THE POWER TO BELIEVE

The music is fine, the guitar playing great, the drumming very high quality (of course, he's not Bruford, but not bad for a not-Bruford). However, as in the previous release, there is a feeling of something missing. Then you listen to one of the old Crimson albums and it becomes obvious what the problem is - Fripp is ripping himself off. Crimson albums have now become 'formula', mainly because Fripp applies the same formula to his compositions, over and over. His ideas are no longer fresh, despite the fact that virtually no one else writes like him. A previous reviewer of one of the 80s Crimson albums on this site suggested KC get rid of Belew, but after hearing this latest, and Construktion of Light, it is clear that KC has to get rid of Fripp! (I can hear it now - oh Sacrilege!). But let's face it, anyone who has seen KC live lately has attested to how uninterested Fripp seems in the whole thing - he seethes dislike for his audience and their (our) intellegence. On the other hand, Belew always puts his best into it, he saves the show! (and dare I say it, he is now the one with the better guitar solos too! Fripp just doesn't seem to care anymore. I know - I have seen the Crims three times in the recent past). So, get this album for the new Belew material.