King Crimson - Happy 50th Anniversary !!!!

King Crimson - CC48 - Live in Newcastle, December 8, 1972

It’s remarkable, from this distance in time, to imagine that a band with four chart albums (and an official live bootleg) in its history and the reputation such entailed, could embark on a UK tour, with a completely new line-up featuring just a single surviving founding member, playing a set consisting of newly composed material, some on the spot improvisations and, usually, an encore of one familiar tune – 21st Century Schizoid Man – and be expected by management and promoters not just to fill halls around the country but to sufficiently entertain the audiences from city to city so as not to get bottled off stage.

Welcome to King Crimson’s autumn/winter tour of the UK in 1972.

Not only that but, in an era before smart phones and other such devices, a band such as King Crimson could preview an entire album’s worth of material, test, hone, tweak and likely improve upon it in concert prior to taking it into the studio. Weeks before it could be recorded and months before release a band could be reasonably confident that it wouldn’t be freely available to a mass market before the members had made it back to the hotel post-gig.

Of course, some concerts were recorded, fortunately. Of course, some of those emerged as bootlegs, but some were recorded and, for whatever reason, were lost to history. In late 2017 a former road crew member handed a cassette to the band’s manager at a party. He wasn’t sure if it was in the DGM archive.

This CD is taken from that recording. It was also, coincidentally, the first King Crimson concert ever attended by writer and King Crimson biographer Sid Smith. He confirms that the capacity audience was quite content to hear unfamiliar material and respond with enthusiasm to the challenge presented.

As he says of the recording: “Had this tape been available to the compilers of the 2012 Larks' Tongues In Aspic: The Complete Recordings 15-disc set, I have absolutely no doubt that this concert would have been the jewel in that particular crown. Good quality examples of the Muir-era quintet are so few and far between that, a soundboard tape like this is a precious find indeed.”

He’s absolutely correct and while this is – buyer beware – taken from a cassette made directly from the soundboard, with all of the audio limitations that implies, even after the DGM restoration team has applied its expertise to the tape, it is also the best single live example of Jamie Muir’s short time with this line-up and it’s there that the magic truly lies.

This was King Crimson confidently playing the material that would, for the most part, make up the classic Larks’ Tongues in Aspic album – performed in its near entirety and, improvisations excluded, in the running order that would emerge on vinyl in early 1973 and which is still, some 46 years later, regarded as one of the band’s classic recordings and a classic of the era in which it was performed, recorded and released.

Taped with no expectation that it would be used other than, possibly, by a band member wanting to check an element of a previous night’s performance, an imperfect mix direct to cassette from a live feed, un-played since 1972 and still, as thrilling a live recording as you’re likely to encounter in 2019.

The King Crimson Collectors’ Club was launched in 1998, initially as mail order only, with a remit to give collectors the opportunity to buy live soundboard recordings, collections of studio sessions, audio restored historic bootlegs and other non-mainstream band releases. Over the years, several of these titles proved popular enough to be issued through more conventional retail outlets either as released via the club or as part of the King Crimson boxed set series. As the number implies, King Crimson – Live in Newcastle is the 48th title in the series and the club is scheduled to reach its 50th and final release – appropriately enough – in 2019, the King Crimson’s 50th anniversary.

 

Awesome news, glad this has been addressed so quickly. I was expecting it much later in the year.

For them to say it's the best example of Jamie Muir and/or the best sounding tape really gives it some extra mojo.

 

Hunhh... haven't ordered a CC in a while. Wonder if there will be a download option?

 

I would want to hear audio examples before i spring for this. If the audio quality is not at least decent i wont enjoy it.

 

I will have to get this one.

To date my favorite Collectors Club is 74 in Mainz.

 

So Adrian Belew said...

 

"Although taken from a cassette recording (audio restored & mastered by DGM) this is the best sounding live recording of this quintet line-up."

I can not think of a release that better embodies the word "autobuy."

 

Out of the KCCC series I have and cherish the following volumes:

• Plymouth, Marquee & Detroit (all 1971), Summit Studios '72
• Bremen & Guildford (both 1972)
  
• Mainz '74
• Bath '81
• Philadelphia '82
• Broadway '94

I had Jacksonville '71 and Zoom Club '72, but got rid of them due to poor sound quality. I skipped Brighton '71 and Central Park '74 for the same reason.

Now I definitely want to pick Orlando '72, Newcastle '72 (the new one) and Zurich '73 (even though I already have a large chunk on The Great Deceiver box, but hey it's the magical 1973!).

king crimson, collectors' club

I haven't bought any of their big boxsets, so feel free to recommend me any other picks I am foolishly overlooking.

 

Thank you for the short list. I have a similar strategy when it comes down to KC live recordings. I am not into collecting each and every recorded concerts so only the best ones are making it through my modest KC collection.

Newcastle 72 seems promising. Will wait for review on SQ. I have no doubt about KC extraordinay performance.

I am grateful to Fripp and team to make those available to all.

 

I stumbled into a used LP of Pete Sinfield's Still the other day and snagged it. An interesting and familiar listen. The used record store lots of times has little stickies with brief descriptions - this one said "KC without Fripp". I can't really disagree.

 

I was the same but got trigger happy & pre-ordered anyway.

What's the other recording like with Jamie Muir as supposedly this one is better?

 

A little off-topic, but this seems like a good place to ask: I have been doing a little research on Crimson, and I frequently use elephant-talk.com, but over the past week I have been unable to access the site. Is it gone, or just a server error? I would really miss it.
Back on-topic, for our anniversary this year, my wife got us the Royal package tickets to KC's Montreal show this September. The last time I saw them was in 1984. Very excited! And I will be getting the Jamie Muir era Collector's Club CD. Sounds like this will be a nice document of that band. I have the Lark's Tongue mega box but most of the recordings are not very enjoyable due to sound, and a soundboard, even on cassette, should be a big improvement.

 

I am just pulling up a white page of nothing at the ET site now.

 

This was a no-brainer for me; I saw the email this morning and pre-ordered instantly.

My guess is that the "other" recording that is alluded to is probably The Beat Club from October 17, 1972. That tape doesn't have that "all meters pegged" distortion thing going on like several of the other Lark's box releases do. It is lacking in low end however, so hopefully this will be an improvement there.

 

Thanks, that's the case for me as well. I hope it's just temporary.

 

Well, to fill in the pre-1972 gap, I’d recommend:
Live At Fillmore East, November 21 & 22, 1969
and
Live At Plymouth Guildhall, May 11, 1971
Live At The Marquee, August 10, 1971

 

Agree Plymouth should be on the list!

 

I have the Epitaph box (the first volume). How does this one compare to those recordings sound quality-wise?

Agreed! However, these two are already on my shelf; I listed both in my post above.

 

The KCCC version of this is one of my faves because it mixes the audience recording with the soundboard tape, which gives a unique perspective.

 

The CD contains performances of the same four songs over two nights. Three of the songs from one of the shows are identical to the Epitaph version; the fourth (The Court) is incomplete (in both shows). The sound quality of the three songs from the other show is as good as that on Epitaph, but since you already have that, you aren’t missing much.

Oops!

Then you really aren’t missing much. I personally have a soft spot for Brighton October 1971, as I was there, though I think the May 1971 tour was better.

 

Take my photo and I'll kill this tape deck...

 

Yes there’s a lot of duplication in their discography.

 

Very excited for this upcoming '72 release, it will also be nice to grab the official CD of the first volume from Mr. Stormy's Monday selections... so I ordered both!

 

Not sure why Stormys disc is not yet available in the UK store

 

It's not going to be. These will be only available through Inner Knot.