DEJA VROOOM

You can say a lot about Robert Fripp (I use to call hem the 'passive-agressive genius') and you can read a lot about him (I recommend the book from Sid Smith), fact is that in the early Eighties Mr. Fripp stunned the progrock world with a very innovative King Crimson sound. In my opinion King Crimson is the only progrock dinosaur that succeeded to sound progressive after the Seventies. On this excellent DVD you can enjoy unique compositions that were on the new King Crimson album "Discipline": "Frame by frame" (splendid scale- acrobatics), "Matte kudasai", "Elephant talk" (exciting guitar sound by Adrian Belew) and "Indiscipline" (what a tension featuring howling guitar and bombastic eruptions). The renditions of the classic songs "Red" and "Larks' tongues in aspic Part II captures the spirit of the originals! Not every track on this DVD is my cup of tea (too fragmentic or experimental) but this bunch of virtuosic musicians delivers so many captivating songs, based upon dynamic interplay (duo-guitars and duo-drums work), inventive play on the distinctive Stick from Tony Levin and exciting soli on guitar from Fripp (chainsaw-like sound) and Belew (a unique sound-wizard on his guitar). A MUST!!

It's a unique experience: King Crimson is one of the bands that shows their potential at 100% only playing live, and this great video is the living proof of that. It's heavy and complex music, that you can taste by a perfect sound quality and by a great video footage. Just watch and you will see!

Amazing extra features includes texts by Fripp about the band and the best: a gama called 21st Century Schizoid Band where you build your own version of 21st Century Schizoid Man by selecting a rythmic section, a solo player and a vocalist from all the KC configurations through the ages. You listen the music with a slide show of photos of the bands (some pretty rare).

You NEED it!

Amazing Concert, Fabulous DVD pacakage!

Sorry for this novel-long review as this DVD set deserves it. If you don't want the detail, just read the summary. Thank you.

I have never seen any band line-up with a Double Trio format like this live performance of King Crimson at the Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo on the 5th and 6th of October 1995. Before I watched the DVD, I thought it's an amazing concept and I could not imagine before how it's gonna work. I owned their album "Thrak" with the Double Trio concept but it's an audio CD so it might contain some audio / recording manipulation. My curiosity is how they "actually" played the band with double trio. Seeing a band with double (even triple) guitars is not something new for me. Example: Wishbone Ash, Iron Maiden. Seeing a band with double drummers also something not new. Example: Genesis. But, how can I see a band having two bass players? It must be kidding. That's King Crimson who always come up with new ideas. The idea came out from Robert Fripp, the band's leader whom on the occasion of driving a car had that idea flashed out in his mind and made it happen later.

The concept itself took a very long time in preparation and formation. Music bearing unmistakable Crimson accent has been flying by Robert's ears since 1986/7. At that time Robert was asked to write the music for the planned film of William Gibson's "Neuromancer" and some of the music, at least, was distinctly Crimsoid. The film fell through before any of the ideas for the group or music developed but it was clear that there was music in the air waiting for King Crimson to give it voice.

After the break-up with the label, EG, in early nineties Robert setup his own label Discipline Global Mobile (DGM) which would enable him to maintain a much closer connection between the music and the business side of his affairs and those of the group. With this model it made him a full freedom on his approach to music including the Double Trio concept. Robert met Trey Gunn in his guitar course Guitar Craft and asked him to support a tour with Fripp and David Sylvian. Gunn was on Chapman stick. Pat Mastelotto was auditioned by playing together with Robert directly. After couple of sessions play together, Robert stopped and went to behind where Mastelotto sat at his drum stool, watching how he played the drums. Robert then said to Mastelotto: "This is my home phone number. Any one needs a reference about you let them call me and I will give high rating about how you play drums". That's where all begun. So the mini album "Vroom" (1994) was released followed with "Thrak" (1995) with Double Trio concept.

The Performance

The DVD starts off with all members of the band come up on stage quietly with slow motion and black and white picture under "Circular Improv" followed with drum works and other instruments playing avant-garde ambient music that set the overall stage performance. It suddenly stops with a direction by Adrian Belew. Musicians position from the crowd's view: Trey Gunn at the left wing, Belew at center front and Tony Levin at right wing. At the back, raised platform: Pat Mastelotto at drum set left wing and Bill Bruford at right wing while Robert Fripp sit in between Mastelotto and Bruford. Interesting stage position.

