The second volume of The Collectable King Crimson features the 80’s lineup, which has grown to be a favorite era to me, even though I love the Wetton/Bruford/Fripp era as much. The first concert features them when they were still known as Discipline (which before Fripp figured this was in fact a viable new version of King Crimson) appearing at Moles in Bath, England. The band performs raw material that would later show up on their debut first album Discipline. The audio is presenting in a fair status due to being drawn from a restored audio cassette in mono format.
While this may make a casual fan shy away, to me it’s an important live document of the new wave King Crimson would bring to the progressive rock genre. with limited fidelity. The bulk of the material performed was from the "Discipline" album as well as two 70's era Crimson compositions "Red" (which would become a staple of this line up)and "Larks Tongues in Aspic: Part II". Two of my favorites of that era.
The second disc is from one of the band's t performances during their 1982 tour. And it captured to what could be called the peak of the band’s intensity of the 80‘s It was recorded on 8 track so the sound quality was a great improvement from the first disc, making it another great live document for the fans, both casual and die-heard.
Crimson biographer, Sid Smith provides separate liner notes in the booklet that is fun to read while listening to the music. It also revealed that Sid never saw the 80's version of KC live. That makes two of us. I feel if I had a time machine, I’d go to see these two shows hands down.
Another chapter in Crimso history is documented on this release and I’d recommend fans of that era to go out and buy this amazing album. High recommendations for The Collectable King Crimson Volume Two. GO GET IT NOW!
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on September 8th, 2007
