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Track Listings
| 1. Pictures Of A City |
| 2. The Letters |
| 3. Formentera Lady (abridged) |
| 4. The Sailors Tale |
| 5. Cirkus |
| 6. Groon |
| 7. Get Thy Bearings |
| 8. 21st Century Schizoid Man |
| 9. In The Court Of The Crimson King |
Product Description
Review
When it comes to unstinting devotion to exploring and making available archive material for fan(atics) there can be few labels more committed than Discipline Global Mobile. Only the Grateful Dead with their legendary 'Dick's Picks' series have surpassed Robert Fripp's desire to beat bootleggers at their own game. He's often stated his aim to provide what he sees as a considerable demand for rarities, but has tended to aim product purely at completists.
Not any more. After over 20 soundboard and audience recordings covering all incarnations of the worlds brainiest band have appeared via the online collectors club, this compilation of sorts arrives on high street shelves. Complimenting the recent reissue of the 1971 incarnation's Earthbound (in itself a pseudo bootleg) this wholly new approach will net both casual Crimheads and bona fide nutters alike. For, while one disc consists of highlights from their 71-72 tour - arranged as a virtual gig - the second disc is a different beast.
And beast - a word that Fripp himself is prone to use -is the only way to describe this skull-crushing edit of solos from their ultimate manifesto - ''21st Century Schizoid Man'' - entitled ''Schizoid Men (1-11)''. It should be called ''Blowing In C'' for its relentless jazz-tinged attack in one key. Simply put, it's over 50 minutes of almost infinite variety that, due to its sudden termination gives the illusion of continuing to this day.
Ian Wallace, in his charming sleeve notes pays homage to original Crimson drummer Mike Giles (''for whom I have nothing but admiration...precise as the Black Watch''), but his freedom around the kit is entirely apt for this looser outfit. This really is as close as they ever got to being funky. The excitement is palpable. Band members yell encouragement as Fripp sets off on a search for God knows what somewhere up at the 17th fret. Even Boz Burrell - taught bass by the guitarist - acquits himself most dextrously.
So, they've done it again. If you only love this one seminal track, you need this album. It's a grainy tapestry of wonders, never to be repeated. --Chris Jones
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Product Description
2CD live set from the Island album line-up 1971-72. Disc 2 is 11 parts of Schizoid Man, mostly improvised
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 48 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is yet another essential live recording from the King Crimson archives. It features the 1971-72 line-up featuring Fripp, saxophonist/flautist Mel Collins, Bassist/vocalist Boz and drummer Ian Wallace. This version of the band is often dismissed by long time followers as the least accomplished version of King Crimson. After listening to this CD people might just want to revise this opinion. Here's why. Firstly it features blistering sax playing courtesy of Mel Collins which is infinitely better than anything Ian McDonald contributed during the first line-up. Secondly, Ian Wallace comes across as an incredible drummer. He may not be as innovative as Bill Bruford or Michael Giles but his playing is still phenomenal. Finally, whilst Boz's bass playing may be a bit limited his vocals are terrific and highly distinctive. The band storm through a number of early 70s classics on CD one including Pictures of A City, The Sailor's Tale and Cirkus all of which are infinitely better than the original studio versions. The first CD also features an interesting version of Groon, a good version of Get Thy Bearings and an excellent version of 21st Century Schizoid Man. The second CD is perhaps less successful being virtually a 50 minute version of 21st Century Schizoid Man. Great as the solos are and this song is I must admit that I find this version a bit hard to take. I would have preferred another disc with a range of KC songs circa 71/72 otherwise I would have given 5 stars to this release. Despite this reservation I would recommend this to all KC fans. It's far better than Earthbound and if you like KC you should buy this without hesitation.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Apart from the weak but still terrific sounding "Earthbound" this is the only live release of the Islands-line-up which is available in custom music stores - and indeed, in great sound quality. The music here is surely a matter of taste because the band was closer to a jazz combo those days than to a prog rock group. But listening to their playing no one can deny that these people were able to exploit their skills and talents eventually onstage. They play far better and more commited than on the only studio album they have recorded together. Besides, fortunately all the superflous session musicians who played on "Islands" are not with the band anymore. Thus, "Formentera Lady" and "The Letters" outshine their studio equivalents and "Sailor's Tale" and "Circus" aren't doing worse. The stunning performance of "Get Thy Bearings" is miles better than any from 1969. The drum solo is very precise either. Only the much too clean sounding recordings from Denver lack personality and the typical Crimso sound because the band were not using keyboards and electrical treatments that show. All in all a great document of excellent music played by a misfortuned line-up.
The booklet has been compiled with many great archive pictures and some liner notes by Wallace.
My only, but quite a huge, critic on this release is the nonsense which the material has been treated with. I don't understand why some of the tracks have been drastically abridged for this compilation only. It's outrageous that the 2nd verse of "Circus" has been cut. So is the fact that track No. 9 has been mentioned on the list at all, as it breaks up after only 49 seconds. It seems almost perverse to me that the remaining two and half minutes of this recording have been simply ignored. That's not the proper way to treat rock classics, Mr. Fripp!!! The whole thing becomes even more paradox if one considers the meaning and aim of the 2nd CD which is a compilation of many Schizoid Man instrumental parts from various shows from 1972. Lasting for over 50 minutes it's something for the most patient listener only. I'd rather do without that demanding sound experiment and have the material on CD 1 in its entity. A shame...
The booklet has been compiled with many great archive pictures and some liner notes by Wallace.
My only, but quite a huge, critic on this release is the nonsense which the material has been treated with. I don't understand why some of the tracks have been drastically abridged for this compilation only. It's outrageous that the 2nd verse of "Circus" has been cut. So is the fact that track No. 9 has been mentioned on the list at all, as it breaks up after only 49 seconds. It seems almost perverse to me that the remaining two and half minutes of this recording have been simply ignored. That's not the proper way to treat rock classics, Mr. Fripp!!! The whole thing becomes even more paradox if one considers the meaning and aim of the 2nd CD which is a compilation of many Schizoid Man instrumental parts from various shows from 1972. Lasting for over 50 minutes it's something for the most patient listener only. I'd rather do without that demanding sound experiment and have the material on CD 1 in its entity. A shame...
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
A magnificent trawl through a selection of the King Crimson Collectors Club archive material representing the 'Islands' era KC, some of which are available seperately from DGM and giving a taste of the live set(s)from this time. It's a 2-disk set one with an example of the kind of set list this band had although taken from various locations between 71-72. The other being a cut-up version of '.......Schizoid Man' guitar and sax solos. Overall the sound quaility is good and shows off just how powerful and underrated this band line-up was/is.
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