Snurb writes:

Its cover art depicting a nurse in gas mask tending to a newborn child while in the background guards with dogs stand watch and smoke reddens the skies, King Crimson's The Power to Believe appears to distil these troubled times into CD format even before the music first bursts from the speakers. The ambiguous mood set up here continues through the album, the band's first studio effort since the 2000 release The ConstruKction of Light - hope and despair, light and shadow, grace and mayhem alternate at every turn. Some listeners may be surprised to hear that a band which launched its long and complicated life with the song "21st Century Schizoid Man" in 1969 still has a contribution to make, but just as that song seemed the appropriate soundtrack to the Vietnam era, The Power to Believe's eleven tracks are an apt summary of the first few years of the new century.

The King Crimson of 2003 is not the band of 1969, of course. Indeed, this is only the second full album of the current lineup of the band, which retains only guitarist Robert Fripp from the original incarnation. He is joined here by long-time collaborator Adrian Belew on guitar and vocals, Trey Gunn on Warr guitar, and Pat Mastelotto on percussion. The band have had plenty of time to get acquainted, however - having toured extensively, in addition to their first CD they also released a three-CD live set and two EPs of new live and studio material.

In fact, a major criticism made of The Power to Believe even before its release was that most of its tracks had already appeared in alternate versions on the Level Five (2001) and Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With (2002) EPs. To be sure, except for the brief vocalisations which open and close the album only "Facts of Life" is an entirely new song, but the remaining songs have received significantly different treatment on the new CD, and generally constitute vast improvements over earlier versions. "Level Five", for example, seemed a somewhat monotonous and overly boomy mess on the eponymous EP - here, by contrast, it kicks and punches with relentless precision. Particularly noteworthy is Mastelotto's percussion work on this track (and on much of the CD) - aided in no small part by the wonderfully clean and crisp recording quality of the album, his every tap, twist and twiddle cut through the sonic offensive launched by his collaborators.

He is also a major contributor to tracks like "Elektrik" and "The Power to Believe II" (an update of Level Five's "Virtuous Circle"). The latter in particular locks into a spellbinding groove which serves as a welcome respite from the CD's heavier sections. While the guitarists coax all manner of sounds out of their heavily computerised instruments, Mastelotto with his no less electrified drums shows his influences from world percussion to drum'n'bass. But this is also a guitarists' CD. Long-time followers of the band will be happy to hear that Fripp, relatively subdued on the preceding releases except for his composed workouts on tracks such as "FraKctured", has returned to a more adventurous mindset and contributes a number of fresh solos - but not at the expense of Belew: he, in fact, uses this album as a new opportunity to showcase his unique contributions. While still somewhat under the radar of popular appreciation, and obscured by his dual role as the band's singer and lyricist, Belew's immediately recognisable guitar work (for example in his piercing solo on "Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With") reminds me of the late Frank Zappa in its idiosyncratic approach to the instrument; his style is all his own, though. And finally, Gunn has rediscovered the low end of his hybrid bass/guitar instrument with a vengeance - his bass lines, in particular, twist like a butterfly and punch like Ali.

The standout track of this CD, for me, is "Facts of Life" - a regular rifferama that draws some inspiration from previous Crimson-does-the-blues experiments like "ProzaKc Blues" (ConstruKction) and "Potato Pie" (Level Five) but delivers a much more satisfying result. Never content to settle down into the one groove, this song hops, skips, and jumps with breathtaking ease; it bursts with ideas. Including a driven Fripp solo, Gunn's bouncy bass line, powerful percussion by Mastelotto, and sparse and effective lyrics from Belew, it combines much of what this lineup of Crimson does best, while lines like "Like Abraham and Ishmael fighting over sand / Doesn't mean you should just because you can" summarises world politics better than most expert commentaries from the past months. This band has found its voice.

The effortless power of "Facts", in turn, is bookended by the filigrane instrumentals "Elektrik" and "The Power to Believe II" - much like the blows delivered by the stomping opener "Level Five" are soothed by the gentle ballad "Eyes Wide Open". This alternating of hard hits and soft touches has always been a feature of the best King Crimson releases. This is where THRAK (1995) failed to be fully convincing - its ballads sounding too much like Belew's solo songs - and where Discipline (1981), Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1972), or In the Court of the Crimson King (1969) succeeded. The Power to Believe joins the latter group - here, light and darkness are almost perfectly balanced. The times may be bleak and dangerous, and the facts of life may cause us to despair, but where music of this calibre remains possible all hope is not lost.

Details:

King Crimson. The Power to Believe. 51 mins. Discipline Global Mobile / Sanctuary, 2003.