After nearly forty years, King Crimson remains one of the most important progressive bands of all time. Now, there are those among you who may say that is much the same as being emperor of the mole people, but you're probably punk fans so I don't put much credence in that. At any rate, along with Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and Genesis (throw in Jethro Tull for good measure, I guess), these bands were enormously popular for a few years before the genre burned itself out.*
(You could say that prog metal bands like Dream Theater and Queensryche carry on the baton, but I don't know. Most prog stuff is being done by middle-aged white guys with too much time on their hands, vide Magellan, and it shows.)
Under review here is Epitaph, a 2-CD live set dating from 1969 that emerged from the vaults of Crim guitarist Robert Fripp a few years ago. Now, Crim fans know that this music is from the first "classic" incarnation of King Crimson, consisting of Fripp, vocalist and bassist Greg Lake (of later ELP fame), keyboardist Ian McDonald (of later Foreigner fame), and Michael Giles on drums (lyricist Peter Sinfield - who worked with ELP later - also hung around). And it was in 1969 that the Crims released In the Court of the Crimson Kinga seminal, utterly essential album not only for the prog rock genre but for rock in general. Why? Listen to the opening strains of 21st Century Schizoid Man and you'll immediately understand from whence heavy metal came. The rest of the album created the boundaries for prog rock-including a heavy use of mellotron-- which was generally a pastiche of classical, jazz and psychedelic influences thrown into a kettle and boiled to taste.
Now, this collection is going to be of primary interest to long-time Crim fans who were dying to hear how the band sounded live in the early days before it collapsed. (And collapse it did, for after less than a year together, everyone other than Fripp had left the band (two of the guys were driving down Big Sur when they made decision) and it would take Fripp three years and three increasingly mediocre albums before he assembled the superb band that produced Larks Tongues in Aspic, Starless and Bible Black, and Red.) Those long-time fans will enjoy this very much for reasons I will explain soon. Newbies will get nothing out of this and I strongly recommend that you stay away because you won't understand what the hell is going on here as the songs are either taken out of context or, for those not on the first album, either works in transition or not worthy of inclusion on a CD.
(In general, unless you're listening the Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore East, live albums are a notoriously bad way to get introduced to a band. That's one man's view, anyway.)
Back at the ranch, the CD is assembled from live performances on the BBC and at both the Fillmore East and West. The sound quality, given the primitive recording techniques of the time, is less than impressive. Moreover, this was a band that relied highly on studio overdubs, which of course are entirely missing. Nonetheless, the band sounds terrific in most places and you have to believe that these were entirely a$$-kicking concerts. The standard of musicianship is high, Greg Lake's voice sounds terrific, and the song versions here are close to but are not note-for-note renditions of the album versions.
Let's take a look at the tunes. There are several versions of Schizoid Man and Epitaph, the latter being noteworthy for occasional changes in lyrics. The standard In the Court of the Crimson Kingalso gets a respectful treatment. The interesting parts of the CD, however, come from the tunes that were either works-in-progress or never appeared on CDs. A Man, A City is an early working of Pictures at a City, off In the Wake of Poseidon, and the rip-off of Gustav Holst's Mars became The Devil's Triangle off the same album. Also included is a jam called Mantra, the opening chords of which morphed into Larks Tongues in Aspic's wonderful Exiles.
Not is all perfect, The trippy Get Your Bearingsis rehashed psychedilic Pink Floyd. The included improves are OK but pale in comparison to the improvs on the extraordinary The Great Deceiver.
The liner notes are excellent if a touch idiosyncratic. Written by Robert Fripp in the third person (aka "the guitarist") they provide interesting background on the recordings and the band history. It's not often that one admits that one's guitar playing wasn't very good, as Fripp says-and this coming from a guy who would become one of the best guitarists of his generation.
For the most part, though, this CD is a powerful exemplar of how certain bands could push the limits of rock and roll during such a turbulent period. While so many people were either watching the death of the Beatles, the death of concert fans at Altamont, or the death of pop music via the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Ohio Express, four guys in England composed some rock music for the ages.
Note: This is one of those CD's that demands you listen to it with headphones. The performances are sometimes tinny and, as I said, primitively recorded, and you will not capture the immediacy of these songs via a set of standard speakers.
Track Listing:
Disc: 1
1. 21st Century Schizoid Man 2. In The Court Of The Crimson King 3. Get Thy Bearings 4. Epitaph 5. A Man, A City 6. Epitaph 7. 21st Century Schizoid Man 8. Mantra 9. Travel Weary Capricorn 10. Improv-Travel Bleary Capricorn 11. Mars
Disc: 2
1. In The Court Of The Crimson King 2. Drop In 3. A Man, A City 4. Epitaph 5. 21st Century Schizoid Man 6. Mars
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