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Customer Reviews of Beat

80s pop de la Crim == AWESOMENESS.
It has a share of detractors I guess, but I think _Beat_ earns a respectable place in the King Crimson catalogue. Perhaps the most consistently accessible they've ever sounded, _Beat_ is also important because it most successfully bridges the unique sound of Crimson's 80s rock language and the hook laden new wave influence. Catchy music is an art in itself, after all -- especially when you make no compromises with a song's complexity.

It's (almost) all quite ear-pleasing and accessible, yet complex enough to be consumed by it. Hard to believe any band could make such a catchy song out of "Neal and Jack and Me", with its scintillating interlocking guitar parts like every sparkle on a diamond in slow-motion, and weird-as-hell vocal lines. Nor would one expect 80s pop to feature the hair-raising backwards guitar solo or tricky rhythm interplay that appears on the hook-boasting anthem "Heartbeat". And leave it to Adrian Belew to make a catchy tune out of the complex "Waiting Man", with the guitars ostinati interweaving like little whirling galaxies and exotic pointillist rhythm work of the Mighty Levin-Bruford team. A mystical song.

_Three of a Perfect Pair_ doesn't really have a ballad, so "Two Hands" is the only other ballad track aside from "Matte Kudasai" that appeared in this King Crimson embodiment. It's a beauty: minimal and transparent and weightless, its hushed tones as light as the whisk of a little bird's wing. The creamy sustain of the guitar solo on this one is one of the sweetest examples of the delicious guitar sounds Belew and Fripp employed on these albums.

There's "Neurotica", about which I've heard a lot of people displeased or annoyed, but I think it is one of the BEST KING CRIMSON SONGS. It's so insane but twistedly sensible that listening to it is like every neuron in your brain suddenly being fired at once and you become a god. Okay, that's a little over the top but it's great -- probably the best "sound of insanity" song I've ever heard. It isn't even possible to describe it, except "Bloodcurdling." "The Howler" has a more disorienting gamelan arrangement that literally makes me dizzy (or maybe it was that poison hamburger...err, no, it's the song) Another facet of that experimental side appears in the doomful improv "Requiem" -- Fripp plays a stretched solo over some Frippertronics before the rest of the band appears and lays waste to the sepulchral calm. From here, it is divine anarchy, as musicians search for a common End, but reciprocally work with and against each other as if possessed by demons. A twisted monster with an ending that sounds like a sigh of defeat, even though I think they achieved their goal.

One of my favorite pieces is the instrumental "Sartori in Tangier", which sounds like a surreal, joyful parallel to the alien halcyon of "The Sheltering Sky"...stunning.

You might think this review is ridiculous but King Crimson is a pretty incredible experience, even at their "poppiest." If you like apples in vans and sandwiches, you should buy this album.

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Wheels, moving wheels..
King Crimson, circa 1982. They'd just finished touring behind the flawless Discipline album and the newly revamped group had gained its acceptance as the new KC rather than another of Robert Fripp's projects. To take the accessibility factor even higher, they emerged from the studio the second time around with Beat. There are two main theories to account for the change in sound:

1) Adrian Belew let his recent Talking Heads work run rampant over the proceedings and played all the guitars himself (keeping Fripp locked in the basement with only Tony Levin's sushi dinners to sustain him until the album's release), or.. 2) The guys just wanted to have a little more fun this time around.

Though we may never know which was the case, Beat is unquestionably the most radio-friendly and pop-like album in the Crimson canon. If you stretch your imagination a little, you can even hear Bill Bruford playing a steady 4/4 beat at times. (Not to say his drum work is any less inventive - take a listen to "Sartori in Tangier" if you need some reassurance.) On the other side, "Heartbeat" and "Waiting Man" could fit in on an Adrian solo album. And just to remind you this is still Crimson, there are still some moments here to send roommates away complaining about the noise - depending on your perspective, "Neurotica" and "Requiem" will be either listenable experiments or pieces of aimless cacophony.

Often unfairly overlooked, this album falls somewhere in the middle of the KC canon.. worth picking up after the essentials Discipline and Red, but before the diehards-only Lizard or Islands. "Neal and Jack and Me" shows their trademark dual-guitar interplay in top form and "Sartori" still ranks as one of the group's finest instrumentals. And even 35 minutes of Crimson is better than no Crimson at all.

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2nd Disappointing 80's LP
When Fripp reincarnated the band in the 80's, he forgot to tell his fans that he sold out. Sold out to one Adrien Belew. Great musician, though he just didnt belong in the new line up and unfortunately destroyed the band completely. If you enjoy KC's CDs from 1969-1975, then you will be hugely disappointed with this 2nd pop album they released. It also sounds sooo hollow - that is it just doesn't have any guts (even despite the presence of Peter Gabriel regular bass player maestro Tony Levin). A very, very sad product - what were they thinking?