This second volume of Collectable KC gives us a fortunate and exciting glimpse of the very earliest days of a new King Crimson. Robert Fripp initially assembled these guys under the name Discipline, as if he was unsure what to do with these guys and where he wanted to go with them. On the first cd we have Discipline performing together as a group, for the very first time, in the claustraphobic Moles Club, in Bath England in 1981. The performance was captured off an original cassette recording of the show, and so the sound quality is very poor. However, we catch the energy and prescence of the crowd, feeling almost as if we were there, elbowing for space, trying to catch a glimpse of what new thing Robert Fripp has come up with. The band performs the new material with penache, but does seem to stumble some. The classics Red and Lark's Tongues are performed to perfection. We are fortunate that Fripp released this recording. I would have loved to have been in the audience. Just imagine how it must have been to hear this totally new King Crimson, playing this music which was radically different than anything out there, and different even from what the band had put out under different personnel in the previous album Red.
The second cd is a performance done in Philadelphia, PA in 1982. While a very good show, we do feel quite removed from the audience in this one, unlike the very crowded feel we get from disc 1. The performance lives up to the usual high standards of just about all KC shows. The sound quality on this disc is much better, having been made from the band's original 8 track recording.
Consider this a must for all King Crimson collectors.