Errors-To: admin at elephant-talk dot com Reply-To: newsletter at elephant-talk dot com Sender: moderator at elephant-talk dot com Precedence: bulk From: moderator at elephant-talk dot com To: newsletter at elephant-talk dot com Subject: Elephant Talk #750 E L E P H A N T T A L K The Internet newsletter for Robert Fripp and King Crimson enthusiasts Number 750 Monday, 23 October 2000 Today's Topics: Nashville rehearsals/KCCC 14 Re: Location of Eddie Offord Remasters Standing Room Only hApPy bIRtHdAy tIm LeArY (KC Implicit Content) John Wetton in Mexico Re: The "Supper Club" shows in NYC Keep up the incredible work Re: BB drumming out of time HDCD remasters ghost members, collectors editions vs collectors club and singles The Bears Children at KC shows KC (and related) streaming media KC In Montreal, Canada Re: I Have a Dream Fripp & co. Fripp-Related Reviews in The Wire GIG REVIEW: KC in San Francisco - Fripp Moves out Front. GIG REVIEW: SF Thursday Oct 19, 2000 GIG REVIEW: sloppy seconds KC @fillmore 10-20-00 GIG REVIEW: The first two SF shows ------------------ A D M I N I S T R I V I A --------------------- POSTS: Please send all posts to newsletter at elephant-talk dot com To UNSUBSCRIBE, or to CHANGE ADDRESS: Send a message with a body of HELP to admin at elephant-talk dot com or use the DIY list machine at http://www.elephant-talk.com/list/ To ASK FOR HELP about your ET subscription: Send a message to: help at elephant-talk dot com ET Web: http://www.elephant-talk.com/ Read the ET FAQ before you post a question at http://www.elephant-talk.com/faq.htm Current TOUR DATES info can always be found at http://www.elephant-talk.com/gigs/tourdates.htm You can read the most recent seven editions of ET at http://www.elephant-talk.com/newsletter.htm THE ET TEAM: Toby Howard (Moderator), Dan Kirkdorffer (Webmaster) Mike Dickson (List Admin), and a cast of thousands. The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors. ET is produced using John Relph's Digest system v3.7b (relph at sgi dot com). ------------------ A I V I R T S I N I M D A --------------------- Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 09:09:10 -0700 (PDT) From: Edgar Kausel Subject: Nashville rehearsals/KCCC 14 1) I have a question. At the time of the Nashville rehearsals: It was scheduled another tour and then they cancelled it? They already knew they were going to be fractalized (oh, i forgot the 'Kc'!)? They were rehearsing for a new album? 2) KCCC 14 = Plymouth '71... YIPEEE!!! Edgar Chile, South America ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 19:47:31 GMT From: Simplius Subject: Re: Location of Eddie Offord ChalkPie88 at aol dot com wrote: > If by any slim chance any of you happen to know where I can get in touch > with Eddy Offord (the producer of Yes and E.L.P., not the guy who works at > Citibank) either via phone, e-mail, or acoustic mail, that would be really > swell. A Google search gives a homepage of some band named Timmy with a recent album produced by Offord. Go to http://www.abrown.com/timmy.htm Their contact email address is tim at abrown dot com. Maybe they will help you. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 15:19:38 EDT From: GenoTT at aol dot com Subject: Remasters >Red... The remastering is far less noticable here, because the >Definitive release was pretty polished to begin with. I still noticed a slight improvement in overall clarity, especially during "Red" and "Starless." The scrapbook is also worth picking up for the reviews and pictures (including the original photos that made up the cover). Can anyone tell us what Bill was doing to make those weird drum sounds during "Red Nightmare"? >I expect Starless and Bible Black will be more akin to Red's 24-bit >qualitative differences than to LTiA's. SaBB, however, has a few improvs >that have never been remastered in this way before, so it might be >interesting to hear how they sound. I haven't heard the 'Definitive' SaBB version, but I can say the sound on the new remaster is almost flawless. The only thing that gets on my nerves is the fact that I have to adjust the volume thorughout "Trio" just to hear the whole thing. It's too quiet to hear at normal volume until 2:30 or so, then slowly increases until it hits what sounds like the right volume level (to me), by which point it's practically at the end. Other than that, the only flaw I can find is the hideous shade of pink they insist on using for the Cds themselves... ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 20:19:52 -0400 From: Ted White Subject: Standing Room Only In ET # 749, Mitchell Pearce sez, "When you consider that one of the virtues of Krimson is the age-diversity of its audience I find this standing-only venue in NYC to be ridiculous. Seems to me that the promoter had only one thing on his/her mind and that was packing in as many people into the place as possible in order to make a financial windfall. I'd love to hear from others on this." NYC isn't the only place. The Washington, D.C. venue for Crimson, the 9:30 Club, is another standing-only venue. P2 played there and it apparently made a good impression on Fripp, Belew and Gunn. Those of us in the area would much rather have seen KC play at the State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia (six miles from D.C.). This refurbished movie theater has been turned into a dinner theater, and proved to be hospitable to Happy The Man when they reformed and held their first concert there this June. I will be seeing Ozric Tentacles there later this week. --TW (Dr P) dc-et #6 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 19:24:29 -0500 From: "Gerardo Liedo" Subject: hApPy bIRtHdAy tIm LeArY (KC Implicit Content) Today Tim would be 80 years old, long live the real "high" life! http://default.albec.net.mx/personales/rocksoff/TimLeary.jpg http://www.leary.com/ This is an implicit King Crimson content, isn't it? sALudOs pEAcE lOvE aNd hApPiNeSs Gerardo aka Voodoo Chile in Wonderland ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 21:38:43 -0600 From: "Luna Negra, S.C." Subject: John Wetton in Mexico Hi, there: Well, it seems that finally, two dates had been booked for John Wetton in Mexico City. The information I'm posting is a forwarded message from the organizer (in Spanish). For more information, please contact Carlos Carsi at soldeneb at data dot net dot mx Hope to see you there, Juan Jose @ Luna Negra... Los conciertos de JOHN WETTON en la ciudad de Mexico se cambiaron para el 29 y 30 de Noviembre del 2000,en el SALON 21(Andromaco 17,esq.Moliere,Polanco).El aforo del lugar sera con sillas,no con mesas. La venta de boletos comienza el proximo Miercoles 25 de Octubre,en DISCOS AQARIUS.Coahuila 168,Col.Roma Tel: 55 74 17 64 El precio de los boletos es de $ 400.00, $ 300.00, y de $ 250.00 pesos. Cualquier informacion respecto a los conciertos de WETTON,lo pueden checar en Internet en la siguiente pagina: http://habitantes.elsitio.com/wetton2 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 23:58:09 EDT From: GooBoy95 at aol dot com Subject: Re: The "Supper Club" shows in NYC as someone who finds it extremely diificult to not dance with great ferocity (and grace) as the KC vibrations penetrate my body and pulsate my soul, I personally have no problem with the choice of venue -jordan ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 04:35:47 GMT From: "Dan Ceo" Subject: Keep up the incredible work I must say this to the band, esp. RF, if you're reading this: I just bought copies of Epitaph, vols. 1&2, LTIA, SABB and Red and I've just been blown away. As I've said many times, there aren't many bands nowadays that have the balls, the know-how or the talent to produce music like this. Great work on the remasters, the sound is very clear and everything is very audible-not to mention enjoyable. Keep up the great work! I can't wait to see you guys in Detroit's Majestic Theatre. PS-I'm quite tempted to subscribe to KCCC. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 08:39:39 +0200 From: masse at geocean dot u-bordeaux dot fr (Laurent MASSE) Subject: Re: BB drumming out of time BB may be drumming slightly out of time on purpose, but nothing compared to what Michael Giles did in 1969. I was listening again recently to what he did on the beginnings of Get Thy Bearings and Drop In. Where's the beat? Poor Greg Lake, left alone to take care of it! ___ Laurent Masse ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 03:36:56 -0400 (EDT) From: Steven Sullivan Subject: HDCD remasters Interesting to read a review of these. I certainly hope no compression was *added* to the new remasters -- if anything, remastering to CD should be about *removing* compression found on previous releases. I'm also against de-noising as a rule. But having heard the new HDCDs I'm pretty happy. A/B comparison reveals not only the now-expected volume gain ((compression? again I hope not) but also increased snap and clarity. Surprisingly (to me) the msot obviously notable improvement was to RED, which I'd always thought was pretty well-served on CD except for teh title track. On the new HDCD the title track has had a layer or two of grunge removed from it, so that the dense opening chords are no longer a muddle. The rest of the tracks are also notably clearer, the end of Starless being positively ferocious. I was moved to also A/B PRovidence to its Great Deceiver box counterpart, and was surprised to find that the GD mix beats the REd version hands down, sonically -- mainly because the drums are clearer still and teh instruments placed more realistically in space. [listening was done via a sub/satellite system, not headphones, for those who care about such things] -S. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 10:12:17 GMT From: crimson at blackcat dot demon dot co dot uk (Mike Dickson) Subject: ghost members, collectors editions vs collectors club and singles Owen Keenan wrote... > 1. I've noticed that KC lyricist Richard Palmer-James (LTiA,SaBB,Red) > is traditionally not included in any bio as being a member of KC whilst > Peter Sinfield (ItCotCK,ItWoP,Lizard,Islands) is. Is there any reason > for this, besides Sinfield being a touring member of the group? Now > we're onto it, who the hell is Palmer-James anyway? When I met him at the 'Night Watch' playback he seemed real enough, and he was happily signing CDs long with the rest of the band members. As for who he is, I have been told that he was once in an early incarnation of Supertramp. Mike Dickson, Black Cat Software Factory, Scotland : Mellotron M400 #996 crimson at blackcat dot demon dot co dot uk : ET Administrator : Hammond T500 #252302 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 11:24:21 +0200 From: Gnad Markus Subject: The Bears Hi all, and yet another Belew-relaYERted question: Anyone out there willing to trade / sell the FIRST BEARS ALBUM, and the album they released as THE RAISINS? Please contact me on mag at liwest dot at (Well, MX, I'm obviously looking for people who are willing to make the same mistake as you did.... just kidding!) Wish you best Markus ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 08:35:12 -0400 From: "Greg Amann" Subject: Children at KC shows Hi folks: I have just got three tickets to the upcoming KC gig in Toronto on 11/24. One for me, one for my charming wife and one for my 9 year old son who happens to like KC. The show starts at 8:00 PM and it is advertised as no smoking so I figure this is a good way to introduce little Max to the world of live screaming guitars and fifty year old white males who refuse to act their age. Has anyone out there had experience with taking kids to KC gigs? Am I off my nut? Peace, light and love, Greg gamann at bconnex dot net ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 09:01:58 -0400 From: Warren Melnick Subject: KC (and related) streaming media I am trying to find all of the KC and KC-related streaming media around the 'net and was looking for any help that anyone might be able to give. Here is what I have so far: From http://www.kingcrimsontv.com (via bootlegtv.com): - All 4 Nashville shows in their entirety. Audio ASF 32-36kMono/80kStereo - May 19 Nashville show clip: Frying Pan. Audio ASF 22kMono/64kStereo, Video 34k,100kMono/300kStereo - May 19 Nashville show clip: Frying Pan. Audio ASF 22kMono/64kStereo, Video 34k,100kMono/300kStereo - Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo 10.05-06.95 clip: Dinosaur. Video ASF 80k/300k - Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo 10.05-06.95 clip: People. Video ASF 80k/300k - Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo 10.05-06.95 clip: Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream. Video ASF 80k/300k - Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo 10.05-06.95 clip: Three of a Perfect Pair. Video ASF 80k/300k From http://www.cgtrio.com/realroom.htm Tony Levin with the California Guitar Trio, from the Boulder Theater in downtown Boulder, Colorado, April 22, 2000 RealVideo G2 34k. From http://eden.vmg.co.uk/robertfripp Robert Fripp Interview Real Video 28k/56k/128k. Originally broadcast April 11th, 2000. From http://www.hob.com/live/concerts BRUFORD LEVIN UPPER EXTREMITIES Recorded Live at HOB Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA, 4/19/1998 RealAudio 28.8k/56k/100k, ASF Audio 28.8, 56k,100k Does anyone have any more webcasts? Warren Melnick Director, Research & Development Astata Corporation (212) 584-5523 Fax: (212) 584-5580 "I worry about my child and the Internet all the time, even though she's too young to have logged on yet. Here's