Thanks to Mr. Stormy’s endeavours this week, we get two for the price of one.
The recording of the Three Of A Perfect Pair album was one of the most difficult King Crimson recording sessions to date.
Work on the follow-up to Beat started at Champaign-Urbana in January (as documented on KCCC21) and then to Arny’s Shack in Dorset in May 1983. The sessions were hard going as the band struggled to write new material although Industry and Dig Me grudgingly emerged. Then the action changed location to Marcus Studio, in London where Beat had been recorded in June.
Here the band worked on a series of ideas that would eventually bear fruit. Yoli Yoli (available for purchase at Adrian Belew’s website) was a return to Waiting Man and the beginnings of Sleepless and Larks Tongues In Aspic Part III were amongst the tracks approached in outline.
As can be heard here, elements of these last two tracks were initially bound together before being slowly nudged apart three months later when Fripp visited Adrian in Champaign-Urbana, and finally separated in the sessions with the whole band at Bearsville studios in upstate New York in November 1983.
This track is 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.
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.
Thanks to Mr. Stormy’s endeavours this week, we get two for the price of one.
The recording of the Three Of A Perfect Pair album wa...
Larks' III into Sleepless - an alternative? A future? An alternative future?
The sound quality on this is excellent. I bet some of this was used on the master; several elements of the master appear on this. That was unusual; I thought the whole of both songs would’ve been re-recorded; I suppose when you’re recording in a studio in the 80’s, best not to waste good takes (I’m mainly referring to the "Lark’s III" portion). This was absolutely fascinating to hear. And I can now hear why the band separated those into two distinct entities, although with a few slight...
The sound quality on this is excellent. I bet some of this was used on the master; several elements of the master appear on this. That was unusual; I thought the whole of both songs would’ve been re-recorded; I suppose when you’re recording in a studio in the 80’s, best not to waste good takes (I’m mainly referring to the "Lark’s III" portion). This was absolutely fascinating to hear. And I can now hear why the band separated those into two distinct entities, although with a few slight changes and mutations, it could’ve been made into a third piece distinctively different from where the separate components ended up. The "Sleepless" parts with the different basslines were intriguing. I can hear now how Tony made that leap. I wonder how many different stages the bassline went through before becoming the echofied slapfest we all know and love. And while interesting at this tempo, I like the final version’s tempo better. But hearing it like this is kind of groovy, too.I’ve heard this album and this line-up many many times, and I’ve never imagined I’d hear anything like this, so I wonder - did anybody else hear, near the end of it...I guess the best way to put it would be "future echoes"...of the "VROOOM" coda in there? I’ve never ever thought of it before, especially since this line-up and the Double Trio were years apart - but somewhere around the middle of the fade-out, I started to hear "suggestions" of layers as those found in the "Coda: 475" section of "VROOOM." It didn’t sound exactly like it, and I know "475" is all chromaticism and this has only a smidge of that - but I simply wonder if anyone else can hear it. I wonder if any of the band heard this as they were developing the piece. I love the Robert and Bill duet on the Champaign-Urbana sessions, and after mentally comparing the two, I can see how seeds for the Double Trio could’ve been sown even back in ’83. Does anyone else hear that?Regardless, an excellent find, and my thanks to Mr. Mundy for this. "Stormy" Mundy strikes again!
Written by Daniel Kirkdorffer
Parts of the finished track?
I haven’t listened to TOAPP for a file, but some of the stuff in this recording definitely sound like the final version of the track starting around 3:30 minutes in, basically what ends up being the end of Larks III. From the jangling guitar, to the Stick’s "dogadogadoog", to Adrian shouting in the background "whoa" or "go".
Written by Joel Sabin
Submarines are lurking in my foggy ceiling
I wouldn’t have imagined those two were once this one, but here they are. Interesting stuff. How did ya decide who got what?
Written by David F Snyder
Fascinating
Beginnings are invisible, but this brings the listener a step closer into the creative process of KC. The musicianship is excellent (of course!). Mr. Stormy once again picks a real gem. I look forward to the next installment!
