ProjeKct Four
West Coast Live

What goes through the mind of that charming madcap Robert Fripp would be of interest to many. Because almost every album release has been a masterpiece. Because ideas flow relentlessly from the neck of his guitar. Because he invented the Frippertronics. Because he invented prog (you might have something to say about this, maybe prog was invented by the Moody Blues, or the Nice, or other people, but I feel you might have something to say).

Then when Fripp decides to bring to life collateral and parallel projects to the Crimson, with the members of Crimson (Bruford, Belew, Gunn, Levin, and Mastellotto, taking turns in the various ProjeKcts), who play at Crimson concerts (March 3, 2003, due to Belew's physical indisposition ProjeKct Three performed), who sometimes play Crimson songs (for example, ProjeKct Two played Dinosaur and Vrooom on tour), we are even more puzzled about what goes on in his head. Or at least it would suffice to know how he manages to write such deviant music.

In 1998, Fripp organized with three friends (Trey Gunn, Tony Levin, and Pat Mastelotto) yet another formation in his career: ProjeKct Four. With this group, he released two live recordings of remarkable improvised and experimental stature. "West Coast Live" develops along psychedelic and deviant plots, whose connecting thread is the roundness of that phenomenon Levin’s bass and the electronic tones of Mastelotto's drums. If we then add the amenities of Trey Gunn’s Warr guitar and the effected and "cursed" sounds of Fripp’s guitar - which sometimes sound like a synth - then the stature increases.

The first part is a suite in four parts (more or less 24 minutes), titled "Ghost": it is of sidereal beauty, immaterial, ethereal, and dark at the same time, especially the fourth part. The central part consists of three songs (which increase the running time by another 17 minutes or so): "Deception Of The Thrush", a slow and terrifying almost electronic piece, with an asthmatic and suffocating six-string, "Hindu Fizz" (remarkable array of various percussion and great applause from the audience at the end of the performance) and "Projektion", with decent electrifying solos by Fripp. The third and final part (another quarter of an hour or so) is again titled "Ghost": it opens with a minute and a half of solo bass similar to fusion, which flows into a psychedelic astro-trip on the spaceship of Fripp’s chords (oh, to embark on such journeys!).

It's a difficult album, and I don't think there is more to add. When four geniuses meet, a great record is bound to come out.