By Chuck Darrow
If there is one word that captures the gaming industry’s fundamental marketing strategy, it’s “mainstream.”
Being a volume business, casinos need to appeal to the widest audience possible. That’s why gaming halls primarily host top-selling acts.
But on Dec. 7, Tropicana Atlantic City is taking a hard left turn away from that blueprint by presenting in its theater BEAT, whose repertoire will be culled from the three albums—“Discipline,” “Beat” and “Three Of A Perfect Pair”—King Crimson released in the 1980s. The quartet consists of a Who’s Who of rock musicians: acclaimed guitarists Adrian Belew (who’s lent his talents to the likes of David Bowie, Frank Zappa and Talking Heads) and Steve Vai (Whitesnake, David Lee Roth), drummer Danny Carey (Tool) and bassist Tony Levin, whose resume bears such A-list names as Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, John Lennon and Alice Cooper.
For the uninitiated, King Crimson is a British band founded in 1969 by, among others, the late bassist-vocalist Greg Lake (of Emerson, Lake & Palmer), the also-deceased multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald (a founding member of Foreigner as well) and, most importantly, guitar wizard and all-around musical eccentric Robert Fripp. Thanks to its complex arrangements, virtuosic musicianship and ruminative lyrics, the unit’s 1969 debut, “In the Court Of the Crimson King,” is generally acknowledged as a template for what would become known as “progressive”—or “prog”– rock.
Despite that pedigree, King Crimson has always existed as more of a “cult band” with a relatively small (compared to prog titans like Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer) but vociferously loyal following. Part of the reason, at least, is Fripp’s unyielding, half-century-plus insistence on creating art rather than great wealth—which is why Crimson remains a somewhat obscure entity. Fripp, incidentally, has been the only constant in an otherwise ever-changing King Crimson lineup that has included both Belew and Levin.
Although BEAT made its debut just this year, it had been in the works for quite a while.
“About five years ago, [Belew] had the idea of a band doing the King Crimson music from the three albums we did in the ’80s,” explained Levin, who played in Crimson from 1981 through 2001, during a recent phone call. “Not using King Crimson members, but other really good players. Why it took five years, I’m not sure. But COVID came around for one thing.”
He added that coordinating the four musicians’ schedules was tricky because of their many other commitments. Thus, he noted, “It took until September 2023 when all four of us committed to the period of September, 2024 through December 2024.”
It’s tempting to describe BEAT as a “tribute band” as it does pay homage to the music of a specific entity. But the best tribute bands take great pains to accurately reproduce the music of their subjects. BEAT, Levin insisted, has taken a different path.
“[Vai] is probably one of the few guitar players on the planet who would tackle [Fripp’s] guitar parts from the 1980s. They’re very difficult technically; the good news is Steve, not only learned them and is able to play them, but he gave it his own slant.
“And from my point of view–being the bass player in this project–I wasn’t that interested in exactly copying what we did in the ’80s. That was great, but that was then. And so I’m very pleased that [Carey] and [Vai] are faithful to the material, but together, we are taking it to different places, being spontaneous and creating something new.”
For Levin, BEAT is an opportunity to revisit bass lines he created and update and improve them where he felt necessary.
“I’m always on an adventure to try to improve my parts,” modestly offered the 78-year-old Long Island native whose prowess on the bass guitar, upright bass and a unique, low-toned stringed instrument called the Chapman Stick, has made him a go-to support player for decades. “If there’s a part I wrote–which is the case in King Crimson—I try to improve them and really get them to be as special as they can.
“But since I’ve never reached [that goal], I’m always working on the parts. I suppose if I have some night where I play ‘Elephant Talk’ perfectly, then gee, I’m gonna be puzzled. And from then on, I’ll just try and do what I did that night. But that night has not happened yet.”
As noted above, Levin–who recently released “Bringing It Down To the Bass,” an eclectic collection of tunes that showcases his formidable talents as a composer as well as an instrumentalist–has played with some of the biggest names in the history of pop music. But when asked to identify the artist with whom playing is most special to him, there was no hesitation before he responded.
“If I were to pick one, it would be Peter Gabriel,” he proclaimed. “Not only because I played with him for a long time, but his tours are a combination of great music, a lot of fun onstage and a lot of fun offstage. We are, of course, good friends after these 40 or so years together.
“I read an interview with myself this morning. I never read those, but for some reason, I had to read this interview, and I said that I always make sure that I’m available for anything Peter Gabriel wants to do. I read that and I thought, ‘Yes, that’s true.’
“I don’t wanna put a priority on any anybody’s music, but Peter Gabriel is certainly the tour I would most want to do if I were offered every tour on the planet at once.”
For tickets, go to www.ticketmaster.com.
