King Crimson: Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind

A few weeks ago was the fourth time seeing King Crimson, the first in 1984 at the Greek Theatre with the quartet of Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Tony Levin and Bill Bruford at the end of the tour that was followed by the termination of that phase of Crimson.  At eighteen, I had no interest in seeing a "prog" band when I was first asked to go, but the friend who asked loaned me several albums from In the Court of the Crimson King to Starless and Bible Black and on to Discipline and it was the latter 1981 classic that convinced me to go.

The concert was amazing for so many reasons, including the interlocking guitars of Fripp and Belew, the latter's songcraft and easy stage banter, Levin's prowess on the bass and Chapman stick, and Bruford's superlative drumming.  When Crimson splintered, though, I ended my budding interest in the band (buying the Vroom EP in 1994 did not stir enough to rekindle the desire to pick up the thread) and that lasted all the way to 2009.

At the time, KC had just gone through a short tour the prior year and plans for a 40th anniversary tour were aborted due to scheduling (and, likely, other) conflicts.  Fripp then went through a series of lawsuits over royalties and other issues, worked on a book that apparently has been shelved, and stated he'd never tour again.

Suddenly, in 2013, that all changed, and a new concept for Crimson was formulated by Fripp, including a front-line trio of drummers, the return after forty years of the amazing Mel Collins on flute and saxes, the always-reliable Levin, and the introduction of Jakko Jakszyk on vocals and guitar.

In 2014, the band came to Los Angeles and played the beautiful old Orpheum Theatre and, after thirty years, it was quite a sight to see Crimson again.  The first half-hour, though, was a challenge trying to acclimate to the massive wall of sound created by drummers Pat Mastellotto, Bill Rieflin and Gavin Harrison.  All of them are fantastic at their instrument, but it did take that time to adjust to hearing the din and, probably, they were still working out the dynamics of playing together.

Obviously, we were in the cheap seats and couldn't see Robert Fripp or Jakko Jakszyk (the intent was to get tickets on the other side of the venue), but the drum corps was so impressive it didn't matter, plus Collins and Levin were their usual stellar selves.  While some folks ignored the request to avoid photographs or videos, the vast majority of us dutifully waited until the end to snap our images of the band at the concert's conclusion.

A 40-minute taster was released from the shows at the Orpheum and, enjoyable, as that show was, it became clear, as would be expected, that getting the seven-headed beast to gel was going to take some time.  So, subsequent releases recorded in Toronto and Chicago, for example, demonstrate how the new version of KC refined their sound.

In 2017, the band was back, though were now four drummers with the addition of the unknown Jeremy Stacy and he and Rieflin also played keyboards.  The June show at the Greek was also very enjoyable and the band played really well.

BUT, the seven-piece (Rieflin sat out this tour) that walked onto the stage at the Greek on Tuesday sounded miles ahead of that excellent ensemble and it was the trio of drummers who really propelled the band forward in what can only be described as a powerful, thrilling and stunning performance by a thoroughly road-tested and stage-hardened juggernaut.

The truth is that everyone played great.  Mel Collins was fantastic on his various saxes and flutes and even threw in bits of old tunes like "Tequila" to build the fun that isn't always associated with the band.  Levin is always awesome, providing just the right amount of low end to hold everything together, including playing with three monster drummers.  Jakszyk was in top vocal form and seemed much more comfortable with tunes associated with great vocalists like the late Greg Lake and John Wetton as well as Belew.

As for Fripp, it is abundantly clear that he is vastly more energized and playing with far more enjoyment with this group than at any time.  As with earlier shows, his guitar may have been given a little less volume than it could be, but his playing demonstrates the enthusiasm of working with an ensemble at its peak level of performance.

The Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind box set includes three CDs of live performances from 2015, with discs devoted to "Mainly Metal," "Easy Money Shots," and "Crimson Classics" and shows the band gelling to the degree that the type of telepathic interplay, between the three drummers and the ensemble generally, was becoming institutionalized, but not in a robotic rote way.

The added benefit are three discs (one Blu-Ray and two standard DVDs) of videos of live performances, so that the ensemble can be seen as well as heard generating the reworking of so much classic material, along with some newer pieces.

Who knows whether this 50th anniversary tour means in terms of the future of King Crimson, but the concert was remarkable and this longest-lasting incarnation seems primed to keep going and audiences are there to support it.