King Crimson  Live at Summit Studios, 1972.  DGM Club.  Club9  

The latest DGM Club release popped through my letter box earlier this week.  (Aside: I was very disappointed when I moved in here to find I had no mailbox at the end of my drive.  Very un-American.) 

For those non-CrimHeads out there, the Crimson King had many incarnations: prog-rock progenitors ('69); heavy bass driven noodlers ('73-'74); ethno-rockers ('79-'82); the most recent double trio and ProjeKCts fractals.  The most overlooked line-up has to be the authors of the mostly forgettable Islands platter of 1972. 

From the ashes of 1969, Fripp assembled drummer Ian Wallace, sax man Mel Collins and singer Boz Burrell.  Fripp ruled with an iron fist (allegedly) and the outfit collapsed in a heap soon after completed Islands partly due to Fripp's dissatisfaction with Burrell's bass playing.  Legend has it that short of bassist, Burrell picked up the instrument and started to strum.  Fripp impart the rudiments and KC had a new bass man! 

Their 1972 US tour was a "contractual obligation".  Despite the bitter feelings of the respective parties, the group by all accounts put on some great shows and appeared to be gelling as a fine jazz heavy jam band.  Summit catches the group laying down a live set for a Denver radio station. 

Unlike the Club 2 release from a Jacksonville concert later in that fateful tour, the sound quality here is clear if a little hissy.  Jacksonville is terribly muddy (as is the Earthbound LP release which Fripp successfully got deleted many years ago).  Many concerts from this tour were taped from the front of house mixing desk direct to an early cassette player recently purchased by Wallace.  The quality, therefore, is patchy. 

Summit contains some fine liner notes from drummer Wallace - a nice antidote to Fripp's usually meanderings.  It also contains pretty much the complete radio show plus little extras like Wallace's Gumby impression asides from the radio host and dead air. 

"Pictures of a City" a standard opener kicks off the set.  An excellent example of Peter Sinfield's bizarre hippy lyrics: Burrell struggles.  Equally, he is not the singer to deliver the gentle ballad "Cadence and Cascade" against Fripp's masterful guitar work. 

The combo hits its stride on "Groon" a concert favourite and forgotten 'B' side.  Here they crank up the vibe, take jazz licks and wander off into the Front Range.  Collins funks up KC's signature tune "21st Century Schizoid Man".  This version stands tall against others by the various Crim variations. 

More funk in an "encore" improv piece post-titled in an example of Frippery  "Summit going on".  After Wallace's Gumby, the group cranks it up again for "Sailor's Tale" the only Islands track that stands the test of time.  Later on some more jamming to Pharaoh Sanders's "The Creator has a Master Plan".  It's here that any resemblance between other KC line-ups all but disappears.  Even Fripp casts off his discipline.   (But there's some foretastes of Larks Tongue in there somewhere!) 

This release has totally changed my perception of this KC roster.  Burrell is no Tony Levin, but his bass work does hold together.  Collins, well he just blows.  On the drums, Wallace keeps it humming.  Fripp, despite his later protestations, seems well fitted to the gaps created by the other three.  What they lack, unfortunately, is suitable material. 

Excellent stuff! 

Postscript: Mel, Boz and Ian hung around New Orleans after the '72 tour and played with UK blues legend Alexis Korner.  Fripp returned to Blighty and re-invented Crimson again ... possibly the most popular version, heavier, free formed and equally turbulent. 
 

Playlists

Reviews A-H
Reviews I-O
Reviews P-Z

navigation>

home  music  bio  travel  editorial  links