King Crimson - Beat
- FaceOff - עימות חזיתי
- Jun 18
- 2 min read
On June 18, 1982, "King Crimson" released their ninth studio album, "Beat".
This was the first time in the band's career that "King Crimson" retained the same lineup for two consecutive albums—Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, and Bill Bruford. Coming just nine months after the innovative "Discipline", the band rushed into "Beat" with little new material in hand and growing internal tensions. Wit only 29 Minutes of music (they had to add another 7 Minutes of improvisions) they leaned deeper into a fusion of progressive rock, new wave, and abstract experimentation.
Inspired by Adrian Belew rereading Jack Kerouac's "On the Road", "Beat" was intended as a tribute to the American Beat Generation of the 1950s. But in the end, it turned outas a personal album of Adrian Belew who wrote most of the material. Belew’s lyrics reflect a growing fatigue with life on the road—hotel rooms, airports, and emotional isolation.
The album opens with "Neal and Jack and Me", a sharp and jittery piece that captures the complicated friendship between Kerouac and Neal Cassady., trading guitar jabs and spoken-word imagery over a tight rhythmic core. "Heartbeat" follows with surprising warmth—a rare moment of emotional directness that offers one of the most melodic and accessible entries in the band's catalog.
"Sartori in Tangier" dives headfirst into instrumental abstraction, pairing Middle Eastern motifs with polyrhythmic percussion and textured layering. It draws its title from Kerouac’s novella "Satori in Paris". "Waiting Man" channels the growing fatigue of Belew with life on the road with it's with hypnotic loops.
"Neurotica" revisits New York’s manic energy with a darker lens, echoing earlier material like "Thela Hun Ginjeet". It erupts in a frenzied, anxious blur—an ode to urban sensory overload where Belew’s spoken lines spiral into madness against Fripp’s fractured soundscapes. The soft and understated "Two Hands" a minimalistic ballad co-written with Belew's wife Margaret speak of longing and emotional vulnerability floating over sparse instrumentation.
Then comes "The Howler", with a menacing vocal performance and chaotic, animalistic groove—an embodiment of the Ginsberg poem it references. Finally, the freeform improvisation of the instrumental - "Requiem" closes "Beat" with abstract textures and sonic dissonance, collapsing into formless noise.
The expanded edition of the album also includes the bonus track "Absent Lovers", a mysterious, slowly unfolding instrumental that echoes the melancholic beauty of separation and longing.
"Beat" followed the brilliance of "Discipline", but its rushed creation, internal conflicts, and creative fatigue affected the final product, so not surprisingly it's been overshadowed by the band's groundbreaking discography.
For listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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