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| Fun Fact - This was the longest incarnation of King Crimson. |
Who doesn't love a King Crimson show? The musicianship is impeccable, the sound system is audiophile quality, and there's never a line to get into the ladies' room.
As an aside: Inside the ladies room, all seven of the female audience members (not including myself and friends) are all soccer moms, who seem to know each other. They're bitching about the music, snorting lines, and asking, "When did rock stars stop being cute?", "What's with the suits?... those lapels haven't been in style, since Broadway was a pasture" and "What club are we going to after this shit show is over?" One even commented,"The guitarist looks my mother's oldest brother, in Schenectady...uncle Myron."
Be that as it may...
'Radical Action (to Unseat The Hold of Monkey Mind)' is a six disc set containing three CDs, two DVDs and a Blu-Ray. For our purposes, we'll be concentrating on the 3 audio CDs, as they will be the freeload.
I was lucky enough to catch them on this tour in November 2015 up in Toronto, and it was one of the best sounding concerts I've ever attended, the mix was perfect (right up there with The Grateful Dead's 1974 'Wall of Sound').
The CDs contain the audio recordings of a complete King Crimson show, which was recorded live mostly in Takamatsu, Japan on December 19, 2015, with songs taken from other shows in order to represent every song played during the group's 2015 tours of Japan, Canada and France.
The material performed is mostly from the 1969 to1974 period, and most of it hasn't been performed live since the 1970s.
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| Not uncle Myron |
If you compare the studio recording of "21st Century Schizoid Man" to its live version here; the manic, youthful, unhinged energy of the original is replaced with a mature, refined, jazzy, professional sense of ease. This album is more than worth your time if you're a fan.
The album is a uniquely presented time capsule of that tour, with the songs re-arranged from their concert sequence into three distinct discs:
CD1 - 'Mainly Metal'
- Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part One
- Radical Action (To Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind)
- Meltdown
- Radical Action II
- Level Five
- The Light of Day
- The Hell Hounds of Krim
- The ConstruKction of Light
- The Talking Drum
- Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part Two
- Peace
- Pictures of a City
- Banshee Legs Bell Hassle
- Easy Money
- VROOOM
- Suitable Grounds for the Blues
- Interlude
- The Letters
- Sailor's Tale
- A Scarcity of Miracles
- Red
- One More Red Nightmare
- Epitaph
- Starless
- Devil Dogs of Tessellation Row
- The Court of the Crimson King
- 21st Century Schizoid Man
Robert Fripp: Guitar & keyboards
Mel Collins: Saxes & flute
Gavin Harrison: Drums
Jakko Jakszyk: Guitar & voice
Tony Levin: Basses & stick
Pat Mastelotto: Drums
Bill Rieflin: Drums & keyboards
For the freeload, tell us about music you like, that a past or present significant other didn't or does not like.
It's hard to understand, but my wife really doesn't like Doo Wop. She'll placate me and my Gospel collection but the Orioles and Cadillacs send her to the exits. She's a BIG Johnny Winter and Todd fan though.
ReplyDeleteMy son took me to see this version Crimson right before the pandemic. Great show
You mean other than King Crimson? Probably Van Morrison, which I love, she hates.
ReplyDeleteMy wife is Isaan Thai and about as unversed in Western culture as you could wish - even the greats, Beatles, Elvis, Dylan, mean nothing to her. Nor to anyone else around here. This is fantastic. Nobody has an opinion about The Beach Boys Love You. Nobody cares. Coupled with her partial deafness, this means I can listen to anything, any time - it's all the same to her, neutral background noise. Two ex-wives, being *cough* cultured Europeans, had no understanding of much of what I liked to play either but didn't like it anyway. Beefheart, Zappa, Soft Machine, many others, were headphones-only. The sacrifices I made. Tsk. And - cuh.
ReplyDeleteNot liking music I listen to, has always been a dealbreaker for me with boyfriends.
DeleteThere was one guy I played Elmore James for, and he started talking like he was in an episode 'Amos 'n' Andy'.
There was another guy I played 'Monk's Music' for. He put a look on his face like he was about to die, and asked me, "What the hell is this?" so I showed him the album cover. He looked at the cover and said (mispronouncing, Thelonious) "Is Thelonious a retard?"
it's just possible their real opinions of black people emerged.
DeleteThey were both fake Hippies.
