The King Crimson studio album poll

awwwwesome. thanks! this is exactly what i need!

This is the tracklisting BTW:

Vol. 1: Get Thy Bearings (1969-1972)

1. Peace, A Beginning - In the Wake of Poseidon, 1970 (Issue: Editions EG CD)
2. 21st Century Schizoid Man - Epitaph Volume 2, rel. 1997, rec. 14th December 1969 at the Fillmore West, San Francisco (Issue: DGM CD)
3. The Court of the Crimson King - In the Court of the Crimson King, 1969 (Issue: DGM 30th Anniversary Remaster)
4. Peace, A Theme - In the Wake of Poseidon, 1970 (Issue: Editions EG CD)
5. Cat Food - In the Wake of Poseidon, 1970 (Issue: Editions EG CD)
6. A Man, A City (aka Pictures of a City) - Epitaph Volume 2, rel. 1997, rec. 14th December 1969 at the Fillmore West, San Francisco (Issue: DGM CD)
7. Happy Family - Lizard, 1970 (Issue: DGM 40th Anniversary Remaster)
8. Cirkus - Lizard, 1970 (Issue: DGM 40th Anniversary Remaster)
9. Groon - Live at Summit Studios, Denver, rel. 2000, rec. 1972 (Issue: DGM KC Collectors Club CD)
10. Peace, An End - In the Wake of Poseidon, 1970 (Issue: Editions EG CD)
11. Formentera Lady - Islands, 1971 (Issue: Editions EG CD)
12. The Sailor's Tale - Islands, 1971 (Issue: Editions EG CD)

In my research for subsequent volumes I've been listening to the Central Park show from '74, aka the last KC show ever (until the 80s). It starts out pretty standard but gains in intensity until a truly blistering finale. The power is sufficient to overcome the bootleg recording for sure. Some of it will definitely find its way on there.

Just listened to Cirkus. What a weird, disturbing piece of music (esp. to hear at work!)

Yeah, this project has made me really dig into Lizard and Cirkus in particular.

I own it, but it's a beat-to-death LP I inherited from a friend and I almost never play it. Definitely the one I've spent the least time with of the first 4.

so, apparently I have to get epitaph vol 2. love the two live tracks off of it.

Epitaph Vols 1&2 is just the name for the 2-disc set...it's pretty sweet.

Tracks:
Volume One:
BBC Radio Sessions
1. 21st. Century Schizoid Man
2. In The Court of the Crimson King
3. Get Thy Bearings
4. Epitaph

Fillmore East, New York:
22 November 1969
5. A Man, A City
6. Epitaph
7. 21st. Century Schizoid Man

Fillmore West, San Francisco:
15 December 1969
8. Travel Weary Capricorn
9. Mars

Volume Two:
Fillmore West, San Francisco:
16 December 1969
1. In The Court of the Crimson King
2. Drop In
3. A Man, A City
4. Epitaph
5. 21st. Century Schizoid Man
6. Mars

From an (evidently Babelfished) review of Earthbound:

About the recording's quality, my view is comfortably indisposed by the general flash cleanse miss, which makes music to be as sophisticated as it wants, but of minimal, chopped beauty. The recordings is badly scratching the ears, making out of a hard-listening default pleasure a fight to resist the album.

In my research for V.2 (BTW V.1 got 19 downloads-to me that's an impressive number), I'm listening to stuff from the Beat Club and Zoom Club releases, looking at Muir's contribution to the band. Anyway some of the material is tantalizing, but on the whole the recording quality ranges from bad to terrible. So my question is this: is the recording quality a sufficient enough distraction to cancel out the interesting properties of the material. I know as a fan I like hearing this stuff even if I'm listening through a massive layer of fuzz, but I do feel like newer listeners may just not want to bother.

in the king crimson epics poll, I listed a lot of improvs that are really long as shit and easy to find on soulseek so it is worth checking out

i'm a big bootleg fan, so i certainly can turn a blind eye to less than perfect recording quality. I mean, some of my favorite things in the world are Velvets bootlegs and some of those are pretty dire.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll probably have V.2 & V.3 up by this weekend.

I would totally like to hear the bootleg stuff because I never would search it out myself otherwise!

