Drummer reacts to "FraKctured" (Live) by King Crimson

[@mattleppard1970]

This lineup made some of the best Crimson output. ❤ Fripp lives about 45 mins from my house 😂

[@sylvanm4216]

This song is from 2000, though it's a sort of sequel/reimagining of the 1973-74 live showstopper "Fracture", which has never had a studio recording but was included on the half-studio half-live Starless and Bible Black album and is highly recommended.

[@L33Reacts]

i will be diving into that album after i do larks pt 2. i've heard nothing but stellar things about it from you guys so i am excited to hear it.

[@Kitaez77476]

@@L33Reacts Lark`s tongue is just fantastic. But is a harder one, more sophisticated to me.

[@lvlooper5768]

"...it's pretty but it's eerie sounding" There is something deeply menacing about Robert Fripp's guitar that has been the one constant across all of King Crimson's incarnations. It sinks right down to one's core and embeds there. So many great guitarists but no one else seems to operate within the same realm.

[@whitneyjacobs7874]

It's the influence of Béla Bartók, whose string quartets Fripp has cited as a major influence (alongside Hendrix). Bartók specialized in eerie music such as his Concerto for Orchestra, The Miraculous Mandarin, and Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta, which was used in the soundtrack to The Shining.

[@alexanderduncan3347]

This is off the studio album 'The ConstruKction of Light'. A very good album.

[@jessemorris8820]

With Crimson, the live version is ALWAYS to be preferred. Imagine watching Fripp perform that piece less than ten feet from you. I got to see them do this piece twice live. It's breath-taking to witness.

[@janewells5970]

Thanks for doing more King Crimson! I’ve been listening to them since I was 16 years old and I’m now on my sixties and I’m very much enjoying your channel!

[@L33Reacts]

I'm so glad you enjoy it! I love KC I am so glad I discovered them on here. Just amazing musicianship all the way around. And they have fun. That's important too :)

[@janewells5970]

@@L33Reacts I will gift you soon! I have been very fortunate in the last few years I saw the last king crimson tour twice both times with front row seats in Dayton and Philadelphia! It was awesome and I have seen Stickmen Tony Levin Pat Mastelotto and Adrian Belew more than a dozen times in the last three years! Incredible live!

[@GreyDabbler]

Isn't it great to see a young person enjoying our favorite music from our youth?

[@andyshan]

This is from the 2000 lineup of KC. The track is a reimagining of the track Fracture from the 1974 album Starless and Bible Black. The two guitarists Adrien Belew and Robert Fripp are two of the greatest guitar innovators in this genre. Well worth checking out the original Fracture too. It's seismic.

[@jefflevinson669]

Still prefer the 70s lineup on the original Starless and Bible Black

[@davidporter499]

Robert Fripp is the guitar on so many recordings of the good and great over decades. A perfectionist with amazing control and imagination.

[@UranusHz420]

Fripp IS crimson.

[@smokeylonesome4328]

Please do ‘Waiting Man’ live 1982 for a dose of 80’s Crimson! Bill provides wonderful percussion sounds.

[@JensAndersen-co5zq]

Thank you for your comments. King Crimsom are insane on teknik. Its hard to believe its real people behind the instruments. No one could get Robert Frip the arting after...

[@Raistlin306]

If you get a chance, watch any of the live video from the last tour, specifically the drumming is astonishing, 3 drummers in sync on the front of the stage, though they didn’t play fractured when I saw them on that tour I did see it live with the line up from this video, I remember remarking that it looked like smoke was coming off Robert’s fingers, must have been a trick of the light….. or was it?

[@L33Reacts]

I will! thank you for the suggestion. i bet there was smoke coming off of his fingers! i have no idea how he played this... it's insane! lol

[@KarlElvis]

Absolutely true.

[@L33Reacts]

where did you get your username from? ive been wrapping my brain trying to figure out why i know that name "Raistlin"

[@Raistlin306]

@@L33Reacts it’s from The Dragonlance Chronicles series of books. Raistlin is the antihero in the story, the 306 well that’s a bit unusual, it’s a number my mom used to play in the lottery and saw everywhere, somehow this got passed to me and I see 306, on tv shows, movies, license plates etc.

