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 #772 E L E P H A N T T A L K The Internet newsletter for Robert Fripp and King Crimson enthusiasts Number 772 Friday, 24 November 2000 Today's Topics: Thela Hun GWB USA and Earthbound CD - Re-mastered??? The Waiting Man KC videos Mixed up messages Mon 27 Nov - BOSTON: The Loopers' Collective VI Trey's little gadgets Listening since '69. Re: TRAK era Bass Drum Wierdness Re: THRAK era bass drum weirdness. Boston Show Comments fanboys, fanboys, whatcha gonna do? Richard Leo Johnson To Serge, Girard Re: Sylvian/Fripp "Damage" KC streaming video cocert? Bruford/Genesis/Crimson IN SEARCH OF FELLOW ETer MIKE CHU GIG REVIEW: Boston 11/20 GIG REVIEW: Hartford, CT GIG REVIEW: Boston 11/21/00 GIG REVIEW: One more thing... GIG REVIEW: Crimson destroys Boston, 11/20 (longish) ------------------ 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: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 23:12:20 -0500 From: "William Scully" Subject: Thela Hun GWB After enjoying an amazing performance (which included one of my favorites, "Thela Hun Ginjeet") by the band at Town Hall on November 14, my buddy Rob and I were stopped in traffic on the Henry Hudson North, at the exit to the lower lanes of the George Washington Bridge, heading towards NJ. Suddenly, the sound of crunching metal echoed behind us, followed a few moments later by another crunch, and another, etc. Rob looked in the mirror and said "some lunatic is trying to push other cars out of the way by crashing into them; there must be a cop behind him." Rob steered left into the Henry Hudson just in time to avoid being tagged by the "perp" who was in fact being chased by an unmarked police car. The perp hit at least 3 more cars after passing us, finally stopped since his car was undriveable, hopped out and started running up the exit ramp with the police car in pursuit. I'd guess at least 10 cars were damaged in this little scene from "Cops". Of course, while watching this surreal scene unfold, a familiar guitar riff and bass line were playing in my head and I could hear a voice: "This is a dangerous place..." Safely home in NE NJ, Bill Scully ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 01:48:30 EST From: Davidcharles1 at aol dot com Subject: USA and Earthbound CD - I'm a regular seller on Ebay and I'm appalled by all these "Russian Pressings" of CD's never issued on CD including the 2 Crimson titles. I'm glad someone like Nick Grimson wrote to Ebay although the results were less then desirable. Perhaps it will bring the issue to the attention of DGM. What is most disturbing is how much these discs are fetching and how many people think they are getting someone real. This whole CD-burner thing is scary- back in the Cassette hey day, bootleggers could always bootleg the music but never the inserts. In our high-tech world (for bettor or for worse) bootleggers can not only bootleg the music but with printers and print programs can include inserts that only a real fan of the music could tell as a fake. David ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 17:39:44 -0600 From: Ibrahim Ata SEVER Subject: Re-mastered??? Dear All, I ordered Gatefold 24 Bit Remastered version of Island from DGM and they sent to me Jewelcase "Definitive Edition, Remastered by Robert Fripp and...1989". I sent an e-mail to them but they haven't responded yet (It has been 4 days). Is this a mistake or what they mean by "24 Bit Remastered" is "Definitive Edition, Remastered by Robert Fripp and Tony Arnold 1989"? Can anyone who knows anything about this write to me via private e-mail please? Thanks in advance. Ibrahim ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 13:43:25 EST From: AlfredDodson at aol dot com Subject: The Waiting Man Hello I read somewhere that The 1995 KC line-up (double trio) performed the song "The Waiting Man" on a couple of shows. If anybody could help me in getting a CDR of such show please email me direct. ALSO, HEAVY CONSTRUKCTION ROCKS AND ANYBODY WHO SAIS OTHERWISE IS "WRONG" !!!! Alfred ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 15:57:02 -0800 From: "Richard West" Subject: KC videos I also saw VH1's Top 100 show and was amused to find KC at only #87. Oh well. One thing though; During their 20 second spot there was some excellent concert footage of the band from '73. I'm sure complete pro-shot concerts from this era exist in some vault somewhere, possibly in RF's own personal archive, and I think some kind of concert video would be an excellent idea for a DGM Collector's Club release. The '84 video is fine but I would like to see some more "classic" footage. What do you think? