Crimson guitar parts require an astonishingly quick changes both in style, attention and mindset. Within the first four minutes of the piece, Jakko Jakszyk’s shifting breaks provide slivers of light, squeezing between the dark, grinding brutality of the main riff. He delivers spidery crosspicking lines that traverse the fearsome KC steroid-funk, passes the baton over to Fripp, who just as quickly passes it back his way. After the break-out Fripp solo, Jakszyk adds his harmonies to a truly monstrous-sounding unison section. Even after all that, there’s no rest; the shimmering backdrop against Collins’ opening flute solo comes from the Jakszyk fretboard. Never was the phrase ‘white-knuckle ride’ more appropriate.
