Here’s some commentary on KC’s recent activitie:
First up, the Crims in Pompeii
Gary Parsons writes - “The evening was an emotional one, and for me one of the best concerts I have witnessed in thirty-eight years of seeing live bands.”
KC in Rome (via the mangle)
The Crimson King and his court are back in Rome for two dates, this time outdoors, after the concert at the Auditorium Pio two years ago. The tour is called Uncertain Times , a title to say the least, which reflects well the awareness of a band that - well forty-nine years after its first line-up - moves in a different context, within which it would be legal feeling like strangers.
But the King Crimson are of the material of which granite is made up, they are a constantly evolving sound machine, which has never been interested in cultural fashions and are able to carve out a place always and everywhere in Europe, in Japan , in the USA There is a big wait in the city the two dates are practicallysold out for several days and you feel a thrill in the audience, a deep emotion as soon as the double quartet of the King Crimson is presented on the stage of the Auditorium Cavea. Yes, a "double quartet" composed of eight musicians on stage that respond to the names of His Majesty Robert Fripp , electric guitar, Jakko Jakszyk , guitar and vocals, Mel Collins , flute and tenor sax, Tony Levin , bass, Pat Mastelotto , percussion, Gavin Harrison , percussion, Jeremy Stacey , percussions and keyboards and Bill Rieflin, mellotron and keyboards. A real orchestra, the best that can currently deploy a band of Rock Progressive, the musical genre of which are the prototypes, a music that at the time, in 1969, was simply called underground and that lit the minds and accompanied the dreams of an entire generation.
Rome, 22nd July 2018, 9.00 pm
The concert opens with a long, simply impressive percussive section which the three drummers present at the same time on stage are responsible for. Followed by songs from In The Wake of Poseidon and Lizard , two albums that belong to a distant past, whose songs have never been performed live in recent times. It is surprising that songs like"Cirkus", "Peace: An End" and "Cadence And Cascade" still sound incredibly modern and up-to-date. It is the moment of "Epitaph", a rhythmic ballad, with its dramatic gait, with a text written in 1969 that proves to be very prophetic, if only we try to look around. There is a great desire in Jakko to be Greg Lake, the comparison is impossible, but the result is absolutely fine: a melody despite everything dreamy, incorporated into a rhythmic section respectful and careful not to overdo it, ready to explode then in the final crescendo . The Crimson King, however, immediately changes the register and orders the deluge with the execution of long suiteselectric perforating and nervous, only instrumental, but rich in rhythm and different harmonic passages such as "Easy Money" and "Larks Tongues In Aspic". Soon after comes the enchantment of "Moonchild", a delicate psychedelic ballad entered the story, which flows into its natural estuary of "In The Court of the Crimson King", chills, epic and excruciating, with mellotron and keyboards that chase now Fripp's guitar now Mel Collins's saxophone. After about twenty minutes of break, the King Crimson return to the scene for the second part of the show, embellished by an absolutely magnificent "Starless" performance, which highlights the incessant dialogue between two solo instruments such as Mel Collins's saxophone and the guitar by Robert Fripp. The finale is reserved for a lacerating version of "21st Century Schizoid Man", the band's generational anthem
Rome, 23 July 2018, 9.00 pm
The sound machine has oiled its gears and appears again on the scene even more determined and powerful. The King Crimson immediately enter into the heart of the speech with the ventral bass rhythm of Tony Levin and the frenetic guitars of Fripp and Jakko in evidence, while the percussive sound, in countertops, of the batteries does nothing more than mark the harmonic passages in focus restless of "Larks Tongues in Aspic". If last night "Lizard" and "In The Wake Of Poseidon" were the albums object of study and new proposal, tonight it's up to Red , an album too often underestimated, and to Island, wonder of wonders. The suspended notes, so damn nervous, and the long incessant phrasing between guitars and sax that characterizes "One More Red Nightmare" fill the first part of the show. Guessed also the performance of a dreamlike and poignant ballad like "Fallen Angel", remained too long out of the ladder in the last live of the King Crimson, a song that precedes a masterpiece version of "Islands", final, sophisticated, magnetic, entrusted to sax by Mel Collins, who spread rarefied notes in the sky while the audience listens in absolute silence, which is the result of a profound emotion. The song lasts longer than 12 minutes and on the final leaves room for percussion and the rhythmic key begins to claim its own space that is in dynamic relation with the melodic "refrain" of the piece that constantly re-emerges in the night. An absolute, a legend, welcomed by the applause of those who stand up, respectful and moved."Other than the show by Roger Waters" Ottavio exclaims , sitting next to me "These are musicians, who do not deceive people with light beams, videos and special effects, but they can play!" . Followed by the frenetic improvisations of "Indiscipline" and "Level Five" before returning again to the classics, and I refer to the binomial "Moonchild" and "In The Cort Of the Crimson King", followed in the final by that night ballad that takes the name of "Starless", which allows us once again to put on the same frequency the impalpability of the soul and the needs of the mind
Jakko was interviewed recently and here’s the post-mangle result…
A few hours after the first Roman date of King Crimson , the English group of Rock Progressive, we met at the hotel Jakko Jakszyk , English musician and producer of Polish origin who in 2011 collaborated with Fripp and Collins on A Scarcity Of Miracles and 2013 is actually a member of the band, as a vocalist and guitarist
After "The Elements of King Crimson" of 2016, now come back with a tour called "Uncertain Times". On what basis do you give a name to the different tours?