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 21:41:00 -0000 From: "Iain Kitt" Subject: Mixed up messages Well I think our wonderful moderator got my post mixed up with one from 'JasJohns22'. the query about the download of 'KC Live in Mexico' was from me so any personal responses to this address please. Iain ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 17:26:00 -0500 From: "Kirkdorffer, David" Subject: Mon 27 Nov - BOSTON: The Loopers' Collective VI Boston-area Crimzoids may be interested in the following sonic/hypnotic event. Round and Round Productions is proud to present The Loopers' Collective - VI live The Middle East (downstairs) Cambridge, MA Monday, November 27, 2000 @ 8pm (doors at 7:30) $7/$5 students &/or with a print out of this eMail 18+ Return of THE LOOPERS' COLLECTIVE! http://www.openfaucet.com/loop.html Courtesy of rosS Hamlin and OpenFaucet Enterprises, this is part six of a long and loopy collaboration. This time out it's guitar-ing loopers only. The concept is this: each musician will do a short solo set, followed later by small groups and an eventual all-in scrum. The music is circular, meaning that each musician has the ability to real-time layer numerous parts with new tracks entering the mix all the time. The style leans towards the ambient and trippy, and with live video mixing (courtesy of video virtuoso, Dr. T.), you can be sure of trippiness galore. TLC VI will feature six Boston-based six-string slingers blazing a trail into the nether reaches of your mind: * Scott Dakota (of Moors fame) * Frank Gerace (of Dreamchild fame) * rosS Hamlin * T.G. Noyes * 2KJB (aka Plastic Razor Protector) * UNDO (aka David Kirkdorffer) As always, please bring your awareness however you will. David Kirkdorffer http://www.openfaucet.com/loop.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 07:05:25 EST From: Roosterbrawl at aol dot com Subject: Trey's little gadgets A little question for you techies out there: There's been a bunch of discussion about e-bows and all, but I'm curious about the little box Trey uses behind the neck of his Warr, plugged into his axe during that majestic tune "Deception of the Trush," where everyone drools over his solo. I was talking with Pat before a Supper Club show and he was telling me about it but I'm still unclear as to what it actually is. All i know is that it's magnetic and it has to do with a cigarette box. Another little gadget Trey uses also caught my attention. Not with KC but with his solo project, when I saw the Trey Gunn Band at NYC's Knitting Factory. There he used this device reminiscient of a computer mouse, tapping the strings with it, creating some truly unusual sounds (as he always does). I think it was green or someting. Can anybody shed some light on the subject? p.s. I just have to say that at the three KC shows I went to last week, they played ProzaKc each time, and that was the low-point of the shows for me. One more thing I'll critique, and please don't have a fit -- though he's the man, nearly all of the solos Adrian took at these shows sound kind of the same. I'm allowed to say not positive things about the band on this aren't I? Oh, but Robert's pretty fast, no? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 07:52:19 -0600 From: Stephan Barr Subject: Listening since '69. King Crimson has been and contiinues to be, the soundtrack of my life. At 50 I still enjoy pulling up to the stoplight with KC splooing out my windows, causing fellow stoplighters to ask, "What the !@#$ is that...?!". I've enjoyed the constant membership changes; I believe change is integral to KC. I do however, love Bill and expect to see him back at the kit someday. Former lurker out. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 13:26:43 -0600 From: "Grant Colburn" Subject: Re: TRAK era Bass Drum Wierdness Ryan wrote: >This is especially noticable in the 1995 video Live in Japan...Bill >Bruford has two distinct bass drum sounds that change inexplicably while >he is playing, seemingly to his demand. The first is a typical "thump," >nothing special, used for his playing in 90% of the material in the >concert. Seconds after his 7/4 roll fill, and when Fripp's swirly >Soundscape has died away, the second section of that song features his >original bass drum sound, your average rock "thump." Througout the >video, we hear it change between the two sporadically; is there