THE CONSTRUKCTION OF LIGHT

This is my favorite of all the Crimson releases, the one I find myself listening to the most. What a powerful album. I have always preferred their edgier, more metallic albums over their more (dare I say) pastoral works, and this one is perhaps the hardest.

'Larks Tongues IV' is incredible and must listen for any KC fan. It references the prior works, yet brings it into the millennium, something'Larks Tongue III' failed at for the 80's. It is all angular beats, rapid arpegios and constanly shifting cadences, yet it evolves into a stunning coda, ' I Have A Dream,' where all the choas of what has gone before is summerized ending with a plea to end the insanity. Stunning.

Other highlights include Belew's clever wordplay on 'Worlds My Oyster Soup...", the moving tranquility of 'Heaven And Earth', and the edgy rocker 'Into The Frying Pan.'

Although this is my favorite KC release, I must give a lower rating than I would like, due to some glaring miscalculations. Much of the album is a little to similar to previous works, 'ConstruKction of Light' and 'FraKctured' (is anybody else glad that they got away from the annoying "Kc" titles on 'Power To Believe') really go nowhere new and I am not a big fan of Belew's use of heavy distortion on his vocals, 'ProzaKc Blues' being a good example of this being too distracting and hurting a fair song. The biggest crime this album offers is in its track breaks. 'ConstruKction' and 'Larks Tongues' are spread over several tracks without any real reason (bothersome as it makes these songs useless on my iPod on shuffle).

I know this review seems schizophrenic (both praising and damning at the same time) but I must be critical because I care so much.