Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: King Crimson
Label: Discipline Global Mobile
Released: 1972
Rating: 3/5
“Earthbound”, their first live album, is without a doubt the most obscure release in the band’s catalog and really something of an anomaly. It’s a bootleg recorded in the final days of the Fripp/ Burrell/Collins/Wallace lineup, and it’s notorious for its terrible sound quality, since it was taped by somebody in the audience on a plain cassette recorder, with no proper tonal balance. It’s also notorious for catching the band right at the end of the “Islands” tour, when this incarnation was on the verge of falling apart and, as such, musically torn in two. That split is plain to hear in the way the Burrell/Collins/Wallace trio drag the improvisations into bluesy and funky waters while a lone Fripp stays firmly and stubbornly anchored in classical music. The playing itself is brilliant, as you’d expect from musicians of this caliber, but the bad sound and the musical rift inside the lineup undermine the quality of the whole recording. The not-quite-happy choice of tracks is a slight annoyance too, since most of them aren’t classic band material, but you can’t blame the band for that, only the “bootlegger” who recorded the whole thing. Of the studio compositions and band classics, only “21 Century Schizoid Man” (In The Court of the Crimson King, 1969) and “Sailor’s Tale” (Islands, 1971) show up here. The longer improvisation “Groon” came out on the single “Cat Food” (1970) and was never officially released on a studio album, while “Peoria” and “Earthbound” are improvisations the band played during that tour.
“21 Century Schizoid Man”, their anthem and a true classic, is the best-played track on the whole recording. It’s a totally unhinged, flat-out “anarcho-apocalyptic” version that can’t compare to the studio take, but it’s still a very special beast of its own and a real treat for fans of the band. As befits this legendary song, Boz’s vocal is distorted through the VCS3 effect, which here reaches almost grotesque heights, and at times Boz sounds almost like a cyborg. Then, in the middle of the song, in a proper duel, or rather a butchering massacre, he’s followed by Collins’ raging saxophone and Fripp’s metallized guitar, and that’s when the fiery dance and battle of the instruments really kicks off. Anyone who worships the original version with Greg Lake on vocals will enjoy this extremely “juicy” take on the classic too. It’s just a shame that it’s spoiled by the poor sound quality. “Peoria” is a classic band “jam” and shows the side of the group that was never openly presented on the studio albums.It’s a two-chord jazzy improvisation featuring Boz’s frenzied “funky and bluesy” shouts (no surprise that he joined Bad Company soon after this recording came out) and a jazzy rhythm laid over Fripp’s pedal and Collins’ wild sax solos. The instrumental “The Sailor’s Tale” is also played differently from the studio version and shows off Collins’ skill on the mellotron and Fripp’s superb guitar work (a top-notch solo). It’s also the only track on the recording that truly shows the classic King Crimson, without all the “blues and funk” add-ons. The next improvisation, “Earthbound”, sways through funky rhythms backed by occasional ecstatic shrieks from Burrell until they make room for Fripp’s guitar “pyrotechnics”. Closing out the recording is an excellent version of “Groon”. It’s a 15-minute improvisational expansion that nicely shows off the talents of each member of the band individually, especially drummer Ian Wallace (an outstanding drum solo) and Fripp on guitar, and it manages to build an exceptional, unforgettable atmosphere. Partly thanks to a four-minute “sci-fi” experiment with VCS3 effects that carries the band’s sound off into almost electronic-cosmic realms. And at the end, Fripp wraps the whole thing up on guitar in true apocalyptic style.
Now for the criticism. On the first two improvisations (“Peoria” and “Earthbound”), Fripp, unbelievable but true, is reduced to a sideman “funky” rhythm guitarist, and you can clearly feel that the role didn’t suit him one bit. Every time he tries to take the initiative and hit in with his classical guitar ideas, the whole “groove” suddenly vanishes and the song heads straight for the exit. It comes off as almost tragicomic. You can also clearly feel that at the time of this recording the band was split between two different musical shores: a “bluesy and funky” trio who loved to “have fun” in their own way with funky jamming, and a lonely Fripp who still clung to classical music and fusion. Even years after this recording, Fripp didn’t have much good to say about this lineup. No wonder that after the tour, in true dictator style, he carried out a sweeping “purge” and threw all three “merrymakers” out, and they then drifted off into bluesy waters (Bad Company, Alvin Lee, Alexis Corner, etc.).
If the sound weren’t so rotten, “Earthbound” would be an excellent live album, since it’s a real treat for fans of progressive and avant-garde rock. Still, this latest reissue, released by DGM, brings a noticeable improvement to the sound of the whole recording and manages to capture most of the wild, untamed magic of this early and rowdiest lineup of the band. Of course, this is not the right live album for beginners who are just getting to know the band “live”. Plenty of them might even be put off from listening to the rest of their work so I recommend it only to serious fans of the band. King Crimson would undoubtedly deserve to have their first live album recorded with decent sound and with more representative songs. In that respect “Earthbound” does them an injustice. Fripp initially fiercely opposed both the original release and the reissue of this recording, but in the end he gave in to the wishes of the band’s many fans, because “Earthbound” has gained cult status over the years. Not only was it for a long time the only official live release of the early version of the band, it’s also the first officially released bootleg in the history of rock music (recorded by someone in the audience without the band’s knowledge). For those of you who want a more authentic taste of live recordings of this incarnation of the band, there’s now a whole pile of live recordings from this period that the “King Crimson Collectors’ Club” has released, and still releases. You can get them through membership and further online ordering.
Lineup
Boz Burrell – vocals, bass guitar
Robert Fripp – guitar
Mel Collins – alto, baritone & tenor saxophone, mellotron
Ian Wallace – drums
Production
Robert Fripp
Track list
1. 21st century schizoid man (11:45)
2. Peoria (7:30)
3. The sailor’s tale (4:45)
4. Earthbound (7:08)
5. Groon (15:30)
Album length: 46:38
