BEAT

Really inferior to all the previous Crimso releases, and inferior to "Three Of A Perfect Pair" and "THRAK", but in no way a bad album. Too short (35 minutes, the shortest Crimso album), too poppy, but there are really great tracks here, like "Sartori In Tangier", "Neal And Jack And Me", "Requiem" or "The Howler" (4 out of 8 tracks, not bad innit ?). The remainder isn't as good, "Heartbeat" is too poppy, "Two Hands" is too quiet, "Neurotica", a little bit too strange, but musically, it's fantastic on the 8 tracks (splendid guitar duels). "Beat", partly dedicated to the Beat Generation, isn't a great album, but it's a very good one anyway. Horrible sleeve art, though.