some sort >of throw-off device on Bill's kit that lets him go from a contained, >quick sound to an almost vocal, timpani-like sound on his bass drum? I'm sure I won't be alone in answering this, and I have a hard time believing this question is being asked. You are aware, aren't you, that of course Bruford and Mastelotto are BOTH playing bass drums during the THRAK tour. Surely the most obvious reason for 2 different bass drums sounds are because there are 2 different guys playing 2 different bass drums :-) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 14:24:54 -0500 From: Mark Rehder Subject: Re: THRAK era bass drum weirdness. Ryan D Tassone wrote: > This is especially noticable in the 1995 video Live in Japan...Bill > Bruford has two distinct bass drum sounds that change inexplicably while > he is playing, seemingly to his demand. (snip) If memory serves, Bill had a second pedal, right beside his regular BD pedal, that triggered that boomy sound from his electronics module (old Simmons SDX). He just had to slide his foot to the right to access this pedal. Perhaps for the Thrak tour he just wanted to get one last bit of use out of the Simmons before retiring them! I drum myself, and have used electronics in a live setting. An extra pedal trigger is a very useful thing... Mark -- +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house. -- George Carlin Come and visit my Webpages at: http://home.istar.ca/~marker/ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 14:24:24 -0500 From: Bob Pascarella Subject: Boston Show Comments Loved it! Tre was amazing. Pat was deep in the pocket and very musical. Robert was flawless. Ade provided everything Belew fans were looking for and more. From our perch in front row balcony we enjoyed a wonderful perspective. I couldn't help but to notice all the things I would have done differently in the F.O.H. dept. had I been the mixer for the evening. But that's my problem as a result of sitting too near the sound console. Looked like Pat had a real snare last night too (hard to tell for sure) RF DID NOT have an E-Bow. Even when he played "heroes". This ridiculous thread amazes me. Do we still no nothing about RF's sound and technique that we make such assumptions about E-Bow use? Tre had an interesting hand-held-hard-wired device that he applied to the *back* of his instrument. Kinda E-bow-like. Pat used quite a bit of triggers. More than I usually like to see on a kit. But the guy sounds great..so F what I say. Those crazy Robot-Voice-Samples caught me by surprise too. Coulda done without that. I loved the front mounted HiHat. Cool idea. My fellow Berzerklee alumni all seemed to enjoy the show. It was truly KC with no compromises. Robert Pascarella ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 15:59:39 -0500 (EST) From: Steven Sullivan Subject: fanboys, fanboys, whatcha gonna do? > Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 13:23:49 -0500 > From: "Albert Oller" > Subject: Fan/Band Travels > > What is a 'fan boy'? I've never seen it used outside of ET. I don't think > I'm a 'fan boy', but I like what I've heard from the current King Crimson, > and I'm sure that I am not lying to myself. A fanboy is someone who believes their favorite band/musician/whatever can do no wrong. I believe the term actually originated in Japanese anime fandom, but I could be wrong. -S. "What on Earth could have driven the evolution of an anal cannon?" - PARASITE REX by Carl Zimmer ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 16:34:00 -0500 From: Jay Lyons Subject: Richard Leo Johnson Hi all, Curious since I understand he toured with RF last year and you are the folks who'd know. Is there any interest in a show for trade only? I managed to capture 11-10-00 Listening Room European St in San Marco Jacksonville. The lineage Shure VP-88 'L' /- > Inbox > D8 2nd table center from stage. All this by chance mind you,.. I'd never heard or knew of him b4 this. Just heard he was good! Geez, what an understatement. I have it currently on dat but will transfer and trade cd-r (premium disks only pls) after the holidaze. I could really use some help with the setlist as well so I can finish some labels and post to my page,.. Integrity required. My addy is in the sig below for the labels. You might want to bookmark since it is a unlinked page on my site. Changes periodicly. Print in landscape mode. Enjoy. labels are here http://users.southeast.net/~jayl/Dats/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 18:19:14 -0500 From: "Richard