I almost dl'ed the Zoom Club show but then thought "eh, shitty audience recording, life's too short for this"

The Zoom club recording is dreadful. I may use part of it and try to sweeten it a bit w/ EQ. Even as a "for fans only" release it has only limited value.

finally getting a chance to delve into "Get Thy Bearings" -- sounding awesome so far. Thanks again for putting it together.

Available soon:

SOMETIMES GOD DIES

Volume 2: Exiles (1972-74)

1. Lark's Tongues in Aspic, Part I Lark's Tongues in Aspic (1973)
2. The Great Deceiver Starless and Bible Black (1974)
3. Easy Money The Night Watch (rel. 1997, rec. 23 November, 1973 at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam)
4. The Mincer Starless and Bible Black (1974)
5. Improv: Fallen Angel * Live at the Zoom Club (rel. 2002, rec. 13th October, 1972 at the Zoom Club, Frankfurt)
6. Edit- Improv: Daniel Dust/The Night Watch**
7. Improv: The Rich Tapestry of Life The Beat Club, Bremen (rel. 1999, rec. 17th October, 1972 at the Beat Club, Bremen)
8. The Talking Drum*** Live in Central Park, NYC (rel. 2000, rec. 1st July, 1974 at Central Park, New York City)
9. Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part II Lark's Tongues in Aspic (1973)

Link up shortly

BTW, I have decided to title each Volume (there will be 4) after a song that does not appear on the comp

Just wondering why you've chosen to do this. No criticism intended, they're your comps, just wonderin'. --~~~~

It was a humorous response to this inevitable situation:

I look forward to criticizing your compilation (you don't have this! blah blah blah)

― CaptainLorax, Thursday, January 28, 2010 12:25 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark

The title of the set is a knock on the DGM comps that came out some years ago, 'Sometimes God Hides' etc...

With that I give you Volume 2

http://www.mediafire.com/?kxzmrz33ymo

I'm enjoying these quite a bit, because I've never paid much attention to the pre-Larks Tongues albums.

xp

yeah, I totally called it though :)
I think 'Book of Saturday' and 'Exiles' are great *especially exiles* but I care a lot less for 'Easy Money' and 'Talking Drum'. But I imagine many people who love most all the jammy King Crim stuff would include 'Easy Money' and 'Talking Drum' - and maybe even specific live version.

you didn't have space for a live version of 'starless' I take it. maybe it can be a bonus track that fits in the 90's+ cd.

This was my favorite track from the ProjeKcts box set: ProjeKct 3 - Masque part 8

you didn't have space for a live version of 'starless' I take it.

Haha it's uncanny how much you nailed my preferences... I never did intend to put 'book of saturday' on (which was my original title of this volume), but did work to find room for Exiles, but couldn't. Easy Money was to be represented by the truncated version that goes into "It is for you, but not for us", which I felt had elements of the gentler side of the group as well as being jammy. Sadly it was not to be.

I guess I knew starless was one of their "structured improvs" but I thought there would be more versions of it out there. Then again Red was right before King Crimson disbanded in the 70s

ehhh, my bad.
'starless' was performed several times during the 74 according to wiki and collector's club 10, 15, 29, 36 have starless for instance

my bad at calling 'starless' a "structured improv" as well. i was thinking of 'starless and bible black'.
i need to slow down and think before i post stuff

Wikipedia tells this story:

The lyrics and melody for "Starless" were written by John Wetton. He originally intended the song to be the title track of the group's previous album Starless and Bible Black. Fripp and Bruford initially disliked the song and declined to record it for that album. Instead the group chose an instrumental composition as the title track for the Starless and Bible Black album. However, "Starless" was later revived, its lyrics altered and a long instrumental section (based on a bass riff contributed by Bruford) added to it, and performed live between March-June 1974. For the Red recording sessions, the lyrics were again altered (with contributions by Richard Palmer-James). The haunting introductory theme, originally contributed and played by David Cross, was taken over by the guitar, with Fripp making minor alterations to the melody. As the title "Starless and Bible Black" had already been used, the original title was shortened to "Starless".

