of self-reference anddistortion on this album. However, it's not as bad as everyone says it is. Give it a try, but remember what to be ready for.

THE BOTTOM OF CRIMSON!

Whatever happened to them! After the brilliant THRAK album, i was expecting something good from this album. This is the most uninspired album of them all. I am not fond of BEAT but i a cannot say it was bad music, just not for my taste. On THE CONSTRUKTION OF LIGHT you definitively have bad tracks and some of them are utterly S...! You have also a lot of pointless noodling between the two guitars that go nowhere like in the title track.

The worst starts with the first song ''PROZAC BLUES'' , a horrible piece of music sung by a terrible Belew sounding like a 70 years old drunk! and they opened the album with this track! Unbelievable!

The first good music i can hear is track 4 INTO THE FRYING PAN (what a title!) with a nice guitar crescendo but Belew once again blew it up with horrendous vocals. Where is Wetton when we need him? I don't know if its for lack of inspiration, but they are redoing a new version of FRACTURE named FRAKTURED. Don't expect anything close to the greatness of the original one.More noodling but with some nice parts during the quiet moments.

But we haven't reach the bottom yet! I think THE WORLD'S MY OYSTER SOUP KITCHEN FLOOR WAX MUSEUM ( at least they had some fun finding titles for these ''great''tunes) Belew once again sink the KC ship well deep.I think this tune can easily qualify for the worst KING CRIMSON song ever followed by PROZAC BLUES.

Then we have LARKS TONGUE IN ASPIC part783 .I guess once again , inspiration was missing to have to redo a version of part2, of course less interesting than part2. It's chaotic, noisy and you can't wait it ends to get a reprieve. The album ends with a not too bad Belew ''message'' song where him too wakes up in the morning after having a dream!!!! nothing memorable.

KING CRIMSON is back to a quartet with Trey Gunn on bass and Pat Mastelotto on drums. Levin and Bruford left the band, but i don't blame them after listening to this mess.And Belew sadly is still there.

With King Crimson being my favorite band, i would never have imagined that i will give them only one star to one of their releases. So here we are :1 star

I quite liked their last studio release "THRACK". Like in that, KC will "revisit" some old acquaintances...

The opener "ProzaKc Blues" is a very heavy song. With a kind of growling voice (I never could stand this except maybe with some Opeth stuff). Not a great start, really. The album swithes nicely to a very melodic (though dark) song. The title track is one of my preferred one on this album. "Into The Frying Pan" belongs to their noisy repertoire. Drumming is a bit disturbing and globally (if you except the nice, scary and mellodic fifty seconds) it is just cacophony.

"FraKtured" is lighter than its old inspirator. While the original had a catchy and hypnotic riff, this one features more soft guitar play from time to time. During others, we'll get a structureless track during which Mastelotto does not know quite well what to do with his drum kit.

The wierd titled "The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum" reminds me of the "style" of the previous line-up during his trilogy : "Discipline", "Beat" and "Three Of A Perfect Pair" : noisy and dull all the way through.

My preferred number might well be the "Lark's Tongues" one. The original Part II was one of my fave on the original album and I quite liked III on THRACK. This one is pretty much in line and should please the ones who have praised the early days of this band. The only restriction of course, is that the idea is borrowed, but it does not worry me that much. It is a good track.

Like "Coda" : an almost symphonic song with nice mellotron in the back. Belew, this time, sounds pretty much like Matthew Bellamy from Muse. I prefer this "imitation" that his singing on "Discipline". Another pleasant number. "Heaven & Earth" closes this album very nicely. Truely symphonic in the intro, it gets a bit crazier (but this is KC, right). Great and imposing guitar works. Very hypnotic as in the good old time. It ends almost as it starts : very aerial, spacey and nice (a bit like "Subterraneans" from whom you might know).

This album is a bit less interesting than "THRACK". Two stars.

Maybe they should have called this album "The ConstruKction of Heavy". To me this sounds like a blending of the next release "The Power to Believe" with "Discipline". This may have low ratings but I think some people can't handle heavy (haha). I guess that is the influence of my "Metal" background talking.

"ProzaKc Blues" is just plain funny. Belew's humour comes to the fore again. His vocals are processed big time to sound like an old blues singer. Check out the lyrics though.This is a heavy song with heavy vocals. Some ripping guitar as well. "The ConstruKction of Light" is a great tune.The percussion is amazing ! As are the intricate guitar melodies that interlock, reminding me of the "Discipline" album. "Into the Frying Pan" is another heavy, full sounding song. The guitar after 5 minutes is incredible. "FraKctured" is like a new version of "Fractured" from "Starless And Bible Black" and it's one of my favourites from this album. The guitar lines to open from Fripp I will never tire of. He is the master of creating these complex guitar arrangements that are on this song as well.The drumming really is outstanding on this song.

"The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum" is again another heavy tune. This one has vocals and check out the blistering guitar solo after 3 minutes that lasts a minute. "Larks' Tongues in Aspic-Part IV" is my other favourite song on this album. When it comes on I just say "Oh Yeah !" It's like organized mayhem. Some great guitar moments including towards the end of the song where the guitar is almost talking, I think it said "Somebody please help me !" "Coda: I Have a Dream" is a sad commentary on the twentieth century, as it recounts some of the tragedies.The heavy soundscapes continue. "ProjeKct X : Heaven and Earth" is another terrific tune.The percussion and guitar are spellbinding. Great sound ! The spacey atmosphere for the last 3 minutes of the song is quite refreshing.

I really like this record. I like the direction they have been heading towards from "Thrakk" to "The Power to Believe". And this album is an important part of that journey.

An acceptable studio return for the band. Three standout tracks (ConstruKction of Light, FraKctured, and Larks' Tongues IV). For Crim fans at the time, it was more important that the band had simply produced a new studio album rather than whether or not the content was up to snuff.

I had the pleasure of seeing the group twice on this tour, and honestly it was not until I saw them perform TCOL material live that I began to appreciate it. I accept it for what it was - a necessary step in the evolution of the modern Crim. Definitely not for all prog fans, essential for Crim fans.

"ConstruKction of Light" may not be nearly as innovative as most of the band's output, but it remains a tremendously fun listen nonetheless-- for fans of the "heavy" Crimson anyway. Taken as a whole the songs are very mathematic, industrial even, with lots of rhythmic back flips and cold precise drumming. "ProzaKc Blues" wears thin by the half- way mark, but the successive-- largely instrumental moments is where the real fun begins. A good mixutre of delicate tinkling and super-heavy shredding follows, making for a good mix of the two dynamics. Experimental noises, effects, and atmosphere add a lot to the twisting guitar interplay of Fripp/Belew as well.

Not essential, but highly recommended for fans of the heavy Crimson.

Songwriting: 3 Instrumental Performances: 4 Lyrics/Vocals: 2 Style/Emotion/Replay: 4

Every new project by each incarnation of The Crimson gets better and better; these artists bring us to an altogether new dimension of King Crimson. Fripp seems to be asking the question: Just how far can one push the music to the edge of the anarchy of industrial sounds and yet maintain an esthetically pleasing theme? What is esthetically pleasing is, of course, personal. The music is raw and a genuinely true ".assault on culture."! Aside from the avant-garde nature of the performances, one could say it has an almost jazz-metallic blend to it. As an aside, although Progressive Metal is the worse thing to happen to Prog, these bands could learn a lot here. Belew's lyrics are just what the Mad Doctor ordered. Pat Mastelotto and Trey Gunn are at the top of their form; their complex mix of percussion and bass form the foundation of each track. At times Mastelotto strikes his snare sharply enough to evoke the feeling he's just delivered a stroke with a bludgeon, all with surgical precision; other times images of a rivet gun come to mind. The guitar work of Fripp, Belew, and Gunn is phenomenal. The performance by this group is so tight to the point of being amazing. There is not a wasted note in the whole batch!

"The ConstruKction Of Light" will not please everyone. These are some of the best jazz-rock musicians today who attempted to forge a new path. It's human nature to seek out what we found pleasant and familiar with something when the source of pleasure is re-encountered. Audiences can be like that. However, good musicians know that a static approach to their craft is often a mistake. Listen to this offering by The Crimson with the only expectation that something "new" is coming, then it's possible to see the singular originality of the work. In other words, don't go looking for more of the same old stuff here.

The assault begins with "Prozakc Blues". Belew physically distorts his voice for this one, leaving some listeners with the impression that the vocalist is some enormous member of Hell's Angels worst who's really down on his luck. Or perhaps it's just more elephant talk. Depression is definitely on the menu here, but the lyrics and music really work; Belew casts a nice hook with this song. "The Construkction of Light, Pt.1-2" Pt.1 is the sound of industry. Men at work! Having just toyed with the depths of depression in "Prozakc Blues", Pt.2 takes over with lyrics that alternate between dual chanting voices contrasting moods and the insignificance one might feel, pondering the vastness of Nature. Belew is not feigning to be deep, it just goes with the aim of the song. "Into The Frying Pan" heads deeper into the abyss of carefully organized mayhem. This is more like an extended chorus than a complete song, but it gets at the final point that the moments or periods of hell we go through in life runs in cycles. It would be a mistake to assume the subject matter of this work makes the entire album negative and dark. That said, this album does deal with subjects that are uncomfortable. A careful listener will notice notes of humor throughout; sometimes sardonic, others sympathetic. Kinda like the way one can slip unconsciously into thinking about life if times get tougher than expected. Well, bugger! "Frakctured" is a purely instrumental piece which begins with an austere cyclic picked guitar monophony that splits into a duet; both musicians echoing & completing each others phrases, mechanically, almost like a musical box. A mournful bass part that hints at a cello plays along. Suddenly the music erupts halfway through into more "heavy construkction." The guitar lines become more frantic; Mastelotto and Gunn add a marvelous industrial flavor to the whole thing. "Frakctured" comes as an extended interlude between "Into The Frying Pan" and the next track. "The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum": now that's a chorus! The lyrics here are more of Belew's 21st Century beat-nick poetry and they are a good complement to the planned chaos. "Lark's Tongues in Aspic, Part IV (Pt. 1-3)" is nothing but pure beautiful madness. Pt.1 creates an excellent state of tension and and instills an ominous feeling, with two gifted guitarists battling it out, note-for-note. Pt.2 takes the mood another step higher in intensity. This planned and superbly executed din, almost a rage, is so addicting. Pt.3 flies off the edge beautifully, there is real restrained rage boiling over, with each musicians performance. "Coda:I Have A Dream" takes the listener to the depths and the emotional pressure of the music just never lets up. Belew recites an uneven litany of tragedies of the last half (or so) of the 20th Century that makes this piece seem more like a lament in a war zone; an ever so good one. "Heaven And Earth" concludes this jarring but enjoyable experience. An unrelenting drive from the rhythm section forces Heaven And Earth forward, then different guitar parts wail amid a sea of strings surfacing and submerging throughout. The raucous polyphony ends by softening and fading into a primitive drumming.

You just have to love or hate this album on the first listen; it's hard to think of what kind of person would feel ambivalent about it. To those repelled or truly ambivalent, I would say it's an acquired taste. It's the nature of the avant-garde.