Two years ago the idea was of David Singleton , our manager, for the new tour instead the name has decided directly Robet Frippthinking of the times in which we find ourselves living. "Uncertain Times" is also the title of a new song I wrote for the band, but we do not play live in concert. Probably will be included in the set list in the next tour, in the autumn "
A song that always show up live is" Epitaph ", dated 1969. Yet the lyrics of the song resonate absolutely modern and listen again now have a prophetic value ...
It is true, indeed this what is so true to be scary. A song like Epitaph seems to describe more the world now than that of then. I am very attentive to the fate of the world internationally and live on my skin the deterioration of the conditions of civil life. You know, I live half an hour's drive outside London, I come from a Polish father and a French mother, but in reality I am of Irish descent and have been adopted. I experienced badly everything that happened in England after the Brexit vote , when many extremists felt entitled to do violence of any kind. For example, near the Hammersmith Odeon in London, there is a Polish Cultural Center where I used to go with my father. Well that place was attacked and destroyed. I was very nostalgic about that place, so I posted a link on Facebook with a Guardian articlewhich told what happened. I received support at the beginning, but after two days I was attacked with answers like "Have you lost, now what are you looking for?" Not all the people who voted for Brexit are racist, but all the racists have voted for Brexit. In the United States it's the same thing: when I went looking for my real mother, I discovered that he lived in the South, in Trump's America, I met my half-brothers and I realized that their ideas are incredibly reactionary
"Epitaph "In those years was sung by Greg Lake, now it's up to you to perform it live in concert. Do you feel that you have collected a kind of inheritance from those musicians, from those years?
You see, the two of us are more or less the same age, and when I was listening to the King Crimson I was 13 years old. That sound was all for me and influenced all my musical preparation and also my way of singing. Certainly Greg Lake , but also John Wetton , with whom I am still in touch. When I sing, however, I do not try to imitate either and if my voice is suitable for this repertoire that we play live, it depends on the fact that these songs are inside me, I grew up and gave a strong imprint to my way of singing
You will play songs that you have never performed live before. Can you give us some anticipation?
Every time we rehearse before a concert, we add at least three songs that come from the old King Crimson studio repertoire. And they are always different songs. I can tell you that we worked on "Bolero", from "Lizard" but also to "Cadence And Cascade", from "In The Wake Of Poseidon", but then decides everything Robert a couple of hours before the concert
You joined of the band in 2013, from then on you only released live concert recordings. How long will we have to wait to get a new King Crimson record?
I do not know what to answer you, it all depends on Robert (Fripp). The last decision is up to him. We also have several new songs so it would be possible. But publishing "live" albums is easier for us because we record and film every show. You know, Robert wants to keep his archive up to date. And then we live in a different world: historically there was a dynamic that included a tour for each new album. Now it's not like that anymore. The album sales are scarcely diminished. There's another thing: bringing King Crimson to the studio would be very difficult. We are eight musicians (the "double quartet" mentioned by Fripp long ago) and it is complicated to work in the recording studio with many people. This does not mean that it will never happen, only that there are no plans for a new studio album now
An album like "A Scarcity of Miracles" is dated 2011 and bears your signature, along with that of Mel Collins and Robert Fripp. However, it does not look like a King Crimson album. How did you conceive that record?
We did not start with the idea of recording an album. One day Robert called me in the studio, but only to make improvisations. We played all day and in the end Robert gave me all the material that had been recorded telling me that he was sure that I would be able to extract something good. So once at home, I worked on it with the same spirit that we had in the studio: I improvised a vocal section that was added to the different tracks, I added a rhythm section but without cutting anything that had been recorded. I simply tried to follow the flow of music. Robert liked it a lot and thought to also call Mel (Collins) in the studio. He arrived and added the wind, also improvising on the basis of what Robert and I had already registered.
You are very active as a producer too. How can you find the time for this too?
Well, last year - during a break between the two King Crimson tours - I worked at a box set of Jethro Tull , I remissed the first two albums by Bill Bruford, a record by Chris De Burgh and an old record released in 1968 as "In Search Of The Lost Chord" by Moody Blues
You have always followed the band's evolution even when you were in Crimson Projekct. How do you think the sound of King Crimson has changed over time?
See, in concert live we play material that comes from all the different phases of the King Crimson. I realize that the sound can sometimes seem contradictory, I know it well, but there is something on the harmonic that brings together the various periods of the band, which gives compositional unity to all this, whether we play songs from "Lizard", for example, or from "Island"
You belong to a different generation of musicians and you are also a producer. Can you find any element of continuity between the sound of historical groups like the King Crimson and the young bands?
Everything has changed, beyond all expectations, it is difficult for me to understand how things will go in the future. The record industry is not going well, technology is taking possession of everything quickly. Our idea of work and also of marketing our music as a product is no longer valid. However, if you ask me to make the name of a fairly eclectic band to follow in the footsteps of King Crimson, well then there are no doubts: Everything Everything , they come from Manchester and have published so far very interesting records"
