Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: King Crimson
Label: Discipline Global Mobile
Released: 1997
Rating: 4/5
“Epitaph” is a double live album of enormous historical importance for every King Crimson fan, since it features some of their earliest recordings and snapshots from the gigs of the legendary original incarnation of the band, the Fripp/Lake/McDonald/Giles/Sinfield lineup. When this release was presented in 1997, all the original members of the original lineup got together again at a press conference for the first time in almost 30 years. There was even talk of some symbolic shows, but the band’s undisputed boss, guitarist Robert Fripp, famous for his special brand of “polite” manners, made sure nothing came of it. Fans, especially those who never got the chance to see their heroes in their original lineup, had to make peace with this live album, which does more than a decent job of conjuring up the atmosphere and energy that filled that incarnation of the band. Then again, this band always sounded even better live than in the studio, so it’s no surprise that some of the performances here come out better than their studio versions.
The musical identity of the original King Crimson, considered by most experts to be the first official prog rock band in history, and still the favorite version of the band for most fans, was a unique and energetic blend of jazz, classical, rock and avant-garde, and on stage they often slipped shorter improvisations into the individual pieces, which later became one of their trademarks. But probably the most important thing that set them apart from most bands of the time was the pretty dark and mystical, not to say apocalyptic mood radiating from most of their songs and lyrics, which had nothing in common with the usual, already thoroughly worn-out hippie mantras about flowers and light. Especially unusual for the time were the intelligent, often metaphysical lyrics penned by their lyricist and stage technician, Peter Sinfield. King Crimson were a totally anti-hippie band from the start and one of the first heralds of a new musical and social era, one with no room left for naivety and false ideals. It’s probably no surprise that their fans included, besides Yes, The Who, Jimi Hendrix and so on, the members of Black Sabbath.
This recording is a real treasure for every generation of their followers, as it captures some of the first live moments in their history, specifically from the tour after the release of their legendary debut “In The Court of The Crimson King” (1969). The sound quality of some of the recordings is, quite understandably, in pretty rough shape, but luckily they were cleaned up enough that the occasional noise is rare, and they still sound better than many recordings of this kind from that era. And on the plus side, at least it preserves some historical authenticity. On the first CD, four performances recorded during a broadcast for the British radio station BBC stand out, especially the great takes on their two best-known classics, “21st Century Schizoid Man” and “In The Court Of The Crimson King”. The latter even has different lyrics in the first verse. Since they didn’t yet have enough of their own material after the release of the first album, they threw in a cover here and there. At the early shows that was usually the Beatles classic “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”, later replaced by a cover of Donovan’s “Get Thy Bearings”, which you’ll find on the first part of this set. It’s a rather psychedelic piece that King Crimson reworked so that their version contained quite a few extra jazzy saxophone parts and improvisations. Many will love the excellent performance of the dark post-apocalyptic epic “Epitaph”, soaked in mighty waves of mellotron and Lake’s outstanding vocals. Often it’s precisely Lake’s voice that’s the biggest joy to hear on these recordings. It’s sometimes downright strange to be reminded again what a superb singer he once was, definitely among the best rock vocalists of his day, while today he’s only a pale shadow of his former greatness.
The next batch of performances comes from a legendary show during the first leg of their first American tour, specifically from the famous Filmore East in New York. There they were already playing two pieces that came out in altered form on the next studio album, “In The Wake Of Poseidon” (1970). Those are “A Man A City”, later renamed “Pictures Of the City”, and, in my opinion the peak of their live shows at the time, the dark, apocalyptic instrumental “Mars”. The latter was later renamed “The Devil’s Triangle”, and originally it’s one of the movements from the classical suite “The Planets” by the legendary German classical composer Gustav Holst. This version differs noticeably from the later studio one, and in my opinion it was even better in this early live form. The main reason it’s better lies in the different, more subtle use of the mellotron in its intro. The mellotron in the opening section, under the fingers of multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald, sounds far more symphonic and epic, while Fripp’s later studio interpretation is a proper avant-garde ride through hell from the very first minute, with the mellotron noticeably less dominant in the intro. The essence of evil and total war destruction that radiated from almost every interpretation of this classic was one of the reasons McDonald left the band at the end of this tour, as he said at the time that he “didn’t want to play music that conveyed negative vibes”. Today that statement sounds almost banal, especially coming from someone who played in a military band before King Crimson, but back then his departure left the band barely standing and turned it into a constantly shifting collective.
