If Reagan Played Disco
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
The Power to Believe
King Crimson
Sanctuary
A slab from this nearly 40 year old prog rock band that proves it can still take on all newcomers to the field. As Fripp has often stated, King Crimson comes together when they have relevant music to play and/or things to say. And this time around this thematically tied together album seems to be about our beliefs and perceptions, faith and the mass spectacle society. Level Five, the album's opener after a brief a capella of the thematic motif, is a Lark's Tongue-ish scorcher that proves that no one but Robert Fripp can coax cello-like nuances from his guitar at one moment and frenzied, terror shrieks the next.
In fact, this whole album hearkens back to an earlier period of KC's history. The device of stringing this outing together with the Power to Believe I,II and the Coda are reminiscent of the Peace chorus on In the Wake of Poseidon. Level Five somewhat resembles the title track from 1974's Red. And the inclusion of the beautiful artwork of P.J. Crook throughout brings to mind the Peter Sinfield era of this band's back catalog.
Not that this is a derivative or nostalgic album by any means; there is enough here that would give Tool, mars Volta, et al, a run for their money. The pastoral sounding Eyes Wide Open is one of Adrian Belew's most beautiful songs yet, and seems to be about where the individual finds himself today.The very aggro-sounding Facts of Life sounds like Ministry on a very good day, transcribing the rationale of the Project for the New American Century with the lyrics:
Sanctuary
A slab from this nearly 40 year old prog rock band that proves it can still take on all newcomers to the field. As Fripp has often stated, King Crimson comes together when they have relevant music to play and/or things to say. And this time around this thematically tied together album seems to be about our beliefs and perceptions, faith and the mass spectacle society. Level Five, the album's opener after a brief a capella of the thematic motif, is a Lark's Tongue-ish scorcher that proves that no one but Robert Fripp can coax cello-like nuances from his guitar at one moment and frenzied, terror shrieks the next.
In fact, this whole album hearkens back to an earlier period of KC's history. The device of stringing this outing together with the Power to Believe I,II and the Coda are reminiscent of the Peace chorus on In the Wake of Poseidon. Level Five somewhat resembles the title track from 1974's Red. And the inclusion of the beautiful artwork of P.J. Crook throughout brings to mind the Peter Sinfield era of this band's back catalog.
Not that this is a derivative or nostalgic album by any means; there is enough here that would give Tool, mars Volta, et al, a run for their money. The pastoral sounding Eyes Wide Open is one of Adrian Belew's most beautiful songs yet, and seems to be about where the individual finds himself today.The very aggro-sounding Facts of Life sounds like Ministry on a very good day, transcribing the rationale of the Project for the New American Century with the lyrics:
Six billion ants, crawling on a plate/ Six billion ants, crawling on a plate, /none of them give back as much as they take.The very post-modern (for a prog-rock band) Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With, complete with amusing placeholder fill-in-the-blanks lyrics, has one of the catchiest, most life affirming choruses to date.
# posted by Chardman @ 4:02 PM 
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I was fortunate enough to have heard 'Level Five' played on my local listener sponsored radio station and immediately had to run out to buy it - something I almost never do.
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