You need your wits about you for this one. 21st CENTURY SCHIZOID BAND (who may or may not still be operating as a unit, but more of that later) was formed by several former members of Prog-Rock behemoth King Crimson with the intention of playing music from the earlier band’s catalogue that no longer featured in the present day version of KC’S set. Well I’m glad we’ve established that. No room for confusion there, eh? No, really, come back!
All of the above reminds me of the acrimony and puerility sparked off when the former Byrds members all went off touring in different ‘Byrds’-related guises, attempting to stave off writs from their former colleagues along the way. I wouldn’t like to guess what Robert Fripp or Bill Bruford thought about all this, but with all the former members (save ex-Level 42 singer/ guitarist Jakko Jakszyk, though he’s drummer Michael Giles’ son-in-law) having featured in either King Crimson or its’ forerunner, Giles, Giles & Fripp, this project does at least drip with something like authenticity.
Overall, though, ‘Live in Japan’ is one for the wholly committed, long-term fan. Recorded on the then newly-formed group’s triumphant Far Eastern jaunt in 2002, it can boast the same lavish multi-camera angles, crystal clear sound and enthusiastic audience response that can be found on the splendid recent Porcupine Tree live DVD. Sadly, though, most of the tension and drama that made the PT in-concert film such a treat for a relative Prog beginner like myself is absent here.
I confess the problems are partly in my head. As a child of Post-Punk, weaned on Joy Division, the Bunnymen and The Fall, I still have difficulty with this slick, proficient Jazz-influenced fusion stuff. But still 21st SB do themselves no favours with their twin-sax attack and desire to throw in complicated licks and 430 notes where one well-struck power chord would suffice. Complex outings like ‘Progress’ and ‘A Man A City’ thus lose out accordingly, while the dodgy punning in ‘Catfood’ (“you never need to worry, with a tin of Hurry Curry”) is just plain irritating.
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Jakszyk’s rather arrogant stage manner and widdly guitar playing also tend to rankle, though there’s no denying he has a great voice and he uses it to great effect when the band indulge in what could almost be deemed a ‘power ballad’ (erk!) with ‘Let there be Light’. On this track, sax players Ian McDonald and Mel Collins both switch to keyboards and it’s usually when this happens that I can begin to subscribe to 21st SB’S virtuosic strength. It’s a feeling that’s only reinforced by the sublime pomp and ceremony of the stunning ‘In the Court of the Crimson King’ and – to a slightly lesser degree – on the balmy, if over-long ‘Formentera Lady’.
They lose me again with a ropey middle section, the nadir of which is plumbed with the Ian McDonald-sung ‘If I Was’ which sounds like Supertramp and a second rate one at that. However, a strong finale comprising the mellow and subtle ‘I Talk to the Wind’, a grand-standing ‘Epitaph’ and ‘21st Century Schizoid Man’ – their best stab at a convincing rocker despite the hoop-jumping tempo shifts – ensures they at least go out in style.
As I hinted earlier, the 21st SB has effectively been on ice since 2007. Michael Giles instigated the formation of the band, only to quit abruptly in 2003. His replacement Ian Wallace sadly died in February 2007 and since then little has been heard from the band one way or the other. Consequently, while it’s premature to suggest ‘Live in Japan’ is their epitaph, I can’t believe anyone other than hardcore supporters will really dwell on their passing if that proves to be the case.
Voiceprint online
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