Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: King Crimson
Label: Discipline Global Mobile
Release: 1995
Rating: 5/5
review no. 2 by: Peter Podbrežnik (15.01.2008)
“Thrak” was yet another magnificent comeback for prog rock champions King Crimson, a band that at the time probably even most of their most loyal followers weren’t sure would ever crawl back out of the grave after being buried yet again in the mid-80s (the first burial had already happened in the 70s) by legendary guitarist Robert Fripp, their indestructible chieftain (or charismatic dictator, if you prefer), who had decided back then to devote himself to running his school for gifted guitarists, which would later turn out some of the most interesting guitar talents in today’s prog rock. After a phone call and a cup of tea with his longtime musical comrade, the American guitarist, singer and lyricist Adrian Belew, Fripp decided to reawaken his first love in a completely new guise, but with its original soul intact. In his words, the time had come once more when music appeared that only King Crimson were capable of playing. Fripp had always been the chief executioner and awakener of these apostles of prog rock. Every time any chance of commercial success showed up, he’d rather disband the whole thing than risk caving in to whatever commercial compromises the era demanded. Of all the prog rock pioneers from the late 60s, King Crimson were one of the handful who didn’t make fools of themselves in the 80s by cranking out pop hits for the newborn MTV generation or by filling huge stadiums for a laugh. They stayed true to their original avant-garde soul the whole time, and their 90s band was sonically as unique and recognizable as every other version of the group before it. That’s also why they still enjoyed enormous respect from most fans of prog rock in its many forms, while for the average listener they remained a big enigma from some other planet. After the release of the EP “VROOOM” (1994), their first release in ten years, which gave a fleeting taste of how the band would sound in the new decade, “Thrak” was the moment for the legendary name to introduce itself in a renewed form to new generations who weren’t even born yet when the band went off for its first temporary rest.
This time Fripp didn’t want to make radical changes to the lineup like he’d done in the past, since besides Belew he lured back Tony Levin, a masterful bassist and great innovator in the use of the stick, and drum legend Bill Bruford. He’d worked with both of them very successfully in the 80s. That move undoubtedly guaranteed a desirable sonic continuity, but Fripp wanted to beef up the band, especially its rhythm section, with a dose of “young blood”. To that end he brought in two more rhythm heavyweights, then still somewhat lesser known, who turned that rhythm section into a truly frenzied beast with two different heads. The American share of the band grew even bigger with bassist Trey Gunn, also a superb stick player, whom Fripp picked up from his school for gifted guitarists, and drummer Pat Mastelotto (ex-Mr. Mister), who was already a fairly established name by then. Locked in with their older comrades, with both guitar heavyweights watching over them like hawks, this version of King Crimson became known as the so-called double trio. That meant they could occasionally split up, mainly for various improvisation projects, into two, three or sometimes even four completely different bands (the result was the improvisational albums released under the name “ProjeKcts”). They could often afford to have the second rhythm section play a totally different rhythm from the first, and numerous polyrhythmic approaches were typical too. That opened up completely new horizons of rhythmic experimentation, and in that respect it was surely the most powerful rhythm section in their history. And of course the innovation didn’t stop there. Fripp’s soundscapes (or sound curtains, as we’d say) increasingly replaced symphonic arrangements, while Belew’s avant-garde solos reached a new level of wit.
If I slice up the sonic picture of the album as a whole, you can tell across most of the tracks that their sound had once again become much darker and more obscure, closer to the incarnation from the “Red” (1974) era than to the one from the 80s. Besides the trademark rhythmic subtleties, often with jazz elements, and plenty of ambient moments, there’s also more room for a number of almost metal-ish guitar passages. Despite the modern sound that put them back in step with the times, that original Crimson essence stayed untouched, and Fripp’s favorite saying that this is “a group whose soul lives in different bodies at different times” came true once again. As usual, what impresses most is the incredible stylistic eclecticism of the individual tracks and the amazing atmosphere that runs through them. On “Thrak,” King Crimson successfully combined all the best qualities of the band’s earlier incarnations and packaged it all in a modern sound.
That the crimson kings stayed champions of prog rock experimentation even in their new outfit is proven right away by the excellent opening instrumental “VROOOM”. After the opening sound of Fripp’s violin-flavored mellotron, the listener gets riddled by the screaming passages of Adrian’s guitar, Fripp’s fast-fingered minimalisms and a kicking rhythm full of unpredictable transitions. The mood conjures up a dark and mysterious setting where the chase for profit has long since managed to whittle all basic human emotions down to a minimum. This excellent start flows straight into the dramatic “Coda: Marine 475”, where a tense rhythmic build-up unfolds between the two rhythm sections, with plenty of avant-garde guitar passages in between. In the background you can hear a voice counting down the minutes to some kind of launch, in my mind probably a submarine torpedo.
