Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: King Crimson
Label: Discipline Global Mobile
Released: 2001
Running time: 75:94
Rating: 4/5
The fourth studio and, at the same time, second live incarnation of English prog rock legends King Crimson was probably the most chaotic and unpredictable version of the band in their entire history. That goes for both their studio and live output. The clashes and friction between the members were unbelievable the whole time, so it’s kind of odd that this lineup didn’t fall apart way sooner than after a single year. On opposite sides of the fence stood two original members, the brilliant, eccentric guitarist Robert Fripp and lyricist/VC3 synthesizer player Peter Sinfiled, who could stand each other less and less (Fripp was fed up with Sinfield’s fantasy-laden and increasingly sexually tinged lyrics, while Sinfield was bugged by Fripp’s authoritarian presence), while keeping them company were newcomers hungry to prove themselves, Boz Burrell (vocals, bass guitar), Ian Wallace (drums) and Mel Collins (saxophone, flute), who couldn’t wait for the American leg of the tour.
The problem with the newcomers was that, with the possible exception of Collins, they had a completely different musical vision from Fripp, since at times they leaned way more toward blues than prog rock and jazz fusion, which you can already hear on the »Islands« (1971) track »Ladies Of the Road« and in Boz’s at times almost ‘Americanized’ way of singing, which never fit the recognizable, ‘romantic and old-English’ King Crimson concept, at least as far as the vocal delivery of their early songs goes. No wonder Burrell joined the original version of Bad Company the following year, while Wallace and Collins briefly stepped in to help blues icon Alexis Korner.
As if all that weren’t enough, the ‘greenhorns’ also wanted to party hard and stay out late on the American leg of the tour, so by December 13, 1971, when King Crimson played Detroit – the source of the live recording titled »Live in Detroit«, released in 2001 on the independent label Discipline Globile Mobile – Fripp’s nerves were already thoroughly frayed, even though this was one of the rare shows by this incarnation of the prog legends that deserves a rating of ‘very good’, if not ‘excellent’. Their shows were like night and day, depending on the evening; one night they’d deliver a brilliant performance and the next be completely unrecognizable, as if it weren’t the same band. For Sinfield, who was actively coaxing experimental sounds, innovative for the time, out of the VC3 synthesizer that night, it was one of the last shows as a King Crimson member, since Fripp soon gave an ultimatum along the lines of ‘it’s me or you: somebody has to go’.
This incarnation of King Crimson opened most of its concerts with the energy catalyst »Pictures of a City« from »In The Wake of Poseidon« (1970), which, together with a chaotic jazzy improvisation, really came off that night, even though Boz’s singing, and especially the emphasis on certain lines of this classic, was rather unusual. Unsurprisingly, the band played as many as three tracks from »Islands«, the only studio achievement of this version of King Crimson. »Formentera Lady« turned out especially well this time, with Collins’ opening flute improvisations, where the electrified atmosphere settles down a bit in favor of an ethereal mood, which lasts all the way to the debauched jazz rock fusion instrumental »Sailor’s Tale«, on which Fripp thrills with a supersonic guitar solo spree.
One of the better moments of this King Crimson show in Detroit was undoubtedly the performance of the »Lizard« (1970) classic »Cirkus«, which opens with the dramatic sound of crashing sea waves via Sinfield’s effect on the VC3 synthesizer. Boz’s vocal interpretation is far more convincing this time, since the late bassist/singer was closer in timbre to Gordon Haskell (the singer on the studio version of »Cirkus«) than to original King Crimson vocalist Greg Lake, while the mellotron-sax arrangements sound almost even more sinister and brutal than on the studio version. »Ladies Of The Road«, where you can hear rare traces of blues in King Crimson’s music and also a Paul McCartney-style chorus, was certainly the most representative track of this version of the band. Boz’s totally unnecessary, bluesy growling and screeching in the chorus and the rather bizarre singing of certain lines, where the song almost cracks the singer up, rank among the rare misplaced, if not bad, moments of this recording. This »Islands« track was always hugely popular with the crowd thanks to its accessibility, even though Sinfield’s sexually charged lyrics about the easy-going companions of rock musicians drove Fripp up the wall. The strict guitar ascetic loathed the other band members’ hedonistic philosophy to the core.
Among the pleasant surprises is the instrumental improvisation »Groon« (the studio version is on the B-side of the »Cat Food« single), where amid wild improvisational meanders the late Ian Wallace especially impresses with a monstrous drum solo. »21st Century Schizoid Man«, despite a somewhat shortened version and the absence of sax solos, came off very solidly that night. At the end of this evergreen, the only real incident of the evening happens. While Fripp, in polished, bookish English, is introducing the individual band members, the ill manners of the Detroit crowd (some drunk lunatic yells »shut up for fuck’s sake« in the middle) make Fripp lose it, but Fripp quickly pulls it together and, at just the right moment, gives the spoiled American audience a piece of the band’s mind, while also explaining why the band prefers playing newer songs to older ones. »Mars« a.k.a. »Devil’s Triangle« is marked in the intro by the sinister and almost deafening sound of aerial bombing, a product of Sinfield’s VC3 synthesizer, while mighty mellotron waves pave the way for a merciless battle march.
King Crimson, led by Bob Fripp, were by this stage of their career thoroughly sick of the constant demands to play the favorites from the legendary debut (one example being the EP »Epitaph«, which had by then vanished from their set lists), so no wonder they said ‘to hell with it all’ and, for the big finale, unexpectedly played a deeply bizarre, bluesy and heavily stripped-down version of the famous evergreen »In The Court of The Crimson King«, which could have been renamed that night to »In The Court of B.B. King«. Similarly bizarre interpretations of some classics were fairly common for this incarnation of the prog legends and indirectly also contributed to the band falling apart quickly the following year, after Fripp took absolute control.
»Live in Detorit« is a fairly interesting and relatively good-quality recording of the most chaotic King Crimson incarnation, one that was ‘bursting at the seams’ the whole time but still had enough mutual cohesion and drive that night to pull off one of the better shows of 1971. This version of King Crimson was finished as early as January 8, 1972, when Sinfield left the band after a long-drawn-out dispute. Since then Fripp has been the undisputed chieftain of these prog giants. The band held on as a quartet until the end of the American tour on April 1, 1972, after which Fripp was briefly left on their own and speculation began about a possible collaboration with drummer Jon Hiseman (Colosseum, Colosseum II), which came to nothing. Two members of the »Islands« lineup (Boz and Wallace) are sadly no longer with us, while Collins, after more than four decades, is once again Fripp’s friend and a member of the latest King Crimson incarnation.
Lineup
Robert Fripp – guitar, mellotron
Boz Burrell – vocals, bass guitar
Mel Collins – flute, saxophone, mellotron
Ian Wallace – drums, backing vocals
Peter Sinfield – lyrics, VC3 synthesizer
Production
David Singleton & Alex R. Mundy
Track list
1. Pictures of a City (9:03)
2. Formentera Lady (8:59)
3. Sailor’s Tale (6:08)
4. Cirkus (9:14)
5. Ladies on the Road (7:55)
6. Croon (8:02)
7. 21st Century Schizoid Man (13:17)
8. Mars (11:02)
9. In the Court of the Crimson King (3:34)
