With Understanding Comes Appreciation
Unless you were a youngster in 1981, you have zero idea what it was like to buy this vinyl and be utterly gobsmacked by its unalloyed genius. Although it'd be far too easy, and not at all representative, I could easily sum up this album with just one sentence: "bass wizard Tony Levin on "stick" (a strange bass-like instrument)".
That alone should have you sold already, never mind the rest...and who are they? founder prog-legend Robert Fripp on guitar? Zappa’s prominent alumni, ex-Talking Heads Adrian Belew on guitar/vocals? ex-Yes, ex-Genesis Bill Bruford on drums? That's quite a line up (one of the best talented quartets assembled in music history? Yes, you are allowed to go that far), definitely one for the musicians out there, and believe me, these guys certainly do NOT mess around. Both new American guys alone (Belew and Levin) bring in a vast arsenal of instruments and sonic innovation that the band never had before. And nowhere will you find a keyboard instrument, not even the hallowed mellotron.