There are also three performances that appear on no studio release. They were recorded during a show at Filmore West in San Francisco. “Mantra” is a solid, pretty hypnotic instrumental with a lovely harmony created by McDonald’s flute. The easygoing jazz-folk experiment “Travel Weary Capricorn” features a surprisingly decent vocal from drummer Michael Giles, while the improvisation “Travel Bleary Capricorn” is solid but nothing especially dramatic, apart from the unusual flamenco passages on Fripp’s guitar, compared with some of the later, more avant-garde and more interesting improvisations. I suppose the title and lyrics of the first “Capricorn” refer to Sinfield, who was also the band’s roadie at the time.
The second disc captures the band’s very last show on this tour, McDonald’s last show with the band and thus the final show of the original King Crimson. That alone makes it a must for every fan of the band. Besides the standards mentioned above, there’s also a performance of “Drop In”. It’s an interesting jazzy-psychedelic experiment with an excellent vocal turn from Lake. This song later came out in heavily reworked form as “Letters” on the album “Islands” (1971). The version of “Mars” from this show is even better, even creepier and more dramatic. Hats off to anyone who can listen to it in the dark more than twice in a row without chills crawling all over their body.
Fripp’s in-between announcements, delivered in his typical, almost professorial English, are fairly witty on first listens, and show that the guy most people today associate with strictness, order and discipline did have a bit of a funny bone after all. For example, he introduces one of the “21st Century Schizoid Man” performances as a dedication to its main inspiration, Spiro Agnew, then the American vice president in the Nixon administration, while before “A Man A City” he sums up his impressions of the view from his hotel room onto the streets of New York, where all sorts of trash was already piling up back then. So even when he officially wasn’t yet the alpha and omega of the band, Fripp was already playing the role of chief spokesman to the audience and the media.
“Epitaph” (the second part of this collection of recordings from the period later came out under the same name) is a must for every true fan of the band. This set of recordings bears witness to the incredible magic of the original King Crimson lineup. Above all, it’s clear proof that the band already sounded far better live than in the studio. After McDonald’s departure (he later became an original member of Foreigner and most recently played in 21st Century Schizoid Band, a group uniting several former King Crimson members), constant changes followed, which in turn brought constant musical innovation and stylistic shifts. Who knows what the band’s fate would have been if he’d made a different decision and Fripp hadn’t ended up as the supreme chief. They’d probably have held on to the more symphonic style a while longer, sold a lot more albums, filled stadiums and been talked about by listeners of more trendy genres too, as later happened to some of their contemporaries, led by Pink Floyd, Genesis and Yes. Over time their experimental nature would most likely have bent a lot more to commercial pressures. In that case, the nonstop changes of the following years were more than helpful in preserving their progressive spirit and original mission.
Lineup
Robert Fripp – guitar
Greg Lake – vocals, bass guitar
Ian McDonald – woodwinds, keyboards, mellotron, backing vocals
Michael Giles – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Peter Sinfield – lyrics, lighting
Production
Robert Fripp & David Singleton
Track list
CD 1: 71:37
1. 21st century schizoid man (7:06)
2. In the court of the Crimson King (6:27)
3. Get thy bearings (5:59)
4. Epitaph (7:08)
5. A man, a city (11:41)
6. Epitaph (7:42)
7. 21st century schizoid man (7:16)
8. Mantra (3:47)
9. Travel weary Capricorn (3:15)
10. Improv: Travel bleary Capricorn (2:23)
11. Mars (Holst) (8:53)
CD 2: 48:36
1. In the court of the Crimson King (7:13)
2. Drop in (5:14)
3. A man, a city (11:19)
4. Epitaph (7:31)
5. 21st century schizoid man (7:37)
6. Mars (Holst) (9:42)
Total running time: 120:13