Short on innovation, inspiration and high on the "noise factor", this recording fails to satisfy on a number of levels. Asinine lyrics and distorted vocals aside, the record is just full of plodding, dull, dark, heavy music that sometimes just seems heavy for the sake of being heavy. Other than Trey Gunn's Instrument of the Month Club, there is nothing on this record that even remotely represents anything novel, exciting or fresh whatsoever on this record. The overall impression left with this long time Crimhead is that the lack of real creativity displayed in the recording suggests a need for another lengthy hiatus by the "band" until Mr. Fripp and whatever ensemble he chooses to piece together for subsequent work (whether under the name King Crimson or something else) draw some real inspiration from wherever they draw it from. This recording is neither cutting edge art nor particularly effective craft. It is directionless and wallows in mediocrity.

When I think about The ConstrucKtion of Light, I think about the name of a Primus greatest hits album: They Can't All Be Zingers. King Crimson have had a long, storied career pushing the boundaries of music into previously unheard sonic territory. This has resulted in a few slips along the way, but on each album the good always outweighed the bad, even if only just. Here, the scale tips as nearly the whole thing is a mistake. The album is manic, like the Red-era Crimson we all know and love. However, unlike Red-era Crimson, it's not enjoyable. Perhaps the Crimson King finally reached the point on the sonic map were there be dragons.

First and foremost, I don't think we need anymore additions to Larks' Tongue in Aspic. Part III was decent, but unnecessary. Part IV is, shockingly, the highlight of the album. It has the most focused mayhem, complete with driving riffs and actual energy. They should stop adding on to this song while they're riding high. As good as the instrumental is, though, it is part of the reason that I don't like this album. Any song that does not completely fail is merely a restructuring of previous material. FraKctured is a replication of Fracture, and the rest can be linked to various points of the band's career and varying sounds.

In short, Crimson became their own covers band. People throw out that expression all the time, but here it is truly valid. The only difference is that they tried to sound like another band covering Crimson. Other bands keep their sound when they devolve into self-parody. The only redeemable factor of this album is Larks Part IV, which erased the bitter taste left in my mouth after the banal Part III. Still, if you want good modern Crimson, get THRAK and the masterful Power to Believe. This is an album best skipped.

Grade: F

This album, to me, is the most inexplicably hated album king crimson put out. What is wrong with this album? How can people give this album less then 4 stars? To me, this is one of my all-time favorite king crimson albums, and this bias against it fascinates me. It's like they had a country or rap breakdown in the middle or something (2 genres that proggers have a bias against as well).

This album features an impressive array of electronic effects, mostly improvised on guitar, I might add. It is intended to be atmospheric. There is the whole polyrhythmic interlocking thing going on here throughout. The instruments all wonder around, playing with larger interviews then normal, giving the music a feel like it is from outer space (not space rock). However, they all go together, all the tones fit into the larger picture, they all fit the scales and what not. Overall, this album is a mostly instrumental groove very similar to projekt 2's space groove, but less improvised and better written.

The album starts off with a comedy blues song called prozak blues. It isn't terribly funny after a few times through, but I still enjoy it. The guitar lines, the groove, and the solos are excellent. The following 2 tracks are one of king crimson's finest moments, The construktion of light. It begins with a very ethereal guitar duet where robert plays one note, and then adrian plays a note, and they trade all these notes off at a relatively fast clip without ever messing up. This is a very hard thing to do, as should be apparent to any musician. The drums are very unique on this song too. Part two is a more conventional song, with a relatively normal guitar part and groove with the drums, featuring some stream of consciousness words with regular verses. Into the frying pan is a sort of alternative rocker, with very awesome drumming, breaking out into an instrumental section, and tension building verse, returning back to chorus, and then breaking out into more mayhem, including some very odd solos, which are purposefully unfocused. It also features lots of breaks, and strange sound effects. Overall, the effect is similar to being in a frying pan actually, maybe finding a piece of toast to stand on in the middle of the song, maybe going to heaven at the end of the song (soundscapes). Fraktured follows, and boy oh boy, is it good. This version involves the full band a bit more then the original, and is very different to the original, although still featuring that famous guitar line. The breaks out into dual guitar melody are great. It picks up throughout the album, going through cycles of crazy guitar line, nice dual guitar melody, crazier guitar line, nice dual guitar melody. Once again, the drums are awesome. This album should ease the fears of former mastelotto doubters. Near the end, this song is absolutly insane, and very fun to gape at. It is a rapid fire, synth driven, tech workout which is desperate sounding in it's frantic clawing away at notes. The bass actually keeps up with the guitar on this one, hats off to the bassist. The world's my oyster soup kitchen floor wax museum is a fun lyrical experiment with a great solo section featuring guitars that sound like pianos, among other fun things. It is a lighthearted prelude to the very heavy hitting larks tongues in aspic IV. It is basically a really long guitar spotlight with a rhythem of the original part II (and the part III). People angrily proclaim that they don't want so many remakes of this song, but I don't see why not. It is a good remake, is it not? Seriously, king crimson have been retouching their old material for quite some time now, and usually rewriting it in very unique ways. Get used to it. This song is great, if only you can see past the superficial similarities to te other LTIA releases. THe coda is very touching. Following it, there is a bonus track. It is a preview of projekt X, and is a wonderful sort of new age improvised world electronica/rock thingimajig, and I really enjoed it. It really is a relaxing mood lifter to end the album on a positive note.

I couldn't find flaw with this album, but it isn't an essential masterpiece either, so I give it 4.5 stars.

King Crimson used to play progressive rock back in the days when it was plausible to be heard on the radio doing so, but now they play future world music of a kind they were only rehearsing on Discipline - having written nursery rhymes for the muted electric gamelan in the past, maturing musically through the experience, they now concern themselves with anthems.

However, this can be taken equally as pop music. People in the forums are always saying that there's a time for prog and there's a time for a good pop tune and, for me, this is what I often reach for during those latter circumstances. I'm not trying to be clever here - although The ConstruKction of Light is a stubborn knot of logarithmic note choice and sly self-referentialism/deferentialism rendered in an oppressive and contrarian atmosphere, some elusive quality of the album renders it an effortless and inviting listen; to this reviewer a much more visceral and genuine set of songs than any combination culled from the '80s repetoire, the era supposedly possessing of a great popular appeal.

There are three self-sufficient songs here (along with two more to be found clinging to the end of longer pieces) and each of them differs from any previous KC pop snapshots. A quick listen of ProzaKc Blues defeats all criticism of the album from the recycling angle and from people who take everything they need to know about a song from it's title - hands up if you've ever *really* heard another blues like this one. No? Moreover, the song hints at what's coming next in ways other than musical - as we do further on, we can observe snatches of vulgarity intellectualised, a density of guitar-play that hinges on common dissonance taken a small step too far for comfort and, happily, a lack of cliches... excluding Belew's ironic blues mannerisms, used purely to evoke the image of a washed-up rockstar (to help you forget that Fripp represents one of the most eloquent and intellectual rock musicians on the circuit?) sleazing his way through a narcotic performance. Or more to the point, it makes you think of Greg Lake.

Frying Pan seems like the alternative universe Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream, or however they ordered that title, in that it combines queasy, stumbling sung sections with manic instrumental ones. Still, the music is totally different and, again, is a small step towards abrasiveness. The lyrics on this one aren't particularly good, which is disappointing but not unexpected. Maybe it could be here where it occurs to you that this is album is designed for people who have listened to other King Crimson albums, which highlights exactly what they've taken away - the comfort zone, a soma sheen which puts a lot of their jazz notes in context. As the song proceeds, you may realise that you never needed it anyway; when you reach the short soundscape outro you notice that it is jarring as those on THRAK never were. Oyster Soup, which THRAKs in opposition, is a circular jam of the sort designed for pub rock encores, but which also exists to irritate you with composed clumsiness, manic sampling and inappropriate use of midi-guitar, and semi-associative nonsense word-game lyrics to the point where you must be listening, a hair shirt for the ears which tempers you in preparation for the next chapter in the Crimso epic...

As in his interviews, Fripp won't patronise you while you're demonstrating some degree of thoughtfulness. We all know the band have trouble catching their live majesty well on CD, so during the instrumental numbers, Crimso attempt to bridge the gap between situations by drafting you as their fifth player (of course, this is a guess as to the intentions of the band, but transforming locked music into conceptual semi-improv was always the KC way - doesn't it make a certain amount of sense?) - most of the music on the album toys with aggressive rhythmic pointillism, which is perfect if you're in the mood to insert a mental solo or two, while Mastoletto's frosty electronic battery fills the overhead frequencies with cosmic rays rather than cymbal shimmer and his choice of sounds has a primal, deadening effect but frees up a lot of space - considering the effort that must go into the composition and performance of his drum parts, it's a gesture of humility. Is your imagination ambidextrous to the point where it can play lead guitar with one and tambourine in the other?

That paragraph gives the impression that the music remains unfinished, but that'd be a lazy criticism to make - perhaps you as a listener prefer to witness the constant struggle between guitarists to only play notes which don't cheapen the previous ones, and that's fine too. Or you can concentrate on the subversive rhythms which bear little relation to rock - there's a cute juxtaposition here that forces the guitarists to worry about patterns, allowing the bassist and drummer to define the music however they like - but however you approach the album, be aware that this is a prototype for new music; perhaps it's easier to mistake for a re-hash because no-one has heard anything *from the future* to compare The ConstruKction of Light with? It doesn't matter - just remember that every time you hear a lyrical reference to the past, it's sung over explorative music.

Larks Tongues part four ends with a moment of power that caps the album, providing seriousness when you're beginning to tire of, ahem, frippance. One part My Way and one part The Atrocity Exhibition, the coda's most melodic moments become bittersweet, polluted with a spoken film-reel namecheck of one human tragedy after another. You can decide whether the album is defeatist or futurist in conception when a piercing laser tone closes the song - is that suggestive of a construKcted beam of light? (and, was it emitted by a large explosion?)

Go get this album if: a) you have ears or b) you know someone who has ears. If you've heard it and consigned it to the vaults then please give it another chance - more than any other KC album, The ConstruKction of Light is unforgiving to people who aren't listening and greatly rewarding - even enlightening - to those who are. Five stars awarded to an expressionist statement in a sea of modern impressionism.

I'm catching up on my later-day Crim and have only recently heard this one, and as we all know, KC albums take a while to get used to.

My introduction to the band was LTIA and, excited at the idea of more inspired oddness, I bought ITCOTCK - and was deeply disappointed at how normal it was (laughs). Today I love both albums. I was deeply disappointed by Lizard too, another that I love now. When I first heard Discipline I couldn't believe it was KC; I was more disappointed than ever before. It's now my favourite KC album. No, my favourite album.

Time and time again KC has both disappointed and delighted me. If I am rapt in a KC album on first hearing then something's wrong. Sometimes the albums don't grow on me. ITWOP, apart from Cat Food is still not one I listen to much, same with (parts of Islands) and SABB.

So, yes, the jury's out with this one too.