"VROOOM VROOOM" starts the show with a brilliant Double Trio line-up where all musicians give their contribution excellently. Trey Gunn plays calmly with his Warr guitar, Belew plays his guitar plus some distortion backed up with Fripp who plays guitar fills that serve as main rhythm section. Tony Levin with his Chapman stick. What more interesting is seeing how the double drummer play their set together. Definitely by looking at the style and the sound the two play differently but overall they produce great drum sounds that is one of key attractions of this live DVD. My favorite "Frame By Frame" is performed much lively compared to the original studio version under "Discipline" album. In "Dinosaur" Tony Levin plays his bass like he plays a cello during intro part. Belew sings powerfully with attractive guitar playing style. My all-time favorite King Crimson track "One Time" (Thrak) is performed wonderfully with a transparent and powerful voice of Belew accompanied with Bruford-Mastelotto percussion style drum playing. Trey Gunn provides guitar fills augmented with Levin bass lines. Robert Fripp gives his keyboard-sound guitar work that characterizes the music of King Crimson.

My curiosity about a song that was originally performed by trio Wetton-Bruford-Fripp in "Red" studio version is now answered when I watch this DVD - but this time is performed by three players. I tell you what?! It's much much better with this line-up! It has mauch more power and the music is fully packed with all instruments that contribute to this version. Tony Levin plays vital role in solid and inventive bass lines while Belew gives his guitar distortion - sometimes in rhythmic style while Robert Fripp plays the guitar at the back of the music. Trey is busy with his Warr guitar. What really attractive is the double drum role by Mastelotto-Bruford whom individually plays their set dynamically and have made the song really "alive". Awesome! Fantastic!

"B'Boom- THRAK" starts off with keyboard-sound guitar playing by Robert Fripp for quite a long time until double drum work enter the music wonderfully. It's good seeing Mastelotto and Bruford play drum solo here - very entertaining. The two gentlemen show their virtuosities through this double drum exploration. The music follows the duo drum solo and then followed with Fripp's guitar solo, Belew distorted guitar and Trey Gunn's piano-sounds guitar playing. Tony Levin with his cello style bass guita playing. Oh man . I really enjoy this track - it provides wonderful solos - a bit complicated but it's very nice. After the complex music, the band brings the music down into some kind of ballad "Matte Kudasai" (Discipline) which features transparent voice of Belew. Side two of the DVD starts with "Three Of A Perfect Pair" where Belew is accompanied with Tony Levin and Trey Gunn on backing vocals. It flows excellently and continued with "VROOOM " and "Coda: Marine 475". "Sex, Sleep, Eat, Drink, Dream" starts excellently with harmonies of guitar and bass followed with funny singing style with Belew's guitar sounds like a classic rock guitar style. Duo drum set gives unique beats for the song. The classic "Elephant talk" is also performed flawlessly. The added intro portion is an exploration of guitar and bass works performed altogether stunningly. The double bass solo between Trey and Tony give the bass sounds that remark the start of the main body of "Elephant Talk". It's really good harmony produced here. Oh man . the performance of the band during this track is so powerful, so rocking, so energetic. Belew is a great vocalist. Overall, this track is fabulous!

The abusive and unstructured (seemed like) "Indiscipline" is performed beautifully with very unique time signatures and many surprises. Double drum works show their skills here in this track. It's really rewarding as it has so many abrupt changes in style and arrangement. Belew sings theatrically with powerful accentuation and emphasis esoecially in the "talking" lyrical parts. Oh .. what a great show, really! "Talking Drum" (Tony Levin uses his stick bass) and "Larks' Tongues In Aspic Part II" are beatiful composition performed perfectly on stage. What is interesting is the fact that the violin part is replaced with guitar and it sounds much better.