DeleteIn Kansas we had redneck hippies, go figure
DeleteFarq, interesting. My wife is also Thai, from a vilage on the way to the Cambodian border from BKK. Loves (or pretends to) most of my music, especially the more tuneful type. Especially fond of Love, The Doors, Fairport, Greatful Dead, Mutton Birds (!), Neil Young, Television, Blondie etc. Probably knows more about current popular music, Swift etc than I do. I have loads of Thai music of different styles and eras but she doesn't seem especially interested in it. She came to the UK in 1969, so has been thoroughly brainwashed/educated in the music I love.
DeleteJohn Fahey, Yoko Ono.
ReplyDeleteWelcome home Babs. Hope you had a great weekend, listening to a wide array of amazing music. My beautiful wife was never a big fan of Neil "Crybaby" Young. She didn't care for his voice. David Byrne, however, was her favorite, not comparable I know, but early into his career I believe Byrne had been likened to a headless chicken, maybe due to his voice, maybe not. I was fortunate to see King Crimson twice, great shows both times. Thanks Babs.
ReplyDeleteMy youngest daughter likens Neil's voice to a cat in heat. David Byrne always strikes me as jittery.
DeleteThumb up emoji on both counts, thanks Babs
DeleteWe have a pretty high Music and Redecorating Relative Individual Enjoyment Discrepancy (M.A.R.R.I.E.D.) But I'm usually the more disdainful one and she's the musician of the house. Last month I was taken at gunpoint to a Billy Joel concert.
ReplyDeleteNothing personal, but if she's a Billy Joel fan she can't be a musician.
DeleteWell she plays the piano and guitar while all I can play is the radio. Most of our road trips are spent listening to podcasts instead of music.
DeleteIt was a joke at Billy Joel's expense, as I'm sure you understand. He can afford it.
DeleteIn the 90s, I was in the Steinway & Sons showroom, trying to find a baby grand that I could bond with. Also in the showroom was a woman also auditioning pianos. She had great technique, and played all manner of styles. We had a brief conversation, and I asked her what she listened to; she told me, "Madonna, she's just so awesome!"
DeleteCue Schroeder, playing the one finger Jingle Bells tune.
DeleteThe English writer Stephen Potter, in his book "One-upmanship" recommended this stratagem: stand at the piano, and thoughtfully press a few sensitive minor chords, sort of Debussy. This is all you need to learn. When asked "oh, do you play piano?", close the lid, look wistfully into middle distance, and say "yes, too much, actually".
DeleteRather similar in tone to the old adage, "a gentleman is someone who owns an accordion but never plays it".
DeleteI think my wife is more concerned about the size of my music collection than any particular genre because whilst she makes occasional disapproving noises from time to time about 'my music', I've yet to find some that she actually specifically objects to. That said knowing her as I do , I wouldn't suggest we listen to a cross section of 1977 punk over dinner for example. I could never see her doing the 'Blitzkrieg Bop'.
ReplyDeleteI played Jesus & Mary Chain for my favorite ex back in the day and she commented, "Bub, are they doing that on purpose?" when confronted with the J&MC's Beach Boys-cum-Velvet Underground esthetic. She was being sincere.
ReplyDeleteC in California
My Significant Other loathed Country and Western ( especially the kind that killed Martians from Nashville to El Paso), and trad jazz of the Acker Bilk/ Kenny Ball kind. Ghastly, she cried! Oh, and any form of Rap which she found totally incomprehensible and aggressive. I had to agree as most of the artists, despite being absurdly wealthy, have either ended up face down in a ditch or in the house of slams. I love most types of music, especially modern jazz, now I've matured in age. Thing is that my wife and I agreed on just about everything, in regard to music.
ReplyDeleteWe have Acker Bilk to "thank" for Kenny G.
Delete"House of slams." Oboy.
DeleteAcker Bilk had to make a living, but he had a good band which could swing. Colin Smith & Stan Greig.
Delete(I recall first hearing Stranger on the Shore, the year before it came out as a single it was the theme tune to a BBC children's TV series. I thought it was a nice tune, being 12 or so at the time.)
40 years ago I had a girlfriend who didn't understand my love of free jazz (what woman does?). When she came home from work and one of these records was playing, she always said: "Have you put that annoying fly on again?" To apologize: she was 20 and I was 30. 😁
ReplyDeleteUm...this woman likes free jazz, and so do some of my female friends whom are musicians.
