The double-trio never really became as fleshed out as it should have been, unfortunately. One EP, one album, a very long tour that spawned those many live albums, and then they dissolved with Bill Bruford and Tony Levin going their own ways. Pat Mastelotto and Trey Gunn fill the roles on drums and "bass-type devices" easily. Just prior to this unfortunate lineup change, the ProjeKcts, a series of exploratory concerts by members of the six-piece band in varying numbers and roles, proved that there was a lot of ground left to be covered, but Bill Bruford had lost interest - he wanted his own jazz band, the acoustic Earthworks, to be his primary concern (and good for us - Earthworks has turned out fantastic stuff since then!) Why Tony opted to move on, I'm not entirely sure anymore, but it certainly wasn't due to any bad blood (he is, after all, back in the band after Trey Gunn opted to leave a couple years ago, and just as it was thrilling to have the master of "touch guitar" Gunn on board, it's always refreshing to see Levin on basses and Stick.) The two albums from the new quartet unfortunately didn't seem to garner as much attention as it seemed like the double-trio did - the one that seemed to take quite a ribbing for being so excessive. Apparently all that excess did do one thing after all. It got them a lot of notice.

So the question has been bouncing around on King Crimson forums - who is this new member? The answer that it was a new drummer came pretty quickly, but just who has so far not been answered definitively yet. There is speculation that it might be Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison, who I contend is possibly rock's best and most all-around talented drummer. If it has to be someone, why not him? It would bring back something that the Mastelotto-driven band has lacked - a drummer propelled not only by ingenuity, which Pat surely has in spades, but also by an overabundance of skill and deadly precision, which is what Bill Bruford brought to the band.

So why am I, for lack of a better word, disappointed? Because this doesn't seem like a step forward. It's terrain already covered by the band. Following Thrak, it would have been great to keep pushing forward with that format. But now, I don't see what the point is. One of the problems cited by many was that, when it came to the double-trio, the additions brought to the sound by the two additional musicians was just too subtle most of the time. And I can see that. While that format afforded a very filled-out live sound, it was something that wasn't really as necessary as it might have seemed even for songs that thrived with that complexity, such as the "VROOOM" pieces, when the new quartet took to playing them live.