King Crimson: Space Groove

PROJEKCT TWO: SPACE GROOVE (1998)

Vol. I: 1) Space Groove II; 2) Space Groove III; 3) Space Groove I.

Vol. II: 1) Happy Hour On Planet Zarg; 2) Is There Life On Zarg?; 3) Low Life In Sector Q-3; 4) Sector Shift; 5) Laura In Space; 6) Sector Drift; 7) Sector Patrol; 8) In Space There Is No North, In Space There Is No South, In Space There Is No East, In Space There Is No West; 9) Vector Patrol; 10) Deserts Of Arcadia (North); 11) Deserts Of Arcadia (South); 12) Snake Drummers Of Sector Q-3; 13) Escape From Sagittarius A; 14) Return To Station B.

General verdict: This is Fripp, Belew, and Gunn doing a little cosmic tourism — weird, chilly, and decidedly inoffensive.

Whoah, this doesnʼt sound like ProjeKct One at all — in fact, come to think of it, it doesnʼt sound much like Ninetiesʼ, or Eightiesʼ, or Seventiesʼ King Crimson; and not just because this time around, Bruford preferred to sit it out, with Belew taking care of the electronic drumming instead of guitar playing. Surprisingly, this is a studio rather than live effort, much of it still improvised, according to ProjeKct guidelines, but with quite a few tracks that were clearly pre-composed, sometimes even featuring memorable main themes. Most importantly, however, the fairly unpretentiously named (for KC standards) Space Groove is exactly what it advertises itself as: a collection of groovy, funky-fusionistic pieces with psychedelic / cosmic overtones.

To be honest, in the overall context of King Crimson activity this particular ProjeKct seems like a joke — who could have ever aspired to see a Fripp-sanctioned record begin with a track called ʽHappy Hour On Planet Zargʼ? (The only thing lacking would be to see a picture of Robert in an Enterprise uniform). But those who have also followed Robertʼs solo career know fairly well that Fripp is no stranger to musical jokes (the entire Exposure album might look like one extended, and very funny, joke), and the idea of a Fripp / Gunn / Belew trio doing something completely different for a change is seductive by definition — hell, we probably wouldnʼt mind them picking up a set of bagpipes or covering an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in its entirety.

The drumming, by the way, does make for a lot of difference: since Belewʼs playing (and / or programming) style is naturally more simple than Brufordʼs (think all those times when Paul substituted for Ringo on the drums), the music sort of comes across as more accessible — and, in order to achieve perfect sync, Gunn and Fripp also tend to go for slightly more simplified and straightforward playing patterns. The landscape is quite sparse and feels as uncluttered as the arrangements on Discipline, but already with ʽHappy Hour On Planet Zargʼ you will see that the emphasis is on chillinʼ rather than drivinʼ — this here is a fairly relaxed approach, with a chumpy drums/bass groove holding things down and quirky guitar mini-melodies whirring past the groove, like tiny astral bodies whooshing past your supersonic rocket ship.

Later on, the music gets even more relaxed, with slowed tempos, limp, marimba-like percussion and dense synth textures replacing or overshadowing guitars (ʽLaura In Spaceʼ, etc.), though every once in a while the disciplined bass groove comes back, and there is enough diversity in the tempos, signatures, and moods to suggest that the three lads are really churning out a concept album about a journey through space — although, as a soundtrack, this would have probably worked better in an old adventure game franchise such as Space Quest rather than in any version of Star Trek: too goofy and quirky to attach itself to anything other than pure comedy.

Technically, I suppose the album might be labeled «fusion», and the closest equivalent of this sound that comes to mind is classic Brand X, before they became way too adult contemporary for their own good. But to be 100% legitimate fusion, Space Groove should have been jazzier, whereas Belew is not a jazz musician at all, especially when it comes to laying down a percussive groove, so in the end, this is more «blues fusion» than «jazz fusion», if that makes any sense to you. Regardless, itʼs largely cool, relaxing, friendly blues fusion, rarely memorable (apart from a small bunch of themes) but never really pretending that it should be, either. Just a special way to chill out from a band that typically makes its living by making you stand on edge, but this time decides to spare your senses and, instead of the usual elevator to Hell, get you a nice space cruise ticket for a change.

Oh, and, actually, the album comes in two parts — with most of the stuff now coming at us digitally, I almost ended up missing the Volume 1 part, which consists of one short and two very long jams and is actually a little different: ʽSpace Groove 1ʼ, in particular, has plenty of nasty, distorted, Larksʼ Tongues-style solos from Fripp that create a completely different atmosphere. But something tells me that Volume 2, with its shorter tracks that actually bear specific names, is the real deal here — think of Volume 1 as the part where you undergo space flight training, and of Volume 2 as the actual journey.