King Crimson: Classic Or Dud

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?

Wait what?

Huh:

[q]It was also, coincidentally, the first King Crimson concert ever attended by writer and King Crimson biographer Sid Smith. He confirms that the capacity audience was quite content to hear unfamiliar material and respond with enthusiasm to the challenge presented. 

As he says of the recording: “Had this tape been available to the compilers of the 2012 Larks' Tongues In Aspic: The Complete Recordings 15-disc set, I have absolutely no doubt that this concert would have been the jewel in that particular crown. Good quality examples of the Muir-era quintet are so few and far between that, a soundboard tape like this is a precious find indeed.”



He’s absolutely correct and while this is – buyer beware – taken from a cassette made directly from the soundboard, with all of the audio limitations that implies, even after the DGM restoration team has applied its expertise to the tape, it is also the best single live example of Jamie Muir’s short time with this line-up and it’s there that the magic truly lies. 

This was King Crimson confidently playing the material that would, for the most part, make up the classic Larks’ Tongues in Aspic album – performed in its near entirety and, improvisations excluded, in the running order that would emerge on vinyl in early 1973 and which is still, some 46 years later, regarded as one of the band’s classic recordings and a classic of the era in which it was performed, recorded and released.

Taped with no expectation that it would be used other than, possibly, by a band member wanting to check an element of a previous night’s performance, an imperfect mix direct to cassette from a live feed, un-played since 1972 and still, as thrilling a live recording as you’re likely to encounter in 2019.[./q]

For those wondering: Live in Newcastle, December 8, 1972

Now that the latest lineup has been together for 5 years(!!), I went back to—or rather, went to, since I’d never heard it—the record Fripp made in 2011 with Jakko, Mel Collins, Gavin Harrison and Tony Levin, A Scarcity of Miracles. Deemed “a King Crimson ProjeKct” at the time, with a little hindsight it sounds like both a warmup for the current band and maybe a bit of a trial run at a potentially new direction for the current incarnation of the band that they sorta/kinda/didn’t really pursue.

Based on some guitar improvs Fripp and Jakko recorded, ASoM has a cleaner, glossier modern prog sound more akin to Steven Wilson’s recent material than anything by Crimson to that point. A bunch of material here is, in effect, Fripp Soundscapes (most of which are recycled from pieces he’d played solo and with Theo Travis for about a decade) plus vocals and a rhythm section.

As a fan of Soundscapes, I find the concept of turning them into tunes and performances intriguing even if the results are not particularly captivating. I do like the rhythm interplay of Levin and Harrison. I also like the sound of the guitars interlaid with the ethereal harmonies – Jakko’s voice layers well. And Collins is responsible for some classy horn charts and tasty solos that keep things from floating away – he sounds particularly good here.

The tunes? Well they’re pleasant enough if not especially memorable (a few have popped up on the recent KC live albums). In retrospect, even if they’ve included some new material on the live albums I do wonder whether Fripp’s reluctance to take this most recent lineup into the studio has anything to do with him not being totally convinced the songs would be there.

But all in all, this is interesting ... and sounds more like a slightly poppier, more atmospheric version of the current Crimson than I’d been expecting. ProjeKct ho.

Interesting that most of the studio albums have arrived on spotify, but not ITCOCK or Larks. I thought they'd all drop in one bunch. I wish they'd add USA and the Great Deceiver box as well.

Red isn't there either.

Yeah, I think it's meant to be a gradual rollout and those are the "big three," so I guess he's saving them for last...

Sorry to disappoint fans eager to experience the full set of studio albums on Spotify. The omission is on Spotify's side rather than King Crimson's. They have been made aware of it & are working to rectify the matter.

— KING CRIMSON (@DGMHQ) June 11, 2019

Rieflin's regular stints away from Crimson explained, presumably, by this:

https://www.dgmlive.com/news/Francesca%20Sundsten%20RIP?fbclid=IwAR2ZfJM9sbwpkI-Xy0v8FqzRyD7eZxt7tFVOv-kTvT-Wl9MEdKgTp4v-dv4

Oh, that's terrible news. She was a fantastic artist.

Aw. I'd describe her work as instantly iconic. I associated her so closely with Crimson's work that I never once thought who was doing the art!

her paintings are really cool. for KC I liked them much more than the PJ Crook stuff they'd been using for much of the 90's/00's.

Report from the field- night 2 of the Oakland stand just concluded. From my vantage at the very back of the house, they still peeled the paint off when it came to Fracture, Schizoid & especially Starless, which was as good a take as I’ve heard them do. The stately stuff was good too- especially the coda of Court.

The drum features were more pronounced and much longer than ever- I suspect it’s a necessary break for this aged group.

Hey, I was there, too. Way in the back. I agree with your assessment. I’ve always wanted to see them and now I have.

Set list was pretty concise- they went long on the big set pieces, less of the Lizard/Islands stuff they’d been doing, and no new tunes.

Wanted to listen to the first album yesterday, and noticed that while every other record is on Amazon Music (our family streaming service of choice), "In the Court of the Crimson King" is mysteriously absent.

I was there too on that night! had to miss thursday unfortunately but of the two nights I've determined Friday was the one to be at. I actually thought it was the best KC show I've ever seen, certainly the best since the 2014 reunion.

Court is about to be reissued (again) so maybe that's why it's unavailable.

