Alright, get a hold of yourselves. Beat – the Neon Heat Disease Live In Los Angeles – reboot Eighties Crim.

Release Date: 26th September 2025

Label: Inside Out Music

Format: 2CD+Bluray / vinyl / deluxe artbook

“In the eighties Robert Fripp made the observation the King Crimson quartet was perhaps the best live band in the world at the time,” says Beat’s Adrian Belew. Fair comment from a prime mover in the rejuvenation of King Crimson during that period and slightly beyond; one that came to a natural end with the future Fripp/Belew squabbling (who can perform who wrote what…etc) leading to an assortment of projeKcts and a Belew-less KC in its final multi-headed form.

Meanwhile, the Fripp/Belew/Bruford/Levin trio of albums now gets a shot of adrenalin from two of the originators – Belew and Tony Levin – joined by the enviable talents of Danny Carey and Steve Vai. The latter duo, and it seems shameful to refer to them in any way as as subs, is certainly able and willing to take up the challenges set by the missing Fripp/Bruford combo whilst adding their own touch to the (frame by) framework. Belew has chosen well as young Carey has no trouble with the Gamelan influences while Vai himself talks of “a wild ride, from the tempo, the intensity of the groove and the subject matter.,” and that’s just the encore, Thela Hun Ginjeet. An observation that could be equally applicable to a shedload of moments in the set.

FOUR GO MAD ON BEAT

The visual evidence is of a quartet, overseen by an imposing pachyderm, having a ball. Belew is in fine voice some forty years on from the origins, Carey seems almost to dwarf his kit while Levin makes light of his 79 years. Vai meanwhile, excels in the Fripp parts, opting not to sit in the shadows, but don his shades and alternate between shredding and skipping along the fretboard.

The set comes split between all of Discipline and most of Three Of A Perfect Pair with a smaller contribution coming from Beat. The only concession – a non-essential one to be honest – to the pre-Eighties is a vicious Red. Fair do’s though as the Eighties lineup did also revive said piece to the delight of seasoned Crimfans.

We have to wait until halfway through the set for some Discipline; an album which provides most of the fireworks as the set hits its last lap where the volatility of Indiscipline explodes with Belew turning up the manic (or panic?) dial again while a chainsaw (or guitar equivalent) threatens the front rows. The Sheltering Sky whose meandering and cinematic groove has its root sin classic Crim improv, stretches out over fifteen minutes as Vai gives in to his muse. Otherwise, the trademark of Eighties Crim, those interlocking guitars, are at their finest – maybe Frame By Frame winning the award for most notes per minute.

EXTREMES AS STANDARD

There are the tunes that are a hop and skip away from Talking Heads (Model Man – Belew in Byrne’s baggy suit a picture not too difficult to imagine) or even having Bowie nip in as guest singer (certainly on Man With An Open Heart). Heaven forbid, but in relative terms, the more accessible side of the band and one extreme in the contrast between the pieces which might be viewed as more recognizable songs and the excursions into the weird, the wacky and the wonderful. The crazy and zany zones where time signatures and tempo changes are set to mesmerise – check Industry and Larks Tongues…III, and the barrenness on Dig Me where Belew’s rant is accompanied by what some might simply term a racket.

A significant era in the KC legacy where four decades hasn’t dimmed the power of this music. The fresh coat with different players (what else – it’s KC after all) simply a reminder of the energy and potency. The musical equivalent of riding a bucking bronco. Don’t fight it.

Here’s the encore from the album:

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