Repackaged in this box are four live
King Crimson
concerts that were initially unleashed via the band's
Collectors' Club
mail-order series or as a la carte downloadable files. Granted, the primary target for anthologies such as this is not the casual enthusiast or curious listener. However, that unspoken guideline should be suspended for 2006's
The Collectors' King Crimson, Vol. 10
due to the remarkable breadth of its contents. Taken chronologically,
Live in Brighton
is an audience-derived recording of the 1971
Islands
-era band with
Boz Burrell
(bass, lead vocals),
Robert Fripp
(guitar, Mellotron),
Mel Collins
(saxes, flute, Mellotron), and
Ian Wallace
(drums, vocals). Drawing heavily upon the aforementioned
, they perform practically the entire platter -- sans
Fripp
's classically informed string arrangement
"Prelude: Song of the Gulls."
They throw out a few scant manifestations from earlier incarnations -- such as the raucous albeit somewhat obligatory
"21st Century Schizoid Man"
circa
In the Court of the Crimson King
,
"Cirkus"
from
Lizard
, and a particularly pungent workout of the instrumental
"Groon"
-- the B-side to the 45-rpm edit of the
In the Wake of Poseidon
entry
"Cat Food."
The pair of 1974 sets --
Live in Heidelberg
and
Live in Asbury Park
-- provide two distinct facets of the
Bill Bruford
(percussion, drums),
David Cross
(violin, Mellotron, electric piano),
(guitar, Mellotron, electric piano), and
John Wetton
(bass, vocals) confab. As the gigs are less than two months apart, there is little surprise that the repertoire offers much of the same material.
Heidelberg
stands out for the incendiary
"Dr. Diamond"
-- a track that was never included on a studio project -- as well as a sublime rendition of
"The Night Watch."
The
Asbury Park
tapes might be familiar to astute
Crimson
heads, as it had been previously accessed, both on 1975's
USA
and the four-volume
Great Deceiver (Live 1973-1974)
compendium. While those contained edited and overdubbed segments, the most complete version available can be located here.
and the profound
"Improv: Asbury Park"
jam should be considered essential listening for concerned parties. Fast-forward over a quarter-century later for the four-man lineup of
Adrian Belew
(guitar, vocals),
(guitar, soundscapes),
Trey Gunn
(guitar, Ashbory bass), and
Pat Mastelotto
(electronic drumming). They were concurrently undertaking the first
tour since the dissolution of the double-trio lineup -- which also featured
(percussion) and
Tony Levin
(Chapman stick, bass, vocals). Since there wasn't much variation from night to night on the 2000 European tour,
Live in Warsaw
sums up the combo's sonic state of affairs with tunes spanning as far back as the '80s. Among the standouts are the acoustic
"Three of a Perfect Pair,"
the industrial grunge of
"Into the Frying Pan,"
and the contemplative
"Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Pt. 4."
~ Lindsay Planer