FF for Cody: King Crimson "Beat"
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Cody B's excellent post on the funkiness of prog masters King Crimson brought to my mind a couple of other tunes they did. In the early 80s King Crimson put out three amazing albums, all chock full of high-intensity energy, dance grooves, fast strumming, and intricate rhythms. They redefined prog rock as it was then known, and turned the musical world on its ears.
That seems a bit hyperbolic, but I thint there's a solid element of truth behind it.
Their first album from that era, Discipline, is the one most people know. The other two don't get quite the same attention, and that's a shame. 1982 saw the relese of Beat. I have to admit this is my second least favorite KC album, but it has some great moments. For my money, the second best track is an instrumental called "Sartori in Tangier," a fast-paced instrumental that pulls out all the stops.
This video has a great sound quality to it, but even better it has some great footage of Tony Levin in action on the Chapman Stick.
Comments (16)
oooh, I like that stick..the lows are looow. They work up quite a groove there. Nice One. Thanks Groonie. I hereby nominate you for an Ambassador of Prog post if the American people elect me to office Nov.4.
A nomination I gladly accept! Glad you like it. this song does kind of get down, don't it?
I don't feel the funk exactly on this one, but that pile driving groove..Hell if that groove was knocking on my door and said, "Yo, Cody B, from now on we'd like you to describe me as funky," I'd pretty much say, "Um yes sir Mr. Funky Groove, please don't blow my house down,sir." And then I'd run..
Ok... first off, what's a chapman stick? I assume that it's that instrument in the beginning of the vid. He's shreddin on that geetar! I like it cause it's got an synth almost plastic sound to it, but it's not being made that way. Very cool.
Yeas, that's massive. Certainly, enough can't be said regarding the gargantuan groove, but I'd like to take a moment and thank Mr. Fripp for choosing this direction and the intense art that grew from it. Now, back to the show
Eric, I did a post on the stick a while back. I can't seem to find it right now, but I'm being a tad impatient. Basically, it's a ten or twelve string touch instrument. Not really a bass, but bass players seem to play it more than any other instrumentalist, I think because it can be very rhythmic in style. They don't really have that synth sound all on their own, but Fripp and company do love their sound processing, so really they used it to make a whole bunch of sounds and textures. If you saw Cody's post on King Crimson the other day, the song he posted in the comments, "Elephant Talk" is a great example of the stick being used as a bass instrument, laying down a serious groove.
Scot: had never seen this before. What a great live performance of a great song. I share your thanks to Bob "Chuckles" Fripp. King Crimson is about the only one of these prog giants that never sold out, never compromised, and always pushed the boundaries.
man, every video I see of this guy leaves me with my jaw on the floor
Doomsayer2001: It's pretty much a bass guitar with the strings right side up & guitar strings upside down & a bitch to play I hear (pretty much a piano without the keys). I wanted one at one point till 8-11 string bassplayers said that they tried to play it, but Tony Levin seems to be the only person who could play it the way he does. I saw one guy shred on it playing some jazz stuff at Venice Beach CA once. Bassplayers got the two handed tap style from the Stick. Les Claypool does it very well, very Crimson like.
Dream Theater - New Millennium (Live at Budokan)
The bassist plays one here.
BTW, great post! Haven't heard Beat in years!
Funny thing Tony Levin also played a 3 string bass made for him by Ernie Ball guitars, tuned E-A-D. OLP guitars makes Tony Levin 5 strings now licensed by Ernie Ball...
RGM--where were you when I did my stick post? :-)
A lot of great info here. Sadly that Primus video is no longer working, but the Drea, Theater vid is pretty sweet. I've alawys been kind of hit and miss with those guys, honestly. But this was pretty cool.
Don't know, been kinda busy lately, don't post as much as I use to. I'll have to look for that on you page.
Here's a live version of Primus back in the early 90's:
Now that's the Primus I know and love. The early-to-mid 90s were big for Primus, and I was there every step of the way. I remember getting Pork Soda the day it came out and at the time thinking it was the strangest think I'd ever heard. It was pretty bizarre at times, but I like to think I've heard a bit more since then!
i can't get the videos in both your KC posts to play, Groony. must be my internet connection (BOO). anyway, i wanted to say that King Crimson circa '80s reformation did sound a lot different and that had to do with newer influences, too, from the decade, as you know. but i rather agree it would be no exaggeration to say that they redefined - defined, even - what would be progressive rock as we know it post-'70s. or mostly i just wanted to say, yay, more KC!
Well then... HUZZAH FOR THE CHAPMAN STICK!!
And just for the record, Les was wrong... Jerry was NOT a race car driver! It was Larry, he just misunderstood the name over the phone!