Warner" Subject: To Serge, Girard Re: Sylvian/Fripp "Damage" Salut! "Damage" was released on Virgin in North America. It was, I believe, only a limited edition item. Having seen Messrs Sylvian and Fripp, with Trey Gunn, Pat Mastelotto and Michael Brook perform this peerless music to the most perfectly well-behaved and attentive audience I have EVER seen, it has been a COMPLETE mystery to me why this deluxe recording is not available for general release. In January of 98, during a "post-music" question and answer period, Mr. Fripp quite clearly and unequivocalbly stated, "working with David Sylvian was one the most enjoyable musical experiences I have ever had, and I would gladly drop anything, at a moment's notice, to do it again. So if any of you happen to see him before I do, please be sure to pass this on..." Given all that, one truly boggles as to what goes on in the minds of the Virgin executive, that they keep this ABSOLUTE GEM of a recording locked up and unavailable on a continuing basis. Does anyone have a clue? I, fortunately, have a copy - but so should everyone else!!! Richard Warner, Toronto. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 19:49:11 -0500 From: g scaffidi Subject: KC streaming video cocert? I've heard that one may possibly link to a site that streams one of the recent TCOL concerts. Where is this availlable? Thanks Gino ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 21:26:29 EST From: Robbriryon at aol dot com Subject: Bruford/Genesis/Crimson Greetings All.. I've been reading this interesting newsletter for quite some time now, and though the mixture of agitation, frustration, curiosity and pleasure has frequently urged me to write, I feel I must relate a personal experience regarding the Bill Bruford/Genesis issue. First off, I've been a die-hard Crimson fan since the late sixties. I actually attended a Crimson show at the Philadelphia Spectrum in the late sixties, when they were a SECOND BILLING act, opening up for the rock group Humble Pie! What the hell was THAT booking agent think of?? I can still remember hearing them perform Circus. And seeing RF sitting on his stool with the same stoic frozen image he maintains even today. I also seen them in '73/74 during the Starless and Bible Black tour, AGAIN second billing, this time to The Kinks. Nothing againt Ray Davies' writing abilities, but after seeing Bruford/Fripp/Wetton/Cross play, listening to Lola was absolute torture. Anyway, with that said..One summer during the late seventies (I'm not sure of the exact year) the original UK lineup performed a free concert at Penns Landing in Philly. I called in sick to work that day, and my girlfriend and I arrived at Penns Landing at about 11 am, parking ourselves in front of the stage amongst the already hundred or so people there. As I was sitting there relaxing, I noticed a lone figure sitting by himself on the wall along the water's edge, and immediately recognized Mr. Bill Bruford. After much persuading by my girlfriend, I eventually conjured up the courage to go over and attempt to strike up an intelligent conversation with this phenomenal musician and artist. My opinion of Mr. Bruford as an artist even then has always been one of deep admiration. What other performer, let alone a drummer, leaves a band at the height of their popularity, to go and join a band like King Crimson. Only because they feel their artistic growth has become stagnated and could be better served and challenged with a vehicle such as Crimson? Anyway, as I approached Bill, I was joined by 3 or 4 other men. Bill was very gracious and in a very talkative mood. What impressed me immediately, was that the content of the conversation from this small group of admirers was not your typical groupie "'Oh, I've been a fan for so long"' kind of thing. When the group began mentioning their love for such albums as Starless and Bible Black and Larks Tounges..Bill's grinned from ear to ear and his eyes lit up. He laughingly asked us.."You guys actually like those albums and listen to them? You guys are crazy!" I'll never forget that. We started talking about the complexities of Bill's drumming within Crimson. You could tell even then, that Crimson's music was still very close to his heart. He spoke with us for at least 2 hours. We spoke about such topics as the obscure time signatures he uses, the difficult rythyms within particular pieces of music, the various percussives he likes to use. It was awesome. Interstingly, there was very little "Yes" references or questions