King Crimson: Classic Or Dud

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/lk/l/w/dd360157ea8e506661983ea7336800bc/4330188.gif

classic:

'released in three separate editions to satisfy the merely curious and the expectant collector'

so, who is buying the 13 CD, 1 DVD, 1 Blu-Ray of /Larks' Tongue In Aspic/?

http://www.dgmlive.com/news.htm?entry=3916

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWaz8xfFjuE

Guess Fripperlips is done for good?

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/king-crimson-robert-fripp-quits-music-business/

Hope he enjoys retirement!

He's been retired for a while, I believe. Couple of years? Also, for what it's worth, he was semi-retired for pretty much the second half of the '70s, too.

Yeah, this is not new news.

Wait, hold up:

A multi-disc deluxe edition of the 1973 Crimson classic ‘Larks’ Tongues in Aspic’ is set for release in October and will include 13 CD’s, a DVD and a Blu-Ray disc.

13 CDs!?!?!

Disc details at the bottom of this page: http://www.dgmlive.com/news.htm

So basically a bunch of live discs previously sold through the site. That's cool though. Band in the Muir era was neat.

Wasn't aware Kanye had sampled "Schizoid Man," which Fripp seems pissed he didn't get paid for. Wonder if he ever paid any royalties for quoting "Surrey With The Fringe On Top" in "Moonchild?"

I figured Fripp was done, but this is the first time I ever heard him say it (I know he said he wasn't going to tour anymore some 4-5 years ago), maybe I'm just not paying attention

Fripp got paid for Schizoid sample, but iirc only after going straight to Kanye and the two of them presenting a united front to the label. He was very careful never to criticize West, even though he could have for not clearing the sample ahead of time.

fripp did an album with mel collins and jakko jakwhatsit last year, so he hasn't been retired for 4 years. it was a bit disappointing, definitely not the new lease on KC I think they were hoping for.

Well it certainly wasnt the new lease on KC I was hoping for.

If the '72-74 lineup reunited I would buy a ticket in about 5 seconds flat. Anything beyond that, I don't really care.

Pretty sure Cross & Wetton are the only ones game for that.

I'd be up for another outing of any other combination that the last 2 though (the Jakko one or previous I mean).

Fripp has such a narrow comfort range anymore that I wouldn't see him live unless he personally invited me into his living room to hear him play. I don't need the grief while he tries to figure out whether he can midwife any music.

Mentioned it before, but the last King Crimson tour I saw - Levin, Belew, Fripp, Mastelotto and the drummer from Porcupine Tree - really was awesome. There was a Fripp-less Crimson that toured with Dream Theater a couple of months ago. Believe it was basically Belew and his all-kid band, plus Levin and Mastelotto.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wpTOxb1nFw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGJ_IC8OZMo&feature=relmfu

Looks like every one in a while on tour the drummer from Tool sat in for a few songs as second (third?) drummer.

Why have Belew, Lake, Levin, Gunn, Wetton & Mastelotto never toured together? All of them seem quite happy to tour Crim material sans Fripp.

Straightforward q: what do you guys reckon the best live version of 'Fracture'? I remembered the Asbury Park one killing it, but I just listened to it and was kinda not feeling it so much. Haven't dug out the live box in a while.

The Central Park show the from the folloeing day is to my mind the best, followed by the one of the 2 versions on the Great Deceiver, can't remember which one.

Thx

Central Park = one of the KCCC releases?

i would totally go see any lineup, even without fripp, again. missed the belew/levin retrospective lineup thing last time it went though. I would have loved to have seen 21st century schizoid band also (who jakko was in). I think jakko was the wrong person for fripp to bring in for that last release, he's too much of a follower; he's fine, but not distinctive in any way.

I dunno, any approximation of KC without Fripp seems kind of missing the point. I did see 21st Century Schizoid Band and I thought it was fairly pedestrian

I have a hard time believing Fripp is truly retired.

Retired and working harder than ever. He reminds me of a border collie patiently working the livestock (UMG, Sanctuary, etc) into a corral to be taken to slaughter.