what I worry about. I worry that 10 or 15 years from now, she will come to me and say 'Daddy, where were you when they took freedom of the press away from the Internet?' " -Mike Godwin Plan: > cd /pub > more beer ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 09:57:45 -0400 From: "Andre Theriault" Subject: KC In Montreal, Canada Canadian ETers November 23, 2000 Crimson will be in Montreal, Canada. A couple of friends and I have already bought our tickets. I know that it is the Construction Of Lihgt Tour. I would also like to do : Is it the complete double trio formation coming to town ? Will we only see the songs from Construction of Light, or they will do other musical masterpiece off their repertoire ? When is the last time that KC came to Montreal ? I would also appreciate show critics from anyone who saw the show.... Hope this e-mail does not represent a massacre of Shakespeare's language... Andre ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 10:16:09 -0400 From: Martin Bradburn Subject: Re: I Have a Dream Sandy Starr wrote in #748 "Belew has written other songs (Burned By the Fire We Make) whose underlying sentiments I resent, but hey, big deal, I like most of his" Not wanting to start a slam fest but, I wondered what about this song (and Sandy's interpretation) caused resentment. As for myself, this is one of my favorite Adrian songs and addresses another facet of music that is important in my life and has reflection on Adrian's contribution to KC. There is music has it's own justification (instrumental & vocal) but doesn't try to make any obvious comments about the human condition.This is wonderfull. But then there is music that tries (and sometimes succeeds) to verbalize situations and conditions related to people, society, politics and issues. Some groups such as Midnight Oil do this so well that it becomes their trademark. Adrian IMHO brings that to KC as well as to his own material. With songs like "Lone Rhino" , "Men in Helicopters", "Burned by the Fire we Made", "Cage", "People" and "I Have a Dream", to name a few, Adrian brings a lyrical balance to KC that is as strong as his musical counterpoints and contributions. I hope that Adrian continues to do what he has done. In the face of uninformed (Sandy I am not including you in this catergory!) cold and callous critics and fans, Adrian is as integral, and important a member of KC as any that comes to mind. -- Martin | 'We know others to the extent we know ourselves' | | - Guitar Craft Aphorism | ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 07:56:25 -0700 (PDT) From: Terry Bowlus Subject: Fripp & co. To whom it may concern. As a long time fan of Fripp and the gang I was very disappointed to see that A:they decided to work at the worst (for sound) venue in the entire Detroit metro area, and B:that they like so many other acts these days are pricing themselves way past what most people want to pay for a show. Listening to music at the Majestic Theatre is like being in a tiled bathroom with a cheap transistor radio. The sound sucks! If and when they decide to come back to Detroit at a different venue and at a more resonable price I will be first in line for tickets. t0aj15 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 11:34:16 -0500 From: Michael Flaherty Subject: Fripp-Related Reviews in The Wire The October issue of The Wire includes 3 seperate reviews related to Fripp/KC: 1. A full review of "Heaven and Earth." The review is pretty negative. Indeed, all members of the current lineup except Fripp are dismissed in one way manner or the other. 2. While the PX reviewer likes Fripp, the reviewer of the recent Svlvian anthology does not: according to the reviewer, the Sylvian/Fripp sections of the collection are only ones that he "skips." 3. Finally, in a beautiful example of 20-20 hindsight that really puts this entire report in perspective: the 72-74 reissuues are given very positive reviews, especially "Red". Michael Flaherty ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 09:03:10 -0700 From: Fred Raimondi Subject: GIG REVIEW: KC in San Francisco - Fripp Moves out Front. Saw KC at the Fillmore Theater in San Francisco Saturday, 10/21/00. Needless to say, Robert's metaphor of seeing Crimson live to a "hot date" held true. In short: The band burned up the stage. I was a little skeptiKcal about this lineup (sans Bruford & Levin) especially after hearing TCOL. Pat, Trey, Adrian, and Robert really have hit their stride on this tour and as a band. It was also very cool to see a