(Review from allaboutjazz.com)

“Live at the Pier” is a crisp and clear recording that finds 1980s Crims about half-way through its near four year run. And it’s a hot one.

With five of the ten tunes culled from the group’s just-released second album, “Beat”, the new wave edge-meets-gamelan-meets-minimalism ethos of 1980s Crim had evolved considerably from its early days as “Discipline”. This may be the least expansively improvisational Crimson line-up, with no extended group improvs heard in prior and subsequent incarnations. But that doesn’t mean that this more song-friendly, groove-happy Crimson didn’t take risks each and every night. The differences could be as subtle as Robert Fripp’s gradually evolving elliptical patterns behind fellow guitarist Adrian Belew’s solo of reckless abandon on “Waiting Man” or more direct during drummer Bill Bruford’s lengthy electro-acoustic solo at the beginning of the lyrically obtuse “Indiscipline”.

The group stretches out a little more with Belew’s ad lib of “New York, New York” on “Indiscipline”, some added mayhem on a slightly longer take on one of the few pre-1980s songs this Crimson would perform, “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic: Part II” and a lengthier solo from Fripp on the log drum-driven “The Sheltering Sky”. What made 1980s Crimson so unique was its ability to challenge even the committed progressive fan, but in a most approachable way; it was music that you could dance to… as long as you weren’t challenged by moving your feet in 21/8.

It’s also a performance that helps dispel a common (and unfounded) misconception that Belew, the singer, was merely aping Talking Heads’ David Byrne. As good as Byrne was and is, he could never match Belew’s gritty delivery of a definitive version of “Neal and Jack and Me” that’s more open-ended than Beat’s considerably more concise studio take.

Live at the Pier, with its greater emphasis on Beat’s repertoire and with equally excellent sound, deserves to be heard by more than just undying Crimheads.

Line-up:
- Adrian Belew / Guitar, Vocals
- Robert Fripp / Guitar
- Tony Levin / Stick, Bass Guitar
- Bill Bruford / Drums, Percussion

Track List:
01. Waiting Man – 7:40
02. The Howler – 4:53
03. Frame By Frame – 5:31
04. The Sheltering Sky – 11:05
05. Neal And Jack And Me – 6:09
06. Neurotica – 5:42
07. Elephant Talk – 5:14
08. Indiscipline – 12:22
09. Sartori In Tangier – 5:02
10. Lark’s Tongues In Aspic- Part II – 7:17

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