BEAT

Beat is the second eighties studio album from King Crimson and the ninth album in all. Beat is the first King Crimson album to feature the same lineup as the previous album and it´s the first King Crimson album to be produced by someone else than a member of the band. Their previous studio album Discipline which was released in 1981 was a great comeback for the band after a seven year hiatus. Discipline is one of my favorite King Crimson albums so Beat had a lot to live up to.

The music on Beat is a continuation of the style that King Crimson started on Discipline which means that they have incorporated lots of eighties sounds into their style. This doesn´t mean that King Crimson´s music is drenched in plastic keyboard sounds though as there are practically no keyboards on Discipline and likewise on Beat. The music is very focused around the polyrythmic and sometimes odd sounding guitar attack from Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp. The rythm section is worth mentioning as well though as it consists of Bill Bruford on drums and Tony Levin on bass and Chapman stick which is used frequently on both Discipline and Beat.

There are some really good songs on Beat. Neal and Jack and Me, Heartbeat ( I enjoy Heartbeat even though it´s very AOR eighties sounding), Waiting Man and especially the instrumental Sartori in Tangier. Neurotica also has some great psychotic moments but the quality drops towards the end of the album on Two Hands, The Howler and Requiem.

Producer Rhett Davies ( the man behind Selling England By the Pound by Genesis and The Snow Goose and Moonmadness by Camel) has created a good sound but not impressive. I much prefer the sound on Discipline.

Beat suffers a bit because Discipline was such a fantastic album. As such the style and the mood on Beat is the same as it was on Discipline. Beat just isn´t as sharp or groundbreaking as Discipline and comes out a bit weak compared to that album. I gave Discipline a big 4 star rating and Beat is a big 3 star rating. King Crimson is still a unique force on Beat but lacks the edge of previous releases.