Unlike others here, I think ProzaKc Blues is excellent although there are parts I'm still confused by. I like it when KC play the clown every now and then and the lyrics are as witty as anything the band has done. KC plays da blues, well, kinda. You'll never hear blues like this anywhere else. Poor old Adrian has been bagged from pillar to post for his vocals in this one, which strike me as far less treated than other reviews make out (remember how he sang talk about them tiny cookies line in Uncle Frank's City of Tiny Lights?) and they are perfect for the track. Don't listen to the grumps. It's a good performance.

Many criticise this album for its extensions on old ideas but I don't see anything wrong with a long-lived band revisiting their old songs, as with LTIA Pt 254 [sic] or FraKctured. It's only natural to wonder about songs you've written in the past and seeing potentials that you didn't see when you first put it together. Creativity is not only about doing something entirely new, but of synthesis. Uncle Frank knew that and he frequently revisited old numbers and this approach can yield rich fruit. Son of Orange County gave us an incredible new view of its parent many years earlier on Weasels Ripped My Flesh. Doing a remake after two decades doesn't necessarily mean a lack of inspiration, especially given some of the fresh ideas on this album, as you'll find on any KC album. KC pack more new ideas on each album than most bands do in their careers, and this one's no exception.

So it is here, where the new FraKctured has some beautiful moments that 1973's Fracture can't come close to, even though the former has its own special moments. LTIA Pt 4 features the most incredible Adrian Belew solo. The boy is so multi-talented we can easily forget how dexterous and creative his guitar playing is - top echelon stuff. Coda, which runs off LTIA, making it officially the only vocal in the LTIA series has the heaviest of heavy lyrics, soulfully sung. One minute Adrian plays the clown, the next he is full of drama and sorrow. With that level of consistency, he surely belongs in this band :)

ProkeKct X is another promising number - a mix of hard weird-time riffing and luscious Frippertronics. It's one of the few numbers on this album that gives your ears a break. I have a feeling that, like Requiem from the Beat album, this one will grow on me.

Like others, I miss Bill Bruford on the album - his imagination, light touch, bright sounds and nimbleness. Still not too many could hope to follow an act like so Pat Mastelotto was always going to be on a hiding to nothing with the fans. I doubt that he cared because getting the gig with KC is a bit like winning the creative lottery; there are few, if any musical vehicles out there that come close to offering the creative scope that The Crims can provide. Pat's a different type of drummer and I think this not only played a role in the heavy sound of this new KC but may have been Bob's intention all along. Sometimes his electronic sounds are jarring (as in FraKctured) and sometimes brilliant and ethereal (title track). Bob moves in mysterious ways ...

The title track for me is the standout. The melody, mood, percussion, sound and vocals are top notch. Just beautiful. More than once I have put it on and repeated it straight away.

The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum has one of those titles that brings to mind Quiet Sun's Mummy was an Asteroid, Daddy was a Small Non Stick Kitchen Utensil and Uncle Franks Ode to a Sexually Aroused Gas mask. All three songs have one thing in common - they're weird. I find its heaviness a bit much until about halfway through where a twisted and unique (guitar?) solo jingles its way over the discombobulated rhythm section. One I am yet to get used to.

Look, don't listen to those who pan this album; they are wrong. It was more consistently heavy than any other album before it, except (arguably) Red so if you are caught in KC circa 1969, thought Islands was their best album, hanker for wind instruments and jazziness, or felt the Bruford-Wetton version was too way-out and fierce, then this album might be right for you. But the the KC fan who likes both the gentle and mean KC flavours there's heaps of good stuff on here.

It's not bad at all and I have the feeling that I'll grow to love it once I get used to its complexities just as I have with most KC albums. Still, since others here have marked this one down far too harshly I'm going to try to balance the ledger a little by upgrading my core from a 4 to a 5 :-P

Following on the heels of THRAK, The ConstruKction of Light is most likely the least focused, inspired, and well-constructed album that the band has ever made.

Now, there are some really neat moments here. But I'm talking mere moments. On the whole, the album does not go much of anywhere at all. It features much of the same style as THRAK, only melody seems to have taken the back seat. The double trio has vanished, and now a lot of the drumming and percussion is done via computer. This wouldn't be a problem, not really, if it were more creative more of the time. Instead, we have a lot of music that on paper looks great, and even sounds pretty cool the first time, but the more you listen to it, the less you care about this album. The last strains of Discipline are still here. Nevertheless, The ConstruKction of Light does not quite capture that sort of energy anywhere.

The title track is one of the better songs. A mostly instrumental tune in the vein of VROOOM or THRAK, it plays with some fast and complicated guitar, but it still does not quite bring that essential King Crimson energy to the front. Plus, it drags on awfully long for what it does have to offer. The vocals appear in the last couple minutes, applying the same sort of guitar delay to the vocals, a neat effect but nothing groundbreaking. FraKctured displays some blazing guitar chops over the course of its length, as well as some pretty clean guitar bits. Overall, this too is a neat song, but it runs a fair bit too long to hold interest very well. Of interest to long-time Crimson fans is the Larks' Tongue track, which plays on the main theme found on the original album but really does not add a terrible much to the by now long winded and confusing suite. Fripp's guitar rages mightily here, as well, but again, until the coda, it's a fairly weak track. This Coda is a neat bit to add onto the end, being basically the only song that's not too long for its own good.

Probably the least inpiring output from this band's studio efforts, but there has to be one somewhere. People who really like The Power to Believe and THRAK will find enjoyable bits here, but the final word is that it really is an easily bypassable album.

King Crimson - 'The Constukction of Light' 3 stars

Madness.

This is another crazy album by King Crimson, heavy and muddy. They are starting to become a little unpredictable at this point putting out a decent one mixed with a bunch of weak ones. This one is another weak one compared to 'Thrak'. This album did produce some gems that rose above the previous work though. 'Frakctured' is a reworking of the one from 'Starless and Bible Black' and it is obviously weaker, but still good. The interplay between Fripp and Belew is just ridiculous on this one and the same for 'Larks.Part IV' which is better then Part III. The best track on here is not a King Crimson track, but that of ProjeKct X.

If you liked Thrak, this one can be bought as well, but it just isn't as good. 'Prozack Blues' has to be one of the worst songs ever created by this band. There are a lot of cautions to take on this one, be cautious!

By far the worse King Crimson album ever made, a huge disappointment from a band I have enjoyed for years.

This is simply a cacaphony, and listening to Prozac Blues earlier made me want to reach for said pill to cheer my self up.

The only track I can say I enjoy is the Coda with Belew bemoaning the state of the modern political world.

You get the feeling listening to this that KC have descended into the art of making a noise simply for the sake of making a noise. There is no rhyme or reason to it, it just is, and I feel that thjis lineup has now reached the end of its natural life.

A racket from start to finish, and a god awful one at that. Enough Larks Tongues in Aspic's already!!

King Crimson has always been at the forefront of creativity. As one of the defining bands that define the term progressive, on this one they appear to have gained new insight. Every band before this time had been creating albums that they hoped they're good. Crimson in this case seemed to be so progressive that they don't try to make good music anymore. In a dazzling display of ingenuity, they excel in creating an album that is completely not worth listening to, something no prog bands had consciously attempted before.

All sarcasm aside, The ConstruKction of Light is still one of the least enjoyable works of not only prog, not only rock, but music in general. The band seemed to believe that having smooth guitar playing unusual chromatic or whole tone lines completely ignoring the bass pulling the same tricks at the same tempo while the drums keep a constant reminder of the completely unneccesary shifting time signatures would create a uniqe atmosphere and sound that would sweep the intended audience off their feet. While the album can be called 'special', it is unique in the sense that it is indeed progressive and innovative but still an unbearable listen and extremely difficult to appreciate.

The standouts only serve as even lower points. "ProsaKc Blues" is plain annoying, with Adrian Belew's goofy voice bumbling along an unusual fusion of blues and avant-garde prog rock. From the opening track alone the listener should be aware that the ConstruKction of Light is NOT a masterpiece in any stretch or sense of the word. However, if the listener is not convinced, there are still other tracks to show King Crimson's large blunder in creating the album. After 2 songs of the sound described earlier, the band decides that Fripp should speed things up in "FraKctured" since after all there can't be too much of a bad thing, right? And after that horrible dissonant guitar speed excercise, there is "The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum", with completely stupid and uninspired vocals vomiting out even more banal lyrics. If the listener wants more, there's "Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part IV" which will only serve to dissapoint fans of the energetic and groundbreaking first parts of the installment by injecting it with the rest of the headache-inducing ConstruKction of Light sound.

Therefore, approaching this album should only be done by the people who know what they are getting into. New fans should stand far clear of it, as Crimson had already showcased their absolute brilliance in plenty of early albums, and would even show a better side of themselves later with their excellent album "The Power To Believe". Crimson fans probably know to set themselves up for dissapointment when listening to the album, because of the large amount of dislike vented towards this album. Ultimately, ConstruKction of Light is nothing but a mess and show what happens when an uninspired band tries too hard to keep progressing their genre. Good thing you saved it for next time Crimson!

A very underrated album. Yes it uses previous King Crimsons ideas. It is not possible to be completely original all the time. The album has very magnificient tracks. Larks Tongues in Aspic Part IV is just fantastic. Here the guitar of Adrian Belew is impressive. The Lyrics in the "Into Frying Pan" are georgious. Also the lyrics in "Prozaac Blues" are very funny and ironic. "Frakctured" is also very intelligent track. I only find one little weakness in "The construkction of light". It is too much influenced by solo albums of Adrian Belew. Anyway it is a very good track and this point is not enough to quit the album it five stars.

This album is heavy criticised by "old" KC fans and different kind of museum prog purists. I can understand their point of view, because I know the reason they don't like "The ConstruKtion Of Light".

Let's speak about that in details. Yes, this album is very heavy and "dirty", and it wasn't very usual for band's sound in very beginning. But even debut album had this great heavy moments, as well very popular "Red" was heavy rock album. (I like SABB very much as one of the best their album from 70-th, it was ROCK!).

There are not too many dreamy moments ( in fact - almost not at all) and bulky psychodelic structures. But - wake up, we're not in late sixties my friends! Album is energetic, dark and cold. Is it bad? No more summer of love? Is it strange for year 2000? Yes, it's a music of controlled chaos. You prefer to listen pseudo classical keybord passages once again?

I like this line -up very much and believe ,that new KC sound ( MK III) and band members are one most influential musicians for experimental prog in early XXI century. And if band by itself wasn't very active at that period, just check all perfect solo works of Trey Gunn, Mastelotto and Belew.

From all great prog band of first generation only KC stayed always interesting, searching and experimental till now.

