Having travelled up from Florida the day before Crimson settled into the first of two nights at the Roxy. In front of a thousand punters the band play a spirited set that contains a well-drilled set list. There are plenty of highlights to chose from including Trey Gunn’s work on Three Of A Perfect Pair and elsewhere, what is arguably one of the best Two Sticks improvs by Tony and Trey. Normally this track would lead into Elephant Talk but here for the first time (on DGMLive at least) it turns into a suitably thunderous Indiscipline. And speaking of Elephant Talk, they enjoyed playing it so much they decide to play it again – “Two for the price of one!” quips an excited Ade at the end. Other highpoints include a mercurial rendition of Thrak that covers a lot of ground and allows silence to come a-calling much like it did in Houston earlier in the tour.A one minute snippet from this improv was knitted into Slaughter of the Innocents from Thrakattak.
Having travelled up from Florida the day before Crimson settled into the first of two nights at the Roxy. In front of a thousand punters the band play a spirited set that contains a well-drilled set list. There are plenty of highlights to chose from including Trey Gunn’s work on Three Of A Perfect Pair and elsewhere, what is arguably one of the bes...
An amazing coincidence about this show being made available by DGM - I’ve been thinking of writing in and asking them to make it available, but just hadn’t. And now, thirteen years to the day since this show, I’m now listening to it (again) for the first time. Lots of things stand out about this show - it seems as if edges were encouraged and frays were left exaggerated on purpose. Soundscapes sang out in stark relief to the jagged slabs of sparking me...
An amazing coincidence about this show being made available by DGM - I’ve been thinking of writing in and asking them to make it available, but just hadn’t. And now, thirteen years to the day since this show, I’m now listening to it (again) for the first time. Lots of things stand out about this show - it seems as if edges were encouraged and frays were left exaggerated on purpose. Soundscapes sang out in stark relief to the jagged slabs of sparking metal that the Double Trio flung to all and sundry. And lots of laughs, chances, bursts of extraneous inspiration, and occasionally gleeful glitches in the autopilot system made themselves known and felt. As a punter in the last row almost in the last seat, it was an awe-inspiring event - the audio was pristine and the lights and visuals were bold and colourful. My favourite of the evening turned out to be "One Time" - unlike Sid, I have to say I loved the choirs and string sounds that Robert injected into the choruses, and the sheer sense of space and atmosphere, there and in the Silence of "THRAK", were spine-tingling. And it still comes through on this recording. When I heard "THRaKaTTaK", I was convinced that part of this show went into the composition of the piece; I’m glad to hear that my memory of the event was correct, as I’d been wondering about that all this time. This is a distinctive show in at least one other way - this is probably the only gig of the tour(s) in which the Double Trio DIDN’T play "Lark’s Tongues’ In Aspic, Part Two"! I wondered why! Though I missed it on the night (and finally got to hear it live this year), I have to admit - even without it, this show was breathtaking. It’s strange to re-experience a show you attended this way, but I’m fairly happy to find that my mind does indeed recall most of the detail that’s flying by me again - and some things within the music that I didn’t hear before I hear now thanks to the familiarity of the pieces that I have - other details explain themselves and finally make themselves known to me. Very intriguing to hear. The group I came with wanted to stay in Atlanta the next night and hear that night’s show, but we hadn’t planned ahead and would miss it; now, thanks to the DGM team, I have the option of checking out what the following night had to offer! Still, I wouldn’t trade this experience of Crimson for any other. My thanks to the DGM team for making it available at last. For all who weren’t there, this one is a stunner, and well worth hearing. Even with errors, glitches, and laughs galore, I felt the Music walk into the hall at a few different points; I still smile to think of these.Jesse Morris
Written by Erik Varga
Double Hung
Another impressive addition to an already bulging colleKction, thanks Alex. I will however stick to my original observation that 2min & 15secs of Roxy THRAK was included in The Slaughter.For inquiring basement dwellers: The debut Improv Stick/Indiscipline shuffle first occurred on June 10th 1995 at Ann Arbor, Michigan.Cheetos!