Summary

By all measures, this live DVD is really superb and I cannot find any weak point of the performance and also the production of the DVD. The performance, as I have mentioned in a great detail, is perfect with many great segments throughout the watching experience. All songs are performed dynamically with great showmanship of all musicians involved in this Double Trio line-up. The DVD offers great features as many tracks contain multi angles (some has 7 angles: one angle for overall stage view while the other six contains the segment of individual member). That's why this DVD has two sides because of this packed features. I have never seen before that a DVD disc contains two sides. The DVD production is really top notch. It also features "21st Century Schizoid Man" music segment where the listener can choose the players of the song. Because the DVD is quite packed and complicated, the producer provides an 18- page full color booklet that contains the "how-to" section to get the best use of the set. I even had no chance yet to utilize all menu. But, I find the "21st Century Schizoid Man" treat is really interesting and very rewarding because I can select who plays the music for me. Very Highly Recommended! Any prog lover must have this amazing DVD package in their collection. I have owned this DVD for more than one year and it's still one of my favorites until now that I keep playing at my player. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Ok, talking about their scenic aspects on stage, I don't think They are the best example: Fripp, always sitting on a chair in front of a lot of pedals and effect processors, is almost hidden; while the other musicians are careful to their execution more than any other aspect regarding the artistic presentation. well some tunes are boring; instead for example the extract from "Thrak" is always stunning (but also the classic "Red"), though in the opposite the songs from Wroom are a bit less thrilling and quite tiring at the end. Ok it's a question of music tastes, but usually I don't think it's so exciting to see them live; nevertheless this video production regarding their famous gig dated 1995 (DVD released on 1999) is exceptional, and moreover its audio of first class as well: above all if you consider the splendid tracks from "Discipline", plus an extract from Lark's Tongue in Aspic (II), making the show very captivating, you're very satisfied after all.therefore the long experimental jam sessions (sometimes too much loud and with too many dissonant/overdriven guitar riffs too) have been constantly a "trademark" of Fripp along with his atonal scales, even when the drumming touch of Bruford is supported by the remarkable percussions. In fact in general the rhythmical aspects concerning the execution of Pat Mastellotto couldn't replace at all the drum set by Bill, but in a lot of interesting breaks-through his percussive section is pretty good anyway.so if you're fond of the modern albums of the "Fripp-Era" (also forgetting the recent disappointing albums), this video perhaps witnesses the best live moments of their controversial reunion, that is a very important event for this band, which represents itself as a sort of "Arabian Phoenix" , always rising from its ashes!!.

4.5 stars really.

The DVD of the Thrak-VROOM tour is probably the best live statement KC has done since returning to the scene in 95. Clearly this "Double Trio" formula is the best thing Crimson has done since Red, as I am not really a fan of the early 80's era stuff (I always thought that Fripp should've called that group Discipline, but hey, that's only me talking here). When comparing the DVD from both eras (this one and Jack Neal and Me), my heart, ears and eyes do not hesitate for a second and heads straight for this one. Of course the six musicians allows for much more diversity than the quartet, but the difference resides in the newer material from Vroom and Thrak studio albums. The neat thing about this DVD is that it is engraved on both sides so once the first set finished, you just flip the disc over and play the other side, just like a vinyl.

One of the things also much more impressive is the stage presentation with the double level stage with Fripp playing between the two drummers and behind Belew. Oddly enough; both times I saw them on that tour, Fripp was playing in front of Bruford and Levin was taking in the drum attacks in stereo.

The concert is off to a slow start with Frame by frame notably better than previous on this line-up and then it picks up with a dynamite 1-2 combination of One Time and Red directly followed by the very percussive Bboom and highly but wonderfully chaotic Thrak, making a first peak in a concert. One of the regular tracks from the quartet, I did not appreciate much was Mate Kusadai and fortunately it is kept very short. The second set starts with yet another track from the 80's quartet, but in a much better version than I knew before. Follows a bunch of entertaining tracks from the latest flurry of albums (the double trio put out two studio albums - well 1.5 really - but also three live albums in a short time) with an excellent combination of Gunn and Levin on Chapman sticks then a duo of enhanced tracks from the discipline album (with Elephant Talk in a quite different version). Then the icing on the cake with the superb duo from Lark's Tongue album really boiling up the public like you would a lobster for dinner: insufferably delicious and intensely orgiastic. If you thought that the Mk II line-up version could not be equalled, check this DVD out with Bruford and Matselotto enjoying Muir's freedom to the point that Matselotto even breaks a cymbal. On one of the two concerts I saw, they also did Schizoid Man as a second encore and sadly it is absent from this DVD. Too bad, this might have gotten it that fifth star.

