The King Crimson studio album poll

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.

I'm pretty close to finishing up Vol. 4: Requiem (1981-on). It's been the hardest one to complete for reasons I can't quite articulate. Much like Vol. 1 (though to a greater degree) it goes into material I don't really like that much, but can't be dismissed either.

One thing I have done is listened to waaay more live material from the THRAK band as well as the later Bruford & Levinless quartet than I ever thought I needed to. As a result I've found myself enjoying some songs that I was long sick of just by way of being overwhelmed by the intensity of the performance. The LA Wiltern show, the final date of the '95 US tour, bears this out.

OK, here it is--VOLUME 4: REQUIEM (1981-on)

http://www.mediafire.com/?jyidnogvyd2

Great news for this Friday!

Track 9, "Dinosaur", is damaged in my download. Can anyone confirm this or is it just me?

I'll check it out.

Awwwwesome. I think I've been listening to King Crimson more than anyone else in the past month or so, thanks to this series. I also bought Red!

Here's Dinosaur again-
http://www.mediafire.com/?iq0rzmjdzjo

And the tracklist...

Volume 4: Requiem (1981-2008)

1. Frame by Frame from Discipline (1981)
Issue: DGM 30th Anniversary Remaster HDCD

2. Thela Hun Ginjeet from Absent Lovers (rel. 1997, rec. 1984)
Issue: DGM CD

3. Discipline from Discipline (1981)
Issue: DGM 30th Anniversary Remaster HDCD

4. Sartori in Tangier from Beat (1982)
Issue: DGM 30th Anniversary Remaster HDCD

5. Waiting Man from Live at Cap'd Agde (rel. 1999, rec. 26 August at Cap D'Agde, France)
Issue: DGM KC Collectors Club CD

6. Sleepless from Three of a Perfect Pair (1984)
Issue: DGM 30th Anniversary Remaster HDCD

7. Larks Tongues in Aspic, Part III from Three of a Perfect Pair (1984)
Issue: DGM 30th Anniversary Remaster HDCD

8. Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream from THRAK (1995)
Issue: DGM 30th Anniversary Remaster HDCD

9. Dinosaur from Live at the Wiltern (rel. 2005, rec. 1 July 1995 at the Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles CA)
Issue: DGM KC Collectors Club CD

10. THRAK from VROOOM VROOOM (rel. 2001, rec. between 2-4 August 1996 at the Metropolitan Theater, Mexico City)
Issue: DGM CD

11. Improv: München from Heavy ConstruKction (rel. 2000, rec. 4 June 2000 at Circus Krone, Munich)
Issue: DGM CD

12. Level Five from The Power to Believe (2003)
Issue: Sanctuary CD

13. Indiscipline from Live at Park West (rel. 2009, rec. 7 August 2008 at the Park West, Chicago IL)
Issue: DGM Digital Album

I went back and checked, I didn't find anything wrong with Dinosaur, but I did re-up it as a separate file. Any other problems, webmail me or whatever.

Oh yeah, I see I have some track info missing as well. Thela Hun Ginjeet was recorded 11 July 1984, and released in 1998. The concert on Absent Lovers is the final performance of the 80s band, and more-or-less essential, perhaps moreso than the albums proper in my view.

thanks so much for these. great stuff!

I note there's nothing from construkction of light on here -not a fan of that one?

Well, that was a tough one. I debated trying to add something from it to touch all their studio albums, but I have some strong reservations about that record--I think it's easily their worst, with Beat running up behind. TCOL has something to dislike about every single track I think: the plodding, waaay over-processed drum sound (which is probably its consistently worst element), overstuffed production and suffocating digital effects, generally weak songwriting and some of Belew's most head-shakingly bad lyrics of his entire career.

They sound like a band at cross-purposes on that record: they're trying to keep it interesting for themselves by writing more complex songs to play, while at the same time just rewriting old material--FraKctured is the key example of this--the tune goes on and on without building to anything interesting, it just repeats and ends. The magical thing with the original Fracture is the way it just breaks into a boogie after endless fingerpicking...all these years later it's just all tension and no release.
So I ultimately just left it off in favor of the same band performing music that I find alot more intriguing--in fact I like most all of the improvs I've yet heard from that phase of KC...Heavy ConstruKction is a more satisfying listen all around there are alot of interesting moments, and you get all the songs from TCOL, though why they thought anyone would want to listen to ProzaKc Blues (absolutely their worst song ever) a second time is beyond me.

