This Day in Music

Forty-two for Three, multiple personalities, a foul murder, and Elvis records another soundtrack, on this day in music.

Three of a Perfect Pair

1984: English-American prog-rock masters King Crimson release their tenth studio album, “Three of a Perfect Pair.” It is the third and final studio album from the great early-80's lineup of Robert Fripp (g), Adrian Below (g; v; d), Tony Levin (bg; Chapman Stick), and Bill Bruford (d).

The title of the album is said to be the concept of “perfect opposites,” or one person's truth, another person's truth, and then the actual objective truth. According to Fripp however, “The album presents two distinct sides of the band’s personality, which has caused at least as much confusion for the group as it has the public and the industry. The left side (obverse LP side) is accessible, the right side (reverse LP side) excessive.”

With all lyrics written by Belew, and the whole band collaborating on the music, the LP features some stellar tracks, including the trance-like “Three of a Perfect Pair” and “Sleepless,” on which Levin performs one of the great bass parts in prog history using his own innovation, “funk fingers,” which are custom-cut drumsticks that attach to his fingers, enabling him to play sharp, staccato, percussive bass parts. Other great tracks featured on the album are “Industry,” “Dig Me,” and “Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part III),” the third instalment in the Larks' tetralogy. “Three of a Perfect Pair” reached No. 58 on the Billboard 200, No. 43 in Canada, and No. 30 in the U.K.

Adrian Belew and Tony Levin teamed up with guitarist-extraordinaire Steve Vai and Tool’s phenomenal drummer, Danny Carey, in 2024 to form BEAT, a band committed to playing the 1980’s King Crimson songbook, plus the song “Red” from the 1974 album of the same name. If you didn’t get a chance to the see them on their 2024 North American tour, they are touring Europe this summer, beginning June 7th at the Civic Hall in Wolverhampton (West Midlands), U.K.

You’re Never Alone with a Schizophrenic

1979: “You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic,” the fourth studio solo album by ex-Mott the Hoople singer-songwriter, guitarist, and piano player, Ian Hunter is released.

With a slate of talented musicians comprising the back-up band, including long-time collaborator Mick Ronson on lead guitar, musicians Roy Bittan (or), Max Weinberg (d), and Garry Tallent (bg) from The E. Street Band, and ex-Velvet Underground keyboardist John Cale on piano and ARP electronics, the performances are in top form.

Spinning off two hit singles, “Just Another Night” and “Cleveland Rocks,” the LP was met with solid reviews, The Globe and Mail writing that Hunter's “...voice is of the Rod Stewart rasp variety, but with a punkish edge where Stewart's is icily urbane.”

Murder Most Foul

2020: Bob Dylan releases a YouTube single titled “Murder Most Foul,” the tenth track from his subsequent 39th studio LP, “Rough and Rowdy Ways,” released on June 19, 2020. It’s a song about the Kennedy assassination in the larger context of American cultural and political history, played to pictures of the era. With a run-time of 16:56, it’s the longest song of Dylan's recording career, exceeding the length of “Highlands” from his 1997 album, “Time Out of Mind,” by 25 seconds.

The Friday Frank

1980: As part of his spring-summer tour, Frank Zappa performs at McArthur Court in Eugene, OR. He plays a 26-song set of mostly unreleased music that would appear on his 1981 double-album, “You Are What You Is,” including what would become the Side B mini-suite, “Society Pages,” and the Side D mini-suite, “Heavenly Bank Account,” sequentially in their entireties.

The set also featured songs from Zappa’s late-1970’s catalog including “Joe’s Garage,” “Why Does it Hurt When I Pee,” “Dancin’ Fool,” “Bobby Brown,” and “Watermelon in Easter Hay,” featuring a fabulous extended guitar solo by Zappa. He also performed one classic, “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow,” with a “Nanook Rubs It” snippet built-in.

Supporting Zappa was a small band by his standards and included Ike Willis and Ray White on vocals and rhythm guitars, Arthur Barrow on bass and vocals, Tommy Mars on keyboards and vocals, and David Logeman on drums. All five musicians would appear on “You Are What You Is,” along with FZ and eleven other musicians. TDIM will cover the album on the anniversary of its release, September 23rd.

The Daily Elvis

1962: Elvis records the No. 1 single “Return to Sender” for his fifth soundtrack LP, this time for the movie Girls, Girls, Girls. The song was released on October 2, 1962, the movie released on October 31, 1962, and the full soundtrack released on November 9, 1962.

Pictured: King Crimson in 1984, from L to R: Tony Levin, Adrian Belew, Bill Bruford, and Robert Fripp.