The Destruction of Light and Shade

I've never been much of an audiophile as the production on a record very rarely impacts to any great degree on my enjoyment of any given release. However, the Construkction of Light might just be the one instance where my vandalised ears are less than well disposed to forgive such disruptive building work. This critter is wearying and exhausting to listen to in one sitting. Whether this is a case of over zealous compression or what sounds like the drummer chiselling his beats via Pro-Tools on a concrete kit is open to debate. A shame really, as the majority of material on this Crimson millennium issue is exemplary. We've all I'm sure been an unwilling party to those fidelity discussions with fellow progheads who exclaim

Yeah, but the 30th anniversary edition is 24 bit remastered in Dolby at double speed plus FIVE bonus tracks so you wont recognise it as the same album dude

You mean to the extent that the notes and the order they are played in changes?(and Caveat Emptor with 'previously unreleased' status folks, these freebies didn't see the light of day for good reason i.e. their creators usually thought they weren't worthy of release)

Prozakc Blues - The 'k' konceit indulged in at around this time irKs this Korrespondent to distraktion. Enough already. As the title indicates, we have a blues capsule, but one piloted by the crew of the red fiery brigade. As on Pictures of a City, Crimson manage to invest some primordial harmonic gravity with some unnerving weightlessness when they step outside the pressurised (wood) cabin of the idiom. Belew's vocal is pitch shifted downwards to authentic effect in imitation of a 21st Century Schizoid 'Leadbelly' on a visit to his long suffering Doctor:

Well I woke up this morning in a cloud of despair, I ran my hand across my head Pulled out a pile of worried hair.I went to my physician who was buried in his thoughts He said son, you've been reading too much Elephant Talk

There is more than a trace of genre parody and caustic bile in Adrian's delivery here and his swipe at a Crimson internet discussion forum, although seemingly churlish, is well founded (even a casual visit will confirm said appreciation society as a nest of infertile W.A.S.P.s with Conan the Librarian as moderator which makes PA look like a sanctuary of reasoned calm in comparison) The aforementioned 'concrete' percussion does not mercifully spoil this track, as the rather unfocused pounding sludge of the pulse is consistent with the blues effect intended. A great and funny song that should be played to blues purists everywhere as an example of why so much of their music is tantamount to a dusty museum piece roped off from the threat of innovation.

The Construkction of Light - Although ostensibly split into two parts the demarcation is frankly spurious as the whole she-boodle segues seamlessly into one whole. The accuracy demanded from the twin guitars of Fripp and Belew on this piece must be harrowing to negotiate as the compositional device of harmonised parts that appear to mimic a shifting temporal delay as the piece develops allow precisely zero margin for error. A similar albeit inferior effect could be conjured up via a digital delay set for the appropriate time division, but performing such feats 'manually' as they do so expertly here simply beggars belief. As dry and academic as that might sound, rest assured that like all Crimson's most challenging music, there is a hard-nosed beauty here that somehow conspires to be neither sentimental or cerebrally sterile. Belew's memorable and brilliantly executed lyrical section helps greatly in this regard by alleviating the daunting complexity with a more accessible hook:

And if a bird can speak, who once was a dinosaur and a dog can dream, should it be implausible that a man might supervise the construction of light?

(I said more accessible, not catchy all right?)

Into the Frying Pan - Can't seem to shake off the conviction that this startling song is inspired by the Beatles (as risible as that might first appear) as it strikes me as closely akin to one of the Fab Four's early pop ditties but with Crimson as the backing band and William Burroughs permitted to sit in the cut-up producer's chair? Beguiling and intriguing for sure as it threatens to collapse into incoherence at any given moment but miraculously still delivers its melodic bounty despite the insistent chaos clamouring at the gates.

FraKctured - There is a marked tendency in some previous reviews to propose that the Crims are vainly revisiting past glories on their adaptations of prior works? I think this judgement completely facile as evidenced by the verdant new pastures that such sacred cows are led to willingly or otherwise. For the most part the moto perpetuo of the original is preserved here but this fragile and feisty creature is mutated and burnished into a new shiny metallic biomechanoid as befitting a shape shifting replicant. (with big sharp pointy teeth to gobble you up with my dear)

The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum - A playful lyrical device yes, but we all dallied with our own crayoned version of the Surrealists Exquisite Corpse as kids (check out PA's very own 'Silly Story' thread for a narrative arrived at in this fashion) Perhaps the weakest of the conventional songs on Construkction of Light, but certainly not remotely shoddy or slapdash (despite the band's futile efforts in any failed realisation of a rehearsed spontaneity)

Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part IV - Once again, Fripp and Co still display an endearing affection for demarcation as testimony to conceptual rigour. The discrete partitioning of the three sections is more a hindrance to clarity than an aid but we have in our now hot little lap 8 minutes of implacable, neurotic and downright cussing Crimson that for the most part, is on a par with any of their instrumental pieces of the past. It does drag a tad towards the end though and you are always grateful for the appearance of the album's tail-ender when it finally uncloaks itself from the retreating carnage overhead.

Coda: I Have A Dream - A very powerful and sincere song penned by Belew which catalogues some of the worst tragedies that have afflicted the modern age. I think the author has chosen wisely to avoid imparting his own conclusions here, as the nature of the destructive losses he itemises should relegate any whining liberal angst as superfluous to help the medicine go down. Kudos to Adrian for that restraint. There was an interesting acoustic version of this number available for free download from Belew's website. (Not sure if you can still get it?)

Heaven and Earth - The token bonus track that most of us would not move same for to ever hear again. My hopelessly prejudiced view relegates anything remotely 'ambient' as suitable only for the purposes of providing a soundtrack for a flotation tank. Like so much of the Projekcts output, we are expected to allow ourself to drift away to wherever this music takes us. Me?, I much prefer to surrender to the inevitable that gravity holds all the aces in this hole.

Under normal circumstances the Construkction of Light would warrant an unhesitating 4 sparklies from this habitually grudging rodent but for the reasons I alluded to in the introduction, cannot give anything other than three dwarf stars. Mastellotto is a very fine drummer with a portfolio that others who man the traps would kill for, but his kit sounds bear an uncanny semblance to those that would emanate from industrial strength Tupperware being bludgeoned into submission with iron bars. Similarly, the slinky and sinuous bass of Gunn and the guitars are smothered in a quick drying glue that robs the playing of what dynamic elasticity it may have possessed at the outset. However despite such provisos, please don't confuse the medium with the message as there is much fine music on this album that should be coaxed out of its dark hidey hole on a Fripp remastering job.

How about it Bob?

"The ConstruKction of Light" is the twelfth full-length studio album by UK progressive rock act King Crimson. The album was released through Virgin Records in May 2000. It´s the successor to "Thrak" from 1995. The band at this point consisted of Adrian Belew on guitars and vocals, Robert Fripp on guitars, Trey Gunn on bass, touch guitars, and baritone guitars, and Pat Mastelotto on drums. Fripp was never satisfied with the way the album turned out, feeling the band had rushed into the studio without letting the compositions develop in a live environment before recording them in the studio. Therefore a remixed and remastered version of the album titled "The ReconstruKction Of Light" appeared in 2019. In addition to remixing and remastering the album Mastelotto also re-recorded his drum parts for the 2019 version of the album.

Stylistically the material on the album is experimental/progressive rock. Demanding as ever as the notes are often played in unusual succesion (chromatic runs and unconventional scales/choices of notes) and twisted in innovative ways. "The ConstruKction of Light" is unmistakably a King Crimson album. No one really sounds like them. The music is dark (which you would probably have guessed from looking at the bleak cover artwork) and at times pretty complex too. Tracks like the instrumental "The ConstruKction of Light (Part One)", "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part IV (Part One)", and the insanely complex "FraKctured" are arguably among the most challenging compositions King Crimson have ever produced. The latter should actually please fans of technical/progressive metal as parts of the song could be compared to the most technically focused acts in that genre. The heaviness and harshness of the track too.

The album features some great tracks with vocals too. "Into the Frying Pan" features some delightfully dark harmony vocals that remind me of some of the dark and twisted vocal parts on Alice In Chains eponymously titled third album from 1995. Bleak as hell and a real treat. "ProzaKc Blues" isn´t a personal favorite track (because of the silly low growling vocals) but it´s a solid composition, completely twisting the conventions of a blues. "The ConstruKction of Light (Part Two)" is one of the highlights of the album (of the tracks featuring vocals).

The production is thick, heavy, and dark (slightly less on the 2019 version). The way the bass sounds on the this album is heavier than heavy. What a treat. The drums feature such a powerful and meaty sound too. The sound production is overall of a great quality. "The ConstruKction of Light " is one of King Crimson´s heavier albums and maybe that´s why it often receives such harsh criticism from progressive rock fans. Coming from a background in metal this doesn´t bother me at all though and I find it to be an excellent and very focused album in King Crimson´s discography. It´s not their most groundbreaking release, but it´s solid and enjoyable. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

While I enjoy KC the most in their early years, I have found them to be sometimes hit and miss in their later incarnations- the middle years of new-wave Crimson of Beat and Discipline intrigued me, but it tended to get repititive fast. THis incarnation is more enjoyable. OK- first is "Prozac Blues". Ouch. Next..."The Construction of Light I and II" feature very interesting interplay of the different instruments and are both solid. "Into the Frying Pan" and "The WOrld's my..." are both good prog-rock songs. The 3 parts of "Larks Tongue" are so so for me but they get better as they go on leading into "Coda: I Have a Dream". THe Project x tune doesn't really grab me much. Afterall is compiled, this album is close to a 4 but jsut doesn't substain my interest in many parts so I will have to settle for a 3 1/2 (3 star) rating.

"if Warhol's a genius, what am I?"

The disc begins with "Prozakc Blues" by far the most intolerable track Crimson ever recorded. Some strange digital effect was applied to Belew's voice to make him sound as if he was singing an octave lower (and ridiculous). Take that, plus strange lyrics, overly crunchy guitars, the whole track is just a mess.

But there is some intriguing stuff for Crimson fans here too. If I hadn't heard the original "Fracture" then maybe the remake "Frakctured" would have sounded particularly interesting to me. However, when compared to the 1973 masterpiece, the remake doesn't have the same excitement and sense of crescendo, although it is better-recorded. The guitar work just starts to sound like shredding after a while, something I never thought I would have accused of Fripp. Same for "Larks Tongues in Aspic Part IV." But because both of these tracks sound so technically demanding, they do deserve praise. This band is still putting together really complex music far exceeding most of what is going on in the music scene today.

This album deserves three stars because for the sublime Heaven and Earth, and the title track "The Construkction of Light." "Heaven and Earth" is an imaginative and purposeful instrumental, and it shows that Crimson still knows how to close an album. The song "The Construkction of Light" remains one of my favorite Crimson songs; guitar counterpoint, a sense of direction, beautiful singing, rhythmic complexity. Why couldn't the rest of the album sounded like this? I'd say the biggest downside of "Construkction" (except for those two wonderful tracks) is the lack of contrast. This is one of Crimson's heaviest albums, and the crunchy sounding guitars start to wear on the listener after a while, and sound strangely bland as a result (on tracks such as "Into the Frying Pan"). But you shouldn't play a Crimson album if you're afraid of heavy music, so you could say this album has nothing to apologize for.

Fortunately, this album is followed-up by the masterful "The Power to Believe," which is actually one of Crimson's finest albums. "Construkction" is sort of a band in the middle of finding its way; worth checking out if you like Crimson's heavier side, but ultimately "The Power to Believe" is the bigger payoff.

To my ears, this album was a return to form for King Crimson, a completion of the return to heaviness begun with VROOOM and Thrak by the double-trio KC lineup. Gone are the layered finger exercises and light Belew ballads. In their place are dark complex compositions, and weirdly compelling odd vocal pieces, with mostly good (but a few times awkward) lyrics.

ProzaKc Blues may be a throwaway comedy song, but the heavy off-time blues licks make it quite compelling.