DeleteI've always suspected that there must be women who like free jazz, but unfortunately I've never met one in person. And casually asked: what about Milford Graves LP "Bäbi", for example? Can you stand something like that, let alone like it? 😊
Delete'Bäbi' is an album I have to be in the mood for (every few years), and it usually involves magic truffles. My favorite is 'Historic Music Past Tense Future' with Peter Brötzmann and William Parker. Also, I like how percussion in Miford's hands doesn't necessarily have to keep time. Now that's thinking outside the box...
DeleteMs Pmac the first really hated the Afghan Whigs. I really got into them in the late 90s, and would turn up the volume whenever I wanted to aggravate her. My current spouse (Ms Brown, not Ms Pmac the 2nd), and I have incredibly similar tastes in music. She is responsible for my addiction to bossa, cumbia, salsa and the like.
ReplyDeleteI think we've all pretended to dig some spicy tomato's taste in music to get laid, pmac.
Deleteole!!!!
DeleteWelcome back Babs.
ReplyDeleteI like a quiet life so tend to play whatever is inoffensive to any significant other.
However in the 80’s and 90’s I would host regular gatherings most weekends after the pub shut, records were played of all genres, most KC music was disliked, though I found Discipline era stuff was generally accepted. If I wanted people to leave, Cardiacs would clear the room quite quickly. See if you can last the full 3.58 of live rehearsal video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxhuQWKwbqY
A pet peeve of mine is when people hear music that's not to their taste, and insist on being overly dramatic, putting a look on their face as if they've been poisoned or something. C'mon, it's only music. Grow up, and get over yourself.
ReplyDeleteI love Led Zeppelin and my late wife did not.
ReplyDeleteLoving my wonderful Soft Machine since college in 1970. Everyone else I know puts a mug-face on at first needle-drop.
ReplyDeleteI've quite liked Soft Machine for thirty years, but I missed many albums (Triple Echo was a good place for me to start I think). Recently lots of people I have met have been saying how much they like the band - I think SM may finally be in 'the Cool Club', well at least with the over 60's I know anyway.
DeleteI always loved the Softs. I'm not a "Wyatt only" purist, but draw the line after Seven (a lovely album). Triple Echo is interesting - not only is it the best introduction, as you say, but it is also - I think - the very first "box set", including all the things that we look for: rare singles, unissued live cuts. a good book, and a smart sampling of their albums. And a box. My favorite Softs album is the second, closely followed by the third, but even the jazz-centric fifth is a very enjoyable piece of work.
DeleteSoft Machine
DeleteHøvikodden Arts Centre, Oslo, Norway;
February 27, 1971
This is 2 untracked FLAC files with no artwork
File 1 (38:48)
Facelift >
Virtually >
improv >
Slightly All the Time
File 2 (46:11)
Neo Calibran Grides >
Out-Bloody-Rageous >
Eammon Andrews >
All White >
King & Queens >
Teeth >
Pigling Bland
Robert Wyatt - Drums
Mike Ratledge - Keyboard
Elton Dean - Saxophones
Hugh Hopper - Bass
Link
https://workupload.com/file/rbrAE39yETE
Thanks for the Softies link Babs, I look forward to listening.
DeleteSeconded!
DeleteFarq: Great to hear of your general love of Softs. Agreed that after Seven, Mr Jenkins takes the front seat, with mixed results. For me, it's 2, 3, 4, 1, 7, 5, 6. But the distance between all the above is "waffer"-thin.
DeleteI willl admit that even tho I owned the first three, it was on my first trip to London in 1978 that I heard "Soft Space" on the in-flight headphones as rosy-fingered dawn peeped over the jet's wing, and it was one of the most perfect musical moments of my life.
Finally had the opportunity to see Ornette Coleman once when my wife & I were on a holiday in SF. Needless to say, my darling had a near-nauseous reaction to the proceedings. Oh well...
ReplyDeleteHow was the show, really?
DeleteWell, it was the late quartet with 2 bassists who made quite a racket in the venue (SF's Masonic Hall). Ornette seemed a little tired, and played too much trumpet (oh well) and violin (sheesh). Denardo, on the other hand, was fantastic. He was in a plexiglass enclosure (probably for the benefit of his bandmates) but as we were sitting above I at least thoroughly enjoyed his work. Worth the effort to go, in my opinion. The audience, however, was mostly older and richer than us. We may have caught up on at least one front...
