THREE OF A PERFECT PAIR

King Crimson

Eclectic Prog

3.28 | 1418 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Rune2000
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator

Things could only only get better after Beat and even though Three Of A Perfect Pair still had its share of lesser material, the band once again showed signs of creativity previously depicted on Discipline.

The album's title track is a perfect example of how you can combine creative instrumental approach with a commercially oriented melodic tune. Unfortunately this approach is not used on Model Man, Sleepless and Man With An Open Heart. These tunes go from great, to funky, to plain ridiculous and without a proper front man like David Bowie, these tunes lack the charisma they require to make their mark. The pop orientation of the band's sound was never much of a hit with me and it was only right for Robert Fripp to place all of this material on side one while giving us more of the experimental sound of Discipline on side two.

Side two begins with a 7 minute sound collage titled Industry, featuring a wide arrange of sounds and sights but in the end it falls a bit short of excellence since the composition sounds more like a traveling distance to somewhere else than the ride itself. Things do pick up with the short but highly memorable Dig Me which can be described as an indirect continuation of Indiscipline. Still, it's the album's final track that really pushes this album up a notch by featuring a continuation of the Larks' Tongues In Aspic-suite. Part III kicks off with the sounds that remind me a lot of Part II but this time with new sounds of '80s electronica filling out the overall soundscape.

I might come off sounding very ludicrous for liking this album much more than Beat, but to me Three Of A Perfect Pair is more of the continuation of Discipline than Beat would ever be. There are definite signs of genius here that work well within the King Crimson sound which is something that can't be said about its predecessor. I would also like to recommend the bonus track 30th Anniversary edition of the album since it features a neat surprise of The King Crimson Barber Shop. Well worth the money, even though the rest of the bonus material isn't all that noteworthy.

***** star songs: Three Of A Perfect Pair (4:11)

**** star songs: Model Man (3:56) Sleepless (5:20) Nuages (That Which Passes, Passes Like Clouds) (4:42) Dig Me (2:59) Larks' Tongues In Aspic Part III (6:01)

*** star songs: Man With An Open Heart (3:00) Industry (7:22) No Warning (3:28)

Rune2000 | 3/5 | 2010-9-20

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Share this KING CRIMSON review

Social review comments () BETA

Review related links

Send comments to Rune2000
Report this review (#299844)
Buy KING CRIMSON music online with PA partners
Show all KING CRIMSON MP3/Stream
Go to KING CRIMSON page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
Go to Three of a Perfect Pair page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
Search the Forum for KING CRIMSON related discussions