Customer Reviews

Earthbound: 30th Anniversary Edition

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Not bad, really, at all, and it's nice to know Fripp has found his sense of irony. This particular incarnation of Crimson- -hand-picked by Fripp, of course- -had all but disbanded by the time the tour on which this was recorded had even begun. You can tell. Boz Burrell, Ian Wallace and Mel Collins were headed to join Alexis Korner shortly to record an album as Snape, so they had no worries (Fripp was outnumbered anyway). Most of these tracks were encores, and as the band was nonexistent- -that is, not any longer Fripp's- -the three decided to just have as good a time as possible to get through it all. It seems they succeeded. 'Schizoid Man' is about as intense as things can get (very), and on 'Peoria' and 'Earthbound' you can practically hear Fripp cringing as the rest of the band just says 'what the hey' and does their own thing whether he likes it or not: hence the funky, bluesy extended jams and Burrell's strutting lyrics to 'Peoria', which Fripp no doubt took personally as he guested in his own band. Very interesting. The dodgy sound and weird segues fit perfectly and lend a very appropriately scuzzy aura to the whole affair. Awesome. I like it, you might not.

It's hard to imagine that there might be any reason to buy yet another live recording of "21st Century Schizoid Man", let alone another live Crimson album -- but believe me, this is it. For a band that has more live recordings than studio albums, that's saying a lot. "Earthbound" has that rare combination of raw power and finesse, precariously balanced and sustained for a head-long rush through some very demanding music. The performance and the sound leave you on edge from beginning to end.

Recorded during their 1972 U.S. tour, the "Earthbound" line-up is pretty much the same version of Crimson that gave us their finest early-period album, "Islands". The whole group plays with incredible authority -- Mel Collins' sax work is superb. "Sailor's Tale", the composition which to this point in the Crimson oeuvre features Fripp's most moving and compelling guitar work, comes brilliantly to life. And there's no complaining about Boz's bass and vocals, and Ian Wallace's work on percussion. And, as far as I know, this is the only place you'll hear the improvs "Peoria", and the title piece, "Earthbound". Long story short, anyone who loves Crimson, in any shape, needs to have this long-awaited CD reissue of the limited edition LP. In combination with the newly reissued "USA", King Crimson's live history is finally in full view, and in complete context -- Buy Now, with one click...

King Crimson's 1972 live album, "Earthbound," was the first ever live album from the band, documenting the one-time "Islands" line-up of Crimson (guitarist Robert Fripp, bassist/vocalist Boz Burrell, saxophonist Mel Collins, and drummer Ian Wallace) on their one-and-only tour. It had been out of print for many, many years on vinyl, and never released on CD until now.But "Earthbound" is a very notorious live Crimson album for one reason and one reason alone: it's sound quality is pretty shoddy (to say the least), as the live performances were simply recorded on cassette tape directly from the band's soundboard, making the possibility of a remix impossible. However, I think Crim-leader Robert Fripp has done the best remastering job that he could with this album, giving the sound, if nothing else, a good solid boost for the CD release. Is "Earthbound" a *great* live Crimson album? Sound wise, hell no. But *live performance* wise, I think it's darn good. "Earthbound" is just five tracks long, but no matter. The "Islands" King Crimson deliver a barnburning version of the band's signature tune, "21st Century Schizoid Man," as well as tearing through two other Crimson classics, "A Sailors Tale" & "Groon," with great relish. And there are two totally rockin', improvised jazz-rock jams included here, "Peoria" & the title track, that are only available on this album and nowhere else, and I love 'em both---I've never heard Crimson sound this *funky* before! Even with muddy sound quality, "Earthbound" proves that this version of King Crimson definitely rocked. Robert Fripp is, quite naturally, an electric-guitar god, as he delivers some more of his trademark Frippwork on the frets, Boz Burrell rolls out some great bass riffs and vocals (including some really groovy scat-singing on both of the jazz-rock jams), Mel Collins' horn work (and mellotron work on "Sailors Tale") is excellent, and Ian Wallace's drumming is totally sharp & slamming throughout, like a knife cutting through butter.I'd truly rate "Earthbound" 3.5 out of 5 stars, so it gets 4 out of 5 stars from me on the average curve. If you can get past the sound quality issue, then "Earthbound" will be a fine King Crimson album to add to your collection. Thank you, Robert Fripp, for finally putting it out on CD. :-)

