February 11, 1972 - Wilmington, Delaware - The Armoury
The mellotrons have to be tuned you see. - Boz
Context
As this is the first post it’s best to have a bit of context setting.
King Crimson celebrates the anniversary of their birth as January 13th, 1969. That’s the date that Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald, and Peter Sinfield lugged their gear into the basement of the Fulham Palace Cafe in Hammersmith, London plugged in and rehearsed for the first time as a group.
As the 50th anniversary year of King Crimson’s founding unfolds I will select a recording attributed to that date from some year in the band’s history and provide some listening notes and personal reflection. On dates with multiple artifacts I choose a single one to focus upon.
We begin our journey with the earliest documented calendar year live recording of the band.
Much of the recorded material dated to February in King Crimson history draws from this winter/spring tour of the U.S. in 1972. So we’ll be getting quite familiar with this incarnation of the band.
This was the first show of the U.S. tour. A tour which operated under a cloud. In late 1971 Robert Fripp phoned Peter Sinfield to inform him that there was no way for them to continue working together.
This left Robert as the sole remaining founding member still with the band only three years into its existence. Rehearsals convened with the remaining quartet of Robert plus Boz Burrell on bass, vocals; Mel Collins on saxes, flute, mellotron; and Ian Wallace on drums, backing vocals.
Rehearsals fizzled with a distinct breakdown when Fripp snubbed some material presented by Collins. The band was set to dissolve but the management company informed them that they were contractually obligated to tour the U.S. so off they went on the gigs.
The overall theme of this tour is of four musicians beginning to head in different directions. The musical vocabulary of Collins, Burrell, and Wallace is pulled more towards American funk, soul, motown, and jazz. It’s a musical context not quite right for Fripp’s developing continental compositions which would begin to find voice later in 1972 with a new set of personnel. But that story is for another day. On to the listening…
Listening Notes
The recordings from this tour have a surprisingly wide variation of suck. Few of them rise to the level of what would be considered comfortably listenable. Unfortunately for the virtuosity and musicality of this particular group of musicians there are only a few live recordings whose quality matches that of the playing.
This recording is no different. Supposedly taken from tapes running off of the soundboard. But as with other recordings from this tour it sounds remarkably un-equalized. It sounds more akin to a bootleg audience recording of the era.
Pictures of a City
There’s great dynamics in the opening part of Pictures. As I listen I try to place myself in the mind of an audience member at the show. For an educated fan familiar with Crimson’s second album, nearly 2 years old at the time of this show, this must have been a treat to hear.
Fripp’s running guitar line is sharp, crispy and energetic. Probably sounded great in the hall. Wallace drum work here is wonderful. The band sounds pretty jumping. You wouldn’t know that they were all but broken up except on paper. This might have been the beginning of thinking that perhaps there was a future for this band after all, despite Peter’s departure and rehearsal dismalness.
Great Collins solo in the breakdown. And Boz’s bass sound feels nice and wide here.
What a solid opener.
Formentera Lady
Formentera transition with the flute is scene-setting after such a raucous opener. Lots of feedback unfortunately which kills any delicacy that might have been achieved.
I can’t decide whether the music is trying to redeem the lyric or vice versa. I’ve never been particularly fond of they lyric though it is invocative of the mediterranean environs it reflects upon.
We transition out of the vocal section and there’s a great heartbeat bass drum overlaid with vocal improv. Mel makes a switch from flute to tenor sax, and we get a swinging jam going quickly. It gets the head nodding and quickly gets away from the continental lullaby of the track and into a kind of garage Motown. Almost feels like the band running away from the original piece. But I love it. The toes start tapping to match the head nodding.
Sailor’s Tale
Love the transition into Sailor’s. Mel keeps phrasing as the tarantella cymbal work starts.
Robert’s transformation as a live player between 69 and this is remarkable. He and Mel really sound formidable. Robert’s solo over the dragging, snapping beat of the middle section is lovely as the mellotron builds.
Circus
I like what Boz is doing with the opening vocal lines. Hard to believe that this piece came across as anything other than plodding and uneven to a crowd that might have been there to hear 21stCSM and ITCOTCK. The mellotron sounds are so overdriven on this recording perhaps they had better play in the house sound. Here they’re a bit gritting. The modern version has a better sense of menace and inevitability to it than this one. I do like the sax solo over the electric piano sound though.
Ladies of the Road
Robert comes to the mic for a little extended intero and as he sits back down Boz teases him on to bring in some blues grit. Fingers Fripp provides. A fun piece to showcase RF’s counterpoint to the vocal and then Mel’s gritty dungeon surf sax, but none of it can redeem the misogynistic lyric. May we forgive these young persons their failures as we might forgive our own.
Groon
if I have to listen to 70 recordings of this band - then this is the piece I’ll look forward to every time. It immediately finds its way from the angular jazz opening theme to some kind of alternate funkiverse. My goodness Collins is extraordinary. Could be that the only Crimson drummer that can hold a candle to Wallace’s drum solo is Harrison. Giles never did this. Bruford didn’t do this. I love it without the VCS3 synth that Sinfield liked to layer on. Absent here. Ohhh wait…. there it is! :) This actually sounds pretty good and mind bending. There has to be a hipster band that has brought this back into their live show somewhere today right?
Fripp’s ending to Groon coming out of the drum solo sounds almost Frippertronic-y
21st Century Schizoid Man
My goodness this must have been like seeing the picture of a monster come alive for folks who only knew this song from the studio album. Wonderful long gritty, grunge Fripp solo here. Bit of a sloppy re-entry to the syncopated solo ahead of the unison bit. Almost like the soloist and the band lost track of where they were. Clearly rapturous response to this. The crowd sounds insane!
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