[@henryandrews2825]

I've seen the play FraKctured (in 2000 in San Francisco), and Fracture twice, both in Oakland (2017 - jaw-droppingly fast even for Fripp, so fast he flubbed a line but just counted himself right back in so quickly I doubt many realized as the rest of the band was also playing in that part; and 2019 - absolutely savage, unlike every other post-1974 version I've heard Fripp left the distortion on the whole time). "Meltdown: Live in Mexico City" has video of Fracture - at first Fripp's fingers are obstructed but fortunately he shifts a bit and you can see him play for a lot of the fast part. For triple-drumming "Radical Action" (not II) from 2018 or 2019 (not earlier tours) might be the pinnacle of late KC full-band instrumental work. Or "Hell Hounds of Krim" or 'Devil Dogs of Tesselation Row" from any tour for just the three drummers. Or "Drumzilla" from 2019+ if they release it officially someday.

[@arnesaknussemm7294]

King Crimson Is my fav Band so I immediately subscribe to your channel. The reaction to Larks pt.1 is wonderful! I wonder why you didn't switch to Larks part 2 and Easy Money (again from Larks' Tongue in Aspic), superlative compositions! And I calmly await the passage to Starless and Bible Black (Fracture, Great Deceiver...), to my beloved "Islands", and then to the crimson incarnation of the 80s with the Discipline/Beat/Three of a perfect pair triplet. In this "FraKctured" the lineup is very different from that of In tue Court of the CK, and both are different from the line up of Larks, Starless and Bible Black and Red. In Larks on vocals (and bass, and what bass!) is the great John Wetton, in this video instead on bass (that Is not a bass but a Warr Guitar is Trey Gunn, a Beast! , on vocals and guitar (in addition to Fripp) the great Adrian Belew, on drums the great Pat Mastelotto. In the 90s and 00s you will find the two formations called "double trio" and "double duo" (the One you see here in FraKctured) from around 2015 they return with a crazy formation with three drums (and 8 or 9 members), in the 80s the undying line up Fripp / Belew / Bruford /Levin. In short, a rabbithole equal only to that of Frank Zappa and very few others. After the work in the studio, I would also recommend some live performances with films, to understand how those compositions were played, who did what. And then there's Robert Fripp: a musical genius. You will find his guitar on many important and famous works of the 70s and 80s (for example the guitar line of "Heroes" by David Bowie ... that's always Fripp) Ok, I wrote too much. I hope you will continue with the King's reactions... I will certainly follow you. I've seen King Crimson live 10 times, with different lineups, and each of those concerts has been an out-of-body experience, impossible to explain in words! Happy listening and greetings from Sicily!!!

[@jeannettesimpson9778]

According to a biography I have, Robert Fripp is naturally left-handed, but opted to play right-handed when he got his first guitar when he was 11. That makes his speed and skill even more amazing.

[@L33Reacts]

wowww really?? that's crazy. we havent even heard him at his best then! xD thats cool though. he is truly talented.

[@fabioriato]

I was unaware of that! Reminds me of Luke Machin (The Tangent/Maschine), who is naturally right-handed, but plays as a left-handed (Luke is not Robert, obviously, but he's such a talented young guitarist).

[@Roosville1]

There are quite a few lefties plating right, It'll feel wrong to begin with, but it puts your more articulate hand on the fretboard, so it makes sense. Its also maybe generational, in the 70's if you went into a small guitar shop there may be one token LH guitar, so you ended up getting a RH anyway.

[@MCNOISE666]

​@@Roosville1 Exactly. Right-hand players have to force their least dexterous hand to play complex parts, whilst left-hand players exploit their better hand for the neck AND pay the same as everyone else for their guitars! Not such a bad deal after all.

[@DallasGunther]

I'm kinda partial to this era of KC because this is when I discovered the band. Konstruction of light is one of the coolest songs ever written. Buh-lee-dat!

[@1ouncebird]

The thing about Robert Fripp is that as amazing as his fretting hand and fingers are what he is playing with his right hand (picking hand) is out of this world. His picking is astonishing!

[@stuartdmt]

KC and Yes are my two “go to” bands for progressive rock. The bass player in this version of KC is Trey Gunn. He and the drummer have several projects (TU and KTU are 2 of them) that you will probably dig.

[@xlerb_again_to_music7908]

Fripp demonstrating why he has been called a genius... awesome! The only other band at this level (chops + challenging material) IMHO is Gentle Giant (PS they don't block). Suggested songs: Free Hand or His Last Voyage, both from the Free hand album. Steven Wilson deigned to remaster it in um 2021? You'd want those versions.... :) Thanks!

