THE BEAT CLUB, BREMEN 1972

I think that the source tape of this concert has been transferred to this CD without editing, so that all of the material captured from the concert night should be presented here, even the quite long quietness before the playing starts.

The first track is named as "The Rich Tapestry of Life", which I recall is Fripp's quotation from a letter he got from Jamie Muir after departing the band. So as the tune begins with few minutes of anxious waiting, there's some muffled speaking, tuning and such going on, and strangely it works as a nice contrast to the chaotic improvisation, which suddenly begins after two and a half minutes. The chaotic one minute blast clams down to beautiful tones of the mellotron, violin and bass guitar. Wetton begins to form a funky rhythm which the others join, and the famous King Crimson's musical improvisation concept begins to flow, creating long layers of both calm and aggressive musical sequences. As a funny anecdote here, Cross plays some real flute in some parts of this track, instead of mellotron flute sounds. If you are in to free jazz and old heavy rock of the 1970's, this is a must material for you, as it combines both of these elements in a really prolific manner. The players are very bold, and they are not afraid of small "mistakes" or "misjudgments" which shall most surely occur in this kind of collective musical adventuring. Considering this, one can also find a nice metaphoric idea in Fripp's name selection for this piece, as the half hour long jam most surely contains the full scale of life's all emotions.

After the final waves of the massive improvisation begins to fade, the beautiful forms of sounds emerge from the sea of chaotic turbulence, and the music changes straight as the song "Exiles". This is in my opinion one of the greatest aesthetical achievements this band (or any band) has ever succeeded to create. This version of "Exiles" as a whole is a bit clumsy, but if you are interested how these numbers evolved during time, this is an essential document of that process. Mr. Cross also does some singing on this performance, unlike the later recordings.

The final number on this CD is "Larks' Tongues in Aspic - part one", which is a decent version but not essential. It's a bit shorter version, as it ends in the part where the violin solo begins, like the abbreviated edit of the studio version released in the "Essential King Crimson: Frame by Frame" box set. There's also a video capture of this song on being sold on the series of The Beat Club DVD's. It's very funny, as you can see the weird guys playing this thing on strange costumes and acid dazed vintage video effects.

The sound quality is not remarkable, but fairly good in my own standards. There are also some tuning problems with mellotrons, singers and the violin. More matured versions of "Exiles" and "Larks'" are also available in other releases, but the version on here have some historical values - if one should be obsessed of this weird music. And really the big improvisation opening the album is really great. If you are a fan of 1972-1974 time King Crimson, buy the disc from Discipline Global Mobile's web-shop or your nearest dearest record dealer.