The Vroom Sessions - King Crimson.  DGM Club release 8 

With little difficulty I could write a couple of chapters about Crim.  But, I won't just yet, well perhaps I'll get carried away.  If you've never heard of King Crimson, where have you been the last thirty years.  Yep, that's right Crim were formed back in 1969 in London Town.  If you think that this is a dinosauric prog rock monstrosity, think on.  And, if you insist that Bob Fripp is the leader of the band, go to back of the class pal (at least that's  Bobby's take on Crim history). 

So Tuesday the latest Discipline Global Mobile (DGM) club release comes through the letter box.  The "club" is Fripp's master plan to tap into Crim-heads bank accounts.  Write him a nice letter "Dear Mr F, Please can I join your club?"  And every couple of months you get a fab little CD thing with all sorts of goodies Crim.  (And your bank balance disappears at a rate of knots.)  Previous releases have seen rare live performances including a 1973 session with the legendary blood capsule chomping percussionist Jamie Muir.  There's also been an offering of the latest KC incarnation playing off Broadway in 1995.  Lastly, we got a ProjeKct 4 CD - the so-called fractilised Crimson with three or four of the current six grooving live (ProjeKcts 1-4).  Rarities, live sets and now this bizarre slice of Crimology. 

Mr F re-invented Crim in the form of a double trio - two guitarist (Adrian Belew and Fripp), two bassist/stick-ists (Tony Levin and Trey Gunn) plus twin drummers (Bill Bruford and Pat Mastelotto).  Whereas the 80's Crim was a beast of evil beats, wailing Frippery and wierd-out Belew lyrics, this is a more mature, technically gymnastic outfit.  A very tight band live, create wide landscapes of sound.  On CD, well there's really only Thrak from 1995 which is a polished update of the 1994 mini-album Vroom.  So we get to this release.  It's Vroom in progress so to speak.  The band is working out numbers, testing the waters, creating itself.  For Crim fans there are recognizable riffs and soundscapes sans Belew not so warbling tones.  For the uninitiated perhaps not much more than an oddity. 

Crimson reconstituted - well, four of them did (ProjeKct 5?) - in Nashville late last year to rehearse and record new material.  We monetarily poorer Crim fans await with baited breath. 

Stop press: Crimson will be doing warm up gigs in Nashville May 2000.  European tour soon afterwards.  

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