I think part of the whole point of TCoL was to assemble ideas that had their genesis during the Double Trio and were developed during the ProjeKcts. So in a way the whole thing was about figuring out the compositions. While they did that, the new line-up hadn't really found its collective voice. They figured out what to say, but not quite how to say it. They got the later bit sorted out after they released TCoL, which I think they wanted as a 2000 release. Once they got a handle on alternating between loud, aggressive, highly composed pieces, and luminous, expansive, spacey pieces, the band really staked out an identity. You hear it coming together on Heavy ConstruKction, all together on Level 5, and as a confident voice on Happy... and TPtB.
IMO Level 5 and Happy... go a long way in redeeming a lot of the material on TCoL. For instance, the Larks' IV on Happy... is incendiary. There are great tunes and instrumentals on TCoL, they just don't shine brightest there.
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.
The Power to Believe is in a different universe to my ears. I saw both tours (CoL and PtB) and the later was vastly superior. Still, Coda: I Have a Dream - is at the absolute top of my list for Crimson songs with penetrating resonance.
Well since their reunion in the 90's, Thrak is still my prefrerred studio album, despite the LTIA presence plastered all over it... (double drummer formation helping out in that parallel)
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
I don't get the love for Heavy Construkction. The sound is typically "dead soundboard" with even more dead electronic drums. And no real low end. Why on earth didn't they mix that album from the multitracks. Listen to the london gig from the eyes wide open dvd. Much better sounding.
The following tours had Pat playing a kit with real drums augmented by all his electronics and it helped 1000%
And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make.
If it is true for Discipline (since Beat only beats the same path, while TOAPP more or less follows suit), I would kind of agree with your pattern.... if Thrak is considered as part of their latest trilogy... But can it be so because the double trio was not present on TCOL and TPTB
However, I really diasgree with you about the Wetton era... SABB is certainly no superior to LTIA (there are some fairly weak tracks on it), and I find Red rather over-rated... Indeed çonly Fallen Angel and Starless are stand-outs, and Providence is still a waste of time for me >>> though i must say that Moonchild's alt takes on the 40th anniv reissue have helped me appreciate it better...
In my book, LTIA's only weaker moment is Book of Staturday... and it's less than three minutes. The rest is infaillible
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
> The rest is infaillible <
IMHO, the weakest stuff on SABB is infinitely more interesting than all but the first and last tracks (pts I and II) of LTIA. But I DO like all of LTIA - just get more excited by the insanity on SABB...
Does anyone else think Coda - I had a Dream is the best song on CoL?
It's poignant. But it kinda bums me out too much to be my favorite.
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.
Yes. I'd never call them dead ringers, more like an outline sketch and the finished painting.
That's what Audacity is for, my friend. I hate that too, but it wasn't too much trouble to combine the tracks into one file each for Ipodding (it was even easier with e).
Not me. I hated the words from day one--Crimson should never be dated to certain times/places and the list is just inane. The whole thing really found its potential once they started letting the music speak for itself.
I usually do too. I can generally appreciate lyrics if they're well-done and ignore them (or just listen to them as rhythmic sounds) if they're plain or average, but sometimes there's something that bugs me enough that it makes the whole piece more unpleasant to listen to. This is just one of those times.
I've also drifted more towards things that express things without words (music, visual art, whatever) the older I get, so no doubt that preference colors the LT4 issue even more to begin with.
I can respond to this by saying yes if you're deaf. Very different albums, both are great but only superficially similar. And I don't mean that you are deaf, if that came off too harsh. I was actually thinking of my brother! I don't have the power to believe that he's really my brother.
ConstruKction never did anything for me, and made me avoid PtB, allthough I know its better. Dunno whats wrong, dont like the sound... have all KC's previous studio albums.
I attended the concerts both in 2000 and 2003, so maybe I should make some research on 'Heavy ConstruKction'
I like lyrics but I don't like them too literal... Oyster soup and prozac blues compared to the brilliant starless or islands lyrics...
The right lyrics are hard to come by, but necessary for me to feel a sense of place on an album.... at least have lyrics on a third of an album IMO. But thats just me.
Last edited by Nijinsky Hind; 12-03-2015 at 05:43 PM.
Still alive and well...
I love both these albums. Much as I love the Wetton era, these two albums might represent my favorite incarnation of KC.
I can totally understand the criticisms of CoL, but of the two this is my favorite, thin sound and all. I'm not totally sure why. Something about this group of songs just caught me. For me the album just goes from strength to strength. I particularly love the title track, which was the first time I ever connected with any Belew lyrics, and it opened a door to me to some (though not all ) of his other stuff. I also thought this one really captured the full potential of the interlocking/Gamelan guitar thing.
I also love TPtB, Level 5 in particular. Definitely a better sounding album. I feel this one trails off a bit at the very end and doesn't close on as strong a note as it opens, but I really like it and feel it closed this era of the band on a high note.
So, two winners for me. Similar in some ways, but different in others. I actually like that there was some continuity of sound and approach between them, but that there was a sense of movement as well.
Bill
Greg, another thing we have in common - I'm a HUGE Cronenberg fan!
I agree with most here that TPTB is the warmer, cozier Crim album if there's such a thing, but I do enjoy MOST of TCOL too. Belew needs to shut up for me to enjoy it - mostly. But even Belew I'm more accepting of as of late. I can let him have his chance to wail.
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