packed house for KC. It never fails to amaze me how loyal their fan base is. This band was meant to be seen live. One observation is that in this lineup, Robert has moved to the front of the stage again, rather than sitting above the whole band in shadow most of the time. Robert has not only physically moved out front, but musically. Watching the band, I couldn't help but notice that in most of the TCOL compositions, Robert is doing most of the playing. HE WAS ON FIRE!!! His playing and composition has taken the spotlight and it is very clear that TCOL is very much Robert's. Especially on compositions like "FracKtured" and "Larks' Tongue part IV". The sheer volume (amount) of notes Robert plays in these compositions alone is amazing. How does one remember that much? It really drove home to me what a great composer Robert really is and also how underrated he is as a guitar player. I think that like many great composers, Robert won't be fully realized until he's long gone. I also believe that in many ways they will probably be diseccted in the same way as a Coltrane solo. I think the great realization will be in the way his compositions relate to the guitar itself. They are pure guitar. If you don't have tickets to see KC on TCOL tour, do yourself a favor, get tickets NOW and go see them. This is a great chance to see Robert at the top of his game. His playing has NEVER been better. Fred Raimondi ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 10:00:04 -0700 From: "The Compulsive Splicer" Subject: GIG REVIEW: SF Thursday Oct 19, 2000 Wonderful show tonight. My only real disappointment was that KC didn't play "Heartbeat." Since I was there with my partner and that's "our song." it would have been nice. Of course there's no way for the guys to have known, so I'll try to forgive them. =^) I did hear "Three of a Perfect Pair" which very accurately describes my last relationship, but that's not quite the same thing. I think perhaps this does show some progress in the quality of my relationships, but I'm straying from writing about the show. This was only my second time seeing KC live, the first being New Haven CT in 1995. So I don't really have a lot to compare it with except recorded material. I love watching the play between Belew and Fripp. They're so different and so good and so good together. It's nice to see Adrian bouncing around the stage smiling, and it's even nicer to catch RF's occasional smile at some synergistic effect. One aspect that disappointed me a bit: there seemed to be a number of technical problems. At one point or another in the show each of the four had the opportunity to wave at the person on the soundboard to get some level adjusted (or something). I noticed some abrupt changes in the volume of instruments that seemed out of place and in some cases were clearly not true to the recordings I've heard again and again. None of these were any more than a momentary distraction from my enjoyment of the show, but it was unfortunate. I'm also a bit curious about the equalization of the music. I took the precaution of bringing earplugs, remembering the painfully loud show in New Haven in 1995. With the earplugs, I thought the band sounded great. Vikki did not have earplugs and she said she thought the music was too midrange-heavy and that she lost the vocals in the mix. That's totally different from the way I experienced it. I'm left with two questions about earplugs: 1) how do they change the character of the music? Do they filter high-range more than low, or anything like that? 2) if there is a change in the character of the sound after it gets through the earplugs, does King Crimson set up the equalization off the soundboard so that the music sounds right with earplugs and wrong without? Maybe I just have a tin ear and what sounds good to me is troublesome to others, but it would be nice to know that the band was encouraging us to protect our hearing. Of course turning the volume down just makes the other sounds in the room interfere more, so optimising for earplugs and loud volume would be ingenious. This show made it very clear to me how much I miss Tony Levin and Bill Bruford, and how little I miss Tony Levin and Bill Bruford. As much as I think the "double trio" is about as good as it gets, it wasn't until I saw this line up play live that I fully accepted the "new guys". It's not that I didn't have respect for Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto before, but having them there on stage kicking it out drove home that they are truly