Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: King Crimson
Label: Discipline Global Mobile
Release: 1997
Running time: 113:44
Rating: 4/5
In 1997, King Crimson started putting out old live recordings through Discipline Global Mobile, the independent label founded by their strict chief and lead guitarist Robert Fripp, and those tapes finally got their first official releases. Fripp, forever obsessed with total control and perfection, was fed up to the back teeth with all sorts of unauthorized live releases, so he decided to protect his music and, at the same time, revive interest in King Crimson’s magnificent live legacy. Among the first albums in that series were two double live albums titled »Epitaph« (after the King Crimson classic of the same name), which held four concert recordings by the original King Crimson lineup from 1969. »Epitaph, Volumes One & Two«, a hugely important historical document for fans of these prog rock legends, featured rare recordings of the band performing for the BBC, a show in New York, and the two closing shows in San Francisco that ended the original King Crimson lineup.
On its first disc, »Epitaph, Volumes Three & Four« has the original band playing a festival in the middle of Plumpton on August 9, 1969, when this incarnation of King Crimson was at the peak of its powers, while the second disc has a recording from a jazz club in Chesterfield on September 7, 1969. In other words, both shows took place before their studio debut even came out. After thorough studio work, both recordings sound pretty decent, considering the conditions and the technology they were captured with, and they give a vivid picture of one of the most thrilling live acts of the late sixties.
Even after nearly fifty years, the original King Crimson lineup remains the most revered in the history of these prog rock pioneers, and, thanks mostly to the unforgettable debut »In The Court of the Crimson King« (1969), it was also the most commercially successful in their history. To this day people still wonder what would have happened if drummer Michael Giles and keyboardist/woodwind player Ian McDonald (later of Foreigner) hadn’t left at the end of 1969. They were sick of the grueling tour and preferred to set up a short-lived project, McDonald Giles. On top of that, they didn’t agree with Fripp’s vision for where King Crimson’s music should go next, since they had always put more weight on melodic arrangements and folk elements.
Had the original lineup stayed together after the sixties, Fripp probably wouldn’t have ‘been forced by circumstances’ to take command either, and they’d most likely have shared the fate of their comrades Genesis and Yes, who reaped enormous commercial success in later years, even at the expense of their artistic individuality. Wherever former King Crimson members ended up, commercial success was practically guaranteed (Emerson, Lake & Palmer, UK, Foreigner, Asia, etc.). Still, most King Crimson fans are glad to this day that their heroes never ‘sold out’ and stayed true to themselves, even if, thanks to frequent breakups and countless lineup changes, they released far fewer studio albums than they could have, and their markedly experimental musical expression delighted only the most demanding gourmets.
In the lineup of Robert Fripp (guitar), Greg Lake (vocals and bass), Ian McDonald (woodwinds/Mellotron), Michael Giles (drums) and Peter Sinfield (lyrics, lighting), King Crimson were the leading experimental force of the British progressive rock movement in mid-1969, one that stunned even musical innovators like Pete Townshend (The Who) and Jimi Hendrix. Their fusion of rock, classical music, jazz and occasionally folk, mostly through McDonald’s flute and their outstanding improvisational skill, took your breath away at their live shows too, while the light show under Peter Sinfield’s baton was reportedly almost on par with Pink Floyd’s, and without any mind-altering substances on the side. Although the original King Crimson’s music had quite a few psychedelic elements, they never took drugs, and they had one more good reason for that after Barry Godber, the creator of the legendary »In The Court of the Crimson King« cover art and an addict, took his own life in 1969.
King Crimson opened their Plumpton Festival set with a fairly direct, energetic version of the classic »21st Century Schizoid Man«, which, along with »In The Court of the Crimson King«, is still the best-known song of their career. Greg Lake didn’t use the vocoder here that pretty heavily distorts his voice on the original version, and the improvisations on guitar, sax, bass and drums are shorter and played faster too. Still, it’s not hard to see why this legendary track, which set brand-new and sky-high standards for progressive rock and heavy metal, was the only logical choice to open all of their early live shows.
