Over the past couple of weeks I have been listening to the 1972 King Crimson U.S. Spring Tour mixing desk tapes.
Although there is some distortion and over compression on the tapes, it is possible to get a really good feel of the performances. Generally good humoured, there are times when problems of equipment cause tensions on stage, e.g., Feed back, Mellotrons going out of tune and guitars not working. All of which must have been a real pain.
It is interesting listening to the development, and sometimes demise of a song. From Ian Wallace trying a slightly different drum solo in "Groon", which sometimes pays off, to the total collapse of the chorus of "Ladies Of The Road", to a really up and flying version of "Sailors Tale".
If these sorts of comments and points are of interest to the Crimson fan, then I think that the not-so-good sound quality at times is irrelevant to the content of the performance. In fact even the in-between banter is just as much part of the overall show as the music.
I hope to be listening to some mixing desk tapes of the 1974 King Crimson line up over the next few weeks. So I will let you know what I make of them as soon as I can.
In a meeting with Robert and David last Friday we discussed many issues, including the website. I was reminded of a pamphlet I read years ago written by a French economist, Frederic Bastiat, entitled, THAT WHICH IS SEEN, AND THAT WHICH IS NOT SEEN.
That Which Is Seen - Our website needs updating. We are working on it. We are taking control of our website this week and will be able to make our own mistakes and corrections, rather than outsourcing this work.
That Which Is Not Seen - The mind boggles. There is much work to do for the other 95% of our market who do not have access to the web. We're working on that too.
Diane at DGM
"Humour is not permitted."