A real must for Crimson fans and for those who did not fully appreciate the albums of that double trio period because of the complexities, this DVD will clear anything you did not understand.

Excellent!

It`s simply amazing, this DVD was released in late 1999 i think, but the concert was in 1995 on Tokyo, how lucky are japanese people. The first important fact in this DVD, is that we can admire ,and watch and listen to the Double Trio line up, they came to Mexico City in 1996 with that line up, sadly, i didnt know them yet, but since the first moment that i wacth this DVD, i got so impressed, it is an amazing performance, the most part obviously is from 80`s to Thrak era, but also some classic tracks like the powerful Red , Talkin`Drum and Larks Tongues, were played here, with the exceptional Tony Levin`s bass playing, and a lots of great guitars .

I Love the beggining , something called Circular Improv, at the first time, we can listen to some strange noises, while some images of the members are passing , laughs, voices, and then it starts with the delicious drums of Bruford, the play some minutes , but then Belew made a stop with his hands, this is a particular and good way to start a concert ( and a DVD) The track list is sensational, in its majority , we can enjoy to Discipline and Thrak songs, great guitar oriented songs like Frame by Frame or Three of a Perfect Pair, in that songs we can see the quality of the members, we know that it sounds great on CD, but in a concert, the really play very well, Robert Fripp is a monster, and all the instuments together make an special and beautiful musical company. There are some experimental tracks, like B`Boom, Thrak or Coda Marine, each one with its particular sound, Thrak is a weird song, we can appreciate Fripp`s creativity and incredible guitar, it looks so easy, but of course it doesnt.

I can say so much, because all of us know how great are these musicians, and a very special point in this DVD is the performance of Elephant Talk, previously both Trey Gunn and Tony Levin with their respective sticks, made something like a double stick solo, it is superb, they are genius, this prelude to Elephant Talk is great and excellent, suddenly when you may be expect a larger stick song, Levin starts playing the intro of Elephant Talk, im still impressed, i didnt know how that intro was done, until i see this video, it was done with a stick!!, sorry for my ignorance, i didnt know that, so it was quite surprisingly for me, and great of course.

I think this is the main part of the DVD, after Elephant Talk, a clear improvisation, since the first chord, we can imagine that the next song is "Indiscipline", but the intro or improvisation is a bit long, i really adore this part, because i can see Bruford playing in his own time and tempo, Levin playing his bass, in a totally different way that Bruford, Belew making some different and strange noises, but suddenly Bruford makes a pause and all together begin to play Indiscipline, all of them inmaybe different roads, but at the same time in the same line, it is just awesome. After this loony song, another good surpries, The Talking drum is sounding, and then of course Larks Tongues in Aspic part 2, it is so emotional for every Crimson`s fan, thats why i think this is the main part of the DVD. The last song is the melancholic Walking on Air, mid tempo song with another exquisite bass sound.

Well, i cant tell anymore, i highly recommend this DVD, im pretty sure you will enjoy it, its great and all the facts in here will make you scream and dream. Im not sure about stars.. it has no bad passages, maybe Sex Sleep ... and People are not my cup of tea, but maybe im too strict , really 4.5 stars... Here: 5 stars I cant get enough of it!

King Crimson's 1995 video release at the height of their tour for THRAK is a high quality and very well performed statement from the double trio incarnation of this group. The dvd, treated as if it were a vinyl and requiring you to flip the sides of the disc to watch the different sets (which I find a bit annoying if you are sitting comfortably and you do not want to flip the disc to watch the second half), features a great overall setlist and some interesting special features, but the menus are very very hard to use (mainly because they don't tell you where you are and choosing what button you should press to scroll to the right selection can be a bit trifling). The sound on this dvd is very in your face, except Tony Levin's stick is very very hard to hear during signature songs like Frame By Frame and to a lesser extent Elephant Talk.

