SCHIZOID DIMENSION - A TRIBUTE TO KING CRIMSON

When a band is as talented as King Crimson, it is extremely difficult for other musicians to capture their spirit when performing on a tribute album, and usually the best tracks are those that do not try to imitate the original artist, but play their own version of the song. And when covering Crimson, many of these artists just skip over the difficult passages. And that's this collections biggest flaw.

The worst offender is Melting Euphoria. While I give them point for attempting to play Larks' Tongues... Part 1, they just don't have the chops to handle the best parts of the song, and just edit them right out. Second place goes to Pressurehed. Their 21st Century Schizoid Man is very close to the original, but cuts out the best part, the fast syncopated section in the instrumental section (just like ELP's cover on their boxed set).

The better tracks are the different takes on the songs. Brand X (East) (one of two different bands on this collection made up of various Brand X alumni) does an interesting percussion heavy take on Neal And Jack And Me, Architectural Metaphor (a band I thought I would never like) does a great version of Cirkus, not trying to imitate the original at all. And Xcranium rocks up Cat Food.

One different version that doesn't work is a techno version of I Talk To The Wind by Astralasia. But at least they tried to make it their own.

The rest of the album are songs fairly close to the originals.