A buddy from work went both nights and said Friday was the better of the 2 shows, although they did play Frame by Frame(!) on Thursday, which I would have loooooved to hear

oh I was passed a recording of Thursday's show, I should listen to it.

ok, gave that track a listen. It's alright; there's a slightly different opening that's longer with different lyrics. Rest of the song doesn't sound miles away from the previous versions of it aside from Jakko singing but there's a lot of Mel taking up sounds that used to be covered by Belew. Anyway, it's cool. I'm sure a better official recording of this will come out at some point from DGM.

surely... one thing that I found interesting about the show was how much more integrated the keyboard stuff was, and how much better the songs were for it. I think Mel's bag of tricks is either fairly limited, or it's just really difficult to do anything other than play a textural part in many of the tunes - he ends up doing a lot of flute trills by necessity. The stuff where they have him play a lead line that used to be a vocal, like you describe, works the best IMO

Was also at the Fox show on Friday! Though 2nd row of the upper orchestra right in the middle... killer seats. I was bummed there was Larks Tongues Part 1, but ecstatic about the 15-20 minute version of 21st Century Schizoid Man! So many classics they didn't play when I saw them in 2005. Quite happy Belew is no longer with the band, I much prefer Jakko Jakszyk, especially for the older material.

And they played Cat Food?! Whoa. Didn't see that coming.

bummed there was NO Larks Tongues Part 1... oops. I think they played that Thursday.

Oh yeah, Cat Food was a real treat. This was the third present-era show I've seen and the Friday they did best versions of Schizoid and Starless I've heard

Saw them in Boston last night – I’ve caught them each time they’ve come through here since 2014. And while my
perspective may be somewhat slanted by these being by far our best seats yet, it was also, I thought, the best show of the three by some distance.

I think the key to this lineup is Jeremy Stacey – who, in addition to being a terrific drummer, adds a whole other gear on keyboards and piano. They’ve never had a Keith Tippett figure in their live band. That means, in addition to being able to play songs like, say, “Cat Food,” they can also stretch out the Larks Tongues/Starless/Red-era stuff in ways that have never been possible. That meant that “Red”—a track I love but had tired of—had parts with Collins and Stacey that made it sound like it was being played by the Islands band. It was amazing.

About Collins ... I was really, really blown away by him last night. He’s always been a good player but his solos—both during the free sections (and there were a lot of these) but also during tracks like “Starless”—were legitimately “out” but also very musical and dynamic. And for me, the colors he added with the flute trills and baritone riffage were great (the latter in unison with guitar you can shoot directly into my veins). His contributions and Stacey’s together—along with Tony busting out some jazz chops and Fripp rediscovering his inner-Django—made the whole thing feel more like a pure fusion of the first and second eras of the band than I’d previously heard.

And that’s what’s kind of amazing: that after 50 years doing this—and 5 with this iteration—that they are still moving forward, still changing things up and still getting better. That was not something I was expecting.

Progressive indeed.

I guess it follows that a band famous for its improv chops would get better when it stopped worrying about writing songs.

xp
what do you mean by "out"

They definitely sounded like a jazz-rock version of themselves when I saw them two years ago, and the more I think back on that performance, the more positive my feelings are about the direction they've been going. I'm seriously thinking about buying that 5CD live set that has one disc each of performances from 2014-2018.

xp
what do you mean by "out"

I mean leaning toward free jazz -- not some rock guy's usually simplistic idea of what "free jazz" sounds like but the actual thing. I was legitimately surprised last night how comfortable the band sounded stretching out this way. Tony's cadenza solo on the upright stuck somewhat close to the melody of the song ("Moonchild," I think) but was far more inventive than his "pro's pro" reputation would lead you to expect. Collins walked the line between free, Brotzmann-esque riffs and post-Coltrane solos. Stacey, as mentioned, was fabulous. And Fripp busted out chops and a sound he hasn't really explored for nearly a half-century -- it was actually kind of shocking that a 72-year-old man can recall how he played in his early twenties.

I like this group enough that I probably would've been satisfied with pale-if-faithful imitations of past glories. This wasn't that at all.

I must have lost all of that sitting in the nosebleed section. I'll await the next live recording in that case.

Aaaaand now I've ordered the 5CD box, and the 3CD Radical Action to Unseat... set.

I've got the earlier 4CD version of the 5CD live compilation; you won't be disappointed. It's my favourite KC album tbh.

Does that Audio Diary thing have a release date?

Don't know; I got the earlier 4CD set nearly a year ago, having bought "Courtier's Package" seats for their Manchester gig (birthday treat for the boyfriend). We got one each, so I flipped the spare on Discogs for £££.

I'd never been a fan of classic period KC, and only bought the gig tix as an act of love. But I've since discovered that the current live line-up is easily my favourite incarnation of the band - and it seems to be Fripp's, too. Saw one of the 50th anniversary shows at the Albert Hall not long ago, and it was equally brilliant.

I assume, since it's a giveaway to super-deluxe ticket-buyers (as described in the post above), it'll probably be shipped to us plebes once the tour ends?

overheard a couple exiting the stereolab show last night:

him: it was this kind of 'Robert Fripp meets--'
her: shut the fuck up

lol

I got my copy of the 5CD box a week or so ago. It's great - and there's even a track (the "Interlude" on Disc Four) from the show I attended.

nostalgia hipster slap fight

This Cosmic FuKc documentary looks like it might be fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG3bjJmGfHI

lmao ok that is a good trailer

Well, this fucking sucks:

Seeing news that my old friend Bill Rieflin has died of cancer. You know him as a mighty drummer for bands from Ministry to later R.E.M. To me he was the kindest guy who worked with me at Tower Records SF when I was 19 and so uncool. Hadn't seen him for a while but I am so sad. pic.twitter.com/MAXjc3TzNX

— Feeling Distant (@annkpowers) March 24, 2020

What???

Oh no

man it's so goddamn sad