King Crimson's "Earthbound" has a terrible reputation even within Crimheads (which I'm not). I think this album's been brought back from the grave which Robert Fripp consigned it to; the remastering that was done is damn near miraculous. This album had a dubious reputation as having one of the worst official live mixes on vinyl ever, so the sound, while definitely not perfect, is far, far better than the LP. So the band's benefited from this sound improvement. The band here is Robert Fripp on fuzzed-out, waywardly rockin' electric guitar, Mel Collins on careening, shrieking saxes and icy mellotron, Boz Burrell on oily, groove-oriented bass guitar and gritty, occasionally ridiculous vocals (though he's a better singer and bassist than he's usually given credit for), and Ian Wallace on incredibly layered drums and bass drum abuse (to get what I mean, listen to the samples). Hunter MacDonald should be given credit as soundman (not as engineer) and VCS3 synthesizer operator. The VCS3 is responsible for some very interesting moments on the CD, so MacDonald gets some good moments too.
This album's totally atypical within the Crimson catalog - two of the tracks, "Peoria" and "Earthbound", are live, rather funky blues jams that Fripp released as group compositions. The other three tracks are the perennial favorite "21st Century Schizoid Man", the awe-insipiring "The Sailor's Tale", and a very long, extended take on an old B-side called "Groon". All in all, it's a surprise from beginning to end - kind of like King Crimson's "Metallic K.O.". Proceedings blast into the stratosphere immediately with an absolutely brilliant version of "21st Century Schizoid Man" - it's so raw, so witless, yet so virtuosic, and so on the verge of atonal collapse that it truly illustrates the impossible balancing act that Crimson was as a live combo. Most still think they're better live than studio, which I think is true - this album kicks far more ass than "Islands" ever did. Fripp's chainsawing solo and Collins' reed torturing on "Schizoid Man" are truly worth hearing, and Burrell sounds like he's had a ping-pong ball shot through his larynx - I love it! Things immediately deteriorate, though, with "Peoria". Good instrumental playing from everyone here, but Burrell's vocal improvs (I won't deign to call them scats) are so stupid and banal that they nearly ruin the jam for me. I can laugh at him, though, most days of the week. Things pick back up to the same brilliant level with an astounding version of "The Sailor's Tale", with great bass from Burrell, astonishingly violent drumming from Wallace, and Fripp and Collins in startling form - Collins in particular sounds marvelous. It's faded on a Wallace drum solo, and then we get "Earthbound", which is better then "Peoria" because of some cracking funk drumming from Wallace, even if Boz plays a very, um, minimal bass line. "Groon" is a looonnnggg jam on an old B-side. It has "artistic self-indulgence" written all over it, but Collins, Fripp and Wallace sound pretty great (Wallace sounds so cool through the VCS3), and Burrell plays some more good bass. Hey, I think he's a quite good bassist myself, just not exactly as good as King Crimson would demand. And could you exactly blame him for not always sounding so great? He'd only learned how to play bass from Robert Fripp right before recording "Islands"! So, all in all, it's a great album. Get this and "Ladies of the Road" to hear this lineup of Crimson live - you may agree that they sound a lot better live than in the studio.

The most significant thing about this re-release is the remastering. Originally almost unlistenably bad, it has now been restored to "fair bootleg" level. It's certainly at least on par with some of Fripp's other archival releases (like the collection "Epitaph", which I have a hard time putting up with).

This disc is a live record of a band on the verge of complete disintegration, rife with interpersonal politics and speculation apparently. However, a live album, as opposed to a studio album, is not something to be deconstructed in terms of theme, composition, etc. Song selection matters, and the performances matter even more. In this particular case, the muddiness of the sound actually contributes to the overall effect of the songs chosen. There's a particular rawness that comes through in the erratic mixing that works for me, though normally I'd find it annoying. Put another way, "Earthbound" has the sonic persona (by accident) that Van der Graaf Generator aimed for deliberately on their live masterpiece, "Vital".

The album opens with "21st Century Schizoid Man", a deliberate perversity, since "Schizoid Man" is the leading contender for a Crimson encore (were they to do encores). As one of the most explored songs in the Crimson live catalog, there's a lot of competition here. Slower than the original (I've always thought the original needed to be slowed down a bit), the sonic wall of guitar and sax is replaced by bare guitar and bass. The sound is huger, but not as rich. Moreover, the original sax and guitar section that is the most impressive musical accomplishment of the original is here completely stripped of virtuosity. It seems likely that the present band simply wasn't up to reproducing the studio original, so Fripp substitutes instead an extended guitar solo that positively rips once he stops imitating the original. The "Schizoid Man" finally kicks into gargantuan high gear and makes its own indelible and worthy stamp on the long history of this song. Also, the vocals here, pushing the envelope of kitsch, manage to sound much more schizoid than Lake's originally processed vocals. (They're processed here as well, of course.)

"Peoria", a very straightforward blues improvisation with scat, is unremarkable except for the heaviness of it's thumpings (and that King Crimson is playing it). Growling saxophone is later matched by growling vocals. Just about every professional band could play this, but it's a solid enough piece of music nonetheless.

