Customer Reviews

21st Century Guide to King Crimson 1: 1969-1974

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Does the world need another King Crimson boxset? Well.. for newcomers curious about one of the most cerebral, inventive and forward-thinking bands out there, this is indeed the best & most thorough overview available of their early phase. This part of KC's career is probably best for compiling, as their start was uneven until they found their own sound with their fifth album. There's just the inevitable catch-22 of big compilations: four CDs is a lot to buy for people just getting into the group, and for the dedicated it's redundant.

Each album also had its own sound/identity - particularly during the years covered by this set, where no two records were made with the same lineup. As you can imagine, compiling proto-metal and symphonic progressive rock and orchestral work and unclassifiable jazz-tinged weirdness together can make it all seem a tad disjointed. You'd be well served by one of the original albums if you're new to the band and hesitant to plunk down the cash for this monster. But this isn't the place to talk about them, so I'll just deal with this set.

It does offer a couple scattered goodies unavailable anywhere else. The instrumental edits of "In the Wake of Poseidon" and "Islands" are interesting new glimpses. The odd 1969 B-side "Groon" has been a hard-to-find rarity forever (EDIT: since I wrote that it's been included on In the Wake of Poseidon as a bonus track). The booklet is full of pictures, articles & reviews that should be new to most fans who don't have the previous compilations. Unfortunately "Larks' Tongues in Aspic pt1" and "The Sailor's Tale" are abridged. And here's a real travesty: "Starless," their evil masterpiece of tension and release, is chopped in half. Here it's presented as a moody ballad without the slow building bridge or the mad-blowing cathartic finale. Bollocks.

On the plus side, two discs here are live. (Live KC is usually where it's at, especially the 72-74 group which was big on spontaneous improvisation.) The live selection is almost superb - I say almost because it really begs for a full live "Starless" - and otherwise it's as good an overview as could be stuffed onto two CDs. If there's any other complaint to make, it's that the only piece of previously unreleased material is a meandering improv clocking in at a whopping 1:08.

The Guide gets four stars for its musical merits; one is missing because it's still a compilation. It's a lot to swallow, but it still gives an effective picture of an amazingly rich catalogue. At least, that is, until 1981 when all the rules changed again. But that's another story...

It seems legitimate enough to ask why this box set exists, with yet another on the way. Everything here is already available elsewhere. Between the original re-releases, the remastered re-releases, the anniversary re-releases, the 24-bit remasters, the multiple mini-lp versions, the HDCD editions and the Collector's Club releases, things are pretty well covered, covered again and then covered once more.

Not to imply that the music isn't worth it. And if you are new to King Crimson, starting with a box set such as this may be a decent enough way to get acquainted. For my money, the albums are still the best road to the King. Because the records were always very carefully put together, hearing the pieces out of sequence, surrounded by strangers, so to speak, never seemed quite the right thing to do. But this volume does a good job, even when you consider the dismembering that is an intrinsic part of building a box. There is of course a booklet which accompanies these generations of KC which is generally informative and provides the newcomer with a sense of the time and events around the band, its personnel and the critical response to the recordings and performances. If you're a collector, you will have seen parts of this as well, in "The Great Deceiver" box set and in the mini-booklets which accompanied the various anniversary and mini-lp editions.

Unlike previous meet-the-music collections there does not seem to be an accompanying controversy about the pieces selected, who selected them and why. Some, like the snippet at the end of "Islands", aren't all that interesting. Others, like "Moonchild", here restricted to the lyric opening with subsequent doodling left off, reveals itself to be a charming song when heard absent of the always annoying I-do-this-then-you-count-two-and-do-that-improv (or was it a jam?) that set the low point for their debut album. Treating it this way seems to me to be a cake and eat it too outcome for Fripp: the worst piece on what some think to be their best album is somehow redeemed by presenting only Part the First.

But this box set is really about improvements in sound. Back in the day, King Crimson records were awaited not only for the great music, but for great recording and production. Still, improving the clarity of "rock" records is always a dicey affair: sometimes the only thing that holds together rock n' roll is the fact that you can not always hear precisely what's going on. Where the musicians may fail, where the music may fail, your brain obliges by filling in the gaps. If those gaps are made more obvious, your brain might not want to play along.

For example, the great staccato passage in "Lark's Tongues" now has a strikingly different feel to it. Where once the interaction of the bass and drums seemed to overlap slightly, the new mix reveals all the gaps making the exchanges between Wetton and Bruford sound more like a crisp, almost automated Q&A than an all-out on the edge but still in control thrash.

In some cases, such as the LTA balloon freak-out and Fripp's buzzing-insect effects, the sound is under greater control and comes across as more purposeful. The dynamic range is much better as well: quiet passages that were comprised of some distant pizzacato and bird song must have been absolute nightmares to accomplish on tape. Here, they come at you with a better than llife, noise-free delicacy. Much of the music from "In the Court of the Crimson King" also comes across as fuller, in this case clearly benefiting from the digital re-examination. Is this an improvement? While the sound is objectively "better" -- you'll notice better defined and rounded bass, a clearer sense of soundstage and more precise imaging throughout these remasters -- I'm not certain that the music itself always benefits from the change. But then, as technologically-driven as recording can be, there will always be compromises. Resolving what the recording of a piece of music should or should not be is best left to those who create it. After all, you can learn quite about about the artist by paying attention to these sorts of technical choices, as well as the artisitc choices remastering demands -- or an artistic choice such as the near complete absence of any trace of "Lizard".