The first set opens up with a short improv that has all the members going off on random tangents before coming to a consensus with VROOM VROOM. This instrumental is well played and kudos to Levin for his great bass interlude (in the vein of Wetton's bass interlude in Red). Normally, I love Frame By Frame live, but the sound on this version (and it may be Belew's guitar) is somewhat grating to the ears and it pains me to be not so fond of this version of it. Other things worth mentioning are B'boom, with it's awesome introduction from Fripp and the great dynamic drumming between Mastelloto and Bruford before breaking into THRAK, in which Belew uses an electric screwdriver to vary up the sound a bit (as well as some piano on his guitar compliments of the guitar synthesizer). The first set closes with Matte Kudasai, which is another well performed live incantation of it to say the least.

The second set opens with some great guitar work from Belew and Fripp in Three of a Perfect Pair, in which Fripp's solo sound replicates that of a saxophone. Elephant Talk opens with a nice duet between Levin and Gunn, a little improv often called Two Sticks (althought on this video Gunn is exclusive to the Warr Guitar). I'm quite fond of Belew's solo on this song, it blows his other live versions of it out of the water. The Talking Drum/Larks Tongue in Aspic Part II is a great instrumental duo with some awesome violin from Belew via his guitar synthesizer. The version of Larks Tongue in Aspic Part II has also got to be the heaviest version of this song I've heard and it's probably my favorite live version of it. All in all both sets are great to watch, but there's some problems in my opinion with Tony Levin's stick mixing and the overall quality of the sound itself.

The special features range from informative, to very creative, to somewhat boring. In the Court of the Crimson King is essentially the entire history of the group through the words of Fripp himself. Vector Patrol is also somewhat interesting, but nothing out of this world. Tony Levin's road videos are also somewhat boring because there is no dialogue in them, only extended viewings of conversations and other things the band is doing (including playing arcade racing games). 21st Century Schizoid Band is among the most creative things ever released on dvd. Here you can choose whatever era of Crimson (69 era, 72 era, 74 era, or the 95 era) you want to have as the backing band, whichever vocalist you want (Lake, Boz, Wetton, or Belew) and whoever you want to solo (McDonald, Collins, Cross, or Belew). The zany mixtures you can make are quite interesing and can provide a lot of fun for the times when you are bored.

In the end, Deja VROOM is an interesting dvd collection well worth a purchase. My only gripes with it lie in the having to flip the disc to watch both parts of it, the impossible to navigate menus, and some little sound glitches here and there in the show. But other than that, this is a great dvd with a great show (that thankfully auto starts the show so you don't have to navigate the menu for it). 4/5.

SIX GUYS NAMED MOE?

I don't know if it's even DECENT for six middle-aged guys to have this much fun. All Crimson fans are hereby invited to share it. The ones who believe Crimso can't be any good when Adrian Belew is in the band may be in for a nasty surprise. The double trio here play "Larks tongues (part two)" and "Red" with greater abandon than the Cross-Wetton band ever did. When I saw these six guys live, it surprised and exhilerated me that they loved their music so completely.

If you could accuse this DVD of a failing, it's this: when you're in a theatre, it doesn't annoy you if approximately half the tracks are one helluva racket. But when you're at home, trying to relax, the relentless succession of VROOOM, VROOOM VROOOM, THRAK and VROOOM VROOOM VROOOM or whatever all those other noisy pieces are called, may seem too much of an ATTAK...

Anyhow, you would be perfectly justified in buying this set for the remainder. Take "Frame by Frame", "Matte Kudasai" and "Three of a perfect pair" for example: all of these are given performances of the utmost refinement and grace. "Elephant talk" is introduced by a Chapman stick improvisation (by Messrs. Levin and Gun) so achingly beautiful it almost brought tears to my eyes. "One Time" demonstrates what a fine and subtle singer Adrian Belew can be, in spite of what Sid Smith calls 'the woebegone choirs' which 'tip the song into maudlin theatricality'. I remember from the actual concert that the Frippertronics loop at the end of the beautiful "Walking on Air" simply kept playing as the audience left the auditorium, so that it felt as if we were all really walking on air.

I haven't tried all the extras, but I started messing around with "Schizoid Man" and achieved a splendid result when the Cross- Wetton band were joined on vocals by an incredible energetic Greg Lake (in a performance I'd never heard!) - a wonderfully unsettling result.

