Beat, released in 1982 through EG Records in the UK and in conjunction with Warner (Bros.) Records in the US, is the ninth studio album by English Progressive Rock group King Crimson. The second album in the Incline to 1984, the band's trilogy of New Wave Music records, the album stands out as the first in the band's discography to feature the exact same lineup as its predecessor, with the entire "Gamelan Trio" configuration on Discipline reprising their roles here. As such, the album carries over most (if not all) of the elements that defined the group's 1981 comeback album, though orients them in a slightly more accessible direction this time around.
Also unusually for King Crimson, Beat is a Concept Album centered around The Beat Generation, an idea spurred on by the concurrent 25th anniversary of Beat writer Jack Kerouac's On the Road; guitarist and de-facto bandleader Robert Fripp directed frontman Adrian Belew to the novel as a source of inspiration. Consequently, the album emphasizes the themes of romance, existentialism, and travel-heavy lifestyle that permeated the novel and resonated with the band's own experiences as a group of musicians well-accustomed to the hectic touring lifestyle.
Recording of the album was tense for the band, in large part thanks to Belew growing increasingly stressed with his numerous responsibilities as King Crimson's frontman: not only did he play guitar and sing vocals, but he also had to write lyrics and act as a guiding figure in the band's greater songwriting (his wife Margaret would consequently step in to write the words to "Two Hands"). This heated atmosphere would lead to creative clashes between the group's members, which reached a spilling point during the production of "Requiem" when Belew ordered Fripp out of the studio. The two managed to patch things up after a few days, in time to complete and release the album, but they both found themselves exhausted by the experience, which directly motivated Fripp's decision to disband King Crimson a second time two years later, following the release of Three of a Perfect Pair.
Despite the acrimonious conditions it was made under, Beat was a greater commercial success for King Crimson than Discipline, reaching No. 39 on the UK Albums chart (compared to the No. 41 peak of Discipline) and thus becoming their first hit album there since Starless and Bible Black nearly a decade prior. In the US, meanwhile, it would only reach No. 52 on the Billboard 200, a lower chart peak than Discipline.
Beat was supported by one single: "Heartbeat".
Tracklist:
Side One- "Neal and Jack and Me" (4:22)
- "Heartbeat" (3:54)
- "Sartori in Tangier" (3:34)
- "Waiting Man" (4:27)
Side Two
- "Neurotica" (4:48)
- "Two Hands" (3:23)
- "The Howler" (4:13)
- "Requiem" (6:48)
Principal Members:
- Adrian Belew - guitar, lead vocals
- Robert Fripp - guitar, electric organ, Frippertronics
- Tony Levin - Chapman Stick, bass guitar, backing vocals
- Bill Bruford - acoustic and electric drums and percussion
Your shoulder against my burning tropes:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: The last verse in "Neurotica" sees Adrian Belew recite a number of phrases revolving around alliteration, culminating in "skink siren skate starling star-gazer spoonbill and suckers."
- Animal Motifs: "Neurotica" uses imagery related to various exotic animals — both real and fake — to highlight the wild and chaotic nature of urban life.
- Break-Up Song: "Neal and Jack and Me" is narrated by someone who had recently terminated relationships with both Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady, with the grief from the breakup leaving them frantic and insomniac.
- Call-Forward: One verse in "Neurotica" mentions "the howlers' resonating repertoire" two tracks before the song actually called "The Howler".
- Concept Album: Beat acts as a musical retrospective on The Beat Generation, a group of transgressive writers that came to prominence in The '50s for their boundary-pushing writing.
- Epic Rocking: "Requiem" clocks in at 6:48. Of note is that Beat is only one of two King Crimson albums (the other being 1995's THRAK) where no song reaches the seven minute mark, indicative of its more accessible direction.
- Gratuitous French: The otherwise English-language "Neal and Jack and Me" features a bridge in which Adrian Belew recites the French titles for Jack Kerouac's The Subterraneans, Visions of Cody, and Satori in Paris.
