REVIEW: King Crimson - Thrak (Virgin)

- Joe Silva

The Seattle loose fit set don't need much, if any, of a caffeine jolt to pay in-concert homage to their current heroes (i.e. - the resurrected Neil Young). Good java is better spent on bands that can momentarily forego their ability to "rock hard" and create some true musical tension. Thrak comes way closer to emulating the same "so wired you could chew furniture" buzz you get from a sound dose of Colombian Supremo, than the latest young and slack pack of Crazy Horse clones. You can blur the genesis of 70's art rock between enough bigger bands (Yes, Genesis) to gloss over Robert Fripp's contribution, but the there'd be a significant loss in that sub-genre's substance. Once Fripp successfully co-opted drummer Bill Bruford from Yes, thus adding some serious rhythmic muscle to Crimson, the result was never anything less than provocative. But it was the 80's configuration, adding bassist Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, John Lennon, Lou Reed) and string wizard Adrian Belew (Talking Heads, Laurie Anderson, Bowie, Zappa, etc.), that gets the nod for being able to wed Fripp's skewed sonics to Belew's melody passion. As a unit, the two produced material about everything from Kerouac to Elephants, to the proper way to prepare a lark's tongue (should you have one at your disposal). On the new LP, the standard tunings are once more virtually abandoned, Bruford's rhythms are syncopated and mangled, and the worries they had about whether their ideas would be substantial enough to warrant a reunion have evaporated. With enough inherent skill to be fussy, bizarre, or straight up melodic, Crimson seem to be in peak form - scaling back the excess when necessary, and injecting enough vim into the contents to hold your interest firm. "Dinosaur" (the first single) wraps one of Levin's most stalwart and limber basslines around some pretty pop verses and Belew's howling angst-ridden chorus. Both "Walking On Air" and "One Time" show that Belew still maintains his facility for crooning an achingly sweet ballad. After his somewhat dicey collaborations with former Japan vocalist David Sylvian, Fripp once again liberally flexes of his avant-twang to blistering success. Solo projects, and one-off teamups taken into account, this is the forum where his six string stature is virtually uneclipsable. Having no clue as to the nature of the title, Thrak plays as a suitable label. Electric, muscular, blissful and spatially correct. Not to be missed in performance mode. "Experience" just wouldn't be close to the appropriate term.