DEJA VROOOM

I don't know if it's even DECENT for six middle-aged guys to have this much fun. All Crimson fans are hereby invited to share it. The ones who believe Crimso can't be any good when Adrian Belew is in the band may be in for a nasty surprise. The double trio here play "Larks tongues (part two)" and "Red" with greater abandon than the Cross-Wetton band ever did. When I saw these six guys live, it surprised and exhilerated me that they loved their music so completely.

If you could accuse this DVD of a failing, it's this: when you're in a theatre, it doesn't annoy you if approximately half the tracks are one helluva racket. But when you're at home, trying to relax, the relentless succession of VROOOM, VROOOM VROOOM, THRAK and VROOOM VROOOM VROOOM or whatever all those other noisy pieces are called, may seem too much of an ATTAK...

Anyhow, you would be perfectly justified in buying this set for the remainder. Take "Frame by Frame", "Matte Kudasai" and "Three of a perfect pair" for example: all of these are given performances of the utmost refinement and grace. "Elephant talk" is introduced by a Chapman stick improvisation (by Messrs. Levin and Gun) so achingly beautiful it almost brought tears to my eyes. "One Time" demonstrates what a fine and subtle singer Adrian Belew can be, in spite of what Sid Smith calls 'the woebegone choirs' which 'tip the song into maudlin theatricality'. I remember from the actual concert that the Frippertronics loop at the end of the beautiful "Walking on Air" simply kept playing as the audience left the auditorium, so that it felt as if we were all really walking on air.

I haven't tried all the extras, but I started messing around with "Schizoid Man" and achieved a splendid result when the Cross- Wetton band were joined on vocals by an incredible energetic Greg Lake (in a performance I'd never heard!) - a wonderfully unsettling result.

I caught the double trio live in Osaka (where I was living at the time), just three days after these concerts were recorded. Anyone who knows the city will be happy to recognise, in "Tony's Road Movies", that enormous building with its circular roof garden that stands by the Yodo river. (It here appears just before, for some reason, Tony is also shooting an enormous clock.) Now I've no idea what the damned building is called, but Tony must have filmed it when he was making his way to the concert hall after getting off the Bullet Train. Hey, wait - perhaps Tony and I were crossing the Yodo at the very same moment! But in different trains, since I didn't see him... Oh well, I'll never forget that evening's concert, since it was the first time I cast eyes on my greatest prog hero, Mr William Bruford. Tell you what, I'm so-o happy Bill has since given up those dreadful ties. He looks a lot cooler in "smart-casual" dress. So when you've watched DEJA VROOOM, don't forget to buy one of those excellent Earthworks DVDs as well!

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