Thrak finds the quartet responsible for Discipline, Three of a Perfect Pair, and Beat in the '80s reassembled, with Trey Gunn on stick (a basslike instrument) and Pat Mastelotto on percussion joining original members Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, and Bill Bruford. Thrak is musically quite similar to the King Crimson albums of the '80s, but it has less of a tribal, rhythmic focus, giving the bulk of the space to the stringed instruments. Bruford and Mastoletto are present and active (check out "B'Boom") but seem to play more of a supporting role. Belew, back from his somewhat successful solo career, reassumes his dominant position, providing all the vocals and plenty of his distinctive backward-sounding guitar work. --Adam Tepedelen

king crimson, king crimson discography

One of the most influential recordings (personally) I own. The layers and textures set up by Eno's groundbreaking tape loop experiments set the stage for the digital age. -- Rich Brown

king crimson, king crimson discography

This music is so brilliant and trippy you must have it . The first time I heard it on "Music for our Times" the DJ just sighed afterwards and said 'Why spoil the mood ?' and left a few respectful moments of dead air. Give it a listen, there's not much out there like it.

king crimson, king crimson discography

The second Crimson album to feature the core lineup of guitarist Robert Fripp, bassist-singer John Wetton, and drummer Bill Bruford (plus violinist David Cross), 1974's Starless continues the complex structures and hard-edged grooves of Larks' Tongues in Aspic. It's a sound that's firmly departed from the mellotron-assisted psychedelic symphony approach of Lizard and In the Wake of Poseidon. The precursor to the landmark Red, Starless includes such Crimson classics as "The Great Deceiver," the eccentric ballad "Lament," the menacing 11-minute "Fracture," and the sprawling title track, an avant-rock "Bolero" that builds into a cacophony of abstract noise guitar, chattering percussion, fleshy funk bass lines and, yep, mellotron, this time in the service of dissonant harmonies and spooky sound bursts. A must for Crimson completists, and a great first bite for neophytes. --James Rotondi

king crimson, king crimson discography

The line-up who made the first two records were a fragile grouping, held together largely by Robert Fripp's iron discipline and their individual desires to become famous. They soon split up when things looked less promising. Greg Lake went to Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Giles ended up playing with Bob Dylan and Sinfield was last heard of doing very well writing lyrics for all those Bucks Fizz hits. The later versions of King Crimson were musically weightier and somewhat less ornate.

The basic unit was Robert Fripp with the prodigious rhythm section of John Wetton on bass and Bill Bruford on drums. The first and most successful of their latter three albums, Lark's Tongue's In Aspic, also benefits greatly from the storming percussion of a great eccentric called Jamie Muir, a man who was wont to beat a joyful noise out of any object put in front of him and has presumably been recovering from the effort ever since, so little has he been heard of since 1973, when this record was made. King Crimson broke up a year later. They won't be easily forgotten. --David Hepworth

king crimson, king crimson discography

Three of a perfect pair is one of the best albums of King Crimson, alongside with Lizard, Islands and Starless. There aren't overrated albums of King Crimson, but there are underrated albums, and, in my opinion, Three of a perfect pair is one of them. Beautiful "pop" songs like Man with an open heart and Sleepless. For purists of progressive rock, there is nothing like Industry, Dig me and Lark's tongues in aspic III.

king crimson, king crimson discography