"Sailor's Tale", Fripp's latest exploration of Holst's "Mars" by way of "Devil's Triangle" on his way toward musically developing the harmonic sophistication that will be the hallmark of the rest of his career, definitely loses something in the live translation. The lack of fidelity, both sonic and musical here, reduces a fascinating song to merely another jam session.

"Earthbound" is another improvisation, heavy and messy and a right good thump.

Frankly, so is the 15 minute "Groon", which is a thousand times more interesting here than in its original incarnation as a B-side for the original Crimson. It's just all about big drums, monster thumpage, and live power. It features that apparently obligatory live bit, the drum solo, as well. In the right mood, the solo arrives at just about the right moment in the album to break up the apparently relentless monotonous intensity of the disc so far; all the more so for the sudden electronic processing the drums are subjected to. (I think this is the progressive part.)

So, except for the full compositional panache of the first song, the album feels like a really long bass, drum and sax jam. As a record of a particular Crimson band, the disc is a must for fans and completists, of course. I find it's nice to have around for those rare moments when I feel like a bunch of raw, rough-sounding distortion. There are certainly other better versions of such stuff out there, but "Earthbound" still manages to make a bid for itself, if only for the live version of "Schizoid Man".

King Crimson's first live album is finally available again after going out of print twenty years ago. In spite of the intense criticism this album has endured, the live version of "Schizoid Man" and the jams "Earthbound" & "Groon" should not be missed. This incarnation of King Crimson is my personal favorite, probably because it's the most accessible and "down to Earth", not to mention it stands up to repeated listening. Even stuffy old Robert Fripp has conceded that it's "hot and fun". That isn't to say this release is perfect.

The sound quality is sub-par, even for 1972. It can take getting used to, but it can lend an earthy charm to the album, depending on who's listening. Fripp has even labeled "Earthbound" rock's first official bootleg. The sound has been improved somewhat, but no bonus tracks were added, leaving the running time at a paltry 45 minutes!

The tracks are not representative of a typical set from this period, and give the false impression that this was a jam band. "Pictures of a City", "Cirkus", "Ladies of the Road" & "Formentera Lady" were very intricate pieces that the band played every night. Boz was the perfect lead singer for this band, and it's a shame that his voice is seldom heard on this album.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the band had actually broken up the previous winter, and they were touring only to keep from getting sued. That being considered, it's remarkable that the performances are as good as they are.

Having said all of that, I would still recommend this album to anyone who knows what they're getting into. It can be a lot of fun. For those who are new to Crimson or who have never heard this lineup live, I might suggest the Collectors' Club Japanese imports which can also be found at Amazon.

Not bad, really, at all, and it's nice to know Fripp has found his sense of irony. This particular incarnation of Crimson- -hand-picked by Fripp, of course- -had all but disbanded by the time the tour on which this was recorded had even begun. You can tell. Boz Burrell, Ian Wallace and Mel Collins were headed to join Alexis Korner shortly to record an album as Snape, so they had no worries (Fripp was outnumbered anyway). Most of these tracks were encores, and as the band was nonexistent- -that is, not any longer Fripp's- -the three decided to just have as good a time as possible to get through it all. It seems they succeeded. 'Schizoid Man' is about as intense as things can get (very), and on 'Peoria' and 'Earthbound' you can practically hear Fripp cringing as the rest of the band just says 'what the hey' and does their own thing whether he likes it or not: hence the funky, bluesy extended jams and Burrell's strutting lyrics to 'Peoria', which Fripp no doubt took personally as he guested in his own band. Very interesting. The dodgy sound and weird segues fit perfectly and lend a very appropriately scuzzy aura to the whole affair. Awesome. I like it, you might not.

At last EARTHBOUND on cd!This LIVE album is incredible and unique.It is not an usual LIVE but jams or pieces of songs-fade in fade out.The sound is very rough, the performances are highlights of King Crimson's songs in a very unusual form, it almost sound like they decided to take the heaviest and most frantic parts of their shows and leave the rest behind-except 21st century which is in its full version.
It is an unrealistic live, sometimes frustrating because you know there was more before and after the fades, but it is also what makes it so brilliant.No waste of time or space.Very different from any other KING CRIMSON live, EARTHBOUND is to me their most powerful, creative and brutal recording.A BLAST!

