THREE OF A PERFECT PAIR

Out of "Discipline", "Beat" and "Three Of A Perfect Pair", only "Thela Hun Ginjeet", "Lars' Tongue In Aspic, Pt. III" and the title track of the final aforementioned album are of any value to listen to.

Now, this is no insult to Adrian Belew (I fancy his solo work) or Tony Levin (I burn through at least 2 Liquid Tension Experiment tracks every day), but these three albums just don't live up to the name "King Crimson". In fact, I might as well just review all three albums right now, since they don't deserve three reviews each.

I must admit though, the best track on the album is the title track...covered by Between The Buried And Me. Normally, cover songs by bands such as BTBAM are terrible, but this album is, eh, mediocre to begin with, it actually sounds better by them. Although the original ain't bad either. It's best than the filler in the middle of the album. At least King Crimson managed to bookend the album with the best two tracks on the disc.

Although, I will admit, the only other track that caught my attention was "Industry", with it's slow grinding intro followed by the syncopated drumming, stop-start synth effects and the sound effect that sounds like Sonic The Hedgehog flying down the roll curled up in a ball like in his video games. These sound effects, of course, for a track named "Industry", make sense, for it's the band's interpretation of sound effects in a foundry, industrial plant, iron mill or other industrial place.

Skip two more tracks and you end with "Lars', Pt. III". Let me tell you, if your kids loved listening to the tracks in the middle of this album, you don't want to listen to the beginning of "Lars'". The atonal (and masterful) playing of Robert Fripp (and/or Adrian Belew) continue to carry the band through it's dog-days of the 1980's, but the "Lars'" tracks have always been good tracks. The atonal picking in the first 40 seconds would normally give me hope that the entire album has something good to give me, but alas, the album is almost over, and all hope is lost. But, for better or worst, it's King Crimson going out in style, as no album released later than this would ever, EVER bring me back over to the dark side.

Unfortunately. I want to go back over to the dark side. They have really good cookies.

"The ConstruKtion Of Light" was all disjointed and whatnot and "THRAK" was just down right awful. I still like listening to "Lars', Pt. III" every now and then, but every time I listen to it, I still hear the cheesy monotonous bass-snare kryptonite that is "the sound of the 80's". Every album ever released in the '80's has that sound, and is what transitioned from the era of drugs, booze and rock and roll, to drugs, booze and retarded men and women who think they're artists when they don't make music but they make tons of money.

Go figure, I thought that's what the '70's were all about.

All in all, if you're a diehard King Crimson fan, this album is probably right up your alley, but if you're looking for prog epics, you ain't gonna find any from King Crimson here on out. Best to check their older albums first. Or, I also recommend "The Great Deceiver", where they play their best tracks with some good "improv" songs, which are basically kick ass jams. However, if you're going to end up paying for this album, don't. It's not even worth your money.

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