I caught the double trio live in Osaka (where I was living at the time), just three days after these concerts were recorded. Anyone who knows the city will be happy to recognise, in "Tony's Road Movies", that enormous building with its circular roof garden that stands by the Yodo river. (It here appears just before, for some reason, Tony is also shooting an enormous clock.) Now I've no idea what the damned building is called, but Tony must have filmed it when he was making his way to the concert hall after getting off the Bullet Train. Hey, wait - perhaps Tony and I were crossing the Yodo at the very same moment! But in different trains, since I didn't see him... Oh well, I'll never forget that evening's concert, since it was the first time I cast eyes on my greatest prog hero, Mr William Bruford. Tell you what, I'm so-o happy Bill has since given up those dreadful ties. He looks a lot cooler in "smart-casual" dress. So when you've watched DEJA VROOOM, don't forget to buy one of those excellent Earthworks DVDs as well!

This is a very good DVD, perhaps THE quintessential Crimson one. Still in their fifties, they can rock hard and play their instruments wisely. An essential chance to watch the double-trio line-up doing a splendid performance. Then:

- For musicianship / performance: ***** = As I said, no matter how old they are; they're always virtuosos. Perhaps less energetic (specially Belew), but still - For tracklist: **** = If you like THRAK, this is your next purchase ;) - For quality: ***** = Pretty good both sound and image quality.

Ok, I must reckon I'm not in love with THRAK, but after see its songs featured live, I changed my opinion about that album. It's excellent, trust me. I showed 'Deja Vroom' to my father and he was really astonished; he has never heard THRAK before, and fell in love with this DVD.

Highly, HIGHLY reccomended!!

I was very disappointed with this one. The set list draws heavily from the then new album Thrak. Indeed more than half the set is from that album! There are some good songs on that album for sure. Dinosaur, One Time and Walking On Air are all very fine songs, performed flawlessly here. But these three would have been enough to represent the Thrak album.

There are also too many songs from the bands 80's albums. Elephant Talk is a horrible song that sounds very much like a Talking Heads number (and for me that is not a good thing at all). The new songs People and Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream both have the same type of annoying "talking" vocals.

The 70's are represented here by the respective title tracks from the Red and Lark's Tongues In Aspic albums, as well as Talking Drum also from the latter album. All three are instrumentals and only Red is a good choice.

I fully understand that King Crimson wanted to move on and play newer things. I am not saying that they should never have changed a thing since their early days. But since they wanted some songs to represent their past I definitely would have picked different ones. In my opinion King Crimson has made only one really good album and that is, of course, In The Court Of The Crimson King from 1969. Zero songs from that classic album are played here! Zero! And from the 70's they could have picked some better songs as well like Starless, for example.

Well, maybe it is unfair to judge this DVD from what, in my opinion, should have been here instead of focusing on what actually is here. So let us move on to that.

There are six people on stage; two guitarists, two bass players and two drummers. This must be one of the weirdest line ups ever. This also means that there are no keyboards, no flutes and no saxes or anything. However, Adrian Belew plays some keyboard sounds on his guitar - how weird is that!? This format does nothing for me. I would have preferred a more "traditional" line up with a keyboard player and perhaps a flautist.

Another weird thing is that Robert Fripp sits down at the back of the stage for the whole show. On a couple of songs he stands up, but he never moves to the front of the stage until it is time for them to walk of stage! He has absolutely no interaction between him and the audience.

The show starts with an improvisation leading into an instrumental track from the Thrak album that also sounds a bit improvisational. There is a lot of that stuff on this DVD. Many passages are very dissonant and atonal. I don't hate that kind of stuff, but I can only handle it in very small quantities. There is simply too much of it here.

Frame By Frame, a not too interesting but bearable cut from the 80's, follows and after that there is a very strong part of the show with three very good songs in a row; Dinosaur, One Time and Red. At this point I feel like this is going to be a great show after all. However, this feeling is quickly ruined by yet another improvisational type part of the show with some experimental instrumental stuff from Thrak again.

The show does not get back on its feet again until the very last number, the beautiful Walking On Air; a good song but a bit odd as a closing number.

On the technical side of things I must add that I think it is extremely annoying that between every song the screen fades to black and it becomes quiet for a second or so before the next song begins. This gives the whole concert a very disjointed feel.

To sum things up: There should have been much less improvisation, much less dissonance and atonal experimentation, much more songs from the 60's and 70's, there should have been a proper keyboard player and perhaps a flautist/sax player instead of having two drummers and two bassists. Also, Fripp should come out of the shadows and interact with the audience. And finally, there should not be fadeouts between the songs.

