Notes:: Live album from tour of USA. Sound quality a big improvement over Earthbound, but still not great. Looking forward to the USA II reissue which is scheduled to be released in 2001 (?) by DGM.
Notes: What a pleasant surprise to see three cuts from the 1970's era KC reworked and performed by the new line-up. This material is very similar to the concert I attended in November, 1995 in Massachusetts.
Notes: For die-hard Crimheads only!! Very Inaccessible live improvisational instrumentals which some call "music to have nightmares" by. I personally took great pleasure in playing it for an unwanted houseguest who thought it was the "absolute worst music" he has ever heard. My only complaint would be the titles of the cuts, which seem rather lame to me with one or two exceptions.
Volume II: Fillmore West, San Francisco, 15 December, 1969:
Volume III: Plumpton Festival, 9 August, 1969:
Volume IV: Chesterfield Jazz Club, 7 September 1969:
Notes: A Man, A City eventually evolved into Pictures of a City and Mars into Devil's Triangle. Get Thy Bearings was written by Donovan. Aside from Mars, it is the only instance I know of King Crimson of any era covering the work of another artist. However, according to one source, the original King Crimson included in their repetoire the songs Michael from Mountains, a Joni Mitchell tune, and Lucy in the Sky, presumably a version of the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. While these songs were never perfomed live (as far as I know), I'll live in eternal hope that Fripp recorded them and will someday allow them to be released...
An update on covering other artists: in the 2000 "ConstruKCtion of Light" tour, the ever-surprising Crimsos played a few moments of the Beatles Tomorrow Never Knows, and also often played David Bowie's Heros as part of their encore.
Drop In, Mantra and Travel Weary Capricorn were originals which were dropped from the repetoire and never recorded in the studio.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Foreigner were good bands, even great at times; and yet, I can't help feeling that Ian McDonald & Greg Lake made profound mistakes by leaving the original line-up of KC. So did Michael Giles, although in his case, his (eventual) replacement made up for his departure.
Notes: In all the years that I have been a fan of King Crimson with my favorite album being (most of the time) Starless & Bible Black, it was nevertheless a startling revelation for me to come to the realization only recently that most of that album was improvised! Indeed the cuts were taken from this concert, with the crowd noise edited out. Yes, they were THAT GOOD! This band never ceases to amaze me, and it's refreshing to learn something new about them after all this time.
After getting over that shock, there are a few other notable features of this CD. First, note the powerful Fripp solo on Lament. Secondly, the quality of the live versions of the material from Lark's Tongues is first rate, putting to shame the versions released on the tour album USA. Thirdly, the encore Schizoid Man is a pleasant surprise, also putting to shame previously released live versions (on Earthbound and USA). Indeed, other than the original 1969 lineup, this is the best version I've heard. Finally, this CD is "enhanced", which means if you play it in a CD Rom on a computer, in addition to the music, there is also on the second disc a copy of the Discipline Global Mobile catalog, complete with audio samples from many of the artists/CD's in the catalog. While some folks find that annoying, I for one rejoice in this particular innovation. To me it seems like I got a lot more than I anticipated when purchasing the CD, and in my view allows me to sample material from the catalog in which I was already curious, but had not previously heard. If one would rather not be exposed to that kind of marketing, then one is not obligated to play those samples, and one may disable on their computer the feature which automatically loads the catalog.
Keep up the good work! This CD is highly recommended.
Disk II
Notes: At first, I wasn't that enthusiastic about a live album from the 80's Crimson. However, it proves to be well worth it. The live versions of Waiting Man, Man With an Open Heart, and Industry are particularly strong. Before this album, I hadn't realized the 80's Crimson performed material from the 70's Crimson (Larks Tongues in Aspic II, Red). Conspicuously absent is the song Neal & Jack & Me, from which the album title is taken.
Disk II - Fractured
Notes: Aside from the great music inside, this release features a mini gatefold instead of a jewel case. Much better for the environment and reminiscent of days gone by - like a miniature version of a vinyl LP.
