King Crimson - "Starless - Live in Europe" box set confirmed

From DGM:

 

Wow, I've gotta give credit where it's due: I was a doubter, but Jetman called this one. I honestly didn't know that there were this many additional live performances from late '73 kicking around out there, though I desperately wish that we had access to more good quality recordings from earlier in the year (The band seemed a little more fluid and open early on after Muir departed, IMO, before they solidified their more muscular sound in '74.). This actually looks more appealing to me than the Road to Red set, since it features a lot more material that I don't already have. Better start saving now!

 

well, this was probably inevitable after road to red. I'm a little disappointed that DGM's not taking a break for a box from some other lineup of the band, but only just a little. there are some amazing performances on the 'blue tapes,' and I too am slightly more interested in those (and Muir-period performances) than in the the later road to red work.

but post-october, after the entire Fripp/Wetton/Bruford [/Cross/Muir] era has been explored, I'll be beyond ready to see some 80s KC get this treatment.

 

Bad news as it probably means that the 5.1 mixes of the other albums will be delayed again. People who love live King Crimson have already hundreds of shows available to download from 1969 to 2008.

*wears flame retardant suit as shown in avatar*... These boxsets are a money grabbing exercise.

 

I really love this era of the band. Any idea how many discs it will be? That looks like a ton of shows

 

beat 5.1 was just announced for october release as well, at least.

 

You gotta be freakin' kiddin' me...I'm not sure I've even listened to the entire R2R box yet...

 

Actually it says that the boxset is "bookended" by other releases... we'll see what that means. Good to see that finally Beat is announced at least.

 

I'd be more interested in them if they abandoned the CD format and offered the content as a blu-ray package. I don't need multiple versions of the same songs, from the same tour, but a Yes-type blu-ray of Starless in 5.1 with some live stuff as a bonus would be an instant buy...however, I don't want to spend a ton of extra money because it's bundled with CD's I'll never play and don't need.

 

Yes but we have seen that these boxsets are priced by the number of discs included. Some people here justified the RtR boxset price counting them and stating "it's only $x per disc so it is a great deal"..

 

I'm not sure why it has to be an either/or with these things. I was under the impression that Wilson did remixing work for Beat quite some time ago, while Jakko was supposedly at work on Thrak (though maybe he's gotten sidetracked with the new KC incarnation now?). As much as I tend to prefer the Wetton/Bruford period, it is ridiculous that they haven't made it beyond Discipline after all this time.

When we're dealing with so much repetition of content here, even given the improvisational variation that this band was famous for, it certainly would make sense to take advantage of the extra storage content available with Blu-ray. Putting all of these performances on individual CD seems a bit excessive, but then again, not everyone goes the DVD/Blu route.

 

Outside of this board, I'd be willing to bet more people go the Blu-ray route than listen to CD's. 15 King Crimson shows aren't really the kind of thing you pop in the car for a family road trip.

I just really like the blu-ray thing as an archival format for this type of thing...it's maybe the last chance of digital media to be relevant in music, and I wish more artists would jump on it. At 16/44, why couldn't you fit hours of vault concert recordings on a single disc, and present them in an interesting, historically compelling way? I bet they'd sell exponentially more "Starless Tour" blu-rays at $25 than at a $300 CD box set, make about the same amount of money yet having significantly more people listening and engaging with the band and its music. (IMO "listeners" is a far more important statistic than "sales," especially since Crimson is supposedly touring soon)

 

My goodness, I wish Yes and Genesis would release 1/10 th of the number of live recordings that King Crimson does.
Talking about overkill...

 

Well, I guess that depends on the family...



I can't afford either, but this one is somewhat more compelling to me than Road, if only to find a definitive Larks' Tongues Part 1.

However, surveying the cobwebs in my wallet, I guess I'll settle for Beat for now.

 

I am not so sure that the potential audience for an archival release like this grows to large numbers just because you make it cheaper. I reckon that the market for these boxsets is about 2000 people at full price and perhaps 2500 if cheaper. The King Crimson fans are mostly middle aged guys. If we are talking about profit then the big expensive boxset is definitely the best option.

 

I love KC but I've been 73-ed to death. Am I the only one that feels like I've already heard about 100 different recordings from this era?

 

Hate to say "I told you so", but........................................

 

Me know stuff.

 

That's because SaBB is the better album, despite what Kurt Cobain thought

 

Despite what he says, Fripp knows that the OVERWHELMING majority of Crim fans value this version of the band over all others.

 

My wallet is on suicide watch at the moment!

 

Gonna be tough between this and the 5 Zep Super Deluxes to be released by October.

 

I'm inclined to agree with you, precisely because it showcases more of the live, improvisational aspect of the band, but I think we're in the minority on this. I couldn't care less about Cobain's opinion of King Crimson. . .

 

I was referring to the myth that Red was in his CD player when he, you know.......

People here tend to value famous musicians' tastes in music more than they value their own

 

Can't wait for the $99 listing on Deep Discount!