[@ADITYASINGH-vc4gm]

Totally different sound but ELP also are pound for pound a really solid band.

[@L33Reacts]

i will be doing another GG track this weekend :) i am very excited too because the last song was amazing. i will add your suggestions to the list as well.

[@jameshotchkin8438]

Thanks for the reaction. Eerie is a perfect way to describe this song. I feel like you deserve an easy listening KC song now haha Easy Money. 🙌🙏❤️🔥😎👏👌

[@L33Reacts]

Dude it really is a very eerie sound. I dug it though, of course. I love KC I am a full on fan now :) and I'll take a look thanks brother 🙏

[@Vader1138]

Saw this line up in 2003 at the Fillmore in Denver. Great show.

[@L33Reacts]

i bet it was! i wish i could have seen this exact show in germany. he was off the chain!

[@rk41gator]

Damn. I did catch them in 2021 at Fiddler's Green and Fripp has still got it!

[@jonathanroberts8981]

Tony Levin is playing a Chapman Stick. Has a huge range. You sound the strings by tapping so both hands can be playing different parts at once.

[@markcat1]

Tony Levin wasn’t in King Crimson for this era. It’s Trey Gunn on the warlock bass

[@McZorr0101]

The was the version of KC that recorded The The ConstruKction of Light album, released in 2000. It was the only KC line up since the 1970s not to feature Tony Levin, who returned for the final studio album and subsequent 7/8 man live only KC. Robert Fripp was not happy with the studio album release. None of the music had been played live before the recording, Pat Mastelotto had used only electronic drums, rather than his preferred mix of electronic and acoustic drums. Fripp felt that the power of the music played live was not conveyed in the studio recordings. In the late 2010s when considering re-releasing the album, it had been, briefly, considered to release the album using live renditions of the songs. Then when they came to remix it they found that some parts were missing, so a reassembled version of all the songs was undertaken. Mastelotto took the opportunity to re-record ALL the drum parts on, largely acoustic drums, hence the re-release was titles The ReconstruKction of Light, with entirely new cover art to distinguish it as being significantly different from the original. I was a bit underwhelmed by the original but still loved the highlights and thought the re-imagined version much better. Having said that I recently reacquired a Japanese import CD of ConstruKction of Light and, on my much better Hi Fi equipment it sounds really good too!

[@Z_E_B_O]

that part a 6:35 is probaby the heaviest King Crimson ever went live. Altough the studio version of level 5 is probably even heavier. Also I love that Fripp is playing all his stuff flawlessly and Belew messes up his part at 9:00 lol They released ConstruKction of Light in 2000, but people did not like it all that much, especially cause they used alot of synthetic drum sounds. so in (i believe) 2018 they rerecorded all drums and remastered the whole thing, making it sound so much better. The remaster is called ReconstruCktion of Light. and the part at 6:35 in the video also sounds so good in the studio version now.

[@markdrechsler5660]

Cool. I saw them in Milwaukee on this tour.

[@progperljungman8218]

Yeah, this is kinda tough for you on a first time listen. Enthralling musicianship! And a great composition! It's a later composition and line-up. You've got SO much widely different stuff yet to explore!

[@L33Reacts]

yeah your right its a hard first listen but by the end I got what they were doing lol. i also was quite tired recording this so that probably helped too xD i am so glad i found them man, they have SO much music to listen too. ps i just ran my cursor over your name and it said you have been subscribed to this channel for A YEAR NOW... thank you my friend. i truly appreciate your support.

[@KarlElvis]

I saw that tour in SF. Great show.

[@skatter44]

Next up for a King Crimson reaction should be 'Level Five' from the Power to Believe album. It is dark, heavy, and when you think it's safe it goes darker and heavier.

[@L33Reacts]

Haha oh shit you sold me right there! I'll definitely take a look. I have a KC list a mile long it feels like LOL

[@grahamhowes6904]

Bob Fripp’s ‘high wire act’ this is high end musicianship - but everyone is on their A game here … and THREE of the best drummers on the planet? As far as I know FRIPP was only impressed by the cover of his part in the companion piece FRACTURE by Maria Barbieri who is about to tour with BIG BIG TRAIN who you should check out! Ingenious Devices is a good overview and shows great musicianship and composition as well as being a fitting tribute to the late David Longdon and showing the new lineup in action on the final track. East Coast Racer is a masterpiece place to start. You’ll love it

