Customer Reviews

The Great Deceiver Part 1

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This and The Great Deceiver, Vol. 2 are reissues of the 4 disc box set issued in the early 90's. That having been said, these are some excellent concerts, and it really made my honeymoon special. I had a five disc changer and my wife and I would fall asleep every night to these jams. If you like KC from the mid 70's, this is an excellent example of what they could do.

Most of you know something about 1973-74 King Crimson ... if not, imagine a bass player loud as thunder playing with the inimitable Bill Bruford on drums casually playing great stuff, and with a genius guitarist on top who composed some of the more startling "progressive" works of his time. (Yes, David Cross made some good contributions too). Now imagine them live in arenas, and playing free-form rock improvs for a third or so of the set each night.

This 4-CD set, now broken into two halves, will be a joy to any Crimson fan. It makes perfect sense to buy Volume 1 first, as it contains a complete concert from near the end of their run (and a good one). Think of most of its second disc and the whole of Volume 2 as bonus tracks in a way. Fripp and Bruford did make other great musics at other times, and some of what they did before and later is better than some of this, but this is what it is and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The 3 performances on this disc are all really quite good. So far I've never heard a bad one from the Wetton era. My only complaint with this cd is really with the packaging. First, I like the song Easy Money, but it appears on this cd 3 times. Secondly, although 11 tracks are listed on disc 1, there are only, in fact, 9 tracks.

The performances themselves are flawless, and full of moments of musical perfection. The quartet of Fripp, Cross, Wetton, and Bruford really shine in what is to be several of their last shows together, a realization that is true heartbreak for fans like me.

I would urge everyone who buys this cd to give the liner notes a read. A truly fascinating insight into the situation the band found itself in at the recording of this album. Here we read on Fripp's feeling regarding Bruford, Cross, and Wetton, and also the renegade Jamie Muir. The liner notes will put a new light on these recordings.

I look forward to listening to Volume 2. 5 stars!

First got into King Crimson with "Court..." (Still got the vinyl album for that COVER alone) but find I return most often to "USA" (live bottled fire), "Red" and "Lark's Tongue". For anybody wanting MORE than "USA" (and longer improvised jams allowed by the 2CD format) this is the one, especially for the line-up featuring the violin contributions of David Cross. Thanks to all those who post reviews on Amazon- helped me choose this from the plethora of live Crimson recordings.

This is a wonerful stage of KC: a rhythm section of John Wetton and Bill Bruford with the violin of David Cross and Fripp' guitar icing the cake. I can listen to Starless 20 times and still want more but Larks tongue really captures that violin thing that sets this version of KC as unique. It is wonderful to hear live versions of early KC, so Robert don't stop your explorations of your vault there are fans who may have been diverted from the band but return with a reborn passion for more.

The two volumes of Great Deciver, this is the first, cover the 1972-74 King Crimson line up and the four discs cover material from Larks Tongues in Aspic and Starless and Bible Black.

What I just described does not begin to say how essential these concerts are. A lot of the tracks are repeated here, but the varriations make this extremely exciting. King Crimson were a band who changed tracks each night, and so the different dynamics that cover the same songs make each repetition a godsend. You can hear, as Fripp says in his notes, the material moving from jazz to a more condenced hard rock.

This was a band influenced by Beefheart, Mahavishneu, Henry Cow. This Crimson was definately the most esoteric incarnation of the band, as the long improvosations--tracks not on any of the studio albums-- here will show you.

But when you think of the context these shows were done in--all the bands who were probably listening to King Crimson and all the bands King Crimson was proabably listening to--it only makes the music more deep, more ressonent. The influances here are quite absorbed, but hearing these other bands deep in the Crimson makes the experiance that much richer.

Don't skimp. If you have the studio albums, these concerts have at least two or three differant approaches to this music. If you get one of these volumes, well..............

..........can I borrow one of your feet? I mean, you've got two.