History Music / ThreeOfAPerfectPair

''Three of a Perfect Pair'', released in 1984, is the tenth studio album by English ProgressiveRock group Music/KingCrimson. The final entry in the Incline to 1984, the band's trilogy of NewWaveMusic albums under their "Gamelan Trio" lineup, it presents a middle-ground approach between the experimental ''Music/{{Discipline}}'' and the commercially accessible ''Music/{{Beat}}'', influenced heavily by the TroubledProduction of the latter and the strain in placed on the band. The members attempted to diffuse lingering tension among each other well in advance, but still found themselves unable to fully reconcile the radically different approaches of their previous two albums, reflected in the more anxious tone of the music on this record. As a result, they made the decision to split ''Three of a Perfect Pair'' directly down the middle, providing a side of accessible songs and a side of more aggressive, [[AvantGardeMusic avant-garde]] material.

* LongTitle: "Nuages (That Which Passes, Passes Like Clouds)"

# "Sleepless" (5:24)[[note]]3:16 on the initial US release[[/note]]

* Robert Fripp - guitar, Frippertronics

* ContinuityNod: "Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part III)" acts as a belated sequel to the {{title track}}s on, well, ''Larks' Tongues in Aspic'', quoting passages from both.

* MythologyGag: The album cover is an abstract reinterpretation of the ''Larks' Tongues in Aspic'' cover, tying in with both the experimentalism of the Right Side and the inclusion of "Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part III)" as the closing track.

* SequelSong: "Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part III)" is a belated follow-up to "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part One" and "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part Two" from, well, ''Larks' Tongues in Aspic'', reprising melodic elements of both of its predecessors.

* ReCut: Most copies of the initial US release on Creator/WarnerBrosRecords feature the single mix of "Sleepless" in place of the original; the packaging doesn't make note of this aside from the song's timestamp on the disc label being roughly two minutes shorter. CD releases, meanwhile, feature the album mix in all regions (though the initial "target" US CD still features the timestamp for the single mix on the disc label).

* DistinctDoubleAlbum: Single-disc variant: the Left Side consists of commercially accessible NewWaveMusic in the vein of ''Music/{{Beat}}'', while the Right Side consists of experimental material in the vein of ''Music/{{Discipline}}''. Robert Fripp respectively described the two sides as "accessible" and "excessive" in a contemporary BBC Radio 1 interview.

* ReCut: Most copies of the initial US release on Creator/WarnerBrosRecords (including the "target" CD) feature the single mix of "Sleepless" in place of the original; the packaging doesn't make note of this aside from the song's timestamp on the disc label being roughly two minutes shorter.

''Three of a Perfect Pair'', released in 1984, is the tenth studio album by English ProgressiveRock group Music/KingCrimson. The final entry in the band's trilogy of NewWaveMusic albums under their "Gamelan Trio" lineup, it presents a middle-ground approach between the experimental ''Music/{{Discipline}}'' and the commercially accessible ''Music/{{Beat}}'', influenced heavily by the TroubledProduction of the latter and the strain in placed on the band. The members attempted to diffuse lingering tension among each other well in advance, but still found themselves unable to fully reconcile the radically different approaches of their previous two albums, reflected in the more anxious tone of the music on this record. As a result, they made the decision to split ''Three of a Perfect Pair'' directly down the middle, providing a side of accessible songs and a side of more aggressive, [[AvantGardeMusic avant-garde]] material.

''Three of a Perfect Pair'', released in 1984, is the tenth studio album by English ProgressiveRock group Music/KingCrimson. The final entry in the band's trilogy of NewWaveMusic albums under their "Gamelan Trio" lineup, it presents a middle-ground approach between the experimental ''Music/{{Discipline}}'' and the commercially accessible ''Beat'', influenced heavily by the TroubledProduction of the latter and the strain in placed on the band. The members attempted to diffuse lingering tension among each other well in advance, but still found themselves unable to fully reconcile the radically different approaches of their previous two albums, reflected in the more anxious tone of the music on this record. As a result, they made the decision to split ''Three of a Perfect Pair'' directly down the middle, providing a side of accessible songs and a side of more aggressive, [[AvantGardeMusic avant-garde]] material.

* DistinctDoubleAlbum: Single-disc variant: the Left Side consists of commercially accessible NewWaveMusic in the vein of ''Beat'', while the Right Side consists of experimental material in the vein of ''Discipline''. Robert Fripp respectively described the two sides as "accessible" and "excessive" in a contemporary BBC Radio 1 interview.

* MinimalisticCoverArt: Like ''Music/{{Discipline}}'' and ''Beat'', the cover for ''Three of a Perfect Pair'' (designed this time around by Peter Willis) consists simply of a symbol against a solid-color background with small text atop-- in this case, an abstract blue sun and moon design on a yellow backdrop.