Considering Fripp often lead guitar schools and workshops over the past few decades whose main point appeared to have been indoctrinating students in his precise methods and reshaping them in his (musical) image, it's actually really easy to imagine Crimson without him. Send in the clones!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_in_Central_Park,_NYC
xpost to Jon Lewis

yes but according to him they are all hopeless!

xp

League of Hopeless Guitarists

Anyway, Belew has really been the dominent component over the past three decades. Fripp is awesome, but other dudes are more than capable of doing what he's been doing.

Anyone ever see any of the ProjeKCts? I saw one configuration that was Fripp on guitar (sounding like a marimba), Trey Gunn on bass, and Belew on drums (the entire night!). It kind of sucked, but it was neat to see something different.

Never saw them, but I have the 4CD ProjeKcts box set and I have to say it's given me more listening pleasure than any KC album post-Red.

I'll be on the lookout for that - the whole ConstruKction of Light era is my personal KC nadir so I try to avoid that, though I admit the live recordings of this period are surprisingly good. The improv on Heavy ConstruKction (the three disc set that ends with Fripp snatching and eating some dude's camera) is the best since the Great Deceiver (or better), I'd say

He does that on one of the live albums in this ProjeKcts box as well, can't remember which one. The set is worth hunting down just for the liner notes, which as ever are a total hoot.

Are the liner notes in third person? Fripp is really into that. "At this point our stalwart hero Fripp set down his instrument of choice, took a sip of tea, then flung the remains of the boiling water at the hirsute man in the front with the camera pointed at his face."

I had the box for a while, but it reminded me of the Zappa quote: "why would a first rate guitarist want to sound like a third rate saxophonist?" Except Fripp sounded like a marimba.

holy shit, someone on discogs has uploaded scans of the entire box set, liner notes and all:

http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=703298

Though I haven't listened to them all, for me the most satisfying Projekct release is P3 Live in Alexandria.

http://www.discogs.com/ProjeKct-Three-Live-In-Alexandria-VA-March-3-2003/release/3886963

Belew can't make the gig so they play a Crim set without him. Fripp overcompensates in a good way--everybody's ferocious, and there's a bit more space in the music than you'd normally hear from that lineup.

It gives me incredible melancholia that Fripp hasn't licensed any of this stuff to Spotify. I would never buy the ProjeKct stuff in a million years but would love to go through a few weeks obsessing over it.

On a giant live 1973-4 binge right now, the Night Watch and Great Deceiver sets are incredible.

Around 94-95 Crimson was playing across the street from the bookstore I worked in at the time. Fripp approached me looking for the Financial Times (evidently the only paper he reads, I didn't know that at the time). I timidly asked if he was indeed Fripp as I handed over the pink paper. He replied 'No.'

Such was my brush with greatness. I never got to see the show, which was a shame since that was a good album and tour. Belew also stopped in and was by all accounts an approachable and all-around nice dude.

Fripp's online diary is really charming, I like his utter commitment to being an English Country Gentleman.

one of those groups who seem to be the best band in the world when you hear them first and who get more and more boring with each subsequent listen. this is especially true for the first two records. some of the others have been noodling from the beginning on. that would actually be an interesting criterion to classify bands. those who get better the more you listen to them and those who don't. some get better until a certin point and then you as a listener "exasperate" their music, eg talk talk which i have started to be a little fed up with.

i wanted to say exhaust not exasperate. the ear gets exhausted by the music.

i can definitely sympathize. The Great Deceiver is an awesome set but I question anyone who claims they can listen to all four discs at once.

Isn't all prog rock exhausting after a while? It is for me, maybe it's the earnestness, the focus on craft, and the busy-ness? Too much seriousness and music to handle.

Noticing how each album with a 'fresh' lineup (Court, Larks, Discipline) is usually the best of that lineup, then the quality falls off with each subsequent record, which leads to a breakup, a hiatus, and eventually a new lineup and a new decent record.

yeah the mixes on there are interesting. Starless is particularly impressive, great brass and reeds parts.

The "elemental" mix of Red is extremely cool

Beat was a ton of fun. I never expected to enjoy Steve Vai so much, but it was kind of fascinating to watch his approach to Fripp's parts, some replications, some adaptation and some imprinting his own style. A lot of the fast picking on "Frame by Frame," for example, Vai did by tapping, but it still sounded cool. The only downside of the whole show was trying to watch everyone at once, because they're all up to something dope at any given time.