at all, which he seemed to appreciate. Nobody asked the inane question.."Why did you leave Yes?" Everyone there knew Bill's performances with Yes paled in comparison to his work on the three (so far) Crim albums..Starless, Red and Larks Tounges. Which kind of brings me to the point of my letter. At one point in the conversation, we asked Bill how he liked his recent stint with Genesis and playing on tour with the band. He explained that he had a wonderful time playing with the band and liked playing their music, but his abilities and performance were unfortunately limitied by the structure of the songs already written. The rythyms within Genesis's music, he explained to us, were kind of rigid in their respect to the melodys being played. The music really didn't leave him any room for any type of improvisation. (Other than some minor intersting things he could do percussively while Phil was at the drums during musical solos on songs like Cinema Show) Any radical alteration of the rythym section really wasn't permitted or considered, which he fully understood. He explained that, yes, he was frustrated at certain points of the tour because he wanted to do more, but he professionally accepted his role within the confines of the group. At that end of our conversation, an obnoxiously loud bass note was heard emanating from the p.a. system and Bill laughed saying, "There goes John, guess it's time for our sound check", refferring of course to John Wetton's intense bass. He graciously excused himself and we were privy to an extroardinary sound check of about 5 songs in the middle of a beautiful sunny afternoon with a crowd of maybe only 2 hundred ppl. It was fantastic!! It's a shame that group never realized their full potential. For those of you who live outside of the Delaware Valley, and were not fortunate enough to see this awesome show, let me just say that by evening's end, over a hundred thousand ppl (at least!) showed up for this show, and the city of Philadelphia has never recovered. They cancelled free rock shows after that concert (they may have started again, remember, it was 20 yrs ago..lol), but my chance meeting with Bill Bruford was one I'll never forget. Hope this helped clear up the Genesis/Bruford issue. Be well. John Garaguso ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 21:40:34 -0500 From: "David Schroeder" Subject: IN SEARCH OF FELLOW ETer MIKE CHU I recently sent a King Crimson package to a CrimFan named MIKE CHU in Tawain; however, the package was returned to me and I no longer have Mike's email address...so I am hoping to locate you thru our favorite newsletter ET.
Mike, if you are reading this please email ASAP so I can get you your items

David Schroeder
davids1 at ispchannel dot com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 11:43:58 -0500 (EST) From: Art Cohen Subject: GIG REVIEW: Boston 11/20 Well, I woke up this morning with "Frakctured" running through my head, so that's a good sign! I thought last night's performance was MASSIVE... much more coherant than Sunday night's in Hartford. Hartford was good but last night was STUNNING. The "VROOOM" and "Thela Hun Ginjeet" that opened the set were about as good as I could imagine any King Crimson music to be, and LTIA4 was unbelieveably heavy. Mostly quiet, respectful crowd, although I can not for the life of me figure out why people feel obliged to yell out things like "Elephant Talk" (during "Prozakc Blues", i.e. when Adrian pauses after "You've been reading too much..."). These are probably the same people who found it necessary to yell "Did you like it?" during "Indiscipline" in 1995. Ah well, I remember *my* first beer, too! Otherwise, the crowd was pretty much quiet during the quiet parts and applauded thunderously after the songs had finished. Once again the band seemed to be having a lot of fun onstage. Adrian even said "Good Evening, I'm your host, Quincy Braintree" at one point. (!!) Strangest occurance *I've* seen at a Crim show was the attractive young lady who came up to the front and smiled at Ade. Nothing *too* strange about that, and he smiled back, but when she returned a few songs later to present him with a single red rose, he sort of had a look like "What is *this*?" (he was, of course, wearing his wedding ring). Finally, she came up during "Three of a Perfect Pair" and danced rather sinuously at the very front of the stage. Props to Ade for maintaining his composure, although he did look a little uncomfortable about the whole thing. --Art ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 18:46:23 -0800 From: Paulo Henrique Leocadio Subject: GIG REVIEW: Hartford, CT First time, virgin no more. First time, not like before. I always wanted to post here a mail like this, how I always envied all of you who did. It was great meeting several ETers (hey Joe, Rick, Matt, John, Paul and wife, it was just terrific knowing you all) This is my first Crimson concert ever, and I am a BIG fan since 75. They are - and have always been - my favourite. Can you all imagine how I am feeling? It's 2 days since the event now, still hard to believe. And the concert was just PERFECT and TERRIFIC from the beginning to the end. I travel all the way from Sao Paulo/SP/Brazil just for this concert, and it was worth every single penny I spent. I arrived the evening before and went directly to the concert place to feel the reality (since I got the confirmation, it was almost impossible to sleep, my wife was REALLY concerned about my heart health). I remember to have called the TICKETS.COM customer service at least once every two days to ask if my purchase was there. I must have made some 30 pictures of the Webster theater. The concert day was something. After no sleep at night, I went to the theater something like 15:35, and stll couldn't believe. Crimson truck was there. At 16:04 comes a green Grand Cherokee Laredo with Pat/Fripp/Gunn/Belew, they passes by me, I could not believe that. Sunsets at 16:23 Something like 16:33 first cords from the soundcheck: Dinosaur, followed by Frying Pan and ConstruKction. During the next hour Gunn, Belew, Fripp and Mat come and go around the place. Some ETers start to arrive, my first live contact with them after soooo many years. They almost kill me with so many concert stories. 19:30 Door opens, my ticket is there, lots of good things to buy. I take my place exactly in the middle of supposed Belew and Fripp positions, something like one yard from the former. 20:14 Internal lights out 20:19 Fripp's voice in internal PA system asking for no cameras, no smoking, etc. 20:25 Blackout 20:26 They are there, believe me 20:27 The Crimson Fist Ceremony, all of them are laughing 20:28 Larks' 4 with Belew's intro on keyboard synth 20:38 Coda 20:40 The ConstruKction of Light 20:49 Frying Pan 20:56 Improv./FraKctured (Improv with Belew again on keyboard and electronic perc) 21:06 ProzaKc Blues 21:12 Improv. (by P3) 21:15 Improv. (by PX) 21:19 Thela Hun Jengit 21:26 Dinosaur 21:31 Improv. (Belew again on keyboard and elect. perc) 21:34 Frame by Frame 21:39 Elephant Talk 21:43 concert ends 21:45 Three of a Perfect Pair (Belew solo) 21:50 The Deception of the Thrush (P3) 22:00 concert ends 22:01 Red 22:07 band asks for more and plays Heroes 22:12 the end of a perfect night after a PERFECT set list I still had the chance to shake Belew's hands, to be greeted by Fripp and to get Belew's pick. This is really hard to describe my feelings, but these were the best 2 hours in my life. Paulo H. Leocadio ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 12:07:04 -0500 (EST) From: Art Cohen Subject: GIG REVIEW: Boston 11/21/00 Short version: I sure hope it isn't another five years before King Crimson goes on tour again. Long version: The last three nights have been among the most satisfying musical performances I've ever been lucky enough to observe. Not only did Crim mix the setlists up like some crazy hippie jam-band, the shows were a virtual shred-fest of Frippisms. Not to slight the contributions of the other three members (which were enormous), but I've never seen Fripp cut loose and take so many guitar solos in one Crimson show (I've been seeing them since 1984)... in that regard it was more reminiscent of ProjeKct Two (2 years ago) than any previous Crimson incarnation that I've seen. And speaking of crazy hippies, I never thought I'd *ever* see a version of King Crimson as loose, spontaneous and downright *funny* as this one. Maybe it's the result of playing in the various ProjeKcts for the last few years, but this Crim seemed a lot less interested in doing things "by the book" and a lot more willing to just take an idea and run with it. A classic example, from last night (the second Boston show) was when Fripp led a long, heavy improv into the opening notes of "The World's My Oyster..." Ade's guitar wasn't ready to go, so the rest of the band just stretched out the intro and we were treated to another minute or so of Fripp improvising. When's the last time you saw *that* at a King Crimson show? I don't think I've heard anything