top-notch musicians and belong in KC as much as or more than anyone else. If anyone else had their reservations about these two swept away, it's worth having Levin and Bruford absent. The high point of the show for me was Adrian returning from the first curtain call to play Three of a Perfect Pair solo on an acoustic guitar. If you'd asked me before I'd heard it with my own eyes, I would have told you that it couldn't be done. A perennial issue was resolved for me at the show. Robert Fripp claims that people photographing or recording the show affects his performance even if he's not consciously aware of it happening, and it's a well-known fact that KC disallows photography and recording at their shows. Knowing this, I was made quite uncomfortable by the numerous photographers in the audience. Many were near me, and I had to wonder if I should confront them. If musicians feed off the energy of a crowd when they play live and people in the crowd are either more interested in collecting images of the band than the music or else worried about whether we have an obligation to confront other members of the audience about their photography, then no doubt the performance is affected in some manner. That in mind, I've begun to really resent the photographers in the audience. Fortunately Adrian mentioned it inbetween songs and that shut the shutterbugs down for a few minutes. It really astounded me that there were so many photographers in the audience. I've been known to sneak a camera into a show once in a while, but never when I knew that it was the express request of the members of the band that there be no photography. Maybe that makes no difference whatever, but it bothered me that at the one show where I knew that the no photography policy was in place at the request of the musicians, there were more cameras than I had ever seen at a live show. Anyhow, there was a good mix of newer and older material played. I went to hear material from The ConstruKction of Light, but of course it's great to hear some of the old faves. In a bit of a surprise to me, KC closed the show with the Bowie tune "Heroes." It was a fun and light way to end off a great evening. All in all the band played for just about two hours. One nice thing about shows at the Fillmore is that everyone generally walks out with a nice poster from the show. I have Fillmore posters from the two Residents shows I've seen at the Fillmore, and now I have a *very* cool KC poster. This will live in a very special place on a wall somewhere here in the apartment. That's all for now. I'd be very interested in hearing about how the other shows went, especially if anyone went Thursday and also Friday or tonight. Be well, Steve The Compulsive Splicer ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 00:56:05 GMT From: "Spear man" Subject: GIG REVIEW: sloppy seconds KC @fillmore 10-20-00 OK Gang went to the 2 King Crimson 2 show (fillmore 10/20/00). Found it to be awful and left early. That as a warning I gotta ask--what is an antonym for synergy? Is it Parasitism? I dunno but the sum of the parts seemed lesser than the the individual parts. They opened with Red--well if you skip the 15 minutes of frippertronic incidental music (9pm to 9:15)with the band no where to be seen--and then played Thela. Am I the only person that thinks that Thela Hun Ginjeet would be better if they skipped the samples? The playing just seems so tentative because of it. Fairly early on--one of the fillmore types came down front and told people not to smoke, but I do find it ironic/hypocritical that the smoke machines were running.... Then it was time for the new tunes. At some point during the third song, I already wanted to leave--the playing just didn't seem to gel, but I thought I'd wait. Oyster soup wasn't much better. Adrian seemed like he just didn't want to be there. I'll admit that I liked Adrian on Frame By Frame but by the next tune it was back to lame. I will say that I thought the ProjeKct Two and Four shows that I saw were much stronger than this night and by far this was the weakest of the KC shows that I've seen--I've seen several. I don't make these statements lightly and I'm not sore that Levin and Bruford are gone from the lineup--well maybe Tony a little. :) No doubt the third night was better as perhaps the first night was, but it just didn't do it for me. And I'm certain I missed Heroes and a bunch of great stuff, but if I didn't see it in the first hour--I wasn't too certain I'd see it after that. I was really glad that the