LIVE IN CHICAGO

Back in the 1980s, during the Discipline era of King Crimson, Robert Fripp decided that the band would not play any of the past groupings' songs, save for "Red" and "Larks' Tongues In Aspic Part 2". This was humorously portrayed in Tony Levin's "King Crimson Barber Shop Quartet" ("We don't play 21st Century Schizoid Man, but we're the King Crimson Band"). I had read some quotes from Fripp at the time where he said he was not interested in the past, only wanting to move forward.

I suspected a different motive. King Crimson had gone through so many personnel changes that KC at the time just wasn't the same band from the previous decade, and those old favorites performed by this group might not be up to par with Fripp's meticulous musical sensibilities.

Well, here we are some thirty-something years later, and Fripp now wants to grace us with new live versions of many of those old masterpieces.

I have the 2015 "Live At The Orpheum" CD, and while I liked the album, I found it somewhat lacking. The performances on that set kept too close to the originals, and was often lifeless.

But here, after 2 years plus of touring on the KC catalog of music, this new set takes off. The life they breathe into all of the music, no matter which King Crimson iteration played the original version, is astounding. The three drummers, which often didn't blend on the earlier release, now come together to form 1 Bruford, or at least a reasonable facsimile.

And they throw in a couple of new tracks, which sound like they might have been leftovers from "A Scarcity Of Miracles".

My favorite tracks on this are "Larks'Tongues In Aspic, Part 1", modernized, but as earth-shaking as ever, "Cirkus" and "The Lizard Suite", two song I never thought Fripp would be playing again, and the almost 16 minute version of "Schizoid Man".

The best performer here is Mel Collins, who's sax & flute work brings me back to the good old days when he seemed to be sitting in with nearly every British prog band.

Truly an amazing trip through the entire history of the king of prog.

A couple of weeks ago I came back into the King Crimson fold as I was completely floored by the album and Blu-ray set 'Radical Action (to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind)' after being away for 20 plus years. I decided that I definitely needed to investigate more of the current Crim. Several people over at progressive ears mentioned I should look into 'Meltdown in Mexico' and 'Live in Chicago'. Well, the latter is even more stunning then 'Radical Action'.

The playing is just on fire as the 8 man Crim now has a dedicated keyboard player in Bill Rieflin. Mr. Rieflin was on Radical Action but had taken time off for personal reasons. KC slotted in Jeremy Stacey into the center drummer / keyboard player spot. When it was time for Mr. Rieflin to return, KC decided to keep the current front line and BK returned as a fulltime keys man. That change gave them even more flexibility and with Stacey's kit growing to the size of his two drummer mates, it seems as though their is now nothing that 8 headed monster of a band could not cover live with the possible exception of some of ex-Crim Adrian Belew's songs. His vocals styling are just too unique.

When King Crimson tour, the play list changes slightly from night to night. Inside of that, the way the songs are played can also change. Well, during that night in Chicago, the mighty King Crimson was hitting on all cylinders. The attacks are more ferocious, the drumming is more complex, the keys add more color, plus the sax and base are more prominent.

I don't know any band that is better after 50 years except for King Crimson.

I thought 'Radical Action' was incredible and I still feel that way but many of the tracks on Chicago may even be better. The one negative is that with the set list changing often during the tour, your particular fav track may be played one night and not the next. That's the only thing I could think of to complain about, and that is not really even a complaint. OK, I miss in the Court of the Crimson King and Epitaph but it really goes to show the size of their catalog.

This is a great album.

5 stars

This is one of the better live KING CRIMSON recordings that I've heard. A double live set of music containing about 2 1/2 hours of music. A couple of the musicians I haven't heard of in Bill Rieflin and Jeremy Stacey but I was so glad to see Gavin Harrison on here as he makes every recording he's on sound better. And especially thrilled to hear Mel Collins on here, and what a performance! I like the quote in the liner notes about KING CRIMSON "The precision of an orchestra, the freedom of a Jazz band, and the power of a Rock band". Hard to argue that this isn't the greatest band ever. But it's all about tastes and a lot more isn't it? This was recorded on June 28, 2017 in Chicago and man this is impressive. Still I have 5 or so live CRIMSON records I'd rate above this one. The weak link for me is Jakko Jakszyk's vocals but he's pretty good here, kind of hit and miss. So many great tunes here but I'll mention four from each disc that stood out for me.

The two "Larks' Tongues In Aspic" tracks are two of my favourites from disc one. The guitar on Part 1 after 5 minutes with the drums and bass just before it all mellows out with flute is incredible. Check out the guitar before 8 minutes as well. "Neurotica" is a surprise entry for me from the album "Beat" I'm not big on. This version has Mel's sax on it and it's quite "Discipline" like. "The Lizard Suite" is my final favourite from disc one. 11 1/2 minutes of bliss right here. The second half especially just kills.

Disc two has so many good tracks but I went with "Easy Money" just because I love that tune. Same with "Level Five" my favourite from "The Power To Believe". Just the band showing off it's muscles. "Starless" is majestic and beautiful. How about the guitar screaming over that rhythm section before 8 minutes and beyond. Lastly "21st Century Schizoid Man" the almost 16 minute version. The first time I heard this song it was covered by APRIL WINE on an album I owned so I knew it well. Didn't even know about KING CRIMSON in the early 80's sadly.

There's a ton of live records available by so many different versions of this band over the decades and this is one of the better ones in my opinion.

Solid King Crimson live recording from their most recent period of activity - an era focused on live touring and integrating songs from all eras of King Crimson into a cohesive tapestry reflecting the band's musical evolution over the span of decades. If you've heard releases like Radical Action (To Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind) this will be broadly familiar territory, and doesn't add much which is especially revolutionary over that, but taken on its own it's an entirely capable release from a highly confident lineup of the band which, at this point, had gelled well as a group and were able to tackle songs from anywhere in the band's vast repertoire with aplomb.