The ConstruKction of Light has some goofy lyrics, but the amazing stick work of Trey Gunn, and intricate interplay by the entire band makes this a wonderful piece.

Into The Frying Pan, a Belew led vocal song, is anything but a pop piece, with a snake- like melody over a heavy rhythm section. And The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum, with it's word association lyrics is just cool.

FraKctured and Larks' Tongues In Aspic - Part IV are worthy successors to the seventies pieces they are based on. They are both in the vein of the original Wetton/Cross/Bruford/Fripp songs.

Coda brings the main portion of the album to a close. The music is good, but the lyrics are a bit facile.

The preview of ProjeKct X, Heaven And Earth is a good way to wind down after the mind blowing greatness of the first ten tracks.

This is the first KC album that bowled me over since the seventies. I was completely not expecting that when it came out.

Can you have a decades spanning career without one slip? The Constukction of Light will sure be selected by many as Crimson's most obvious career slip.

And I can't say I'm really attracted by what I found here either. I hear a Crimson at loss for inspiration, going through the motions without much conviction for the material. FraKctured is a good example. How could they name this dreary excess of notes after the superb masterpiece that was Fracture. Lark's Tongues IV is better and would become a nice live treat in the tours following this album and the ensuing Power To Believe.

The album marks quite a change from Thrak. Bruford and Levin were absent from this line-up and Mastello's drumming makes the sound much more powerful but also less dynamic. Again it's partially a recording and production matter as he sure didn't disappoint me on Power To Believe or on the concert recordings from the era. The guitars come much to the fore and make the album almost metal and even grunge in places. As pointed out before, Into The Frying Pan sounds like an Alice In Chains track that received a Crimson treatment.

Next to Into The Frying Pan, there are only two other tracks with vocals. ProzaKc Blues is rather fun but Belew's distorted vocals don't work for me. He would really shine on the rough live version he delivered on Elektrik though. The same goes for the noisy Oyster Soup, not a bad song but much better in its live version.

Sitting in between two of their best studio albums and some astounding ProjeKct albums, this one comes off as a surprisingly awkward and blurry record. I wouldn't say it's bad but I'm missing both creative fire and urgency in the performance. It's not entirely unthinkable that I will like this album one day but I wouldn't bet on it.

I stated in my review of Beat that even though I'm a fan of King Crimson, this fact doesn't mean that I will overlook their flaws. Since I already started on this whole topic, I might as well finish it off with this review.

The ConstruKction Of Light may not be even half as terrible as Beat, still I consider it a lesser King Crimson studio release and I'll tell you why. The main problem with this album is that there is too much of everything here and in the end what I get is an unsatisfying feeling of emptiness. The album is basically comprised of a hollow shell which is something that I blame on the lack of inspiration from all the participants.

Things start off nicely with ProzaKc Blues, a song that I enjoy even though Belew's vocal mixing could have been done differently. The album's title track loses it's momentum as soon as part 2 kicks in and what we get is a semi-decent composition. The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum and especially Into The Frying Pan feel bland and unsatisfying for my tastes. There is a lot of detailed effort put into the instrumental arrangements of these compositions but the experience of these numbers is just non-existent for me even though I've been giving them a shot time and time again.

FraKctured starts off just like it's counterpart from the album Starless And Bible Black but falls completely flat due to the lack of intensity in proportion to its length. It's doesn't help to be compared to the original 1974-composition that just so happens to be my all time favorite composition. Finally we receive a moments grace with the first part of Larks' Tongues In Aspic part IV, but did they really have to split the track into three part? Eventually Coda and Heaven And Earth make a pretty tight conclusion to this underwhelming release.

The mere fact that The ConstruKction Of Light takes inspiration from the band's past glories should be enough to dismiss it since the King Crimson project has always been about pushing things forward. The band would later redeem themselves with The Power To Believe but that's a whole different story!

***** star songs: Larks' Tongues In Aspic part IV part 1 (3:41)

**** star songs: ProzaKc Blues (5:29) The ConstruKction Of Light I (5:49) Larks' Tongues In Aspic part IV part 2 (2:50) Coda: I Have A Dream (3:56) ProjeKct X: Heaven And Earth (7:46)

*** star songs: The ConstruKction Of Light II (2:50) FraKctured (9:06) The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum (6:22) Larks' Tongues In Aspic part IV part 3 (2:36)

** star songs: Into The Frying Pan (6:54)

When this was released it was the first new KC album since I started getting into them. The fanboy in me thought this was a great album at the time. Ten years later I can see this for the mediocre mess it is. First of all, those "Kc"s instead of "c"s was already getting old after the ProjeKcts. The ProjeKcts, although works in progress based around improv, was the most interesting music this band came up with since Discipline. Here they decided to revive "Fracture" and LTIA(again).

Pat Mastelotto uses V-drums here. The drumming mostly sounds like it was programmed. The most interesting thing about "The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum" is the title itself. "ProzaKc Blues" is a 'blues' song that opens the album. Belew's vocals are recorded in a way that makes him sound like he has a deep voice. This song includes the line: "You've been reading too much Elephant Talk". That is not a reference to the song on Discipline; it is a reference to the internet newsletter for "Robert Fripp and King Crimson enthusiastes"(now defunKct). I was a member of that mailing list at the time. Everybody patted themselves on the back because ET got mentioned in an official Crimson song. In retrospeKct, it only dates the song even more.

The title track is split in two for some reason. The first part doesn't start to pick up until 3 minutes in. At the beginning of the second part Ade overdubs each word seperately. "Into The Frying Pan" is one of the best songs here. It starts with either Fripp or Belew going up the guitar scale while the other goes down it. At the same time. Ade's vocals sound like Lennon. Trey Gunn's Warr guitar adds some life to the song. It ends with some of Fripp's Soundscapes. "FraKctured" is the unwanted bastard child of the song on SABB. The best part of the whole song starts at 5:10.

LTIA Pt. 4 is at least better than Pt. 3 on Three Of A Perfect Pair. "Coda: I Have A Dream" is interesting musically but I can't stand Ade's preachy lyrics. The best song on this whole CD is the bonus track. "Heaven & Earth" was recorded by ProjeKct X at the same time as TCoL. Much more original and interesting than anything that made the official Crimson album. I wouldn't say this sucKs but it's nothing essential by any means. 2 stars.

To be quite honest, and trying to be fair, King Crimson haven't achieved much since their early days. Sure, the first album was a masterpiece. Although 'In the wake of Poseidon' was very similar to the first album, 'Lizard' and 'Islands' are very interesting albums that kept moving the band forward.

Then comes 'Larks Tongues in Aspic', a complete restructuring of the band had occurred, and there was a new sound for the band that was different again. The band had moved forward light years. This new sound was aggressive guitars and dissonance, juxtaposed with some lighter, ethereal moments. This was in 1973. However, King Crim have more or less stayed the same since then. It's their trademark, long, but not too long song (around the 6 - 11 minute mark) ethereal pieces with mellotrons, or 'soundscapes' aggressive, dissonant guitars, unusual rhythms, silly meaningless lyrics. They do that so well and so often, on almost every album that they have kind of become a parody of themselves. Not that that is a bad thing. What really matters is the music! But after a while, their formula, however complex a formula that may be, wears thin. Sure their 80's albums turned down the aggression, but other than that, not much difference.

But this album, released in 2000, really wears that formula thin. Actually, the previous 'THRAK' was really good, even if it felt like 'Starless and Bible Black' being repeated for the 90's.

I wont talk about the remakes of older songs, actually fraKCture is ok, but the title song, it's just what you expect from KC, you could almost predict it. At least for me, the forced-cynical lyrics are really uninspiring and stupid. They don't have any purpose or any meaning, so why does Belew sing, to hear the sound of his own voice? For the sake of having vocals, out of some kind of obligation?

There are some decent moments, but generally it feels like the same ideas that we had been hearing from them for a while. No emotional value, some spaced-out mellotron, dissonant, heavy guitars, what else?

It is impossible to describe in correct manner the music of King Crimson. In fact the style change album by album and in my opinion King Crimson start with Progressive, pass through Jazz Rock, Symphonic and now they played (in various line.ups and projects) a sort of Post music that is not music but because this form of Art is music I describe this musical art as Post Prog. In first I listen a sort of Jazz not Jazz, because this form of music have the form of Free Jazz but not have the patterns of Jazz. Since the roots are Rock (of course)... But it is clear that KIng Crimson not plays Rock (or other form of music) now it is impossible to describe King Crimson's music. Now, "The ConstruKtion Of Light" is not an easy album (if you think that is a Rock album) but extremely easy if you think in Jazz field. As I wrote above this is not a Jazz album. Probably this music is more near to Blues, a strange form of Free Blues. But this last assertion is clearly incorrect. Strange of strange I think, in order to classify King Crimson's music, that this is the perfect fusion between all the musical forms that the human genius have conceived in the history.

The music of "The ConstruKtion Of Light" is simply to describe, at this point (or not?): is the perfect fusion between all the musical forms that the human genius have conceived in the history. In this sense the free form of "Larks' Tongue In Aspic" was brought to exasperation: it is no longer the concept of the human mind but improvisation distorted thoughts, in the sense that the original idea has become pure randomness, mingling with the infinite, nothing and everything, with modern sounds and modern technology, becoming something that is not music. This was the idea of so many bands of the 70's (especially German) that finally materializes.

It is impossible to judge this album, at the end, because if you think that Robert Fripp is a genious you not have understood King Crimson as band. Too and various line-ups have served to Mr. Fripp to get where he wanted: create a music that is not music. Something I had never heard before but that is what we have always heard. For this fact I think that "The ConstruKtion Of Light" is a great album. But proper because is the final stage of this journey "The ConstruKtion Of Light" is an easy and light album. Not, clearly (of course) a masterpiece.

The ConstruKction of Light always sounded to me like an uninspired attempt to make progressive rock that appealed to the younger crowd, but the tracks on this album really are quite bad. The structures are terrible, and the playing is decent if not annoying at times. Besides sounding mostly goofy and uninspired, this album marks a few unworthy additions to the "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" saga, and though they are worth the listen for the sake of completion, the rest of this album is throwaway material. If you're looking for fantastic King Crimson musicianship and creativity, this is definitely not the place to look. Definitely go for any one of their earlier albums.

A Giant leap?

Introduction

I wrote this review like 3 years ago and never released. The main reason was about its rating: 2 or 3 or even 4? Well after all this time maybe I've the answer. The 6 man lineup is gone as the projekcts and some other things, like the melodic side of THRAK or some hairs on Belew head... sorry Adrian you talked too much with Elephants.

Main Theme

Let's start to talk about the ''blues'' it's not and the slowed voice is the last drop! The title track shows again the marvellus mirror between the guitars and almost you don't notice the weak drumming from Mastellotto, the vocal part is a coda which add a counterpoint to the guitars (just to fill the drum's work, Bill where are you??!), Frying pan is maybe the proof (if needed) that Mastellotto was a bad musician for KC, the distortions from guitars and vocals cannot do anything here. Different thing for the excellet Fracktured, the fight of the two different parts of the song almost make the listener forget about the V-drums, very nice one. The Soup don't worth nothing: disjointed music without reason and probably a failed tentative to rework something, the only positive thing is the guitar, just try to not abuse it! Larks' part 4, they made it again... Surprised? Not me. Against all odds this 3-tracks-song is maybe the best from the whole album and even with the hardened tunes blinks his eyes to the previous works adding the heavy sound of this Crimson incarnation. Finally we got a Coda with some lyrics, the descending into the lyrics part follow the same line from Larks' tracks and the distortion of Belew's voice don't add nothing. The bonus (wasn't new for me since I've got X too) add a more dynamical song and compared to the main tracks here don't lose anything.

