THE POWER TO BELIEVE

I suppose that if this album is to be King Crimson's swan song, it could be much worse. Remember, for eleven years that distiction appeared to go to the comparitively dreadful Three Of A Perfect Pair.

This album, to me, was a bit of a disappointment, since it followed the near perfection of The ContruKction of Light. But despite being a lesser album to that, this disk still has enough powerful music to be well worth the purchase price. First, the down sides: the title tracks (there are four parts), are mostly pointless exercises, showing off some vocal/synthesizer effects. Only part 2, with a nice spacy jam, is good enough to hold my attention. And the obligatory Belew ballad, Eyes Wide Open is just okay. It's not Crimson enough for me.

But the good parts are actually great parts. Level Five, Elektrik, Facts Of Life, Dangerous Curves and Happy With What You have To Be Happy With (although I prefer the version of this on the EP), are all powerful, rib smashing power Crimson tunes.