In any event I've had a hell of a lot of fun making these. I can't seem to let go, though and have already assembled an all-live megamix cutting across time and space, with at least a second volume ready after that.

3. Discipline from Discipline (1981)
Issue: DGM 30th Anniversary Remaster HDC

- would have put on 'Neal Jack and Me' or 'Three of a Perfect Pair' instead. 'The Sheltering Sky' is another good 80's song but it is long and would be hard to fit on. You put on 'Sartori in Tangier' which is great. There's just so many good 80's tracks... 'the howler', 'lark's tongue part III',

For albums THRAK onward, I doesn't really matter so much what you pick. I enjoy hearing songs like 'Into The Frying Pan', 'Coda: Marine 475', and 'The ConstruKction of Light'. I don't think 'Level Five' (aka Lark's Five) has as good of a solo as the end of 'Larks Tongues In Aspic Part IV' (one of Fripp's best solos) which leads into 'Coda: I Have a Dream' (sweet short bit) but as a whole song 'Larks IV' is meh.

man i kinda wish i woulda voted for wake of poseidon just so that would have a vote

glad you're doing the live comp as well -- I think my fave things from these sets have been the stretched out improv jam things.

re: 90's onward

'Frakctured', 'Elektrik', 'Level 5', 'Dangerous Curves'... might sound fine but they only remind me that King Crimson sort of got into a funk where their original stuff is variations of older songs like 'The Talking Drum', 'Discipline' and 'Lark's'.

And the singing gets worse the farther you get

the funny thing about how all the music starting to sound the same is that I think Fripp has over disciplined himself

xp I've said it before, but CoL is my favourite crimson album, even with belew's awful lyrics (not that I really pay attention to lyrics anyway) and the drum sound. in fact, it's the ONLY crimson album that I can listen to from start to finish without skipping anything. it's so relentlessly heavy and uber-technical that I can't help but give in and drool. that ping-pong guitar thing that threads throughout the album, i.e. belew and fripp playing alternate notes in complex riffs, is really distinctive and disorienting, for one thing.

I know what you mean about the rewrites... larks tongues part IV, anyone? but for me that's not a problem, it's more about the refinement of those old ideas into more pure forms.

I did note that the climactic riff from the title track appears in the improv you'd included here. interesting. and very cool.

thanks again for your efforts...

slightly ot but this clip of pete sinfiled backed by john wetton & mel collins is kinda lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WerDAfRbINM

i have been lurking and just wanted to thank u sparkle motion for the comp -- it's awesome. gonna take me a while to digest it all, but i am excited about it.

At the time, 80s King Crimson got lots of airplay on my college radio station along with other post-punk stalwarts of the day. Certainly in my circle of friends, they were included in the pantheon of music we were listening to. It felt like they were one of the few late 60s/early 70s bands that had reinvented themselves and were just as relevantl and inspired as the rest of the underground. Was that the common perception at the time?

I think a lot of that respect was down to Fripp's New York period in the late 70s when he worked with Talking Heads, Blondie etc. Also of course the collaborations with Byrne, Eno and Bowie.

whoops, strike that second Byrne from the list

C. Lorax: I couldn't eliminate Discipline from the tracklist! That track means so much to me, even after all this time. I remember hearing it and being captivated by how it sounded so alien to my know-nothing ears, and how not-rock-n-roll it was. I loved both of those notions, and probably was ultimately responsible for letting me get into repetitive Terry Riley-esque stuff and more experimental music in general as the years have gone on...

I did have Three of a Perfect Pair on there, but I didn't want too many album tracks from that record, and live versions of same have never really held up to it. Anyway I did want to be fair to later work.

As far as the 90s and onward bands, it's a bit of a mixed bag, and most of the opinions about them expressed previously comport with mine. I still think THRAK is a pretty good album, and the notion of them rewriting old material hadn't become such a drag at that time. I really got into KC right about the time that THRAK was coming out, so it was kind of exciting to hear this mysterious band that was beginning to come back to life, and at least in my nerdy circle of Guitar Player-reading friends, there was a real sense of engagement with the history of KC merging with what sounded like renewed vitality at that time. I was boggled by the double trio notion (whereas now I just think they had at least one too many members--if anyone can distinguish for me the difference between Gunn & Levin at any point in those tunes, I'd appreciate it)... and I was blown away by seeing them live on that tour. So to that extent I wanted to capture some of that on the THRAK-era tracks.

There's more to say but I'm out of time atm....