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The Construkction of Light

(Redirected from The construKction of light)

The Construkction of Light (stylised as the construKction of light) is the twelfth studio album by English band King Crimson, released in May 2000 by record label Virgin.[1] It is the first of two studio albums to feature the "double duo" line-up of Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto. It is the group's longest studio album and the only one not to chart in the United States.

The ConstruKction of Light
Studio album by
King Crimson
Released23 May 2000
Recorded1999
StudioStudioBelew, Mount Juliet, Tennessee
Genre
Length58:18
LabelVirgin
ProducerKing Crimson
King Crimson chronology
Live in Central Park, NYC
(2000) 		The ConstruKction of Light
(2000) 		Heavy ConstruKction
(2000)
The ReconstruKction Of Light cover

Recording and release

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In the late 1990s, drummer Bill Bruford and bassist Tony Levin left King Crimson, ending the "double trio" era documented on THRAK.[2] For the first time in the group's history, Robert Fripp was the only Englishman in the lineup.[3][5]

The Construkction of Light bears a sound similar to the "rock gamelan" 1980s incarnation of King Crimson, with Mastelotto primarily playing electronic drums and Belew, Gunn and Fripp often playing sophisticated, interlocking parts. However, the pace of these interlocking parts is often slower than it was in the 1980s, with Belew and Fripp often trading single notes back and forth in hocket.[citation needed]

The album also contains two sequels to instrumental pieces by 1970s incarnations of the band. "Larks' Tongues in Aspic – Part IV" continues the series of pieces started on Larks' Tongues in Aspic and continued on Three of a Perfect Pair. "FraKctured" began as a fifth entry in the "Larks" suite, but was renamed after being judged as more reminiscent of "Fracture" from Starless and Bible Black.[6]

Fripp was unhappy with the album, considering that it "doesn't convey the power of the music, to a greater extent than any of the [King Crimson] studio albums", as none of the music was played live before the recording, Mastelotto used only electronic drums instead of his preferred hybrid acoustic/electronic kit, and Fripp's attention was focused more on writing and playing than on recording and production. Discipline Global Mobile later considered "re-assembling" the album with live recordings instead of reissuing the studio version.[7]

In 2019, a substantial reworking of the album was released as The ReconstruKction of Light, when parts of the original recording were found to be lost. Mastelotto re-recorded all of his drum parts on a predominantly acoustic kit.[8] The remix of "FraKctured" was released as part of the KC50 series of archival recordings that year.[9]

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [10]
PopMatters          [11]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music     [12]

AllMusic wrote that the band "fall flat with The ConstruKction of Light [...] Unable to shed the weight of their oft-brilliant history, the most promising moments of ConstruKction are crushed underneath the bulk. What makes ConstruKction such a disappointment is, despite how 'progressive' the band-fragmenting ProjeKct approach appeared on paper, upon execution, it produced an utterly backward-looking album."[10]

German prog magazine eclipsed, on the other hand, rated the album as the third best King Crimson album ever, and also included it in their list of the 150 best progressive rock albums of all time.[citation needed]

Regarding the revised 2019 version, Mark Smotroff of Audiophile Review noted that "the dynamics are much better...Mastelotto has arguably rescued this album by adding an impassioned new live drum track."[2]

Track listing

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All lyrics by Adrian Belew. All music by King Crimson (Belew, Robert Fripp, Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto).

The ConstrucKction of Light
No.TitleLength
1."ProzaKc Blues"5:27
2."The ConstruKction of Light"5:49
3."The ConstruKction of Light"2:50
4."Into the Frying Pan"6:54
5."FraKctured"9:06
6."The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum"6:24
7."Larks' Tongues in Aspic – Part IV"3:41
8."Larks' Tongues in Aspic – Part IV"2:50
9."Larks' Tongues in Aspic – Part IV"2:36
10."Coda: I Have a Dream"4:51
11."Heaven and Earth" (as ProjeKct X)7:46

Note: Digital editions of the album do not split "The ConstruKction of Light" or "Larks' Tongues in Aspic – Part IV" (including "Coda: I Have a Dream") into multiple tracks.

Personnel

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Chart performance

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Chart (2000) Peak
position
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13] 67
Italian Albums (FIMI)[14] 18
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[15] 31
UK Albums (OCC)[16] 129

References

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  1. ^ King Crimson - The ConstruKction of Light Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic, retrieved 29 October 2023
  2. ^ a b Smotroff, Mark (17 February 2020). "ReKonsidering King Crimson's ConstruKction of Light in New Stereo and 5.1 Surround". Audiophile Review. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  3. ^ Fripp, Robert (5 February 2003). "RF Press Conference with European Journalists" (Interview). Q: You are the only Englishman in the band. RF: I noticed that too.
  4. ^ "BBC - Music - Review of King Crimson - the Power to Believe".
  5. ^ The Power to Believe had the same lineup as the construKction of light.[4]
  6. ^ "The ConstruKction of FraKctured - from the diaries of Robert Fripp". Spaceward Records. Archived from the original on 7 May 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  7. ^ Fripp, Robert (26 October 2011). "Bredonborough A later rising than". DGM Live. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  8. ^ Sid Smith (29 March 2019). "Heaven & Earth Pre-Order". Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  9. ^ "KC50 14 - FraKctured". 12 April 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  10. ^ a b Nickey, Jason. The ConstruKction of Light review AllMusic. Retrieved on 2011-02-27.
  11. ^ Moos, Dan. "King Crimson: The ConstruKction of Light". PopMatters. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  12. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  13. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – King Crimson – The Construkction of Light" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  14. ^ "Italiancharts.com – King Crimson – The Construkction of Light". Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  15. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  16. ^ "King Crimson | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
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