b o b

Due to many luke-warm reviews on alt.music.progressive, I put off buying this album for many months after its release. Once I finally did pick it up, I was surprised that it didn't rate higher than it did. Perhaps fans were disappointed that the band didn't follow their usual pattern of completely reinventing themselves after a lengthy break. The music on THRAK sounds like a mix of the sonic assault of the Red-era band and the guitar interplay and "pop" aspects of the 80s Crimson. There's also a hint of the old mellotron-heavy original band, and a helping of Fripp's soundscapes. While it doesn't break much new ground, to me it adds up to a great album. Album highlights are the opening blast of "VROOOM", and its creepy mumbled-number coda "Marine 475". "Dinosaur" is one of the band's better pop songs, with lyrics that take a shot at critics who call all 70s bands dinosaurs (don't these bands realize that the music industry won't work unless each band disappears after their 15 minutes of fame?). In a perfect world, I'd probably remove the atmospheric section in the middle - it just disrupts the flow of the song. "Walking on Air" is one of Crimson's best ballads, and "B'Boom" is a nice drum duet that works even better live. The title track is the one song on the album that does nothing for me - it just sounds like they picked a few chords and pounded them out over and over. What's the appeal? After that the album alternates between more atmospheric numbers and some more good Belew pop tunes like "People" and "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream", plus another sort-of-ballad "One Time". The disc ends with some more of the heavy stuff in a revision of the opening song. Overall, if you're a big fan of the 70s and 80s versions of King Crimson, then you'll probably enjoy this disc. If you're expecting something entirely new from the band, you might be disappointed. review by Bob Eichler — undated —

d o m

First album in eleven years from the veteran progressive rock outfit, adding two members to the 80s version of the band to form a 'double-trio'. While many classic rock bands made comebacks in the 90s, very few can lay claim to the vitality of Robert Fripp and company. Despite being out of the public eye (regarding King Crimson, anyways), the cerebral guitarist established a record label, oversaw a series of reissues and concert recordings, and even made the time to release new material (mostly soundscapes recordings). THRAK saw Fripp updating the classic King Crimson sound a bit, and was generally received well. The sound harkens back to the Red-period band, with aggressive instrumentals and some fiery improvisations. The title track is possibly as overtly dissonant and aggressive as the band has ever sounded, while "VROOOM" and its pseudo-reprise are uptempo workouts that fit nicely in the band's canon. Adrian Belew returns as frontman, and doesn't miss a beat incorporating his modern-rock take on the Beatles and Talking Heads into the Crim sound. The lively opener "VROOOM" prooves that the band can still rev it up. The classic KC formula of juxtaposing raging, rockish sections with softer, understated sections is put to use here, as is the new double trio lineup. The two drummers shine especially, with Mastelotto laying down the basic groove and Bruford dancing around him. For further evidence, check out their drum feature/intro "B'Boom". "Dinosaur", a Belew-penned tune is about, of all things, getting older. Imagine the mid-life crisis of the world's alltime greatest fan of Magical Mystery Tour, beef up the metallic guitars, and you've got this slab of prog-pop. Heavy yet nerdy. review by Dominique Leone — undated —

j o e

The full-fledged return of King Crimson in the 1990s, appearing on the heels of the 'dress rehearsal' mini-album VROOOM. Strange, then, that I find the versions of "VROOOM" and "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream" on the mini-album have a lot more octane than the versions here. "One Time" is more drawn out here with an expanded middle; again, I prefer the previous version. The album's stronger moments include "Dinosaur" and "Walking on Air." Other material, however, falls too neatly into one of three categories: filler (e.g. "Coda: Marine 475," the "Inner Garden" vignettes), songs that are suspiciously far beneath a statement like "music only King Crimson can play" (e.g. "People"), and not-too-subtle rehashes of past accomplishments (e.g. "VROOOM VROOOM"). Ultimately, I'd have to characterize this one as a bit of a disappointment, though at that point with most fans rabid at the return of the Crimson King, no one really minded. And hey, it does have enough enjoyable material to pull it through. review by Joe McGlinchey — undated —

e r i c

Musically this falls between the Red-era and the 80's releases. "Dinosaur" has that heavy guitar driven sound from "Red" (as do the openers "VROOOM", "Coda: Marine 475", and "THRAK", among others) but at times also goes into Beatlesque moments. Every song offers a little something different sonically, from the bombastic percussion of "B'Boom", or the moody dark "Inner Garden I", to the atmospheric pop of "Walking on Air." "One Time" again puts ambiance and texture to the fore, and creates an evocative musical wash with a catchy melody. Fripp sneaks some of his soundscapes into many of the tracks in an almost subliminal fashion. You really have to pay attention to get his entire contribution to the bands sound. Some of the music could even be considered industrial, but then Crimson would have been industrial long before that term was even used. This band proves, along with the various ProjeKcts that they have formed, that they are a vital force in the 90's as well as having been trailblazers in the late 60's. How many bands can lay claim to that? review by Eric Porter — undated —

b r a n d o n

THRAK has been described well enough above as a mix between the mid-70s and early-80s versions of King Crimson, so I'll go ahead and give my opinion on it. I have very mixed feelings about this album. On the one hand, tracks like "VROOOM" (three O's), "Dinosaur", and "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream" are pretty fun and rock out really hard. On the other hand, "VROOOM" was much better on the earlier EP (the version here seems to have most of its fangs removed, and ends up being a bit tedious), and the inclusion of filler tracks like the "Inner Garden" and "Radio" snippets is kind of curious. Despite my misgivings, though, it's easy to enjoy what's offered: the double trio format gives the listener a lot to sort through, and with excellent stereo separation it's fun and for the most part not too difficult to figure what each member of the band is doing (though with the two bassists it's tough to tell). Aside from said three tough-guy songs (plus "VROOOM VROOOM" and both codas), "B'Boom" (the name would later be all capitalized) is worthy of note in that it's the only purely drum-driven "song" - it's basically a dual drum solo plus soundscapes - that really manages to capture my attention on record. "One Time" is a great ballad but again, I prefer the earlier version off of the VROOOM EP. "Walking on Air" and "People" are nice enough poppy pieces, but the latter drags on for too long. The upshot of all this disjointedness (in the album and in this review) is that I really don't know how I feel about this album. At times I think it's brilliant given the band's age, at times I find it cold and empty (something exacerbated by the total lack of acoustics, which has always somewhat bothered me about latter-day King Crimson). I get the impression that fans of the 80s KC will dig this release; it's kind of a crapshoot for others. The good outweighs the bad, but that's about the only definitive thing I'm able to say. review by Brandon Wu — undated —