like this coming out of "King Crimson" since the Bruford/Wetton band. Also of particular note last night were the aforementioned jam prior to "Oyster" (towards the end, Adrian started playing this heavy Thrak-ish riff as Fripp "went off") and last night's version of "Deception of the Thrush", where Fripp, rather than Gunn, improvised over the first section after the "talker". Adrian mentioned that it was the last US date of the tour, and we wound up getting ~15 minutes "extra" (compared to the previous two nights), including the much-anticipated "Heroes"; Trey had already taken his guitar off and looked like he was done but Adrian said, "Well, it's the last night, might as well play some more" and they ripped into it. Much better (IMO) than the version in Hartford, mainly because the subtleties of the song weren't swallowed up by the venue's acoustics. The dancing lady from the night before was back for "Three of a Perfect Pair"; she had thrown some more flowers at Ade previously, but he passed them along to Pat and Trey and she had to be content with a friendly handshake from the Twang Bar King. In summation, let me say that I went in with no expectations and they were exceeded in every respect. But seriously, after seeing three shows in a row, I was sad to see it end. This is a version of King Crimson that seemed like they could acheive heights rarely seen in recent years. While the Double Trio was like seeing chamber music from Aldebaran, everything was so precisely arranged that it took away from the power of the music, IMO. I saw two Double Trio shows within a week in 1995 (Boston and NYC), and found my attention wandering a little during the second one. With no real potential for surpises (outside of 'THRAK'), there was little to do but sit back and watch the music unfold once again with unearthly precision. This band, by contrast, is like watching the coolest (yet geekiest) garage band in the world. It wouldn't have been completely out of place if they had ripped into a version of "Dirty Water" (even if it were in 17/8). KC2K is grungy, loose, unpredictable and one of the most amazing bands I've ever seen. I will probably be excommunicated from the "Kool Krim Kids Klub" for saying this, but if a 2001 USA tour were announced, I would be disappointed if it were the Double Trio instead of this band. Let Bruford and Levin tour with BLUE -- I'd rather see them in a small club anyway -- and let this band (or some offshoot like P3) continue to develop the music it's created. Because it's pretty damn good. The album TCOL will probably never be one of my favorite Crim albums, but if tomorrow weren't Thanksgiving, I'd be on my way to Montreal right now. King Crimson is very much alive!. Long live King Crimson! --Art ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 12:46:37 -0500 (EST) From: Art Cohen Subject: GIG REVIEW: One more thing... One other thing that just occurred to me. At each of the three Crim shows I saw recently, Pat M finished "Deception" by playing a triplet figure almost identical to the start of "The Sailor's Tale". I can think of no other song more worthy of being revived by this version of the band than that one. KC2K could *slaughter* that song if they chose to... --Art ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 17:15:05 -0500 From: "Peter Shindler" Subject: GIG REVIEW: Crimson destroys Boston, 11/20 (longish) "I knew if we kept practicing long enough, eventually we'd get to play Berklee." -Adrian The venue: Boston's Berklee Performance Center is a good place to see a concert, even if you end up in the second balcony, three rows from the top, like I did. I didn't feel like I missed much being so far back. As usual, it was fun to hang around in the lobby before the show and look for the familiar sights: no lines at the ladies' room, lots of males who look like the Comic Book Guy from "The Simpsons," and lots of T-shirts letting you know that the wearer saw Yes in concert five years ago. The set-list: They played everything on the new album except "Oyster Soup" and "Heaven and Earth." Thrak was represented by "Vrooom" and "Dinosaur," and the oldies selection they featured included "Thela," "Red," "Frame by Frame," "Elephant Talk," and "Three of a Perfect Pair" (solo Adrian). Also a P3 rendition of "Deception of the Thrush," which spotlighted Trey Gunn's gorgeous soloing. There was one lengthy improv. The audience: The perfect Crimson audience? There was complete silence until it was clear that the piece at hand was over, and then everyone