“Good evening ladies and gentlemen from King Crimson. It is my singular privilege to address you at this moment…” announces Robert after an especially raucous rendition of LTIA Pt 1 in which Bill Bruford’s percussive explorations are well to the fore in this audience recording. The velocity of this version is rather astonishing.
Aside from Wetton’s agile bass work, listen out for Fripp’s sustained-fuzz bass-end playing something a doom-laden theme that he would revisit and modify ten years later in a Crimson piece called Industry! While the overall sound of the show is grainy after a few minutes the ears soon settle down and acclimatise to an exceptionally good show from the Crims.
As the first of not one but two gigs on the same night its interesting to note that the Crims don’t sound like they are keeping their powder dry. Rather, during this compact and refreshingly direct 53 minutes, they blast along with their customary verve and energy.
The improv coming out of Easy Money spends much of its time in a busy swirl, building up an intense pattern over which Cross sallies forth with a feverish violin solo. Having reached the peak with a cracking Bruford backbeat and avalanches of sweeping ‘Tron strings there comes the inevitable incline towards to low-end drift into Exiles.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen from King Crimson. It is my singular privilege to address you at this moment…” announces Robert after an especially raucous rendition of LTIA Pt 1 in which Bill Bruford’s percussive explorations are well to the fore in this audience recording. The velocity of this version is rather astonishing.
Aside from Wett...
Audio quality is pretty middle-of-the-road for this period, and on the worse side of the middle, with the heavy sections of Larks I leaving me unable to discern who is making what sound. The proceeding quiet section with David playing solo violin, tho, sounds pristine. Robert gets the crowd laughing, as per usual in this era, demonstrating a solid wit and high spirits. His description of his own music as “epic” seems to be delivered with some reservation, tho. Easy Money and Exiles are s...
Audio quality is pretty middle-of-the-road for this period, and on the worse side of the middle, with the heavy sections of Larks I leaving me unable to discern who is making what sound. The proceeding quiet section with David playing solo violin, tho, sounds pristine. Robert gets the crowd laughing, as per usual in this era, demonstrating a solid wit and high spirits. His description of his own music as “epic” seems to be delivered with some reservation, tho. Easy Money and Exiles are seamlessly bridged together by an appropriately felt improv. The audience absolutely explodes with applause once they finally get the chance to after Exiles is over. Talking Drum / Larks II is delivered with high energy leading into Schizoid Man. The concert feels over far too soon tho, I feel bad for the people that only had tickets to one of the night’s sets! Overall a good but short performance with very muddy audio quality, three stars.
Written by Jonathan Wilson
Another early 73 team-based show
Early 73 is my favourite period for live Crimson and neither Dallas shows disappoint. The good humour and bonhomie seem to exude from the first show in particular as it seems a very lively performance. Once again and typical for this period David seems free to come to the fore with some magical and even ferocious playing. I think Talking Drum is outstanding. The source material is of course a challenge for the inexperienced ear but worth "listening more carefully" to. Thank you once again Alex.
