Search - Projekct X :: Heaven & Earth

What? So much money?

04/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"At www.disciplineglobalmobile.com you'll find this item for only thirteen dollars."

Fripp unleashed

N. Caine | Los Angeles, CA | 08/22/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Assuming you're already familiar with the works of Fripp and those of King Crimson, this cd is intense improv along the general musical lines of, say, Larks Tongues in Aspic Part 3. Unlike the spacey, noodling Space Groove (Projekct 2), which reminds me of a sorta' spacey wordless "Dig Me", these are much more funk driven intense jams. In my opinion, this particular cd represents some of Fripp's best work of the past ten years, particularly because he takes center stage. Even Belew is at his best playing percussion and some nice supporting guitar. Tracks 5, 6, 11, 13, 14, and 15 all belong on an Essential Fripp collection. They are like Absent Lovers' "Sartori in Tangier" with hints of USA's "Asbury Park.""

Not Noodling or Outtakes

Snow Leopard | Urbana, IL | 11/27/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sometimes, knowing how an album came into being gets in the way of listening to it. Let it be true that the raw material for this album is a cut and paste hash, that doesn't matter. How does the final result sound?The answer is: fantastic.Now, admittedly, this music is safely in the category of the unusual, but not so much so that it "ceases to be interesting". Mastoletto's typically rather ham-handed drumming always keeps the big thump in things, while Fripp and Gunn seem to revist at least the concept of Thrakattak (that all-improvisational bash fest of guitar and drum) as the spine of most of the songs here.For those who prefer comparisons with other ProjeKcts, I'd much rather listen to this than ProjeKct 2.And yes, there are patches of talking, spots of short riffs that one could call outtakes, but the album is not dominated by this (like the last two songs of King Crimson's latest, otherwise excellent, EP). "Superbottomfeeder", for instance, is fully 8 minutes of supra-improvisation with 8 seconds of mumbling at the end. "Strange Ears" runs 9 and a half minutes without succumbing to the temptation of babble. "Conversation Pit" could be described as band chatter with noisy guitars behind it; so could "Indiscipline", but no one seems to mind in that case.King Crimson has long insisted that the process of music coming into being is as essential, if not more essential, than recording definitive editions of songs on studio albums. ProjeKct X takes this very literally, and gives us a window opening directly into that process.But to describe this (admittedly expensive disc) as noodling and outtakes will cheat the fan of the more daring King Crimson of one of their more interesting releases. The sonic freak show of the disc manages to incorporate the spoken words into itself, rather than leaving the words to seem like intrusions. I doubt this was intentional, but it is how I listen to the music.Is it really worth the steep price tag? Certainly more so than the Nashville Rehearsals or the Three of a Perfect Pair Outtakes. If you liked Thrakattak, then this is bound to be a must buy, though be warned that the seeming structurelessness of Thrakattak is given more regular form here (though not much). If you liked "Repercussions of Angelic Behavior" (by Fripp, Gunn and Rieflin), then this is a must buy as well--if I had to pick a Crimson (or Crimson-related disc) that was most like ProjeKct X, then it would be "Repercussions"."