Notes: Aside from the great music inside, this release features Tony's Road Movies, Interviews and examples of Fripp's writings, and other hidden features.
Notes: Don't let the repetition fool you - this incarnation of the band was known for their improvs, and this 4 CD set contains more improvs than any other album or collection. Even the regular songs are played differently each time. This collection also includes the only official recording of the song Dr. Diamond. At $70, the 2000 release of this collection is the best deal one can get on King Crimson music at its finest. For 8 years I let the price tag prevent me from buying this gem, and once I finally bought it, I couldn't believe what I had missed all this time. This box set is a MUST HAVE item, especially if you have never seen/heard this particular incarnation of the band live. Includes a great color booklet with liner notes, photos and excerpts of Fripp's diary.
Disk II
Disk III
Notes: The second CD is enhanced and featured 45 minutes of concert video footage (from the Rome show.) Wow! Nice touch, guys! Disk III consists entirely of improvs, a la Thrakattack. This set really shows the power of the material from The ConstruKction of Light. However, being the first leg of the tour, I understand that the band was even more stunning by the time of the American leg of the tour. (I had tickets for the Nov. 19, 2000 show in Hartford, CT, but missed it due to illness. From speaking with folks who attended, this was a very intimate show, with perhaps fewer than 500 in attendance, and many chances for close observation of the band members.)
We now continue with releases from the King Crimson Collector's Club:
Notes:Contains the only official live recording of I Talk to the Wind. Also contains a very strong improvisational number, and a bonus track (of truly bootleg-like sound quality) called Trees. Some of Trees would be incorporated into the second album, some into the McDonald & Giles album.
Notes: Contains live performances of a cut each from In the Wake of Poseidon & Lizard, viz., "Pictures of a City" & "Cirkus", respectively. Boz's vocals leave something to be desired on these pieces, whereas he is generally better on the material from Islands. But overall, the playing is quite good and the sound quality surpasses that of the first collector's club issue. The real star of this performance is Mel Collins, whose sax playing is strong all over this release, and in particular, on Cirkus and The Sailor's Tale, two of the highlights of this CD.
Notes: A short CD, but very important historically. Contains one of the first public performances with the LTIA lineup, including Jamie Muir. The opening track, an improv Fripp calls "The Rich Tapestry of Life" (based on a postcard he received from Muir), contains the rudiments of what would later evolve into several of the important pieces by this lineup even after Muir left, including We'll let You Know.
Bonus Tracks (live at Frejus, 1982):
Notes: A nice complement to the Absent Lovers release, because it contains several great pieces not included in that release; viz., The Sheltering Sky and Neal & Jack and Me (Note that "Neal" is mis-spelled on the CD cover!)
Disk 2:
Notes:The double trio at the tail end of their 90's tour. While the material is largely the same as B'BOOM, the playing on this release is perhaps the double trio at their best. I especially like these performances of People and Neurotica.
Notes: The first Collector's Club release not devoted to an official lineup of King Crimson, this is ProjeKct 4, consisting of Fripp, Gunn, Levin & Mastelotto.
Notes:The Double Trio's First Steps. Krim has elements of what eventually became Dinosaur, and No Questions Asked evolved into Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream. Calliope reminds me of Discipline.
Notes: A first-rate release. Includes a version of Groon like no other, a fantastic version of Sailor's Tale, and a real surprise: a cover of the Pharoah Sander's masterpiece The Creator Has a Master Plan. Notice the Fripp guitar part toward the end of this track - Larks Tongues! Too bad the tape recorder ran out of tape at the crucial moment....
Notes:In his diary, Robert Fripp calls this performance "the most powerful since 1969." While the sound quality is fairly poor, I find myself agreeing. The playing is indeed quite powerful, and is similar to parts of live release The Great Deceiver. Fripp disbanded the group shortly after this concert, presumably forever.