[@L33Reacts]

cool thanks for the suggestion i will check them out. "High wire act" is an apt description of this track. it's super tense and you just hold your breath the entire time lol

[@seanm241]

just found the channel, love the videos. Sucks some of the KC videos are getting taken down, thx for putting them on your patreon, max. You should react to Black Midi, my favorite band right now. Just hit the scene in 2019 and they got a unique sound, definitely inspired by king crimson. Also their drummer Morgan Simpson is a fucking beast. Hard to choose but I think the album Cavalcade is the best place to start. Literally just listening to the first two tracks back to back tells you what they're all about. So ig I'm saying listen to "John L" but don't watch the music video otherwise nothing will make sense lol

[@L33Reacts]

Hey bro! Glad to have you. I'm glad you could watch them at least... makes me so mad when they take them down lol. But it seems to be getting better. I've actually had that request before but I never listened to them. I will definitely take a look now thanks bro!!

[@Jack-D-Ripper]

"Level 5" (from the album EleKtriK) is an amazingly great track too. And if you like eerie, try "The Deception of the Thrush".

[@henryandrews2825]

As a drummer, you should hear the 2013-2021 lineup, which featured *three* drummers! (One of them also played keyboards). "Radical Action" is probably King Crimson's last great epic instrumental, specifically the 2018+ version of it. The only online recording of that version (they kept tinkering with it - this lineup only played live) that I can find is the one i'll put in a reply to this (It's also on the Audio Diary set, as the "Radical Action" from the 2018 disc, but they haven't put Audio Diary one up on KZbin yet. That lineup also played several percussion-only pieces. The best is the last one they did, "Drumzilla", but it's not yet on a regular release. But any rendering of "Hell Hounds of Krim" or "Devil Dogs of Tesselation Row" (there are several on the official channel) would be great - I personally prefer Devil Dogs, but both are great.

[@henryandrews2825]

Also, if you want to see what that lineup looked like on stage, a good videos would be "Easy Money" from 2016 kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4DHnGNnatJ_e9E (although I think the center drummer plays keyboards throughout - there's plenty of video of this lineup available, but very little of it on KZbin and I can't find any of the real triple-drumer workouts).

[@henryandrews2825]

and because they just put it up... if you want to hear the most brutally intense 21st Century Schizoid Man ever recorded (and I have heard numerous versions by every lineup of the band that has played this pieces, which is most of them), the version on Earthbound from 1972 is what you want: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZebooaMlrKUfNE The combination of low-fi recording, Ian Wallace's heavy yet still jazz-inflected drumming style, Mel Collins' sax brilliance, Fripp finding his laser tone that wasn't quite there in the 1969 tour, and Boz's solid bass (which he learned to play after the intended bassist of this lineup quit!) and intensely distorted vocals take it all to another level.

[@01goldg1]

Fripp is the Master by which all others are measured...

[@onthatdirtroad]

Fripp's rack and guitar is called, "Voyager" he plays Soundscapes and you need to listen to those too

[@Relayer6a]

It's great how Fripp pulls this stuff off and appears to be a spectator rather than a participant.

[@frankhoulihanfh4972]

I love this story! ❤ lol but, I do

[@THumanQTip]

Fractured is decent, but Fracture -specifically the version on Starless and Bible Black - is my favorite KC instrumental. The last third in particular is the snarling beast of Crimson in Beast Mode. I probably listen to it every couple of weeks over 40 or so years.. I've only made it through Fractured twice.

[@frankhoulihanfh4972]

I once referred to Fracture as the single greatest piece of amplified music composition of the 20th Century.

[@THumanQTip]

@@frankhoulihanfh4972 KC is my favorite band, but I'd personally give the "greatest single piece of composition" label to Close to the Edge. Fracture is a bit more organic, but what those 5 guys did with CTTE on the album to me is unmatched. I can also see why Bruford left Yes after that album because it must have been pure torture making that title track.

[@frankhoulihanfh4972]

@@THumanQTip So, Jeff, I agree. What I said was I once referred to… lol Weren’t we the lucky ones to have grown up in such a time. The future will be jealous of us. ❤

[@Lightmane]

6:37-8:20 what Fripp does here is beyond my understanding. I wonder if there's any other guitar players who can play this. I wonder.