Next comes “Dinosaur”, which was also released as a single and is one of those pure-blooded Crimson classics that give prog gourmets goosebumps every single time they hear it again. After a dramatic opening layer on the mellotron comes a witty riff that forms an interesting motif, one that nudges a little toward the ancient Crimson classic “Cirkus”. Besides the excellent composition, I have to praise Adrian’s excellent lyrics too, where he used a great image of an unearthed dinosaur (“I’m dinousaur, somebody is digging my bones). That metaphor fits the band, who after many years dug up their bones once more, but also works as an image for a legendary group in its mature middle years, the kind some media like to call a rock dinosaur. One of my favorite Crimson classics, and a moment on the album where even the most skeptical followers could already be fully convinced that the band had come back the way it should, if not beyond expectations. The piercing, melancholic-romantic ballad “Walking On The Air” is in my opinion one of their most beautiful ballads ever. Adrian’s extremely subtle vocal almost deliberately veers toward his great idol John Lennon, while the romantic, dreamy melody on guitar and soundscapes is unbelievably seductive and shuts up all those critics who accuse them of too much cold intellect and a lack of emotional warmth. “B’BOOM” is again a somewhat more avant-garde creation, where both drummers show off their astonishing talent with plenty of energy, and the end result is a real drum duel with no real winner. The student (Mastelotto) goes toe to toe with the teacher (Bruford) as an equal. In the background you can hear lots of avant-garde sounds, so-called frippertronics.
The drum showdown tips straight over into the title instrumental “THRAK”, which I could most easily describe as a blend of avant-garde metal and ambient music. While astonishing things are going on in both rhythm sections (from wild marches on the drums to raging, dynamic growls on bass and stick), Adrian takes care of one of his typically crazy solos. And Fripp, as usual, keeps a balance with his soundscapes. The dark “Inner Garden I” feels like some kind of apocalyptic lament. It’s marked by a simple, repeating melody on guitar, a melodic bass line and a melancholic vocal that gives off the feeling of the last surviving human on Earth. Next is “People”, one of the most fun experiments on the album, also released as a single. It’s a witty mix of funk, pop, avant-garde and metal with a melodic, sophisticated chorus. Once again you have to admire Adrian’s charismatic vocal and his mocking lyrics about all the oddities of the human species. Despite the simple chorus and its generally subtle-melodic nature, there’s also a string of unusual rhythmic transitions and avant-garde guitar bits inside, which don’t stop at Adrian’s drawn-out solo. Here too you can spot two completely different approaches from the two rhythm sections. “Radio I” is a short avant-garde instrumental with strange frippertronics sounds, serving as a kind of lead-in to yet another extremely subtle ballad, “One Time”. It’s a bit more fatalistically melancholic than “Walking On The Air” and presents the band once again as true masters of switching moods and champions of stylistic variety. Adrian’s romantic vocal is wonderfully backed by minimalist sound curtains, gentle guitar accompaniment and dynamic percussion. The central instrumental section, where Fripp’s soundscapes and Belew’s guitar passages melt into each other, is incredibly delicious.
“Radio II” is similar in nature to its predecessor, a short curtain of Fripp’s soundscapes. It serves as an overture to yet another sequel, “Inner Garden II”, where the melody of its namesake predecessor repeats, only with the soundscapes getting a bit more emphasis. Then comes “Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream”, also released as a single, which at the time of release could have even competed for airplay on the radio stations of the day, since it’s an extremely interesting and successful mix of funk, metal, pop and avant-garde, and the band at times sounds like some modern avant-garde metal outfit. In there you can find lots of sonic elements from both their tradition and the new direction brought on by the influences of the 90s music scene, plus some elements they’d use on their next projects. Up front are the funky rhythm section and Adrian’s sarcastic vocal, at times muffled by a special effect. Once again there are plenty of extremely unusual rhythmic transitions and frenzied solos, both from Adrian and from Uncle Bob, who has still kept the astonishing agility of his fingers.