Notes:After 7 years of silence, Fripp quietly forms this band, then called 'Discipline', and that was their name at the time of their first public performance, herein recorded for posterity. The sound quality is terrible, but the historical value of this release is significant. Soon after this performance, the group votes to resurrect the name 'King Crimson', Fripp's statements of seven years earlier notwithstanding. Their first studio album, however, was still named Discipline.
Notes: Release held up, presumably by Greg Lake. (Ooh, what a Yucky man he is!)
Notes:After these rehearsals, Fripp was faced with a $30,000 bill for studio time, but not enough material for the next album of the double trio. Apparently, Bruford and perhaps some others thought they could squeeze out an album from this material. I tend to side with Fripp on this - some of the material is good, but an entire album from it would be pushing it - not nearly creative enough for what we've come to expect from King Crimson. It was at this point in the groups history that Fripp decided to 'fractalize' the band into working subsets (called 'projeKCts') of the double trio, for purposes of 'research and development'. (The projeKCts releases are discussed on page 3 of this discography.) I think this was a good idea, for the album that was finally released 3 years later, The ConstruKCtion of Light, was far more interesting than what I believe would have been distilled from these rehearsals.
Disk two:
Notes: I received this CD in today's mail (2/12/01) and haven't even heard it yet (how's THAT for quick updating of this webpage?) I anticipate with great interest hearing the following: Cirkus, Pictures of a City, Cadence and Cascade to compare to the versions appearing on KCCC#2 & KCCC#9 (and because they are among the greatest KC songs ever!) But also Lady of the Dancing Water, because it NOT among my favorite Crimson tunes, and frankly it surprises me that they ever did this one live. Also, Get Thy Bearings and In the Court of the Crimson King because as far as I know, it is the only time these tunes were played live and recorded by any incarnation other than the 1969 original. The same goes for Mars, which is especially curious, given that they chose to perform this rather than Devil's Triangle, which was derived from Mars and appeared later in the KC timeline, yet still prior to the formation of this particular line-up. Also, I'm hoping for a stellar rendition of Sailor's Tale to showcase the original material of this line-up. The one factor which dampens my enthusiasm for this release are the negative comments in Ian Wallace's liner notes about the VCS3 synthesizer, an electronic treatment for the sounds whose effects I never liked (for example on the CD Earthbound.) We'll see!
Postscript: I need not have worried! Many people have made negative comments about The VCS3 treatments of the bands sound and voice. However, given that this is one of the first live performances by this particular line-up, I can be more forgiving than most about such experimentation. After all, the band was just learning how to play together live! I actually find the treatments a lot less annoying (and more interesting, from a historical perspective) than, say, on Earthbound, which was this lineup at their most mature, just before disbanding. They should have known better by then! My overall impression is that this disk, along with KCCC#9 above, give me a far greater respect for this lineup than I previously had with just Islands, Earthbound, and even KCCC#2. I am extremely grateful that they released this show and included both disks.
Notes: Another killer set from the Wetton/Bruford/Cross/Fripp lineup. Great improvs, great sound, and another version of Dr. Daimond to boot! How can you go wrong? Also, this version of Trio is really a quartet - Bruford plays vibes! So much for contributing silence - but I for one enjoy the variation.
The following release is available only via a download from DGM:
Notes: From the performances of Aug. 2 - 4, 1996 at the Metropolitan Theatre, Mexico City. Excellent versions of Dinosaur, One Time, and Neurotica. The 70's material is played well, but IMHO, too fast. Almost as if the band rushed through it, without much heart, to fulfill audience expectations. On the other hand, what a surprise to hear the double trio version of Schizoid Man! Adrian's vocals are a bit thin, but the playing is first rate!
DGM encourages making a CDR copy of this concert for personal use only. The image above is a cover I designed for my CD. I scanned it in "actual size" so that anyone who wants to use it for their CDR may just download it from the above image or merely print out this page.