[@drewpoulos]

The name fripp gave this section is "terror"

[@ColpoRosso]

The original studio version from 2000 is LIT. There's also another newer studio version, with Mastelotto re-recording the drum parts with an acustic kit. I personally much prefer the original. The part of the uber fast Fripp part is diabolical, dark and claustrofobic AF.

[@moon_pan_]

The king

[@L33Reacts]

/bow

[@onthatdirtroad]

The bass Trey is playing is a Warr Guitar another STICK touch instrument

[@tomt5745]

Robert is a Monster. :)

[@chrismatthews8717]

It's like a twisted nursery rhyme.

[@salsalzman2325]

Crimson is about building tension within each section, but not providing release when expected, this is why it feels "eerie" you're expecting a cadence or a resolution but you might not get it until the very last bar.

[@robsutherland5744]

King Crimson is the fun side of education.

[@RichieG]

If I'm not mistaken, some of Fripp's guitar parts clock in at 9 notes per second.

[@janewells5970]

Ten notes per second. On his FB Page recently

[@brianvernon249]

They opened for Tool or if I’m wrong, Tool opened for them 2 years after this album.

[@ShawnMlekush-cv4ll]

I'm new to your channel. Have you checked out any Allen Holdsworth?

[@markjohnson4217]

I think Fripp may have glanced at the fretboard once during this whole mixed martial arts/guitar assault.. Bob creeps me out..

[@1234tori]

fracture from album SDTARLESS AND BIBLE BLACK please

[@Lwize]

Robot Fripp at work.

[@rk41gator]

Playing this shit LIVE is insane. How do they remember all these complicated tunes? No sheet music.

[@slackdude1]

Kids stuff!

[@TrevRockOne]

People were requesting Fracture, which is a different piece of music. But this is cool too.

[@L33Reacts]

woops my bad. i didnt know lol

[@kmichaelp4508]

What’s amazing is that with a virtueoso like Fripp on stage Adrian gets no gratitude for his playing!!!

[@TheProgCorner]

Fripp is notorious for this kind of thing…

[@L33Reacts]

it's ok, he let this one go back up. thanks robert!

[@fabioriato]

"You ready, Robert?" - more useless words were never spoken, Adrian! He's always ready! 😂 Oh, the younger cousin of Fracture (aka the impossible-to-play song, according to Fripp himself). FraKctured isn't any easier to play than its predecessor, though. Although the _motto perpetuo_ section in Fracture is ridiculously hard to play for how long it extends, there are sections in FraKctured where he plays more notes per second than he does in Fracture. And this here is kind of a sloppy play from Fripp's standards!

[@fabioriato]

Oh, btw the "bass" player is Trey Gunn. Here he's playing the Warr guitar. For his work with KC, he only used Warr guitars and Chapman sticks. Similar instruments, with many strings, both having a bass half and a treble half. Tony Levin (of KC fame, but one who played with everyone you can possibly imagine) helped popularize the Chapman stick.

[@yes_head]

How? HOW? How do get these videos up without Fripp blocking them? (Oh, I guess it is.) Anyways, this kind of music is for guitarists who practice to Paganini exercises. It's a follow-up to a famous KC song called "Fracture" from the Red album (1975). And don't worry about hearing the studio version. KC during this period was extremely clinical, and the live performances are nearly identical to the studio renditions. The drummer here is Pat Mastelotto who first joined KC in 1995 alongside Billy B, but then took over as the sole drummer on the tour to support this album (2000). He was then part of the the three drummer lineup that toured through much of the late teens.

[@L33Reacts]

Some of them go through and some of them don't. Larks pt 1, red, and a couple others are blocked. But then this one, Court of the crimson king, and starless are fine! I guess he watches them and determines them by merit lol. it's all good, i enjoy the music and guessing if it will work or not. im gonna check out the OG fracture now for sure. this was nuts.

[@marknielsen7181]

Innate sense of lunacy

[@Bob.L.Shirley]

On a related note, you might want to check out this guy's efforts to teach himself another Fripp composition, Fracture (which is NOT the piece you heard today). kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIWsn2eZftunppI

[@L33Reacts]

thanks i will check it out!

[@briangrigsby1842]

so many good band I skipped King Crimson now that and Oingo Boingo are a staple.

[@rk41gator]

Whoever controls KC's copywrite is awful. They take everything down.

[@ianlejeune6012]

Call me old fashioned, but I prefer the song Fracture from Starless & Bible Black. Feels just a bit cold and uninteresting…

[@totovassallo7255]

Fripp mitico