“VROOOM VROOOM” has a similar opening motif (violin-oriented mellotron) as its predecessor from the start of the album, but it’s an even better creation. After the opening mellotron comes a jerky transition, followed by a sprawling instrumental feast with plenty of avant-garde guitar passages and rhythmic structures. Sometimes it’s downright astonishing how, in such a minimalist way, they manage to create an incredibly rich, dramatic atmosphere (in one part Fripp glides along just one string while Levin solos on his stick). Here too you can feel that post-apocalyptic mood they so often go for, where people have already completely turned into robots and dully surrendered to the “shelter” of Big Brother. For the grand finale of the album comes “VROOOM VROOOM: Coda”, which is that dark moment when every last hope is gone for a sick and emotionally robbed humanity. Plenty of avant-garde improvisation takes care of that, where the two rhythm sections clash once again, along with Adrian’s guitar madness and Bob’s soundscapes. In the last five seconds you can also hear a very short, jokey melody and Adrian’s “yeah”. It’s not the first time they’ve allowed themselves such humor.
With this prog rock masterpiece, too, King Crimson justified their role as one of the greatest musical innovators of the 20th century. “Thrak” was a magnificent comeback and one of the best prog rock albums released in the 90s. Personally, it may even be my favorite rock album of that decade, one where I can’t find a single weak moment even with a magnifying glass. King Crimson proved themselves once again as one of the few, if not the last, first-generation prog rock bands that still hasn’t stopped evolving and discovering new territories of experimental music. Though that really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise for a band that many consider not just pioneers but the very personification of prog rock. It’s a shame that, as the so-called double trio (not counting the many improvisations that came out not under the King Crimson name but as “ProjeKcts”), they didn’t release a few more albums, even though they stayed together for more than five years. “Thrak” is a genuine and utterly unique embodiment of 90s prog rock perfection and one of those key albums that did a lot to refresh the genre and bring back interest in it. That’s why it shouldn’t be missing from any decent prog rock collection. It’s almost ironic that every prog rock revolution at the start of each decade since the late 60s was set off by King Crimson, a band that always shied away from being pigeonholed as prog rock. Their enormous influence on the trends that followed in the experimental music of each period has, in my eyes, forever cemented them as the most distinguished band in prog rock. So after the release of “Thrak” too, the words Bill Bruford once uttered were confirmed: “if you want to know what the future of music will look like in the next five years, listen to the latest King Crimson album”.
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review no. 1 by: Jernej Vene (24.10.2006)
Charismatic, headstrong guitarist Robert Fripp, with his outlook on life and music, soon laid the foundations for a new direction in rock and thereby defined its progressive branch. Robert Fripp is an exceptional guitarist, and no one has come close to him so far in originality and distinctiveness of expression. Besides that instrument, he worked a lot with the mellotron, one of the first monophonic synthesizers, which he still uses today. In 1984 Fripp promised we wouldn’t hear from King Crimson anymore. But we know how that goes: never say never.
Robert Fripp put together an extremely effective band that manages to turn his ideas into reality. On “Thrak,” besides guitarist and composer Fripp, the members of King Crimson are drummers Bill Bruford and former Mr. Mister member Pat Mastelotto, bassists Trey Gunn and Tony Levin, who also play upright electric bass and an eight-string bass called the Stick, and guitarist and lead singer Adrian Belew, who at one point worked with Talking Heads and David Bowie. On “Thrak,” King Crimson build on the musical expression they started developing in the eighties. Thanks to frequent lineup changes, their records have always radiated new searching in the music we call progressive, or advanced, rock. Robert Fripp is still the undisputed ideological leader of this movement, while the other band members are loyal executors of his ideas. In King Crimson’s music we still hear complex chord progressions, influences of free and orthodox jazz, metal guitars and bits of backwards-spun recordings, which Fripp has been known for since the start of his career. On “Thrak,” King Crimson plunge into a new adventure, though its financial success was never in question. There’s an army of their fans all over the world, even though King Crimson never sold albums in the millions. King Crimson’s music is special, supernatural, and pushes the listener deep into their subconscious, where the answers to many questions are hidden. King Crimson always knew how to marry inventiveness and ambition, and by dodging the traps of experimental rock they built a distinctive, high-quality career of their own. Despite brief breaks in their career, King Crimson are still what they were at the start, only in a quality, modern outfit: the real, one and only, quintessential representatives of progressive rock.
Lineup
Adrian Belew – guitar, vocals
Bill Bruford – drums, percussion
Robert Fripp, guitar, mellotron, soundscape
Trey Gunn – bass, stick, vocals
Tony Levin – bass, stick, upright electric bass
Pat Mastelotto – drums, percussion
Production
King Crimson and David Bottrill
Tracklist
1. Vrooom
2. Coda: Marine 475
3. Dinosaur
4. Walking On Air
5. B’Boom
6. Thrak
7. Inner Garden I
8. People
9. Radio I
10. One Time
11. Radio II
12. Inner Garden II
13. Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream
14. Vrooom Vrooom
15. Vrooom Vrooom: Coda