- Idiosyncratic Cover Art:
- The album cover follows the same template as that for Discipline, featuring a stark symbol in the middle and the band name and album title besides it in plain text, all atop a solid-color backdrop.
- The artwork for "Heartbeat" is a modified version of its parent album's cover, moving the eighth note and text to the lower-right corner (while also making them much bigger to accommodate the smaller size of a 7" sleeve) and swapping out the title accordingly.
- Instrumentals: "Sartori in Tangier" and "Requiem".
- Longest Song Goes Last: The 6:48 "Requiem" closes out the album.
- Minimalistic Cover Art: Carrying on from the design of Discipline before it, the album cover for Beat, designed by Rob O'Connor, depicts nothing more than a pink eighth note rendered in halftone against a solid blue backdrop, with only the band name and album title accompanying it.
- Mood Whiplash: The atmospheric, New Age-adjacent "Waiting Man" is followed by the frantic, explosive "Neurotica", which in turn is followed by the serene "Two Hands".
- Motor Mouth: Adrian Belew recites the verses to "Neruotica" at immense speed, tying in with its focus on the immensely hectic tempo of city life.
- One-Word Title: Beat, "Heartbeat", "Neurotica", "Requiem"
- The Peeping Tom: "Two Hands" takes an unusual spin on the concept in that the voyeur in question is a character in a painting, watching a couple have sex in the room where the artwork is displayed. The last verse reveals that because the painter didn't include windows in the room that the art depicts, spying on people is the only thing the character can do to entertain themself.
- Portmantitle: "Neurotica" is a portmanteau of "neurotic" and "erotica."
- Production Throwback:
- The album cover directly nods back to that of Discipline, replacing the Celtic knotwork with an eighth note.
- "Neal and Jack and Me" reprises the technique used on both "Frame by Frame" and "Discipline" where Fripp and Belew's guitars weave in and out of sync with one another.
- The Frippertronics piece that forms the intro of "Neurotica" is directly lifted from "Hååden Two" off of Robert Fripp's debut solo album Exposure.
- Record Producer: Rhett Davies takes on full production duties, having previously co-produced Discipline alongside King Crimson themselves. Consequently, Beat is the first King Crimson album since Lizard to not feature the band as a credited producer, as well as one of only two albums in their discography (alongside 2003's The Power to Believe, produced by Gene "Machine" Freeman) to not feature any member of the band as producer at all.
- Sampling: "Neurotica" prominently samples the Frippertronics from bandleader Robert Fripp's 1979 solo piece "Hååden Two".
- Sensory Abuse: The intro to "Neurotica" mimics the overwhelming wall of audio associated with busy city streets, featuring sounds of cars rushing by, police sirens wailing, and whistles blowing to create an urban cacophony.
- Shout-Out:
- "Neal and Jack and Me" is named after Beat writers Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac; Kerouac's book On the Road served as a direct source of inspiration for the album.
- "Neurotica" is named after a Beat-era magazine.
- "The Howler" reprises Adrian Belew's guitar riff from Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love", featuring it halfway into its runtime. The title and lyrics meanwhile are inspired by Allen Ginsberg's Howl.
- Spoken Word in Music: "Neurotica" features Adrian Belew prattling off the verses in the role of an overly-energetic traffic reporter.
- Surprisingly Gentle Song: While most of Beat continues the frantic, leftfield approach of Discipline, "Heartbeat" and "Two Hands" are mellow, straightforward pop songs.
- Surreal Music Video: The video for "Heartbeat" (one of the only two entries in King Crimson's videography, alongside "Sleepless") consists primarily around showcasing various CGI fade, morph, blur, and dissolve effects, without much in the way of narrative.
- Uncommon Time:
- "Neal and Jack and Me" features Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp playing in 7/8 and 5/4, respectively.
- Most of "The Howler" is in 5/4, while the midsection is in 15/8.