This box set then, shows us two things. First, leaving the music open to such continuous evaluation and interpretation can be a worthwhile though not foolproof exercise (see Jacob Bronowski's essays on resolution) and, second, that after more than thirty years the work reflected here is still highly relevant, no matter how it's mastered. The only question that remains is asking how much longer a Crimson-starved world must wait to hear it all again as SACD versions...

Meant as an update and a reconsideration of the Court of the Crimson King once covered by FRAME BY FRAME, this 4 CD set recasts essential turning points in the catalogue of Crimson with insight and inspiration. Two CDs of studio based recordings and 2 CDs of live tracks document what a powerful, and remarkably cohesive process King Crimson has been. Having subscribed to the Collectors' Club from its inception I wasn't sure how much more revelatory another packaging would be, but the sources of these tracks and their sequencing shows how deeply committed the band members have been to the graeter Crim.

Most amazingly to me is the constant revolution in my own regard for the Crim composed of Fripp, Collins, Wallace and Burrell, arguably one of the more maligned line-uos. Here in the live tracks they are every bit the measure of Wetton and Bruford, no mean feat.

If you have an avocation for the King and his Prime Minister, you'll know the tracks well enough. If you are new to KC, well, this as fundamental a grounding in the course of their trajectory as you'll ever compress into 150+ minutes. There are some surprises included as well! For the enthusiast, the appetite is well wetted for the next epoch!

A great holiday gift, an important document for anyone who loves this very odd Musicking, so a hearty thanks to all at DGM. Now, how about a DVD Audio release or a DVD box set to go with this?

This one seems to be aimed at people like me - fans who have heard all the albums and found them spotty. We don't need everything, and we appreciate the concision of a good set like this ... the best studio material in chronological order, with two live discs to showcase their improv skills. Good choices, good sequencing, excellent sound. Less is definitely more when it's done right. This time Fripp got it right.

As a fan of KING CRIMSON this is a good place to start if you have heard of them but haven't heard them.It covers a wide range of the many releases during this period.I bought it more for the "LIVE" tracks as during the days of vinyl they were non-existant.It would have gotten more stars from me if they wouldn't have [edit] the studio tracks e.i. LARKS TONGUES IN ASPIC part 1 along with others.The violin solo made that track.However,a good set overall especially the live tracks.If you are a CRIMSON-HEAD buy the studio CDs so you won't be disappointed with the [edits]

Composite of the early years. Most of this material sounds much cleaner than any version that I have listened to previously.

King Crimson are simply amazing. And these CDs reflect their best works during the period 69-74 as best they can. The only fault: Starless, one of their best and loved song, here is abridged so you can't appreciate the whole splendour of this song.

Ok so this is missing a few gems. "Lady of the Dancing Water",the entire epic "Lizard","and full length versions of "Islands" and "In the Wake of Poseiden". I certainly missed having them on here.

The sound is great and we have original master tape recordings here. All my other favorites are here. Their 1969 debut LP "In the Court of the Crimson King" in its full entirety except an edited version of "Moonchild" which I actually almost prefer.

Some great live works are included I have never heard before. The Donovan classic "Get Thy Bearings" is just incredible and shows that King Crimson can do great covers and even make them sound like their own.

The arrangements of their live works are so great they are every bit as great and can even often beat the studio versions. I really like the intrumental version of "21st Century Schizoid Man" The live material on the second CD can be pretty hard to find. Much of the Fripp,Wetton,Bruford,and Cross era on the 4th CD can be found on USA.

King Crimson has some of the best produced and engineered recordings ever made. Many will want this for the sound if they already have everything.

I love to carry this collection around and listen to when I travel. The sound is my personal favorite on these recordings and remind me of the original LP's.

Being a die-hard fan of Progressive Rock and Jazz Fusion this is about as good as a compilation gets and the sounds brings more nostalgia than any of the Cd's available.

Since "In the Court of the Crimson King," King Crimson has been seen as a strange band, one whose music is powerful and even bizarre, but not mainstream. Well put your fears aside for they have recently released an 'encyclopedia' of their 39 year-old reign of progressive rock. The two volume set, "The 21st Century Guide To King Crimson" is a real punch at the music world...In volume one we have 9 KC albums represented by 47 tracks, with about 5 1/3 hrs. of listening time. Wow! It is excellent editing with good chunks of "The Court of the Crimson King", "Wake of Poseidon", "Islands", "Larks' Tongues In Aspic", "Starless And Bible Black", and of course "Red" with 24 min. of itself. The live pair "U.S.A." and "Earthbound" add additional live material from yet more live albums. This is put on 4CD's and is evenly divided between studio and live cuts. For a King Crimson fan who wants to build a collection this a good place to start. There is a 24 page booklet included in each volume that has valuable information like chronologies, album art, etc. This review is for those that maybe know a couple of albums but don't know where King Crimson is headed. Wait for my review of Volume Two.

If you are already a fan of King Crimson, apart from a few live tracks you have probably heard everything that's on here. This is a great way to hear a lot of the classic songs in a really well-mastered format though. In fact, it's a charming little collection for the most part, but it does something I never thought a King Crimson collection would do: edit and abridge the songs!

Classics such as Starless, Islands, Exiles and Moonchild have all been cut down! All of my favorite songs are cut down to radio singles; this makes the collection hard to listen to. It might not bother a new fan though, as they don't know what the songs should sound like. Also most of the Lizard album got shafted, kind of lame.

This is an ok item for beginners, but as a starting point I would probably recommend getting the 'Young Person's Guide to King Crimson' or the 4-cd live box 'The Great Deceiver' instead.