There are a couple of Starlesses on the Great Deceiver and the SABB on the album of the same name comes from the concert documented on The Night Watch.

so far i'm only about two tracks in to vol 1 but can i already just say a big THANK YOU sparkle motion, this is an awesome treat.

the live version of schizoid man kinda brings everything the album track doesn't

Glad I could contribute! Hope you enjoy the rest.

seconding the big thank you -- I've listened to the first volume and loved it. Agree, the live Schizoid Man is the early highlight for me! Smokes!

can't believe they didn't want to record starless originally, it is easily in the top five KC songs ever.

Coming Soon:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2756/4348308564_0a3ce48b4a_o.jpg
SOMETIMES GOD DIES VOL. 3: THE LAW OF MAXIMUM DISTRESS (1974)

Crap. I'm having problems completing an upload to mediafire...will try again this evening...

Ok, here it is:

Volume 3: The Law of Maximum Distress

Nice, thanks for all of these!

listened to vol. 2 on the way to work! great stuff -- digging the improv-y things. also attempting to get my bearings via the KC wiki page -- what a tangled web of lineups! jeez.

Glad you're getting into 'em--v2 and especially v3 are true labors of love...V3 contains my absolute fave stuff, though the mix itself was the hardest to sequence. I'm about 70% done with the final volume on the 81 and onward group.

However I have found enough fun live stuff cutting across the 40+ years to do a 5th bonus volume if the interest is there....

i would be into a live comp ...

That's all the excuse I needed.

What's the tracklist of Volume 3: The Law of Maximum Distress

big thanks for the comps...enjoying them immensely. quite a lot of stuff I know already, albeit sometimes in other forms, but they're very nicely put together and sequenced.

Volume 3: The Law of Maximum Distress (1974)

1. Red from Red (1974)
Issue: DGM 40th Anniversary Remaster CD

2. Asbury Park from USA (rel. 1975, rec. 28 June 1974, Asbury Park NJ)
Issue: DGM 30th Anniversary Remaster

3. Improv: Is There Life Out There? from The Great Deceiver (rel. 1992, rec. 29 June 1974, Penn State University, University Park PA)
Issue: Discipline/Caroline CD

4. Improv: The Savage / Doctor Diamond from Live in Mainz, (rel. 2001, rec. 30 March 1974, Mainz Germany)
Issue: DGM KC Collectors Club CD

5. Improv: A Voyage to the Center of the Cosmos* from The Great Deceiver (rel. 1992, rec. 30 June 1974, Providence RI)
Issue: Discipline/Caroline CD

6. One More Red Nightmare from Red (1974)
Issue: DGM 40th Anniversary Remaster CD

7. Fracture from Live in Central Park, (rel. 2000, rec. 1 July 1974, Central Park, New York City)
Issue: DGM KC Collectors Club CD

8. Starless from Red (1974)
Source: DGM 40th Anniversary Remaster CD

Cap.Lorax if I get to a bonus round I promise to include a live Starless on there. Here I felt it was important to end with the final statement from the band.

dang, the epic 20+ minute jam on vol. 2 sounds almost exactly like Dark Magus-era Miles! Love it.

Listening today to an early version of The Sailor's Tale (Plymouth Guildhall '71)--it's within striking distance of the Arkestra.

I'd like to hear live versions of Sailor's Tale just to find out how RF approached the guitar solo -- the studio version was pulled out of someplace in his psyche that I don't think he ever approached again. (possible exception "Swastika Girls")

the studio version was pulled out of someplace in his psyche that I don't think he ever approached again.

Exactly so. I think it was that tune that really cemented my love for KC. From what I understand, he played the solo with a detuned banjo(?) I'd like to find some solid info about how that came about.

Also none of the live versions of the song get close to it, so far that I've yet heard.

He's written a little bit about he was stressed out enough by the sessions, but also was having to write the orchestrations in the free time that he didn't have, getting by on almost no sleep, and when the time came to record the solo, all his terrors + bad vibes + exhaustion just splorted out at once.

Cool, thanks for that. Islands is such a weird record. I hope in the 40th anniversary redo they'll make the bass actually audible.

this series just keeps getting better! vol. 3 is the best one yet ... some of it sounds way ahead of its time.