King Crimson: Classic Or Dud

that 2000 3-disc set called Heavy ConstruKction was really good - all the improv stuff was incredible. plus, the ConstruKction tracks sounded quite a bit better live. a lot less gimmicky.

I'm puzzled as to why they'd re-record the drums, but it's fripp and he's obsessed with percussion so maybe I ought not be surprised.

Agreed on Heavy ConstruKction- if you have only one document from that era, it's as definitive a statement as anything they produced.

ProjeKct X was a total mess though, if memory serves.

If I had to guess, I'd say that Pat has simply gotten better with better electronics than what they had then? When I saw them a couple of years ago he was practically playing the Jamie Muir role. Either that or it is just to take advantage of the 5.1 surround. .

Anyone else see that artist who is turning classic bands and albums into pulp covers?

https://i.etsystatic.com/16399689/r/il/dfdc7e/1413420327/il_570xN.1413420327_cu1r.jpg

https://i.etsystatic.com/16399689/r/il/4e928b/1359219662/il_570xN.1359219662_madp.jpg

https://i.etsystatic.com/16399689/r/il/eed582/1422538727/il_570xN.1422538727_rrt4.jpg

why do i hate this? it doesn't even make sense. why would those be books? smh

all they're doing is taking existing paperbacks* and dropping in KC titles w/o changing the cover illustration

*(not really pulps, the larks tongues one is a pelican forex = a non-fiction paperback published by penguin abt education or science)

the joy division unknown pleasures "song titles on book spines" was cool, but yeah I don't understand the point of this other than just boilerplate text for making designs or whatever

ha yeah I was gonna say "artist? their probably just using existing book covers"

not King Crimson but these are pretty cool

https://www.instagram.com/madebymotel/

they don't necessarily have to make sense

they don't HAVE to make sense, but then you're in let's just put two things together mash up geek shirt territory

https://66.media.tumblr.com/28f578eeae60b64f5207d530dfde1099/tumblr_picptbR6st1qirnn2_540.jpg

but one of those things is something I like

Aw, I think the covers are cute.

Going to try to make the Philly show. Was holding out hope for a Fripp-Levin-Belew-Bruford reunion tour before I die (or before Fripp does) but at this point that looks unlikely, so I'm pretty determined to see this band while I can. Also, that Meltdown set from Mexico City was incredible. My expectations are high

go see belew trio if you get a chance tho its good

Buford is totally retired.

go see belew trio if you get a chance tho its good

― kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, April 2, 2019 7:47 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I have heard this! I missed him by a day on this last tour.

are Belew and Stewart Copeland still playing together? these setlists look great:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/gizmodrome/2018/scala-london-england-bef91d2.html

the covers are good! they just belong to something already made

https://katemacdonalddotnet.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/p2050005.jpg

far as I can tell, the Belew/Stew band (with Mark King!) only played in London and I think Milan or something last year…they never came to the U.S. and so I don't think that Belew and Stew were going to curtail their normal doings when the record received such a tepid reception —it does in fact suck and Belew is back to his normal touring routine. But boy would I ever wanna see those guys play Stewart's Police shit and Belew's KC stuff that the Jakko Revue doesn't do… there is footage from the London shows where you can see Belew singing "miss Gradenko" and Stew playing "Elephant Talk."

I thought the album was pretty good, but then again I'm a big fan of Copeland's stuff and if you approach the record from that angle (it's basically a Klark Kent record with a great backing band) I think it holds up fine. A live album would be incredible, especially if they focus on old stuff that doesn't get played anymore - nu-Crimson playing the 80s stuff feels off to me, mainly because that era of the band is so walled off from everything that came before and after. And of course Belew's solo career has plenty of gems as well.

The studio albums will be on streaming services in May/June.

At a press event in London on Saturday, King Crimson manager David Singleton announced that the band’s entire studio-album catalog will soon launch on Spotify. Describing the move as part of an “outreach year” for the band, Singleton said the albums are set to begin streaming in time for the avant-rock legends’ upcoming 50th anniversary tour.

