March 16, 1971  Drop In

AUDIO SOURCE: Quarter Inch Reel to Reel Tape

DGM AUDIO QUALITY

AVERAGE CUSTOMER RATING

A fascinating glimpse into the rehearsal room under the Fulham Palace Road Cafe, and arguably one of Robert's clunkiest and ungainly compositions.

The song first emerged as part of the pre-Crim Giles, Giles and Fripp. By the time it was being played, the trio had been joined by Ian McDonald who helped them record two totally poptastic renditions collected on Peter Giles' archival release of the period, The Brondesbury Tapes.

It got a slightly heavier make-over when it was co-opted onto the newly formed King Crimson setlist, and was last played by the band during their stint at San Francisco's Filmore West in December 1969.

Over a year later, the song can be heard being rehearsed by another incarnation of the group. There's a lot high spirits heard on this tape, the product no doubt of the elation of having emerged from weeks of audition purgatory as they tried to find replacements for the recently departed Gordon Haskell.

Benefiting from this line-up's fluency with rock and jazz, it would be another month or so before the track would get new lyrics from Peter Sinfield and be rechristened, The Letters. In that guise its live debut was in Plymouth's Guildhall on May 14th 1971 - captured for posterity on KCCC14.

This track is now available for download as part of a bumper collection of Mr Stormy's Monday Selections - his first year of random romps through the murky, cavernous DGM archives, torch in hand, fedora upon his head.
March 16, 1971  Drop In

AUDIO SOURCE: Quarter Inch Reel to Reel Tape

DGM AUDIO QUALITY

AVERAGE CUSTOMER RATING

TRACK
TIME
01
Drop In
03:48
Written by Marcos López García
Tron pedal board
The only thing i miss here is a pair of mellotron pedal boards so they might have tronned us to exhaustion while playing another instrument!!!!!Well, i also miss a real bass player.Thanks so much for posting this, i hope some day similar presents become available from the Wetton/Bruford era.
Written by Barry Briscoe
A Fascinating Snapshot
Once again, a fascinating snapshot of unheard KC. Love the light hearted spirit here and makes interesting comparison to the earlier versions. This line up is my personal favourite - I enjoy Boz’s voice, Ian Wallace’s drumming and Mel Collins never disappoints so this was a nice surprise. Nice recording too. Many thanks for this.
Written by Jay Kuhn
thanks
Thanks for all your hard work in providing these free downloads. I enjoy all of themJay
Written by Erik Varga
Cheetos!
When I first heard the Epitaph box set (10 years ago?) this song was an instant favorite.  Nice surprise to hear this Islands rehearsal in the arKchives.  Thanks!!!
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