Santana show on Saturday was so good--so I don't need to dwell on how miserable that Friday KC show was. Peace, --spearman ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 23:43:03 -0700 From: "David Isaak" Subject: GIG REVIEW: The first two SF shows I was lucky enough to catch the first two Crimson shows in San Francisco. I am happy to see that the band is still evolving, and happy to be able to say the same for most of the audience as well-although there were quite a number of old fogies like myself, there were also a whole lot of twentysomethings who were just tuning in for the first time. And thankfully the majority of the audience was there to hear the music the musicians were interested in presenting, and even excited about hearing something really new. I'm not saying that there wasn't a smattering of those folks (who unfortunately are the most vocal on this website) who came with preconceived notions, ideas of what the band ought to play, and strong feelings about who ought to be appearing that night. But they were surprisingly few; I actually believe that the majority of the audience was there to hear the band rather than to revisit their own mid-70s adolescence. Fripp and Belew displayed their usual brilliant, complementary chemistry-not surprising when you consider that they have been at this together for about two decades now. (The weird thing is, there are actually people out there-well, more precisely, here, on the ET site-who claim they love Crimson but don't care for Adrian. That's sort of like claiming to love Italian food but not pasta. Get a grip.) And for those who are obsessed with such things, yes indeed, Fripp was front-stage, in the light, fully visible, and apparently having a very good time. The biggest surprises for me were Gunn and Mastelotto. I figured they were talented-why else would they be in the band?-but in the double trio they didn't really have room to stretch out, and in the ProjeKcts everybody was still kind of feeling their way. In the new quartet form of Crimson, they really shine. I am being too restrained. They blew me away! Indeed, I have to say that the album (TCOL) doesn't really do adequate service to the band as a whole, and tends to underplay the "rhythm section" (if you can all a Warr guitar and V-drums a "rhythm section"). The material on TCOL is fine in recorded form, but on stage it is everything that Crimson ought to be-complex, driving, challenging, and exciting. There is probably going to continue to be a lot of "where's Tony, where's Bill?" bitching from various ETers. (Hey, I appreciate those guys as much as anybody; in fact, I appreciate them so much that I am really glad to see them having time on non-KC projects! Waters of Eden was fantastic; T. Lev working with Bozzio and Stevens again is a delight. When is BLUE going to record and tour again? When will Earthworks come to the US?) I put that kind of complaining in the same class as the guy in the audience who yelled out "Starless!" during every pause in the concert. People who want to determine the set list and the personnel should form their own band. Did people stand behind Picasso and shout "more green, dude!"? People are entitled to like or not like works of art, but it is just plain stupid to tell the artists what they should do and how they should do it. I have paid close attention to this band ever since the release of the first album. I am not putting down any previous incarnations of KC; every one of them has had something to offer me. But I have to say that this new configuration is at least as good as any Crimson that has existed in the past-and I apply that to the individual musicians as well as the band as a whole. I am really excited to see where this leads; this is one hell of a fine band that promises to break new ground. I couldn't be more pleased. On a final note (I promise) I also have to say that if the Fillmore gig is a model for Crim's future touring, I am all in favor. Although standing-only gigs have their drawbacks, this is more than made up for by the increased intimacy with the band. It is great to be able to see the band more than once. And the democratic, leveling, one-price admission arrangements minimize scalping. Normally the first ten rows at least are nabbed by the ticket resellers. At this show, the people who got close to the show were the ones who bothered to come early...that is, those who really cared. Bravo! David Isaak ------------------------------ End of Elephant Talk Digest #750 ********************************