...

Singleton said that the band’s 13 studio albums — from 1969’s In the Court of the Crimson King through 2003’s The Power to Believe — would roll out on other streaming platforms in May before arriving on Spotify on June 10th, the day King Crimson kick off their world tour in Leipzig, Germany.

“The reason we’ve been slow on Spotify is that, unlike apparently the whole of the rest of the industry that’s been telling us that physical is dead, we’ve had rising physical sales for probably the last 10 years,” Singleton said, referring to titles issued via the band’s own DGM label. “But that argument was valid for a while, and it isn’t anymore.”

He went on to say that, at this point, the pros of streaming outweigh the cons. “In the end, our prime function is to serve the music and make the music available, and Spotify has now definitely become one of the places that people, particularly younger people, find music.”

ugh

Pretty sure I cannot stream the albums via Amazon Music ...

Well there goes all P0rnhub's traffic

xp -- pretty sure you can't either, the deal doesn't start until May/June. Do you mean you won't be able to when the streaming deal starts?

king crimson seems to do a lot more mexico shows than other bands. do they have a really big following down there?

xpost I wasn't sure about Amazon because I don't think of it as a streaming service, per se, as opposed to Spotify, which is exclusively streaming. And that article (afaict) only specifies Spotify, right?

Singleton said that the band’s 13 studio albums — from 1969’s In the Court of the Crimson King through 2003’s The Power to Believe — would roll out on other streaming platforms in May before arriving on Spotify on June 10th, the day King Crimson kick off their world tour in Leipzig, Germany.

Yeah, I didn't know if that meant every streaming platform. And like I said, I don't necessarily think of Amazon as a streaming platform, but I guess it is? But cool if it happens or is happening.

New interview with Fripp.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/robert-fripp-interview-king-crimson-tour-david-bowie-kanye-west-820783/?fbclid=IwAR1DmPkXNIK_prz6CjHj3m_NNBMa3qbcuvy1rRKm9E6Mp1RzMmvGsXXE2y0

Nice interview, love RF forever.

great interview, i hope kc will go on forever, they are still so amazing live.

Love the idea that RF’s been trying to get someone to take over Crim for 35 years

Yeah, I thought that was funny. "I've been waiting here for someone to take over and ... " - eyes voracious team of lawyers - "... no one has lead the charge. So I guess it will just fall on Robert's shoulders, once again."

are we getting a new record anytime soon

If we do it’ll probably be edited down live stuff.

I still find it anomalous that this KC is pretty much an oldies band. Not that I'm complaining, far from it, but I'd like to hear Fripp's take on why he's mining the band's past more deeply now than ever before.

the answer would probably be something like "this is the first KC lineup worthy of the back catalogue"

reality of course is that they haven't really written any material for themselves so what else are you gonna do. not play that "penis of an alien" song I suppose

He's also building up a tidy little retirement fund, of course.

they have something like 2 full albums worth of new material that you can compile from the live sets. obviously most of it isn't 'songs' but some is (the errors comes to mind). I think he finds the live experience more interesting than the studio experience so yeah, if any 'only new material' album surfaces my guess is it would be from live sets, ala Starless and Bible Black.

They play that song! Xpost

haha yeah they do do that one but instrumental

All I really want from them is Larks 6

Yeah, they've got a bunch of unrecorded material that makes it into the live sets, and the old material is pretty thoroughly transformed - it's basically [riff you recognize] > [totally new arrangement, improvised solos, triple drum break] > [riff you recognize].

Maybe they've shaken things up since I saw them in 2015, then. At the shows I saw, the old stuff was treated pretty reverentially.

The most recent live set - Meltdown: Live In Mexico - was recorded on the tour I saw, with the eight-piece lineup. It gives a good idea of where they're at these days.

holy shit there's a soundboard of a complete muir-lineup gig coming out next week? hot damn

something that wasn't on one of those giant boxed sets?