Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: King Crimson
Label: Discipline Global Mobile
Release: 2016
Duration: 126:44
Rating: 5/5
Legendary prog rockers King Crimson stopped by Toronto, Canada, during the North American leg of their recent tour, and on November 15, 2015, they recorded a double live album at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre with the no-frills title »Live in Toronto« (not to be confused with »Live in Toronto, 1974«, which also came out on Dsicipline Global Mobile). The seven-headed King Crimson behemoth, which packs no fewer than three drummers in Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harrison and Bill Rieflin, while still being steadfastly commanded by guitar autocrat Robert Fripp, showed that night in no uncertain terms why, alongside Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd, they’re one of the four most revered and influential prog rock bands of all time. Stern, ever-disciplined Uncle Bob has mellowed enough since the resurrection of King Crimson that, to the delight of most fans, he and his comrades are boldly playing some classics from the distant past again, songs that hadn’t been heard in their live set for ages (some hadn’t been played in decades).
The setlist that night was pretty much a dream and drew on most of their albums, and it was especially interesting to hear some pieces from the newer era, to which flutist/saxophonist Mel Collins deftly added wind arrangements, bringing them stylistically closer to the standards of prog rock’s golden age. As expected, all the eighties material was left out, while the newer stuff (from the nineties onward) was represented only by instrumentals: »VROOOM«, »The ConstruKction of Light« and »Level Five«. Fripp probably made that call out of respect for longtime singer and guitarist Adrian Belew, whom, to the delight of many, he hasn’t written off completely even after the arrival of his successor Jakko Jakszyk, since he still lets him play King Crimson music within the project The Crimson ProjeKct.
For the first time in a long while, King Crimson are a mostly English band again, as far as the nationality of its members goes. That detail matters for anyone wondering why Fripp, against all expectations, decided to revive the mighty roots of prog rock’s legends. But Fripp wouldn’t be Fripp if, before the show even started, he hadn’t politely addressed the audience in his typical, bookish English, asking them not to take photos during the performance and not to get alarmed when Tony Levin, as is his old habit, snaps a few pictures of the crowd at the end of the show just for fun.
After Fripp’s introductory ‘warning’ and the soundscape »Threshold Soundscape« comes the classic »Larks’ Tongues in Aspic – Part I«, which sounds truly phenomenal in its new guise. The opening section alone, with the sound of traditional Philippine percussion, is something special, while the devastating drum passages that kick in over Fripp’s brutal riff are a story in themselves. You could talk about a veritable drum cataclysm here, with all three drum masters, who often use electronic percussion, complementing each other unbelievably well, as if they’d been playing together for years. Levin’s thick bass lines faithfully back up the chaotic rhythmic twists and turns, confirming that King Crimson in their new form are as strong as they’ve been in ages. Collins’s flute improvisation makes this aforementioned Wetton-era classic from the self-titled album sound as if it were being played by the original 1969 version of the band. Next comes another song that had to wait decades before returning to the King Crimson repertoire.
The punchy ecological call to arms »Pictures Of a City« was last played live in 1972, when Fripp and Collins shared the stage with Boz Burrell and Ian Wallace, both sadly no longer with us. Jakszyk’s vocal interpretation is closer to the original studio version (Lake’s) than to Burrell’s, which is good news for everyone who was bugged by Boz’s frequent vocal contortions on this standard, which sometimes came with a rather odd accent. Maybe King Crimson will work in even more from »In The Wake of Poseidon« (1970) in the future, an album that often stays in the shadow of its more famous predecessor »In The Court of the Crimson King« (1969), from which they played everything that night except the two ballads, »I Talk to the Wind« and »Moonchild«.
After a splendid version of the »Thrak« (1994) standard »VROOOM«, three completely new pieces arrive: the improvisational jigsaw puzzle »Radical Action (To Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind)«, the drum cannonade »The Hell Hounds Of Crim« and the dark-romantic »Meltdown«, the last of which has the best potential to land on a new studio album someday. »The ConstruKction of Light« is always a pleasure to hear among the newer material (read: less than twenty years old), also because that album was one of their most overlooked, while Collins’s sax improvisations, which weren’t on the original version, are especially fun.