Coda

Fripp and his court don't have got the real point here: apart the great reintroduction of twin guitars we got nothing more than a plain disc, with a worse than ever effort from Mastellotto. The rating at least is more clear after all this time and it's a solid 3 star: some traces of Crimson's music is there maybe with Bruford at drums it'd be something great.

King Crimson have always done their absolute best work when they have both a stable lineup and a compelling musical vision to lend cohesiveness to the compositions. For their first phase (from In the Court... to Islands) they had the vision but not the stable lineup, so whilst the debut album was fabulous the next three were a little hit-and-miss - though thanks to the musical vision expressed they were always interesting.

Then you have the glorious mid-1970s phase, where the stable core of Wetton, Bruford and Fripp gave a bedrock of stability and the band pursued a new, raw musical direction which paid massive dividends. And, of course, after that you have the 1980s incarnation of the band, which held a rock-solid lineup for its three albums and once again had an intriguing musical direction to follow.

I guess this is why the post-THRAK reincarnation of the band has little interest for me, because it enjoys neither a stable lineup nor a particularly interesting or revolutionary musical direction. See, for instance, The ConstruKction of Light, recorded following the collapse of THRAK's double trio lineup. Songs like ProzaKc Blues and The World's My Oyster... seem to show a somewhat flippant approach to the album, almost as though the band themselves couldn't take the project seriously, and the tedious attempts at recycling old ideas from the band's heyday go nowhere.

At around this time Fripp was quite taken with the whole ProjeKct idea, which was an attempt to use the fluctuating and unstable lineups of Crimson as an advantage rather than a weakness, but to be honest I've never heard anything from the ProjeKcts that struck me as being more than a fun but unsatisfying diversion and it seems with ConstruKction the core band itself wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders either.

It's a real shame, because I had respected Fripp's habit of breaking up King Crimson when there was no reason for it to exist and only resurrecting it when he felt that there was a particular need to take a Crimsonian approach to an album. The ConstruKction of Light stands as proof that this approach, by 2000, was long-dead: it's King Crimson existing and plodding on simply for the sake of being King Crimson, without any consideration of whether there's any need for King Crimson right now.

EDIT: Since I wrote the above review the story of The ConstruKction of Light has taken a new turn, with the album being rereleased as The ReconstruKction of Light in a new version (also found on the Heaven & Earth boxed set).

Even Robert Fripp himself has been quite down on The ConstruKction of Light's original release, recorded as it was without the customary refinement of the material on the road. It's no surprise, then, that with this reissue of the album that he's been more interventionist than usual with the mix and mastering, perhaps trying to adjust the studio versions in light of subsequent lessons learned live.

On top of that, because some of the original session recordings were lost, Pat Mastelotto ended up rerecording the drum parts. Usually, I look askance when artists do this sort of thing, but this is a special case. For one thing, at least it's Pat rerecording Pat's parts, so it's not an act of disrespect towards the original performers on the level of, say, Ozzy Osbourne redoing the drum parts on some CD versions of his early solo albums with a different drummer. For another, it gives Pat a chance to rerecord the material using his customary hybrid acoustic/electronic drums, and with the experience of playing the pieces live.

In other words, short of the entire lineup from this era reuniting to rerecord the album all over again (or assembling an alternate take of the album from live recordings, as Fripp has apparently considered doing), The ReconstruKction of Light is about as close to a "do-over" of The ConstruKction of Light as we are likely to get. The end result is pretty good, with Pat behind the drumstool and Don Gunn behind the mixing desk performing a heroic rescue of the album. Let's say the ReconstruKction's worthy of three and a half stars, whilst the original ConstruKction was more of a 2-star number.

Overall this album is marred by a particularly sterile production which lacks real punch, the main problem being the tinny and boxy electronic drums used throughout. Basically the overall sound is too weedy and not expansive enough and gives the whole album the flavour of an experiment in didactic technique. In fact this album is best seen as a study for the following much more effective 'The Power to Believe' album.

The opener 'ProzaKc Blues' just doesn't work. The production is not nearly ballsy enough for the material (which in and of itself is rather contrived anyway). It tries to be funny ? It's not funny...

The title track fares somewhat better. Both sections of this track prominently feature hocketing guitar parts, i.e. interlocking guitar lines made up of steady notes which are set up with each guitar panned extremely left or right to emphasise the effect of the technique. This technique is put to better 'musical' use on the following album 'The Power to Believe'. On 'The ConstruKction of Light' (the track) it sometimes works quite well though, especially when the guitar lines form the accompaniment to the vocal section (Part 2).

'Into The Frying Pan' is fine but nothing really special and outstays its welcome by about 3 minutes.

'FraKctured' can be somewhat tedious. It is a sort of retread of the classic 'Fracture' with elements of the track 'Discipline' mixed in ? another exercise in interlocking guitars. The guitars are recorded in a very clean and clear way and sometimes beautiful textures arise out of these crystal clean guitar lines ? which are most effective when the drums are taking a break. If you fancy marvelling at Fripp's playing technique the distorted assault in the last 3 minutes may just float your boat.

'The World's My ...' is just tedious ... and meaningless....

'Lark's Tongues 4' features clattering messy electronic drums and very 'matt-sounding' string synth (played by midi guitar). However, every so often it clicks into a zone where the music just grooves along in that complex kind of way that only Fripp/Crimson et al know how and there is some fantastic Frippery in the solo of '4b'....

The final track 'Heaven and Earth' is pleasant but nothing more than that....

In summary, this album seems to me a study in techniques that would be brought to better musical fruition on their succeeding (in both ways) album 'The Power to Believe'.

"You can never please everybody, that's a well established fact, he said, I recommend a fifth of king and a bottle of Prozac."

Well, I know King Crimson were progressing after "THRAK" but this was an unpleasant surprise. It didn't please everybody, in fact many Crimson fans shunned it and for good reason. It is bordering on abysmal in paces. The opener 'ProzaKc Blues' is a boozy bluesy number with dumb inebriated vocal delivery and a hypno riff.

'The ConstruKction of Light (Part One)' moves along nicely, always loved the instrumentals, and it sounds as polyphonic as anything from "THRAK". Fripp is incredible on guitar as always and it showed signs of greatness to come. 'The ConstruKction of Light (Part Two)' is where the vocals come in and they are harmonised and overlayed like Gentle Giant. The vocals of Belew are very good, but there is not much of a melody on offer, and the guitars are too repetitive with the same style played.

'Into the Frying Pan' follows clocking 6:54, with an industrial sound, elongated Fripp notes, then more harmonised vox. It is nothing special melodically, though the music is certainly dark and compelling. The lead break is dynamic, with odd signatures with bass evermoving and off beat drumming. It wears out its welcome though and is too long for its own good. The false ending was perhaps where it should have really ended in length though the lead break at the end is raw and versatile.

'FraKctured' is inspired by 'Fracture' from the glory days, and sounds like it. At 9:06 it is a bit of a slog to get through but this is pretty good if you are in the mood for some lightweight Fripp. 'The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum' is a real shining light on this album, one of my favourites with hilarious lyrics and a driving melodic rhythm that bounces along with sardonic delight. The vocals are raspy and it has a very memorable title that is sung after some brief verses. I like this better live though without the noisy studio effects and trickery and it goes too long, running out of steam literally.

Next we have something that would have all Crimson addicts salivating over as it was the long awaited and unexpected 'Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part IV'. Here we have it in Three Parts,though it meshes together as one right through to the coda making it a 13 minute epic. It has the cranking Fripp riff similar to the one heard in Part 2, the best part of this saga. Is it any good? It certainly livens up the album that is for sure and is not easy to digest, with all its challenging time sig changes and intricate instrumentation. The drums of Pat Mastelotto are crashing throughout, the bassline of Trey Gunn pulsates as a heartbeat, Belew and Fripp trade off beautifully. The lead break is stellar and there are exceptional rhythm changes during (Part Two), then it moves to (Part Three) where the sound settles after the crescendo, and the guitar descends lower in pitch and a slower rhythm locks in for a while. The lead guitar is relentless even here, and it is an amazing feat from the incomparable Fripp. This instrumental summarily rescues the album from the spate of repetition and forgettable songs. As far as instrumentals go it has everything a King Crimson addict loves. It ends with an unusual vocal on 'Coda: I Have a Dream' with lyrics about Kennedy, the holocaust, Saddam Hussein, atrocities, the bombing of the World Trade, and refugees. This is a surprise after all the musicianship and it is one of the only times the band blatantly refer to the 9/11 disaster.

'Heaven and Earth (performed by ProjeKct X)' closes things off with a "Blade Runner" synth style, and drums akin to Vangelis. There is even a synth rhythm that comes and goes; quite beautiful but very different, feeling a bit tacked on here and a bit of a fizzer.

Overall, the guitar work on this is again Fripptastic as we can expect, though there is something missing from the album; it doesn't seem to capture the magic found on other albums. Even the equally imperfect "Beat" and "Three of a Perfect Pair" had the two or three standout tracks that are indelible Crimson gems, but there are no real highlights here. It is hard to pin down but this is a very underrated album deservedly so as nothing really jumps out apart from the 'Lark's' saga which is an obvious crowd pleaser but extremely challenging. It's a decent album, by no means a write off, but nowhere near up to the standard of albums from the past decades.

FraKctured

Until recently The ConstruKction of Light was the only King Crimson studio album that I had not yet heard, and until now the only one that I had not rated. Compared to its predecessor THRAK from 1995 and its successor The Power To Believe from 2003, this 2000 album is clearly a less fulfilling affair overall. Yet, a few of the tracks are similar in both quality and style to what can be found on those two albums. Personally, I am not very fond of the post-1970's King Crimson output but I can appreciate some of the material from this period (particularly the instrumental side since I never much liked Adrian Belew's vocal style or his lyrics for that matter). Another noteworthy things is that with this album Robert Fripp is the sole connection to the classic era of the band as Bill Bruford is no longer involved. However, in my view the relation to the spirit of classic King Crimson was tenuous already with Discipline in the early 80's.

The album opens with ProzaKc Blues which is as the title indicated a Blues based number. And as if that wasn't bad enough, it also has awful vocals! They redeem themselves with the next few tracks beginning with the title track which is very much in the style of earlier Belew-era songs. Into The Frying Pan is also a rather decent number and so is Frakctured which refers back to 1974's Fracture. The three Larks' Tongues in Aspic parts obviously also refer to an earlier work. In between these two backward-looking numbers we get The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum which pretty much summarizes the very worst aspects of Adrian Belew. His talk-like singing and the utterly incoherent lyrics is something I never understood the value of since I first was subjected to the abomination that is Elephant Talk on Discipline.

