THE CONSTRUKCTION OF LIGHT

The disc begins with "Prozakc Blues" by far the most intolerable track Crimson ever recorded. Some strange digital effect was applied to Belew's voice to make him sound as if he was singing an octave lower (and ridiculous). Take that, plus strange lyrics, overly crunchy guitars, the whole track is just a mess.

But there is some intriguing stuff for Crimson fans here too. If I hadn't heard the original "Fracture" then maybe the remake "Frakctured" would have sounded particularly interesting to me. However, when compared to the 1973 masterpiece, the remake doesn't have the same excitement and sense of crescendo, although it is better-recorded. The guitar work just starts to sound like shredding after a while, something I never thought I would have accused of Fripp. Same for "Larks Tongues in Aspic Part IV." But because both of these tracks sound so technically demanding, they do deserve praise. This band is still putting together really complex music far exceeding most of what is going on in the music scene today.

This album deserves three stars because for the sublime Heaven and Earth, and the title track "The Construkction of Light." "Heaven and Earth" is an imaginative and purposeful instrumental, and it shows that Crimson still knows how to close an album. The song "The Construkction of Light" remains one of my favorite Crimson songs; guitar counterpoint, a sense of direction, beautiful singing, rhythmic complexity. Why couldn't the rest of the album sounded like this? I'd say the biggest downside of "Construkction" (except for those two wonderful tracks) is the lack of contrast. This is one of Crimson's heaviest albums, and the crunchy sounding guitars start to wear on the listener after a while, and sound strangely bland as a result (on tracks such as "Into the Frying Pan"). But you shouldn't play a Crimson album if you're afraid of heavy music, so you could say this album has nothing to apologize for.

Fortunately, this album is followed-up by the masterful "The Power to Believe," which is actually one of Crimson's finest albums. "Construkction" is sort of a band in the middle of finding its way; worth checking out if you like Crimson's heavier side, but ultimately "The Power to Believe" is the bigger payoff.

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