Well, it’s been a long time coming but KC 81 at the Roxy has been turned on today following some sterling work behind the scenes from tech-guru Eric.  The gig is from an audience recording that has received a bit of the old fairy dust from DGMLive visitor Dan Loretangeli. 

Dan spent a bit of time cleaning and nurturing the tape back to life and sent it to DGM and the opinion of chief necromancers David Singleton and Alex Mundy.  Impressed with what they heard they asked Dan to send in some more, and lo and behold the results of his labour have now gone live.

I asked Dan what prompted him to heroically give his time to this project and, and why this show in particular.

“Having read on DGM and ET about the minimal ’81 material available, I figured this would be a good candidate to work on.  For a 25 year old audience tape, the source was quite good.  Although I have a decent equipment rack that I’ve used for other shows, the Roxy was completed entirely on my DAW (Adobe Audition) with about half a dozen plug-ins thrown in as needed. 

This was one of those shows were I kept stopping the ‘work’, and just listened to this great line-up.  Since I was weaned on ‘80’s KC, this show brings back fond memories of the four 80’s line-up shows I was fortunate enough to attend in the Philadelphia area.  ‘Manhattan’ is in its original working state, and I actually prefer it this way.  Mr. Bruford, who has always seemed to me to be holding back a little, really lets himself go on this set. 

During ‘Red’ ‘Indiscipline’ and ‘Lark’s’, the percussive onslaught leaves no prisoners.  I can almost ‘hear’ RF giving him a ‘look’.  Bill’s drum fill at the end of Lark’s is worth the price of admission alone. 

Ade seems to be having a great time as well, as there are a few comedic moments between him and the pumped-up crowd.  The ‘King Crimson making history!’ line from an overjoyed fan is a classic.”

So Dan stepped up to the plate and gave it his best shot.  And what a shot.  I couldn’t agree more with Dan’s views about this show.  It’s got classic written all the way through it.