King Crimson went to great lengths to avoid cover songs throughout their career. In fact, apart from »Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds« (orig. The Beatles) and, much later, »Heroes« (orig. David Bowie), they almost loathed them, since, in Fripp’s words, the Beatles were their only real influence from the world of popular music/rock. And yet, during their early shows they tackled an improvised reworking of Donovan’s standard »Get Thy Bearings« quite a few times, and at Plumpton they turned it, through long jams and Giles’s drum solo freakout, into something practically unrecognizable. By his own account, Sinfield was a big Donovan fan, so he surely took the lead in picking that cover, even though he was ‘just’ the lyricist and stage technician.
»In The Court of the Crimson King« in this version lacks the closing improvisational freakout, where McDonald shone on flute, but in every other way it’s very faithful to the studio original. That means the vocal harmonies are sung ‘flawlessly’, while the majestic Mellotron arrangements conjure up an epic atmosphere in an instant. »Mantra« is one big instrumental jam full of wild improvisations of the kind only the original King Crimson could pull off, so adjectives like ‘cosmic’ or ‘ethereal’ fit perfectly. »Travel Weary Capricorn« and »Improv«, which contains the central motif of »By the Sleepy Lagoon« (orig. British composer Eric Coates), are stuffed with improvisational cannonades and free musical forms that these masters of rock experimentalism dreamed up so spontaneously that it’s still a real joy to listen to their instrumental chops today, and plenty of jazz fusion masters would envy them that kind of practice.
The high point of the first disc, i.e. the Plumpton Festival set, is the performance of »Mars: The Bringer of War« (orig. German composer Gustav Holst), before this Holst classic was renamed »Devil’s Triangle« on the next studio album, »In The Wake of Poseidon« (1970). This live version of one of the most demanding and experimental pieces in the entire King Crimson history features even more magnificent Mellotron arrangements under McDonald’s baton than the later studio version, where Fripp took on the same job.
The second disc, with the show at the jazz club in the middle of Chesterfield, holds a thoroughly ‘aired-out’ recording from Fripp’s cassette and is one of the few live documents where »21st Century Schizoid Man« is played with the closing improvisational freakout from the original version. It’s also the only recording with the complete version of »Drop In«, since the version from King Crimson’s show at the famous American venue Filmore East is missing Fripp’s guitar solo. One of the highlights of the second disc is the performance of »Epitaph«, which, despite the weaker sound, nearly matches the emotional power of the unforgettable studio original in ambient intensity. Before the announcement of »Get Thy Bearrings«, you can hear the band announce the release of their studio debut, which came out on October 10, 1969. In the closing improvisation on »Improv«, you can hear a motif that later turned up on the »Lizard« (1970) track »Happy Family«.
»Mars« was seriously cut down this time, but amid the Mellotron swells and ominous rhythmic build-up it still has its signature phantasmagorical climax. The Chesterfield jazz club show wasn’t released in full on this recording because of technical problems with the sound quality, mostly due to the blown-out Mellotron, a casualty of the outdated technology of the day during the recording, so the performances of the classics »I Talk to the Wind« and »In The Courth of the Crimson King« weren’t included.
»Epitaph, Volumes Three & Four« is a must-have companion to the live album »Epitaph, Volumes One & Two«, which every King Crimson devotee has long had in their collection too. The sound quality of these recordings is far from ideal, but Fripp did his best in the studio to ‘smooth out’ and ‘patch up’ whatever could be fixed. Most importantly, you can hear on individual performances why the original King Crimson lineup is still the most prized in their history, even though true fans of these prog rock legends respect all of their incarnations equally.
Lineup
Robert Fripp – guitar
Greg Lake – vocals, bass
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: 53:26
1. 21st Century Schizoid Man (7:14)
2. Get Thy Bearings (10:32)
3. In the Court of the Crimson King (6:43)
4. Mantra (8:48)
5. Travel Weary Capricorn (3:58)
6. Improv (8:55)
7. Mars: The Bringer of War (7:23)
CD 2: 60:18
1. 21st Century Schizoid Man (7:57)
2. Drop In (6:20)
3. Epitaph (7:22)
4. Get Thy Bearings (18:10)
5. Mantra (5:29)
6. Travel Weary Capricorn (4:54)
7. Improv (4:32)
8. Mars: The Bringer of War (5:37)
