Question: what happens when the bloviating virtuosity of prog rock meets the angular, stripped-down aesthetic of post-punk? Answer: a moment of genius. When King Crimson founder Robert Fripp decided to get a band back together in 1980, he didn’t originally intend it as a reformation of his old band. But once he started playing with Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, and Crimson alum Bill Bruford, he changed his mind. The new incarnation of King Crimson sounded very little like the old: this one focused on tight arrangements, layered and phased rhythms (Fripp and Belew had met at a Steve Reich concert, and you can tell), and relatively concise song structures. With this album, Levin introduced the Chapman Stick to a pop audience, and its sound was similarly transfigurative for the band. Few albums have made deep complexity as easily approachable as this one did.

– Rick Anderson