SOUNDTRACK: KING CRIMSON-The Elements Of King Crimson – 2016 Tour Box (2016).
This was the third Tour Box containing material that is similar in spirit, but different in fact to the previous two.
As always, it starts with the Wind extract, the sound of Fripp’s mellotron warming up and a voice saying “I prefer the early ones.” It segues into a beautiful instrumental of “Moonchild.” Once again, the lyrics are interesting in the song, but it sounds great without them.
The music stays in somewhat chronological order of release, but often with contemporary versions. Like the 2015 recording of 1970’s “Peace” (which is okay) and “Pictures Of A City” (which is great).
“Prince Rupert’s Lament” is a two and half-minute guitar solo which has the Toronto crowd from the previous track overlaid, making this recording sound like a live one, when it is in fact an except from the recording session of Lizard. There’s a rehearsal of the full 10 minute “Islands” from 1971 or so.
Then a “new” song, the two and a half-minute 2014 “Threshold Soundscape” which segues into the 2014 live version of “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic Part I” which is quite bass heavy. Up next is a recording session of “Easy Money” without all the bells and whistles.
Then comes two live recordings from 1974. “Improv I” which is full of gongs and guitars and chaos and segues into “Doctor Diamond.” This is a song I had never heard before. It never had an official release and this version seems like they’re just trying it out, like they weren’t really sure about the words, especially. It’s heavy and more than a little odd.
After a 30 second clip “From the Drummer’s Stool” which is the a drummer playing the intense “21st Century Schizoid Man” drums, the full song is played from 1974, sounding quite old in the mix.
The second disc continues with all manner of things in no particular order.
There’s more extracts from Lizard, this time a very pretty solo piano version of “Prince Rupert Awakes.”
And them it’s on to a non-Crimson album. “The Other Man” is an alternate early version of the song from the Jakszyk, Fripp, Collins album A Scarcity of Miracles which I don’t know at all.
Next comes “Making Of Discipline,” it’s clips from bulk of the album spliced together into one song. It’s very nifty. There’s a demo instrumental of “Walking on Air” and then a three-minute live track called “Radical Action (to Unseat The Hold of Monkey Mind).”
There’s a demo of “Meltdown” (with guide vocals) and then a 40 second clip “From the Drummers’ Stools I” and a 20 second clip “From The Guitarist’s Stool I” which is part of the 21CSM solo.
Then comes some heavy stuff. “The ConstruKction Of Light” live from 2014 with no vocal tag at the end followed by the bizarre Beatles mashup “Tomorrow Never Knew/Thela” live from 2000.
There another sample “From the Drummers’ Stools II” this one from “Larks’ Tongues In Aspic I” which is followed by “Nuages” (which I read as Nu-ages. It’s trippy with bouncy bass
There’s a 2014 recording of the slow, jazzy “The Light Of Day” also originally from Scarcity of Miracles. It’s followed by a Lizard excerpt “From The Guitarist’s Stool II” and then a fast complicated 40 second 2014 soundcheck for “Larks’ Tongues In Aspic I.”
Moving away from that classic business, we jump to a new mix of “Dinosaur” from THRAK. It’s followed by a final 45 second “From The Drummers’ Stools III” and then concluding with a cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes.” This version is from 2000 and I find it kind of weak, especially compared to the powerhouse versions they would unleash later.
Overall there’s some cool stuff on this box, but I feel like there’s a bunch of stuff that’s not quite my Crimson taste.
[READ: January 12, 2018] The Nix
The Nix received some pretty positive reviews and I was quite interested to read it–even though I had no idea what it was really about. It’s not until nearly page 100 that we find out what the title even means.
The Nix (in the story, not the novel itself) is a ghost story from Norway. The protagonists’s mother heard about The Nix from her Norwegian father. The Nix was a horse. It encouraged you to ride it. When you did, it never stopped running until it ran off a cliff with you on it. In modern terms, The Nix is a person–usually someone you think you love. Someone who will leave you.
Summarizing the book is either really easy or something of a challenge depending on how many aspects you want to include.
The book more or less follows one man–starting with his failing writing career and then flashing back to how he got where he is. That sounds pretty dull, but the book is set on the backdrop of contemporary America–from the rebellions of hippie parents to the rebellions of the 99%ers.
There’s also these wonderful subplots that prop up the main story. (more…)