»Red« could be called the song the band members could play blindfolded, since they’ve got it studied down to the last detail, which isn’t surprising, as it was one of the few classics that earlier versions of the band played regularly too. Jakszyk keeps impressing with his vocal approach. He’d already proven he’s got the old material down as a member of 21st Century Schizoid Band, which fascinated Fripp himself so much that he started appreciating the exceptional legacy of his own group again. At certain moments Jakko’s vocal is quite similar to that of the original King Crimson singer, Greg Lake (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), which is especially obvious during the brilliant rendition of the post-apocalyptic epic »Epitaph«, while on most of the seventies material and the stuff from later periods he’s got a voice all his own again.
»Banshee Legs Bell Hassle« is a short instrumental featuring splendid improvisations on traditional Philippine percussion. »Easy Money«, a merciless satire of capitalism and a timeless classic from the Wetton era, is also played with exceptional fire, with the triple drum phalanx once again coming into its full destructive-brilliant glory. The always brutal »Level Five« with its new saxophone improvisations sounds downright fantastic, because for the first time it sounds like it was made in the classic King Crimson era and not in 2003, when the unforgettable album »The Power to Believe« came out. The gloomier confession »The Letters« and the brilliant instrumental »Sailor’s Tale«, both from the album »Islands« (1971), are very pleasant surprises, since these are standards that only won greater standing among fans decades later. The only classic seventies albums that got ‘forgotten’ that night are »Lizard« (1970) and »Starless And Bible Black« (1974), but they’re probably far from written off, and you can expect classics like »Cirkus (Including Entry of the Chameleons)«, »Indoor Games«, »Happy Family«, »The Great Deceiver«, »Lament«, »The Night Watch« and »Fracture« to return to the live repertoire sooner or later, maybe even on the upcoming European tour.
King Crimson cunningly save their three most famous creations for the very end, so three epic pieces of monumental proportions follow one after another. First the post-apocalyptic requiem »Starless« enchants the fans, followed by a majestic visit to the court of the crimson king, his puppets and the fire witch with the long-awaited epic anthem »The Court of The Crimson King«, which fans had to wait nearly forty-five years to hear the prog rock elders play ‘live’ again. For the final ‘icing on the cake’, King Crimson, as expected, play their most beloved classic, »21st Century Schizoid Man«, which also makes for the triumphant finale of this superb live recording.
This flawless double live treat, »Live in Toronto«, can be declared without hesitation a triumphant return of the most important progressive rock band of all time. Compared to »Live at the Orpheum«, which offered only a very trimmed-down picture of how the modern version of King Crimson sounds on stage, »Live in Toronto« is a real live album, one fans have been dying to hear ever since the current incarnation of the prog pioneers was announced. Old Uncle Bob and his King Crimson comrades are, despite their respectable years, still full of crazy ideas, so it wouldn’t be strange at all if Jeremy Stacey, who will replace Bill Rieflin on the European tour while Rieflin takes a short break, stayed in the band as their fourth drummer.
Lineup
Robert Fripp – guitar, keyboards
Jakko Jakszyk – vocals, guitar
Tony Levin – bass guitar, Chapman stick, backing vocals
Mel Collins – saxophone, flute
Pat Mastelotto- drums, electronic percussion
Gavin Harrison – drums, electronic percussion
Bill Rieflin – drums, electronic percussion, keyboards
Production
Robert Fripp
Track list
CD 1
1. Threshold Soundscape (4:00)
2. Larks Tongues In Aspic Part I (10:29)
3. Pictures Of A City (8:32)
4. VROOOM (5:18)
5. Radical Action To Unseat The Hold Of Monkey Mind (3:20)
6. Meltdown (4:51)
7. Hell Hounds Of Krim (3:31)
8. The ConstruKction Of Light (6:44)
9. Red (6:47)
10. Epitaph (9:02)
CD 2
1. Banshee Legs Bell Hassle (1:43)
2. Easy Money (8:33)
3. Level Five (7:04)
4. The Letters (5:38)
5. Sailors Tale (6:56)
6. Starless (15:18)
7. The Court Of The Crimson King (7:17)
8. 21st Century Schizoid Man (11:41)