Earthbound was King Crimson's fifth album. Upon its initial release, it was chainsawed by just about every music critic for it's woeful sound quality and the woeful musicianship that seemed to pervade the album. True, until only a couple of years ago, the only way to even listen to this album was through a bootleg CD of an old LP. Before I bought my compact disc version of Earthbound all I had to listen to was an old Italian import from the late seventies-and boy, was the sound on that woeful! So, on the 30th anniversary edition, the sound quality is nothing short of revelatory. Fripp has done miracles with the songs here; granted, there is still a lot of distortion and fuzz on the opener, 21st Century Schizoid Man, but the bass and sax solos come through very distinctly, whereas before there was only a hint that something other than loud drumming was going on. Boz's distorted vocals are a true marvel of creepiness through that device, the VCS3. That said, the rest of the album you will either love or hate for its jazzy lean. You'll get the picture with the next cut, Peoria, a loose jazz-improv played in the city of its namesake. As one Amazon reviewer pointed out, (and as the liner notes hint at) the rest of band apart from Fripp had further plans after the Crimson tour was to have run out, so the playing seems to have a non-committal feel to it-you just have the feeling that these guys were past the make-the- customer-satisfied point in their tour obligations, which in itself isn't an evil. Collins's sax playing is ferocious. Arguably he's the real star of this album. "Sailor's Tale" seems to be the only other Crimson proper song. It's a great showcase for Fripp's distorted guitar and the ever-pervasive mellotron. Then there's the title track, another original you'll only find on this album. This is probably the funkiest of the songs; once more, Collins's sax playing is ear candy. Boz's vocals, however, should have stayed in the VCS3. This song is interesting, because despite its looseness, there is still a lot of discipline working-I know this sounds stupid, but you get the idea when you put Larks Tongues in Aspic in the player. The Earthbound song sort of predicts the direction Fripp is heading towards. The last song is a reworked blast from their past, Groon, but it's as you've never heard it before, thanks to the sax-propelled funk injected. Here the rhythm section of Wallace/Boz particularly shines and for a brief time Fripp seems to get lost in his own background, until everything just kind of meanders with that overly long drum solo. I also agree with Fripp that this incarnation of Crimson had gone about as far as it could go with the particular musical direction it was pursuing. Thankfully Fripp had the wisdom to move towards more improvised heavy rock-and towards what would be Crimson's Golden Age on Lark's Tongues, Starless and Bible Black, and Red.

King Crimson, circa late 1971. The original group had fallen apart two years earlier, the subsequent incarnations could never seem to hold themselves together longer than six months at a stretch, and the lineup that had produced the criminally underrated Islands album was on the verge of splitting up again. The band's label wanted another record, so they half-heartedly put out what might have been the first 'official bootleg' in rock history. Now, in the last stage of cleaning up Crimson's back catalogue, guitarist Robert Fripp has seen fit to give this album its first release on CD. With all its mixed reviews and its black-sheep association, I had my doubts as to whether it was worth my money (this coming from a completely obsessed Crimhead), but gave in since I just had to have them all. I still have some mixed feelings, but I don't feel shortchanged from buying this disc.

The sound quality has been cleaned up as much as possible on this release, which is to say it still doesn't exactly sound fantastic - or great - or even good. It sounds just like a decent bootleg. Fripp's a master at this whole remastering thing, but.. Earthbound's original tracks were taken from plain two-track tapes, one of which ("Sailor's Tale") was recorded in the rain from the back of a Volkswagen truck. But! If you can get past the muddy sound, you'll find some nice gems in the rough here.

The prime example: "21st Century Schizoid Man." I had doubts about ever hearing another convincing performance of this seemingly obligatory tune, but this album's version is in the running with the most top-notch of them. Reedman Mel Collins is an absolute monster on the sax, breathing fire for all he's worth just to keep up with the sheer manic frenzy the song gets churned through. He furiously propels the scorching "Sailor's Tale" along, going head-to-head with Fripp's mad guitar in a crazy duel that climaxes just on the verge of total chaos. Of all the tracks here, this one most shows the direction KC would take once the next lineup was in place; it's rooted in jazz, but based in a Spanish rhythm and rocking hard enough to shake some walls. A shame Mel didn't stay on board. He and Robert had a way of egging each other on onstage, pushing each other to bring out their best every night. But I digress.

Islands was a quaint classical-tinged album, but the music this same group made onstage was anything but. Here they settled into a grungy blues/jazz mode, filling out Earthbound with more groove and funk than the name King Crimson has ever been associated with before or since. The title track and "Peoria" are greasy two- or three-chord jams, filled in with some excellently layered drumming work and even a little scatting (!) from frontman Boz Burrell. And if you want to scare away any pesky dogs or children in the neighborhood, look no further than "Groon" with its extended drum-solo-turned-mellotron-throttling screeching. That section is only slightly less ear-stabbing than fingernails on a blackboard (though I must say I love it all the same).

I'm stretching to give four stars because, with all its flaws, Earthbound is a fascinating rarity in the KC catalogue and a snapshot of a lineup that was like no other. Anyone looking into this phase of the group should already be prepared to make some adjustments; if these descriptions still sound interesting, then you shouldn't be too disappointed. If not, there's plenty of other KC material to broaden your musical horizon elsewhere.