Robert Fripp says he’s noticed something about critics, as he took a reformulated version of King Crimson back on the road this year: Some people can only see the band through the prism of their favorite era.
“For example, 1973” he tells Sid Smith, referencing a period that produced Larks’ Tongues in Aspic. “There’s criticism of King Crimson 2014 in terms of why it is not like King Crimson in 1973. For me, this is a pretty dopey undertaking — and one that’s doomed the failure.”
After all, King Crimson has been in a perpetual state of flux for much of its history, rarely going more than a few albums with the same lineup. That heralded third lineup — the one in place in 1973 — was finished by ’74. The original and seventh lineups lasted but two years, the fourth and fifth ones only three, and the sixth edition just four.
King Crimson is on version 8.0, a configuration led by a trio of drummers. They just concluded an invigorating, return-to-form 20-plus date U.S. tour, the band’s first since 2008 — playing a setlist focused on older material.
That, in turn, led to charges of predictability, which Fripp also addresses. “Believe me, there is nothing whatsoever predictable about playing this material on stage with this band,” he says. “Playing these charts, with six other musicians in front of paying audiences — most of whom know the material better than the band do — this is not an easy option. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable undertaking.”
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I don’t doubt that Robert heard some dopey complaints, as dopes can thrive anywhere, but given the overwhelming, rapturous praise greeting this tour, I wish for him the ready ability to tune them out.
RF is no rookie..he has been at this game his entire professional career and what’s being vomited now is like ambrosia as compared to what he was seeing in the 70’s. Rolling Stone treated KC like anthrax, yet if you were to spy the crap they were heralding at the time you’d be in stitches. Regardless of the criticism that may have been tested on this round, this is what critics are there to do and under all of it, there is a hard and very real veneer of respect for the man, which he has earned this many years.