My conclusion is that this DVD is only for fans and collectors of 80's and 90's King Crimson.

If you are a fan of early King Crimson or just a fan of classic progressive rock in general, I recommend that you get Steve Hackett's excellent Tokyo Tapes DVD (featuring original Crimson member Ian McDonald), John Wetton's great Amorata DVD and Greg Lake's Live DVD. Here you will get excellent live versions of 21th Schizoid Man, In The Court Of The Crimson King, I Talk To The Wind, Starless and some other Crimson classics. Plus classic songs by Genesis, ELP and UK.

Deja VROOM is a fantastic DVD outing for King Crimson. While I'll admit I haven't had an opportunity to actually experience this band live in person, this does a very good job of showing what I could expect from a Crimson concert.

The set list from this DVD is fantastic, despite the fact that most of it comes from their then latest album, THRAK. I'm sure quite a few people would see this as a detractor, but since I actually found THRAK to be a fantastic album this does not bother me in the least. Another problem many people seem to be having is that the set list does not venture any earlier than the King Crimson of the 80s, to which I say phooey. Considering the lineup at the time, it is not at all surprising that they chose not to play any of their older songs. King Crimson of the 80s and 90s is essentially a totally different band from the King Crimson of the 70s, so it'd seem a bit odd if they revisited some of their older music. Sure, it could prove to be an interesting foray, but ultimately an unnecessary one. Set list aside, the performance as a whole is amazing, and the musicianship is top notch throughout.

Honestly, I would probably take one star from this album if I looked at the whole package as opposed to just the performance itself, as the DVD's menu system is overly obtuse and annoying, but I'm more than willing to look past that since the performance more than makes up for it.

I must have seen this show a dozen times. It was my first experience to the multiple-angle feature. Was i excited to have 7 angles shots on one song. The only problem was that the picture would stop each time i switched for one angle to the other. But i didn't have the same problem with some other songs, who we are limited to 2 or 3 angles without any freezing pictures. The DVD put the thing further by letting you choose a musician from all the King Crimson incarnations during the 70's throught 1996. You can create your own band with the song "21st Century Schizoid Man". So enough of the game aspect of the DVD. Let's talk about the main event.

It's a great performance in Japan in a dark lighting set up, that create a special atmosphere. Watching this talented musicians playing some of the most original progressive rock music is still a great experience. They played the old classics, like "Red" and "Larks Tongues in Aspc" along with many songs from my 2 favotites cd's of the band; "Thrak" and "Discipline". So i don't have a problem with some old songs not have been played on this DVD.

The picture quality is not the best from the standard of today, but we have a good DTS Surround sound. So this DVD is essential to King Crimson fans and those who wants to see one of the most innovative band that gives to progressive rock music is full meaning.

I got hold of this primarily because I had nothing on VHS or DVD of King Crimson and this seemed to be the best option. As was usual for the band, I discovered, there is very little in the way of special lighting, effects or showmanship; it is really all down to the music and what music it is!

Highlights of DVD 1 include the incomparable Frame By Frame and Dinosaur. It is great to watch them tear through Red and B'Boom. Fripp is an iconic figure lurking in the background with his strnage apparatus and guitars. The lighting sits on a red or blue usually and simply shines when needed on chosen Crims. Occasionally we see the crowd but iut is not often. This DVD features only the special features of The Court Of King Crimson, and Vector Patrol.

The other side of the DVD, is Deja VROOOM Set Two featuring wonderful renditions of Coda: Marine 475, Sex, Sleep, Eat, Drink, Dream , Elephant Talk and the genius Indiscipline. These tracks always turn up on live CDs. Larks' Tongues In Aspic Part II rears its head of course and it ends with cool Crimson with Walking On Air. Special Featuresare with 21st Century Schizoid Band, always a treat and the weird and wonderful Tony's Road Movies.

I have to admit I have not played it as much as other prog DVDs but this is always a treat when I finally get round to putting it on. It's as good as it will get with the classic lineup of Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Bill Bruford, Tony Levin, Trey Gunn, and Pat Mastelotto. For Crimsonoids like me of course this is an indispensable DVD.