Overall, a rather mixed bag this one with some okey tracks and some misguided experiments. Perhaps not the band's worst album, but certainly not among the better ones.

Time passes and different versions of King Crimson come and go through the years. The huge band that existed for the previous album "Thrak" is now down to 4 members. As always, the sound of KC changes with the release of another album. The basic sound is still there, the hard chugging rock is more apparent on this album, yet with a diminished line up, the sound strangely doesn't sound as cohesive as previously. But, that is not a major issue, because the new KC is now focusing on counterpoint, 12-tone style works, slower arpeggios to match the style of the 12-tone system. This gives a feeling of post-metal to me. This music paves the way for further exploration by the hundreds of post rock/math rock bands to follow. This is not to say that this album is responsible for the start of the post rock movement because there were some bands already out there, though somewhat obscure. I think what KC does with this album is make the movement a little more focused and dynamic. I know a lot of KC fans here don't consider this one of the best KC albums, but I think a lot of KC listeners expect a return to the sound of "Red" or "Lark's Tongue". I don't think it is in KC's plans to return to anything though. They have always been progressing to something else and that is what they do here.

This album is cold and metallic, no doubt about it. There is not much let up of the hard churning rock that bubbles out of your speakers. That is because this is the type of music that they are exploring. Now I have to agree that the first track "Prozakc Blues" is a little annoying in the change up of the vocals that are here, but it does sort of echo the feeling you get while under the influence of the chemical being sung about. Beyond the vocals on this track though, the instrumentals are still top notch KC brand smash and stomp music apparent through the album. On the 2 part "Construkction of Light", you hear the slow arpeggios being passed between the guitars that make the song sound like a study in the classical inspired 12-tone sound. Believe it or not, there is a melody going on there, and the most interesting thing is in the way the vocals take over a variation of that crazy tune when they suddenly kick in on the 2nd part. The vocals throughout the track and most of the tracks on the album are modified and harmonized to great effect that also match the cold metallic feel of the album. The lyrics here are more a series of words than they are phrases. Another proof of KC brilliance and a clear picture of how they never follow the norm.

The following tracks continue in the same vein, some instrumental and some vocal. "Frakctured", "Lark's Tongue Part 4" and "Oyster Soup" tend to stand out, but I love the entire album. This instance of "Lark's Tongue" sounds to me like a more accessible "Pelican" sound especially in the early days of "Pelican" when that band's music was more straightforward post-rock. The difference here is a better use of dynamic and phrasing, plus more of a "start-stop" sound that breaks up the grinding noise of the guitars. Then, once again, we are surprised with the first instance of vocals in any appearance of ":Lark's Toungue" in the Coda section.

Really the only relief we get on this album from the hard guitar and beat is the last half of "Heaven and Earth" which tends to work as a cool down for the album, though the sound is still cold and metallic.

I don't understand the low ratings given by other reviewers on the site. A lot of people tend to say that they don't get this album, but knowing that this is just another exploration in another realm of music and that it explores (what were back then) newer sounds of post rock and math rock, maybe that will help with the understanding. I don't honestly know if that was KC's intention or not, but it seems that they always unintentionally influence progressive rock every time they make a new album. Give this one a better chance everyone. It's not their best but it is still better than what you are rating it at. 4 stars.

'The ConstruKction of Light' is my all-time favourite studio album by King Crimson, period. Why?

1. Three of the tracks: TCOL, FraKctured and LTIA IV are utterly mind-blowing pieces, compositionally as well as performance-wise. The musicianship is stellar, which admittedly is nothing new for KC, but there are some additional aspects to these tracks that are missing from most of other KC output. First of all, there is the hard, almost metal, edge to the playing and production, with an uncompromising rawness to the guitar tone and a hard hitting rhythm section (more on that later). This is punctuated by the shimmering clear guitar tone and even some trance elements (TCOL). these elements did appear on other KC tracks, but not in a manner this condensed and in-your-face. Most importantly, though, the tracks are catchy. All the melodies and riffs stay in my head, in contrast to the vast majority of purely technical excursions by other bands. Fripp and co. have the uncanny ability to play complex material in unusual time signatures/keys and make it (relatively) accessible. Last but not least, the "Coda: I Have a Dream" section is one of the best sections ever composed by KC, a finale easily equalling the last minute of "Starless" in its power and beauty.

2. The rhythm section. Oh man. There's just nothing like it, anywhere. The fact that there's Warr guitar replacing the bass and that Pat Mastelotto mixes live drums with a vast array of patches would be enough to make the drum & bass aspect of the album unique. But on top of that are the rhythms themselves, or an almost complete absence of a steady rhythm. What Trey and Pat do instead is add a layer of rhythmical anarchy to the already fractured guitars. A controlled chaos of the best kind. The effect on the listener is one of constant anticipation, you just don't know what lurks around the corner. Personally, I also like the tones used by the players: the Warr guitar covering a wider frequency spectrum makes the deep bass tones ? when they appear ? more pronounced, while the electronic patches serve to accent elements of riffs that could normally go unnoticed, often changing the whole feel of a certain fragment.

3. The other songs. While a notch below the instrumentals, the vocal pieces provide a nice counterpart to the incessant barrage of riffs/interlocking guitars. Not that they are simple (they are anything but), it's rather their irreverent, non-serious nature that prevents the album as a whole from becoming overbearing and in this respect they give some rest from the more 'serious' material.

There is also the bonus track, a pleasant ProjeKct-type excursion into rhythmic improvisation. A good track, but it is hard to consider it as an integral part of the album. In retrospect, the "Heaven & Earth" material (released as a separate CD) could have been the 2nd disc of a single 2CD package with this one, as it would have nicely shown the two sides to this KC incarnation, especially that fans seem to a strong preference for one of them.

All in all, Fripp may not like the album, fans may not like, but I absolute love it, ever since the day it was released.

This is my first review, so here it goes. Explaining in words the experience that entails listening King Crimson is not straightforward at all. This isn't your radio-friendly unit shifter album (has ever King Crimson been that way?) So, that motivated me to recommend it from my music experience. Depending on your point of view, like or unlike other King Crimson albums this is an avant-garde rock album (Discipline must have been avant-garde back in the old days.) To review it I will refer to music from other artists, despite the fact that the album refers back to previous King Crimson material. In this sense, this album can be heard hand in hand with John Paul Jones' albums Zooma and The Thunderthief (both produced by the DGM label *bells ring*,) as well as Them Crooked Vultures' song Highway 1. I highly recommend listening both Zooma and the Construkction back to back just to appreciate Trey Gunn's work harmony and ambient-wise (JPJ's The Smile of Your Shadow is a real gem.)

In this review I will only refer to the main songs of the album. Most songs from this album wouldn't make a mind- blowing standalone experience but as arranged in the album they flow and bend in seamlessly making an excellent album-wise experience, a kind of transition I quite love and only few bands get to manage adequately (I can think of the transition of Small Fish/Burning Sky in Up the Downstair and in The Dark Side of the Moon.) Now my main downturn as regards flow is the ProjeKct X song, which could have been better placed somewhere else. The album should end on its Coda.

The song which led me to listen to this album is the ConstruKction of Light. I read somewhere else that this song is polyphonic, but I can't attest to that. This song is an instant prog-classic. It has a 6 minute intro and lyrics towards the end. By the way, this kind of song structure reminds me of an Argentine rock classic by Serú Giran named A los Jóvenes de Ayer (if you like rock songs written in Spanish you'll enjoy it.) The song is mainly built upon riffs and arpeggios that have a feel similar to those in Another Brick in the Wall Pt.3's ending (my favourite tune in the Wall) but with dissonant harmonies fully exploited by Trey Gunn and a slow-mo King Crimson guitar layout. It is a daunting song with excellent vocals. I can't say the same about the lyrics... yet.

The second song buying me into listening this album is FraKctured. Little did I know when I first heard it that it was an on-the-spot 2000's version of Fracture. I just listened to it and thought of Fripp's staple soloing within a prog-wise ambient, a bit of Metallica's Anesthesia, JPJ's 2000's era, (and Nintendo games?) It's an instrumental where one can sit back and either be baffled or relaxed by Fripp's virtuosity. Frankly if I heard this kind of soloing from other rock musicians, I can think of Malmsteen, I would yawn. Fripp just gets his way round in an artsy manner, e.g. the Heroes' solo (in this day Mr. Bowie went to eternal rest so may he Rest In Peace.)

Both songs, which I first heard live, led me to discover the beauty of Larks' Tongues in Aspic IV. By the way, I consider Coda: I Have a Dream a part of Larks', I so considered it when I first heard of it and I confirmed it when I watched a live rendition of the song in YouTube. This is a staple King Crimson song with an industrial metal feel (I can think of Rammstein's sound) with a beautiful coda with top-notch lyrics to the end. As I once believe that Pierre Boulez said, the beauty of music lies in building tension with the unknown by pulling the listener out of his comfort zone and then allowing him to find relief and joy in familiar sounds. That is what Larks' Tongues in Aspic IV is all about. Right now, I can only think of two other rock songs that can perfectly make the transition from distress to relief and nail it: Pink Floyd's A Saucerful of Secrets and QotSA's Misfit Love.

This is a four-star album prog-wise, a five-star album to me as it is firing all my cannons today.

Not so inspired.

The opening track here, "Prozakc Blues", captures what the listener invariably feels at various points in this album. This is the first Crimson album to come since Thrak, and thus since Fripp fired Bruford. Tony Levin isn't here either - not sure why, but perhaps Fripp just didn't invite him. The mood is sombre, and tainted with disappointment. Of course, this being Crimson, there is still some good music here. The title track is very good, and the fourth instalment of 'Lark's Tongues in Aspic' lives up to the very high expectations it can't escape (and Belew's "Coda: I have a Dream" perfectly wraps up both this edition of Lark's Tongues and the album). But even the good tracks are dripping with a sombre feeling. Lark's Tongues Part IV sounds like someone (perhaps the one on ProzaKc?) hitting out at the world out of disappointment, and I Have a Dream seems wistful and melancholy for better times. Belew's other tunes here ('Into the Frying Pan' and 'Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum') are decent enough, but don't reach the heights of his excellent solo work or his work on previous Crimson albums. But the worst song here - perhaps the worst piece ever released on a Crimson studio album - is 'FraKctured'. This is Fripp's complex instrumental offering, in the vein of 'Fracture', but here Fripp plagiarizes his own compositions by very blatantly and visibly copying key parts of 'Fracture' but in slightly different note order. Not only is the result simply not musical, but it is exceptionally off-putting, the direct opposite of inspired. He seems to intentionally to want to insult the intelligence of Crimson fans, or something. I honestly can't figure it out, other than he must have been in a real grumpy mood. Regardless, it is the lowest point on an already low-feeling album. Being Crimson, there is some good music here (again, 'Larks Tongues IV/Coda' and 'Construkction of Light' are the two best), but one just can't shake that depressing feeling. I give this album 5.8 out of 10 on my 10-point scale, which translates to low 3 PA stars.