DeleteLike Farq my wife is Thai, but she has a strong dislike for almost anything I like to play... Only some of the soft rock & reggae lite stuff is kind of acceptable... I prefer to use my headphones a lot...
ReplyDeleteForty-four years into our marriage, we generally agree about a whole lot of music, but for reasons my wife cannot fully explicate, she has a deep aversion to John Lee Hooker and jazz scat singing—two aberrations I readily overlook given my own various irrationalities.
ReplyDeleteThere's a ton of music my wife is not a fan of ("why are we listening to that?" she asked recently when I made a test run of my reworked Beyoncé album in the car), but she usually draws the line when I put on Australian Aboriginal music.
ReplyDeleteLink, Babs? I want to irritate someone.
ReplyDeleteUsually when I wanted to clear the room, Beefheart did it.
ReplyDeleteI usually go with Coltrane's 'Interstellar Space', works like a charm.
DeleteChrome's "Half Machine Lip Moves" is weapons-grade "guest hostile".
DeleteThere's always Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music.
DeleteLink
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/Nzv8mUR2A64
Thank you
DeleteMy dogs are waiting for my neighbor to show up with hot dogs. They don't care what music I play.
DeleteThe dogs or the people. Although the people liked when I played Giant Sand.
DeleteAbout the Crimso set Babs kindly offers - I'm not a fan. There's just something too rigorous and dry about Fripp, and he looks like a garden gnome dressed as a bank manager, and he sits down to play. I'm shallow enough that these things matter.
ReplyDeleteMcLaughlin - another self-serious self-important guitarist - could at least be wildly exciting. Anyone out there want to try to change my mind? You run the risk of recommending something I've already made a "what's that smell?" face to, but please do try. We're here to learn.
I don't have much King Crimson. But I do have a few by California Guitar Trio.
DeleteToo serious for me.
DeleteFT3, I point you in the general direction of Th' Isle O'Foam© from 2022, back in the ‘good ol’ days’ when we all had no cares in the world at all. I expertly complied a Discipline era KC comp, if you didn’t like that, then nothing will persuade you to like KC. However you did manage to find that exquisite photo of Fripp wearing a lovely red hat, see below.
Deletehttps://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/2022/02/kind-of-belew-dept-bambi-turns-crimson.html
A mind, like a parachute, works best when open, or something like that, reiterated by Frank Zappa, but he was not apparently the originator of the statement. Same goes for earholes, far as I can tell. Approach music with an open mind, never know what you might hear. Ordered the Copland book today, I'll start it after I finish rereading the Alienist. Thanks Babs
ReplyDeleteWell, yeah. But (and it's a big one); we are not tabula rasa [blank sheets - Ed.] and our tastes - in music, whatever - are formed continuously from early days, and not necessarily indicative of "closed minds". We discover what we like, what suits us, and this is a good thing. I listen to music I haven't heard before every day, and some of that is outside my comfort zone, because who knows? The number of newly recorded albums that have stuck to me since the 'seventies is so small as to be statistically meaningless. But I don't find that familiar music loses its appeal, it stays new. I'm not bothered about having an "open mind" when it comes to personal taste (I'm never going to wear orange jeans, either).
Deletediscorporate
DeleteBecause who knows? That, to me signifies at least a bit of open mindedness.
ReplyDeleteOpen-mindedness has an entirely different meaning for me. I listen like I'd listen to the radio - that's not being "open minded". I listen in hope that something revelatory is going to happen. Hasn't happened this century, but who knows?
DeleteA mind, like a parachute, works best when open but not indoors...
ReplyDeleteAll prog, be it King Crimson or Genesis. Also, all folk. She gets bored almost instantly with either.
ReplyDeleteSorry, this is Nico. I don't understand why blogger does not let me sign in. I am now miles away in the Windows realm (8.1....)
DeleteNot sure where else to put this, but I've taken on the task of reviving a formerly dormant blog re Latin/reggae music. Been at it for about 3 weeks. Tons of music, but its invite only. If anyone wants in, just email me at pmacneworleans@gmail.
ReplyDeleteLatin reggae? Irie iras irat iramus iratis irant?
DeleteI can think of a place to put it...
Delete