went nuts. There was a delicious moment before one of the new instrumentals began: All eyes were on Pat to start it up, and he waited, and waited... and waited. There were a few seconds of TOTAL silence, then he laughed and dug in. The quiet intro to "Thrush" was unmolested, and we found out what happens when an improv gets quiet and fades out to silence without the audience ruining it with premature applause: the band is silent for a moment, then Fripp starts up with "FraKctured." And finally, there were no flash photos or calls for "Cat Food." The band: This is a much more cohesive unit than the six-piece was, which I guess is inevitable. The reviews from Europe indicated that the boys hadn't quite gotten it together yet, that some of the playing was cautious and tenative, and that they made lots of mistakes on the harder stuff. Well, not anymore. They've really got their act together, although something was off during the first few songs (Vrooom and Thela). For me, their run through "ConstruKction of Light" was the clincher. They didn't just get through it unscathed, they made it look easy. And fun: These guys were like a high-energy punk band (even Fripp, in his own way), playing like their lives depended on it, and loving every second of it. Incidentally, the title track is just one of several songs from the new album that make a lot more sense to me now, having heard them played live. Adrian was on fire; it was nice seeing him on guitar again. He was also in great voice; he did the low growlin' vocals on "ProzaKc Blues" without any processing, and his delivery was even wackier than on the album version. He had a few interesting toys onstage, including a keyboard that seemed to control some of his guitar sounds, and a cool electronic hand-drum thingie which also included some sort of infrared-beam controller, so that he could produce funny sounds by waving his hand over it. During "FraKctured," he graciously left most of the guitaring to Fripp, and took on the Jamie Muir role, embellishing the piece with lotsa random percussion noises. (This >really< added to the piece.) Fripp: Whoa. Apparently he decided that he's given Adrian the solo spotlight for long enough, because he wasn't playing second-fiddle to NOBODY. He tore through "FraKctured" with vary a glitch, and seemed in a good mood, though he was his usual mysterious self. He looked a little lonely onstage. He was sitting on the right side of the stage, and his very large rack of effects equipment made a wall between him and the rest of the band. But this sure didn't seem to affect his playing. Trey Gunn: I am more impressed with this guy every time I see him play. He must have the most graceful playing technique of any touch-guitarist out there. Playing with T-Lev has rubbed off on him; he's much more understated than he was back in the Sylvian/Fripp days, quite content to play one note where he once would have played twelve. And he was having fun; during "Frame by Frame" he'd run his free hand over Adrian's electronic drum when Adrian wasn't looking, to add to the chaos. And pay close attention to what he's doing during the "Discipline"-sounding part of TCoL; his part is pretty hairy! Interestingly, he sang backup on "Thela," but not on "Frame by Frame" or "Dinosaur," both of which suffered a bit without the backing vox. (but just a bit) Pat: The perfect drummer for this KC lineup. Not to disparage Bruford, but Pat's got a much better sense of groove, which is totally appropriate here. He rivaled Belew for sheer presence, and I think he generated enough energy on Monday night to power downtown Boston for a few weeks. He's playing the biggest drumset in the world, having augmented his V-drums with some acoustic drums and some random triggers here and there. The earlier comments comparing him to Animal from "The Muppet Show" are quite correct. The only complaints are purely subjective: I wanted more improv, but the one that they did was a killer, based around a jungle rhythm section (Adrian and Pat) and some flowing soundscapes by Trey and RF. Trey took a little solo, then passed it on to Adrian, who then passed on to Fripp. Very nice. Also, I was looking forward to hearing "One Time," "Cage" in its new form, and "Heroes," none of which were played that night. Ah well, minor quibbles. DO NOT miss the chance to see this lineup. This could be the most powerful Crimson yet, and definitely the most energetic. Peter ------------------------------ End of Elephant Talk Digest #772 ********************************