* NewSoundAlbum: While the Left Side is just as new wave as ''Music/{{Discipline}}'' and ''Beat'' were, the Right Side incorporates prominent {{industrial}} influences that would more thoroughly define King Crimson's later output.

* TwoPartTrilogy: The album title (and that of the TitleTrack) suggests this, and while the album itself is universally considered part of a unified trilogy with ''Music/{{Discipline}}'' and ''Beat'', its middle-ground approach can give the impression of this trope at face value.

* ContemptibleCover: The album art is designed to allude to penetrative sex, featuring a phallus rising towards a labial crescent.

* ReCut: Some copies of the initial US release on Creator/WarnerBrosRecords (including the "target" CD) feature the single mix of "Sleepless" in place of the original; the packaging doesn't make note of this aside from the song's timestamp on the disc label being roughly two minutes shorter.

# "Sleepless" (5:24)

* DistinctDoubleAlbum: Single-disc variant: the Left Side consists of commercially accessible NewWaveMusic in the vein of ''Beat'', while the Right Side consists of experimental material in the vein of ''Discipline''.

* MinimalisticCoverArt: Like ''Music/{{Discipline}}'' and ''Beat'', the cover for ''Three of a Perfect Pair'' consists simply of a symbol against a solid-color background with small text atop-- in this case, an abstract blue sun and moon design on a yellow backdrop.

The decision to do this resulted in more middling critical reviews compared to the mixed-to-positive response towards ''Discipline'' and the up-front praise of ''Beat'', with critics considering its approach disjointed compared to the more unified structure of its two predecessors. Furthermore, although it ended up being the highest-charting of the 80's trilogy in the UK (and indeed their highest-charting release in the country since ''Starless and Bible Black''), peaking at No. 30, in the US it was their lowest-charting album since ''Music/{{Red|KingCrimsonAlbum}}'', only reaching No. 58 on the Billboard 200. Fripp himself had grown disillusioned with the Gamelan Trio configuration of the band and how it operated, and would dissolve King Crimson a second time following the album's supporting tour, exactly ten years after their first breakup; another decade would pass before Fripp decided to reform the band again.

''Three of a Perfect Pair'', released in 1984, is the tenth studio album by English ProgressiveRock group Music/KingCrimson. The final entry in the band's trilogy of NewWaveMusic albums under their "Gamelan Trio" lineup, it presents a middle-ground approach between the experimental ''Discipline'' and the commercially accessible ''Beat'', influenced heavily by the TroubledProduction of the latter and the strain in placed on the band. The members attempted to diffuse lingering tension among each other well in advance, but still found themselves unable to fully reconcile the radically different approaches of their previous two albums, reflected in the more anxious tone of the music on this record. As a result, they made the decision to split ''Three of a Perfect Pair'' directly down the middle, providing a side of accessible songs and a side of more aggressive, [[AvantGardeMusic avant-garde]] material.

The decision to do this resulted in more middling critical reviews compared to the up-front praise that both ''Discipline'' and ''Beat'' had received, with critics considering its approach disjointed compared to the more unified structure of its two predecessors. Furthermore, although it ended up being the highest-charting of the 80's trilogy in the UK (and indeed their highest-charting release in the country since ''Starless and Bible Black''), peaking at No. 30, in the US it was their lowest-charting album since ''Music/{{Red|KingCrimsonAlbum}}'', only reaching No. 58 on the Billboard 200. Fripp himself had grown disillusioned with the Gamelan Trio configuration of the band and how it operated, and would dissolve King Crimson a second time following the album's supporting tour, exactly ten years after their first breakup; another decade would pass before Fripp decided to reform the band again.

* MinimalisticCoverArt: Like ''Discipline'' and ''Beat'', the cover for ''Three of a Perfect Pair'' consists simply of a symbol against a solid-color background with small text atop-- in this case, an abstract blue sun and moon design on a yellow backdrop.

* NewSoundAlbum: While the Left Side is just as new wave as ''Discipline'' and ''Beat'' were, the Right Side incorporates prominent {{industrial}} influences that would more thoroughly define King Crimson's later output.

* TwoPartTrilogy: The album title (and that of the TitleTrack) suggests this, and while the album itself is universally considered part of a unified trilogy with ''Discipline'' and ''Beat'', its middle-ground approach can give the impression of this trope at face value.

* FadingIntoTheNextSong: "Industry" hard-cuts directly into "Dig Me".

* SpokenWordInMusic: "Dig Me" features Adrian Belew reading out an inner monologue by a rusting old car in a junkyard.

* RuleOfThree: The album called '''''Three''''' ''of a Perfect Pair'' was the third and final album by the Gamelan '''Trio''' incarnation of King Crimson, has nine tracks (3x3) on it, and released three years after the first Gamelan Trio album, ''Discipline''. Furthermore, the 2001 remaster splits the album into three "sides," reflecting the "Left" and "Right" portions of the original LP and an "Other Side" of bonus tracks.