THE RECONSTRUKCTION OF LIGHT (2LP VERSION)

Being a huge King Crimson fan, I appreciated "The Construkction of Light" when it was originally released, but like most people, I felt it was lacking just a little bit. This re-visit to the original album give the overall package exactly what it needed. And it's also on vinyl, which in the case of this album, enhances the overall experience of the album, making it warmer, yet more dynamic than ever.

I won't take the time to go through the tracks as they are in the same order as the original album, even including the Projekct X track "Heaven and Earth". The one thing that is noteworthy is the fact that the tracks sound ... So. Much. Better. The sound is cleaner, not so cold and harsh as before, and the new drum track totally brings a much better dimension to everything. This now turns into a King Crimson album that sits up there with the best.

However, that isn't all. This new package adds two more tracks, thus that unfinished feel of the original album is also taken care of. These are both live tracks, but you wouldn't know that if it weren't for the applause and reaction between the tracks as the sound is, just like the rest of the "Reconstrukction", quite amazing. These are mostly instrumental and mostly improvisational, but still quite exciting to hear, almost like having two brand new tracks. They aren't quite "brand new" though if you have the album "Live Construkction", but for most people, they will be new. And these tracks fit so well with the rest of the album, you will wonder why they have been missing from your original album.

There are so many reasons for everyone (not just KC fans) should get this album, especially if you have heard the original album and didn't quite appreciate it. If you are a KC fan and you don't have a turntable, you might want to get your hands on one, "Reconstrukction of Light" is that good. Of course, the LP version doesn't have all the DVD bells and whistles that the CD package has, but the LP package plays more like an album than it does a "box set" and the sound is excellent. This version definitely gives you that satisfaction that the original "Construkction" seemed to be missing.

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.