Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: King Crimson
Label: Discipline Global Mobile
Release: 2000
Length: 48:45
Rating: 4/5
“Live At Moles Club” is a cult live recording of huge historical importance for every fan of prog-rock giants King Crimson, because it captures the first gig by the legendary band after their 1981 reunion. The resurrected King Crimson were temporarily going by the working name Discipline at the time, since in those early steps they were still feeling out whether the almost completely overhauled lineup had the right chemistry between them to rightfully take on that legendary name. The two American newcomers were put to the biggest test: guitarist and singer Adrian Belew (ex-Frank Zappa, David Bowie) and bassist Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel). Alongside the original member and longtime chief, the legendary and controversial guitarist Robert Fripp, and drum grandmaster Bill Bruford (ex-Yes, UK, Bruford), they rounded out this brand-new incarnation of the crimson kings, which wove a whole range of innovative ingredients into its sound, from new wave and electronics to funk and world music.
King Crimson, still under the temporary name Discipline, played their christening warm-up show at Moles, a small English club, a proper “hole in the wall” that, true to its size, boasted modest acoustics, so understandably the production on this live recording isn’t the best. What’s far more impressive is the untamed élan and top-notch tightness with which they played, at this warm-up gig before the start of the tour and the release of the new album, some early versions of songs that would come out later that September on the album “Discipline” (1981), plus a couple of longtime classics, “Red” and “Larks’ Tongues In Aspic (Part II)”. Those two are also the only link to the band’s glorious past, since King Crimson had always had an almost unique habit: with every new incarnation, they played as much new, as innovative material as possible at their shows and steered clear of performing older work.
The crowd that night surely had no idea that they were looking at the new face of prog-rock legends who’d been written off for almost seven years, a face that surprised, if not outright shocked, with a compositional and playing approach totally different from all the previous King Crimson incarnations. The only Crimsonoid sonic stamp recognizable from a mile away, and at the same time the common, connecting factor when it comes to the band’s overall live tightness, is Fripp’s unique guitar technique. The eccentric but brilliant guitarist built this version of King Crimson mainly on incredibly firm work discipline, which met even the most demanding instrumental whim from the big chief. Just how powerfully that discipline worked at their shows is signaled by Belew’s request that the audience temporarily stop smoking, which became one of the golden rules of attending King Crimson gigs, after which they launch without a moment’s hesitation into the classic instrumental “Discipline”, a true incarnation of incredible, harmonious instrumental togetherness.
Among the individual performances, some early versions of “Discipline” classics are especially interesting, like the playful “Thela Hun Ginjeet”, which at this stage still had a somewhat different structure and lyrics. Here Belew also demonstrates his exceptional singing talent for the first time, which at that point still drew many parallels with David Byrne (Talking Heads), a resemblance he shook off in later years. The live favorite is undoubtedly the excellent rendition of the avant-garde classic “Elephant Talk”, while the gentle ballad “Matte Kudasai” shows off the band’s more subtle side. The real experimental power and individual instrumental talents of this Crimson incarnation come to fullest expression on the ambient instrumental “Sheltering Sky”, where the mood shifts second by second through an excellent combination of elegant rhythmic prisms and special guitar effects. This recording is thrilling in every respect, instrumentally and in terms of the vibe within the band itself, and it’s dragged down only by the relatively lukewarm audience response and the aforementioned poor, club-level production, which is still better than that of the first official King Crimson live album “Earthbound” (1972).
“Live At Moles Club” is one of the first in a series of official live bootlegs that began coming out years ago on Fripp’s then newly founded label Discipline Global Mobile. With them, he mainly wanted to curb the stream of illegal King Crimson live recordings that had started circulating online at the time, and to reward longtime devotees who were craving the many recordings that were still unreleased. At first these live bootlegs could only be ordered through the official Discipline site, but now they’ve long been available in all better-stocked music shops (which of course also means you won’t find them here). “Live At Moles Club”, the eleventh in the still ongoing series of official live releases from the magnificent King Crimson catalog put out by the independent label Discipline GM, is far from a bad place to start despite lacking that real live atmosphere, mostly because of the crowd, since it contains the first live steps of the legendary incarnation that carried the band into the eighties. Just how successful this King Crimson incarnation was is best shown by the fact that three of the four members are still in the ranks of this legendary band today (Bruford, after years on his own path and work with his own band Earthworks, has meanwhile officially retired, to the general disappointment of fans).
Lineup
Robert Fripp – guitar, soundscapes
Adrian Belew – guitar, vocals
Tony Levin – bass guitar, stick
Bill Bruford – drums, percussion
Production
King Crimson
Track list
1. Discipline
2. Thela Hun Ginjeet
3. Red
4. Elephant Talk
5. Matte Kudasai
6. Sheltering Sky
7. Indiscipline
8. Frame By Frame
9. Larks’ Tongues In Aspic (Part II)