Many got frustrated with KC's year 2000 launched album. I am not sure what got them all crossed and against, fans included. If they would've continued on the past ideas, not good. If they would've gotten into too new ones, not good either. In my view, this is a powerful, energetic and complex musical effort. Maybe not their best. So what? I can see the KC fingerprints all over it. And I like it. There is a tension/pressure atmosphere that keeps going. I cannot see it as a bad thing. It is a strong feeling and quite energy delivery one. If you keep an open mind and ear. If any of the later prog (quite good) groups would've delivered something like this, everybody would be like "Wow!". I recommend this album with four full stars to anybody who loves prog rock. Maybe not quite to those who want to enter the King Crimson realm for the first time.

So on this record we lose two instrumental greats, Tony Levin and Bill Bruford, from the lineup.

And with them, the plot, apparently.

If "THRAKK" wasn't dark, metallic and mechanical enough for you, "The ConstruKction of Light" is your album, my guy, especially if you like songs with absolutely no sense, rhyme or reasoning whatsoever.

The album begins with a song called "ProzaKc Blues", which basically sounds like "THRAKK" with a drunk man singing it. Sure, it's meant to be a parody of your typical blues song, but the effect is completely lost. First off, the voice changing thing to sound deeper and more drunk? Not only does that sound stupid and not make sense, but it also make the song feel like the whole band is friggin' drunk, spooling about all over the place throwing random guitar riffs in notes that shouldn't be there. It sounds like they deliberately made a terrible song for a reason, a reason which still eludes me to this day.

The title track returns the "THRAKK" style of dark, mechanical and metallic sound and sort of dithers in atonal patterns for a few minutes before we hear guitar work similar to 80's era Crimson, interlaced and repetitive tonal guitar work, before that breaks down a few minutes later and roughly two minutes before the end, we hear vocals for the first time (and by vocals, I mean just words, basically). It's the most pleasant part of the song and it damn near takes 6 minutes to get there. Way too long and completely unnecessary.

"Into The Frying Pan" starts similarly, but then jumps into a neo-prog pop format and tries to shuffle between interlocked atonal stepwise chord progressions and rock-blues oriented groove patterns. On first listen, it doesn't sound bad, but maybe after a couple of listens you'll get it. And then you listen some more and it just never truly clicks. Then the track ends with some atonal string ensemble for whatever reason and completely destroys whatever groove and feel remained.

It's the same story throughout. "FraKctured" sounds like a busier "ConstruKction of Light" still with no curb appeal. "The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen" is another plodding, mechanical tune with no soul, "Lark's Pt. IV" doesn't have any resemblance to the previous three parts (and yet is still clear and away the best song of the lot simply for the instrumental activity), "Heaven and Earth" is just a 3 minute atmospheric electronic track 4 minutes too long, and if you're lucky to find it, the improv "Mastellotticus" is borderline unlistenable.

This is what happens when a man like Robert Fripp takes absolute control of the direction his music wants to go, and with electronics now making it happen, it becomes soulless, mechanical, passionless. Men like Edgard Varese and Karlheinz Stockhausen had grand visions of music and notes making perfect sense when it all just sounds like a jumbled mess, and Fripp took Crimson to this extent with "THRAKK" and this album.

Plain and simply, it's math music. It's music for mathematicians. Analytically, it's music that will make sense. The symmetry in the rhythms and chord progressions, interweaving and interlaced guitar and bass patterns. Written out on sheet paper, it probably looks magnificent, but tonally it just isn't appealing, and it doesn't make sense. It's a phase contemporary classical music is still trying to dislodge itself from, and a phase I really hope the whole of prog rock never truly falls into.

Pushing boundaries and advancing sounds in music is one thing, but if you can't make it appealing to listeners, who's going to notice such achievements? That's what made "Sgt. Pepper" a landmark album for the Beatles. That's what made "Court of the Crimson King" and landmark album for progressive music in general. It's not an easy thing to do, but it's been done many times before.

In oppposition to the majority of opinions, this album is not as bad as Fripp and reviewers claim, for two or three reasons: 1.) Lads keep trying hard and being on par with contemporary experimental rock/metal 2.) The album is as experimental and progressive as anything before 3.) The compositions are not top-notch but never mediocre or appalling.

From the first blues-influenced track with fantastic guitar wailing and rhythm section, it is clear that motivation hasn't faded away. Belew provides a bluesy cried out vocals that fits well. "The Konstrukction of light" is more reflective and reminds previous guitar-duo tracks. There is even an echo of the 80's KC when the rhythm section gets more stable. Singing creates a refreshing moment. "Into the frying pan" is not a fast but still heavy and intensive track that borders with progressive metal. The use of electronic drum kit puts a modern edge to the song. "Frakctured" is a fantastic track with quiet before the storm. It remotely reminds of "Fracture" and still quite r" is a an entirely new direction as it continues where "Sex, sleep,..." from 1995, experimenting with lyrics and word patterns. "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part IV" is of course similar to the 70's output but does not bring much new to the table apart from much modern drum sound. Using synths instead of mellotrion is another change. "Code I have a dream" feels like an downfalling anthem and is one of the catchy and more accessible songs. "Heaven and earth" is a track with a separate spirit having an electronica atmosphere.

Overall, this is the last really experimental album by KC as the Power to Believe is more conventional.

Review #35

Beautiful and underrated album

Continuing with the formula of "Thrak" but without the double trio line-up, the BELEW-FRIPP-MASTELOTTO-GUNN's KING CRIMSON published "The construKction of light" in 2000; a nice way to say goodbye to the 20th century and to welcome the 21st. This album was fresh and aggressive with lots of insane guitar riffs and very interesting electronic drum patterns.

The instrumental songs of the album show a more stylized KING CRIMSON (not too much improvisation, but rather songs extremely rehearsed), there are no soft ballads in this one, all the piece is hard rocky/bluesy metal from the beginning to the end. Maybe the softest part of the album is right in the middle of "FracKtured", but as a whole, the album has a very powerful sound more oriented to Progressive and Industrial Metal.

Maybe this album is not as great as "Larks' tongues in aspic" or "Red", but it is frankly more moved and interesting than "Starless and bible black" or "Three of a perfect pair".

SONG RATING: ProzaKc blues, 4 The construKction of light (whole), 5 Into the frying pan, 4 FraKctured, 5 The world's my oyster soup kitchen floor wax museum, 4 Larks' tongues in aspic IV, 4 Coda: I have a dream, 4

AVERAGE: 4.29

PERCENTAGE: 85.71

ALBUM RATING: 4 stars

This album is so good!

If anything, it made me understand that underrated albums should be checked as much as popular ones. The Construkction Of Light has King Crimson at their absolute heaviest to date. Guitars have much louder distortion and are constantly playing riffs reminiscent of bands like Tool, or Experimental Metal in general. I guess the heaviness turns off many people, but for me, it works as a fresh breath of air.

The album begins with Prozakc Blues, which features one of the catchiest guitar lines ever. Legitimately love how headbangable it is despite being in an odd time signature. Vocals are pretty ok, not a big fan of them, they sound pretty comical. The Construktion Of Light is a very experimental track that quite reminds me of Red's Providence. It works well after the hard-hitter that comes before it.

Into The Frying Pan is a mix between progressive rock, atonality and blues. It constantly switches between these as the song progresses. Fraktured is a sequel to Starless & Bible Black's Fractured. Therefore it has many ideas and motifs that can be found in the original, but not many however, it's King Crimson after all. The World's My Oyster Soup Chicken is pretty similar to Into The Frying Pan Musically.

The standout of the album, and one of the biggest reasons I'm giving this album four stars instead of three, is Larks' Tongues In Aspic Pt. IV. This song is simply a masterpiece in every way. The syncopating instrumentation present in it is absolutely masterful and a bliss to listen to, Robert Fripp's solo at the middle is dramatic and powerful, combined with the crushing percussion behind it works amazingly. The final movement "I Have A Dream (coda)" is for sure the climax of the album, where the entire band goes insane in a cacophonous yet precise way. The best way I can describe this track is with the name of a Dream Theater album: Systematic Chaos!

I find this album to be underrated, I personally really like it, then again I'm pretty sure the heavy and metallic feel in it can make many people dislike it. For me, it's gotta be Four Stars!

During the time when the various ProjeKcts were performing and recording, Tony Levin left the band as well, bringing King Crimson to the quartet of Fripp, Belew, Gunn, and Mastelotto. This four-piece began recording their next album in late 1999.

The resulting album, 2000's The ConstruKction of Light, is not King Crimson's best, and even Fripp acknowledged he was unhappy with the results. Somewhat unusually for King Crimson, none of this material had been played live before recording, and the songs feel overly reliant on past ideas.

ConstruKction opens with a song called "ProzaKc Blues", and it's not very good. It's a somewhat tongue-in-cheek blues cut with industrial flavors, and Belew's voice is distorted and pitch-shifted down. Despite Belew's clever lyrics, this song is beyond saving.

The title track harkens back to the band's '80s sound, with Belew and Fripp playing interlocking guitar lines. Overall, this cut lacks any real impact or power, and a lot of it comes off as limp math rock. Pat Mastelotto's electronic drum kit doesn't sound very good, either. Its first six minutes are repetitious, but once Belew's voice comes in, that helps to save the last third of the song. "Into the Frying Pan" is better, channeling some early-to-mid '90s alt rock flavors, but it's also too long.

"FraKctured" began life as a "Larks' Tongues" sequel before Robert Fripp decided it was more of a sequel to "Fracture" off Starless and Bible Black. The opening of this one sounds very similar to this album's title track, though some of the speedy riffing evoke moments in "Fracture". The twinkly, clean guitar tones Fripp and Belew utilize here don't really suit the music very well, and it robs it of any intensity. Mastelotto's snare drum also calls to mind Lars Ulrich's disastrous tone on St. Anger. There's finally some distortion later on in the song. And while it does help with the previous lack of intensity, there's something about this particular tone that is simply unpleasant. It's frazzled and sharp, but more in a "crappy amp" kind of way than a "harsh experiment" kind of way.

Another blues-influenced song, "The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum" showcases more of Belew's quirky lyric-writing, but the musical backing isn't great. It's a noisy, jumbled soup that fails to make a splash.

What comes next is the 13-minute "Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part IV)". The jagged riffs certainly call to mind prior entries in this series, but there's a more industrial edge to the rhythm. I can't exactly call it a rousing success. The composition isn't bad, but the tone choices are questionable, especially with the percussion. Its outro features some synths that are uncharacteristic for this band, and this behemoth is beset by a sense of aimlessness.

The ConstruKction of Light ends with "Heaven and Earth", which is credited to ProjeKct X. This piece has an urgent backbone, and I like it a lot. It's a song where repetition and slow, incremental changes are utilized effectively. Its slow, synth-heavy outro is too long, but I'll take what I can get on this album.

In 2019, King Crimson released The ReconstruKction of Light, a remastering/partial re-recording of The ConstruKction of Light. It certainly sounds better, especially in regard to the drums. Mastelotto used an acoustic kit on the re-recorded version, and it helped a lot. However, choices of sounds were only a portion of the problems plaguing ConstruKction; most of these songs just aren't up to the band's usual songwriting snuff. ReconstruKction is a mild improvement, but unless you feel more warmly toward this album than I do, it's really not worth it.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2024/04/15/deep-dive-king-crimson/