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condor View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Adrian Belew
    Posted: August 11 2015 at 10:13
How do you feel about his influence on King Crimson?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 10:17
I try not to, to be honest. I really can't stand his lyrics on albums like the Construkction of Light but really dig his rapid fire interplay with Fripp on songs like Level 5, but that's generally an exception to the rule.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 10:47
To be honest I prefer the Lake and Wetton periods ...never been all that fond of Belew's vocals nor his guitar playing style. But being a KC fan in general I do listen to the Belew era albums and I enjoy them.
One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 10:47
I like his guitar and voice,  his lyrics not so much.   I definitely like what Adrian brings to KC live.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 11:21
Big fan.

Loved the Discipline-era, and I still have fond memories of seeing that band live near its end, on the Three of a Perfect Pair tour. Thought the Thrak-era was also marvelous, noisy and inventive.

Lone Rhino and Twang Bar King also had a big impact on me at the time.

Never fully understood all the hostility toward the man.
The damage that we do is just so powerfully strong we call it love

The damage that we do just goes on and on and on but not long enough.

--Robyn Hitchcock
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 11:45
I'm not a fan of King Crimson in general, but I love 'The Power to Believe'. So in that way, I think he's an important figure to the band.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 12:06
Critical to the band's history.  I'll be interested to see if the current line-up creates anything, or is just a greatest hits machine.  If the latter, it only underscores the importance of Belew.

Fripp is the center - but i think Belew, along with Bruford, Wetton, Levin, are the other elements which made the band over the decades.

I too am always puzzled by the belew-haters.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 12:33
Discipline is my favourite KC album and probably in my top 5 albums of all time. I think I saw them playing it live even before I had the album. It just put a smile on my face when I heard the material for the first time and Belew came out with "talk talk, it's only talk" on "Elephant Talk". (I'm a Talk Talk fan to this day Clown). Discipline was something new and exciting and I think his influence was strong in that line-up. Beat and Perfect Pair are also high on my list, as is Thrak (I'm not so keen on much of what came later).

The thing is, his singing style was quite different from traditional prog from the 70s, sharper, more urban New Wave, same with his lyrics, many of which I like, but this could explain why many 70s prog lovers couldn't warm to him. Fripp was moving in this direction at the time, too, so I can't really say how much of it was Belew's influence and how much was Fripp (or Bruford or Levin), but I think that Belew was important for them to find a consistent style at the time; Fripp was trying out many small things and didn't show a clear direction before Discipline.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 13:03
Love his vocals and like what he brought to KC over the years. KC are one of the few bands who didnt really put a foot wrong throughout their career IMO.
Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 13:05
Totally essential to the Crim sound.

94-03 rules!!!



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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 13:23
Adrian Belew is 100% brilliant. Better than Lake's period by miles and miles. Wetton period is obviously damn good, but they both fill different niches for me. 

Unfortunate he is often overlooked for some reason. 
Crushed like a rose in the riverflow.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 14:15
He was brilliant with KC. But I love his work with Laurie Anderson, Talking Heads and Bowie. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 15:03
I saw King Crimson live for the first time on the Discipline.  Totally fine with his guitar, vocals, and lyrics.  And I also agree with hellogoodbye.  I'd also add his solo work, and his work with The Bears.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 17:55
Adrian Belew never cared for him with Crimson (or Zappa for that matter).  Decent musician but I can't tell you what he added that was good to Crimson.  Will always love the 'Larks' Tongues' & 'Red' era.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 18:23
Wasn't too fond of him at first, but when I got Absent Lovers, my jaw dropped at his guitar work. He could have given even Jimi Hendrix a run for his money. Then again, Adrian had the advantage of having access to gizmos that Jimi unfortunately didn't live to see or use, but at least Adrian made very good use of them and had the talent to conjure up all sorts of sounds. Good vocalist too, second to Greg Lake.
He looks at this world and wants it all... so he strikes, like Thunderball!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 21:37
Originally posted by questionsneverknown questionsneverknown wrote:

Big fan.

Loved the Discipline-era, and I still have fond memories of seeing that band live near its end, on the Three of a Perfect Pair tour. Thought the Thrak-era was also marvelous, noisy and inventive.

Lone Rhino and Twang Bar King also had a big impact on me at the time.

Never fully understood all the hostility toward the man.
I agree with every word. Loved Lone Rhino and Twang Bar King. Desire Caught By the Tail is my favorite. I may have even discovered his solo stuff first before his KC stuff. I can't remember. I also don't understand the hostility, then again, I've found similar hostility to Zappa, so I think there's a sort of west coast quirkiness that some traditional Prog fans just don't get, though they're fine with a PG brand of quirkiness. A cultural thing, I guess maybe.

Oh, and I love the Crimson Projekts album, Space Groove.

Edited by HackettFan - August 11 2015 at 21:40
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 11 2015 at 22:04
Fantastic player, and genuinely nice chap!  (he's from Illinois as am I).  

Adrian kicked KC into the modern era with his Talking Heads approach to guitar and vocals.  The Wetton years were my favorite, but Belew's tenure a close second.  

However, Fripp "fired" Adrian from joining the re-tooled KC, and I'd say that Jakko Jakszyk is a much better fit for the 1960's and 1970s era KC.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 12 2015 at 06:57
Originally posted by Slartibartfast Slartibartfast wrote:

I saw King Crimson live for the first time on the Discipline.  Totally fine with his guitar, vocals, and lyrics.  And I also agree with hellogoodbye.  I'd also add his solo work, and his work with The Bears.

hear hear on Los Osos...they do not get nearly enough love anywhere.  An amazing pop group with arty tendencies.  I am hoping that the out of KC fiasco and some spare time maybe leads to a new Bears album and tour....been too long
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 12 2015 at 07:33
One of my absolute favourite musicians. Jaw-dropping, incendiary guitar work all through his career.
You left a note in your perfect script
Stay as long as you like
I haven't left your bed since
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 12 2015 at 11:42
Someone mentioned above that Fripp 'fired' him...was that due to artistic differences or did Fripp just want more of the retro sound that Jako can bring?
 
My main problem with Belew, which isn't really a problem, is that the KC sound changed radically after the Wetton period which probably (or may have) had more to do with Fripp than anything else.
While Belew is a talented player I simply don't care for his style of playing nor the songs he writes...for the most part.
One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
Haquin
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