You'll need nerves of steel to make it through this audience recording of what sounds like it might have been King Crimson wowing the Rainbow crowd on the penultimate gig of this incarnation's one and only tour of the UK.
Chris Charlesworth’s Melody Maker review reveals that Robert Fripp remonstrated with the audience following LTIA Pt 1: “If you’re not prepared to listen to the dynamics of the music then you’d be better off in the bar”
He goes on to note that “The latest Crimson is the most bizarre of all. It relies very heavily on improvisation and the visual antics of second drummer Jamie Muir who crawls obscenely around the stage, assaulting a battery of gongs and chimes in random fashion... each piece merges with the next and vocals play a small part in the overall sound It’s a cacophony of sound that hits the mind from the word go and doesn’t let up for the whole performance.”
No amount of sonic necromancy by Alex Mundy or David Singleton could find the spark of life in what is a fairly execrable audience recording, though there are some hardy souls who say it’s not all that bad. They’re wrong. Listen to it at your peril.
You'll need nerves of steel to make it through this audience recording of what sounds like it might have been King Crimson wowing the Rainbow crowd on the penultimate gig of this incarnation's one and only tour of the UK.
Chris Charlesworth’s Melody Maker review reveals that Robert Fripp remonstrated with the audience following LTIA Pt 1: “If y...
Back in the day (WAY back!) I would spend evenings listening to the short-wave radio and all the odd music from all over the world. You could tell it was music and sort of what was going on, but not much more. That's sort of what this sounds like, minus the sawband. Anything approaching intricacy is lost, and if you are expecting to hear what Bruford and Muir each contributed, forget it. But all that notwithstanding, by boot standards it's not all THAT bad. So i give it a two. But really for com...
Back in the day (WAY back!) I would spend evenings listening to the short-wave radio and all the odd music from all over the world. You could tell it was music and sort of what was going on, but not much more. That's sort of what this sounds like, minus the sawband. Anything approaching intricacy is lost, and if you are expecting to hear what Bruford and Muir each contributed, forget it. But all that notwithstanding, by boot standards it's not all THAT bad. So i give it a two. But really for completists only.
Written by Jeff Oaster
Yeah, the sound is pretty awful....
... but if you’re thinking about it, you’ll probably want to get it anyway. There is something very appealling about the Muir-era shows, perhaps because it was such a short-lived period, and certainly because of the huge amounts of improvisation going on. I got this one as the "bonus download" with the boxset, and I have listened to it a number of times. There are certainly some great moments, but the sound is wretched even by the less-than-pristine standards of other releases from this line...
... but if you’re thinking about it, you’ll probably want to get it anyway. There is something very appealling about the Muir-era shows, perhaps because it was such a short-lived period, and certainly because of the huge amounts of improvisation going on. I got this one as the "bonus download" with the boxset, and I have listened to it a number of times. There are certainly some great moments, but the sound is wretched even by the less-than-pristine standards of other releases from this lineup. Think long and hard before you click "buy," and certainly check out the other available purchases first (Hull Technical is a good choice since it is one of the few complete sets). In other words, this one is really only for completists, but then again that probably sums up a sizable portion of the dgmlive audience anyway. And yes, if I didn’t purchase the boxed set, I would have gladly thrown down $10 for this one. Such is the life of a completist...
