Beat

Beat is the ninth studio album by the British rock band King Crimson, released in June 1982 by record label E.G. This is the second King Crimson album to feature the band's line-up of co-founder Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Tony Levin and Bill Bruford. It is the first release in King Crimson’s discography to feature the same lineup as the previous studio album. Background and production According to the Trouser Press Record Guide, the album was inspired by the history and work of 1950’s Beat literature, spurred on by the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Additionally, Belew claims he was "prompted by a note saying 'I'm wheels, I am moving wheels' by Fripp," who suggested Beat writings become the "lyrical underpinning" of the album after he saw Belew "reading Keuroac." The album makes several references to the writings of the Beat Generation: "Neal and Jack and Me" is the track most obviously inspired by Beat writers. The 'Jack' of the title is Beat writer Jack Kerouac, while 'Neal' is Kerouac's best friend Neal Cassady. Besides On the Road, the lyrics make references in French to other significant Kerouac works; Les Souterrains, Des Visions du Cody and Sartori a Paris. The song was released as a B-side to "Heartbeat". Musically it picks up where the album and song Discipline left off, with Fripp and Belew's dueling guitars weaving in and out of patterns in and time signatures. "Heartbeat" is also the name of a book written by Neal Cassady's wife Carolyn about her experiences with the Beats. "Sartori in Tangier" derives its title from Satori in Paris and the city of Tangier in Morocco, where a number of Beat writers resided and which they often used as a setting for their writing. Writer Paul Bowles was associated with the Beats, and his novel The Sheltering Sky, which provided the title for a track on King Crimson's previous studio album, Discipline, is partly set in Tangier. Bowles's novel is further referenced on the King Crimson song "Walking On Air", from their 1995 album Thrak. "Sartori in Tangier" is entirely instrumental, with the distinctive intro being performed by Tony Levin on the Chapman Stick. The song was first performed in 1981 with an extended introduction. "Neurotica" shares its title with Neurotica, a Beat-era magazine. The Frippertronics intro is lifted directly from the beginning of "Hååden Two" off Fripp's 1979 solo album Exposure.