King Crimson
1-26-09 King Crimson
We only just talked about the mighty K.C. at the end of last year, but I was just taking a look at what I still own…I still say to go in chronological order, if at all possible. The new / recent versions of the CD’s sound pretty good. I have original
And I have purchased some of the latter-day issues of vintage material, notably “The Collectable King Crimson Vol. 1 (Live ’74)”, “Epitaph – Vols. 1 – 4 (Live ’69)”, “The Great Deceiver Part 1 (Live, ‘73-’74)” and “The Night Watch (Live ’73)”. I am aware that there is likely some over-lap on the ’73-’74 live material, but…these volumes were inexpensive. I used to work in an office that had a bootleg CD of some of the material on the “Night Watch (Live ’73)” set – so I knew the performances were good, and Fripp’s legit issue CD’s of this material sound pretty good (for live material).
And I don’t have a CD of “Young Person’s Guide to K.C.”, which means I do not have the Judy Dyble version of “I Talk To The Wind” on CD. And I don’t think I have the studio version of “Groon” on CD either (the B-side of “Cat Food”). One day (when they are inexpensive) I must check what else had been issued, as regards the earlier days of the band.
And when the European paper sleeve versions rolled along (2000?), I noticed that only “
I guess everything will be re-issued yet again – as the Japanese take off into their newest CD variant venture: SHM-CD ( = Super High Materials ). The Japanese ’03 kami sleeve CD’s are truly wonderful, really excellent attention to detail. I have the first four albums as Japanese kami sleeve CD’s. What would they have to do to get me to buy these titles yet again? I doubt they can promise even better sound, at least for the late 60’s / early 70’s recordings.
I love having K.C. 45’s, too. Talk about obscure at the time! I had to go to
CD5 21st CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN VIRGIN
1996 5 TRK CD EP CD5 5 diff. versions
7" 21st CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN / EPITAPH ISLAND
1976 2 TRKS no pic sleeve (60's recording) re-issue at the time of “Young Person’s Guide…”
7" CAT FOOD / GROON STATESIDE DE 1C 006-91380
1970 2 TRKS with pic sleeve, German pressing
CDx2 COLLECTABLE KING CRIMSON, Vol. 1 (2CD) DGM
2006 19 TRKS ('74 recordings) Live
LP EARTHBOUND ISLAND
1972 5 TRKS 5th; Live
CD EARTHBOUND VIRGIN
1972 5 TRKS 5th; Live ('02 issue) kami sleeve
CDx5 EPITAPH - Vols. 1 - 4 (5CD boxed set) WHD JPN IECP-20025-8
1997 40 TRKS Live '69, BBC sessions etc.; kami sleeve, includes a bonus sampler disc
7" GREAT DECEIVER, THE / NIGHT WATCH, THE
1974 2 TRKS no pic sleeve
7" GREAT DECEIVER, THE / NIGHT WATCH, THE
1974 2 TRKS with pic sleeve
CDx2 GREAT DECEIVER, THE: Part 1 (2CD) DGM
2007 24 TRKS ('73-'74 recordings) Live
LP IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING ATLANTIC JPN P-10115A
1969 5 TRKS ('71 issue) insert
7" IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING (Short) / (Long) ATLANTIC US 45-2703
1969 2 TRKS no pic sleeve, promo
7" IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING / (Part 2)
1969 2 TRKS with pic sleeve, re-issue
CD IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING WHD JPN IECP-10003
1969 5 TRKS 2nd vers. ('06 issue) kami sleeve
LP IN THE WAKE OF POSEIDON ATLANTIC JPN P-8104A
1971 10 TRKS insert
LP IN THE WAKE OF POSEIDON ISLAND
1970 10 TRKS
CD IN THE WAKE OF POSEIDON UNIVERSAL JPN UICE-9052
1970 8 TRKS ('03 issue) kami sleeve
LP ISLANDS ISLAND
1971 6 TRKS
CD
1971 6 TRKS 4th ('06 issue) kami sleeve
LP LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC ISLAND
1973 6 TRKS
CD LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC kami VIRGIN UK CDVKCX 5
1973 6 TRKS ('02 issue) kami sleeve
LP LIZARD ISLAND
1970 8 TRKS
CD LIZARD UNIVERSAL JPN UICE-9053
1970 5 TRKS 3rd ('03 issue) kami sleeve
CDx2 NIGHT WATCH, THE (2CD) DISCIPLINE GM DGM 9707
1973 12 TRKS Live '73
7" NIGHT WATCH, THE (Mono) / (Stereo) promo ATLANTIC US 45-3016
1974 2 TRKS no pic sleeve
LP RED ISLAND
1974 5 TRKS
CD RED VIRGIN
1974 5 TRKS ('00 issue) kami sleeve
LP STARLESS AND BIBLE BLACK ISLAND
1974 8 TRKS
CD STARLESS AND BIBLE BLACK VIRGIN
1974 8 TRKS ('02 issue) kami sleeve
LP
1975 6 TRKS Live
CD
1975 9 TRKS ('02 issue) (3 x bonus tracks) kami sleeve
LPx2 YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO KING CRIMSON, THE (2LP) ISLAND UK ISLD 7
1976 15 TRKS Collection, booklet;
Kami sleeve CD = paper sleeve CD
Labels: King Crimson
posted by Ron Kane @ 6:40 AM
4 Comments:
Hmmm. Never saw the Catfood single. Good thing I have TYPGTKC on LP for the single version! Also a good thing that the sleeve's on discogs.com:
http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=386491
Yes - that is intriguing!
Yes, one of the first CDs I ever heard was of ITCOTKC. It was absolutely GHASTLY and infinitely worse than my vinyl. Probably a 10th generation dupe. As of 2004 Fripp swears that they finally found a 1st gen master, so I still need to buy a copy. Eventually. If only to bask in the exquisite horror of 21st Century Schizoid Man again.
I had or have (in storage) copies of Lark's Tongue and Starless, probably left behind by Tom (inside joke).
I recall being fairly "bleah" about the KC 70s material; interesting, certainly. Accomplished, you bet. It just didn't rub me quite the right way, sort of similar to my feeling about Jethro Tull.
When the band was reinvented in the 80s, I sat up and took notice. Maybe having those Frippian Bowie albums pass through the meat grinder of my mind made Crimson more palatable, or maybe Fripp just happened to key on my musical DNA on that outing (I liked Fripp's two solo albums that came out before this as well).
Now I can take a lot of King Crimson from all eras in good stride, though they will always be more "interesting" than "mandatory" for me. Still, I'll probably buy ITCOTKC if they have a good quality version at a reasonable price.
Good quality, possibly. Reasonable price - never.
Charles:
Its never too lat to get good quality copies of KC at a reasonable price. I have bought all of my KC albums [some 30 year kami remasters, others 25 year jb remasters] used at no more than half full retail. Though Ron may be right on ITCOTCK. I have never seen a copy of the 2004 remaster [ignore ALL others!!!] at less than full retail. Hence its absence in my rather nice KC collection. I have CDs of all albums of studio canon except: ITCOTCK and Islands [had it - got rid of it - it sucks!] I have no live CDs except for the great "Nightwatch," which has the complete concert that was the source for much of "Starless & Bible Black," my 2nd favorite KC album. There's now so much live KC out there I really can't go there…in a Bill Nelson sort of way, with a kind of mocha swirl of ubiquity.
It's too bad the single version of "Catfood" is not on CD except for the Frame By Frame 4xCD boxed set… which I highly recommend to you. If you only want a great distillation of KC - this is it. Catfood is amazing jazzpunk that sticks out of 1970 like a sore thumb.
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