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King Crimson - Road to Red


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From Amazon UK it's around $160 for Americans. Remember that they don't subtract the VAT until you provide your US address when it's in your cart.

I passed on the Larks' box as the lo-fi Zoom Club kccc gets played only every couple of years so I couldn't imagine having a whole lot more lo-fi live shows, but this is different! Even if for '74 I already have 5 of the preceding live Europe downloads & kcccs plus the Great Deceiver, Asbury, and Central Park. :lol: Looking forward to it!

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I was at the last show on the tour (Central Park, NYC) and saved it on a cassette recorder. I liked it, but not sure what all the fuss is about. Some groups you get to the core, and others you feel like a spectator, watching everyone else swoon. Powerful group, don't get me wrong. But not a lot of it seemed improvised, so will one concert really be different from the next?

On that last concert, Fripp made a point of thanking his road crew. It was interesting to hear him speak, thanking his road crew at a rock show in an almost Oxfordian dialect.

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It was interesting to hear him speak, thanking his road crew at a rock show in an almost Oxfordian dialect.

Dorset dialect!

Fripp has a distinct West Country accent...a lovely burrrr! The locals in Oxfordshire have a milder form of it; it's very different to the accents of many of those who attend the university (who are mainly from very different circumstances than the locals). Probably harder to hear the difference in the US; like all US Northern accents sound the same to me.

Much as I love KC these megalopoboxes seems way over the top.

Edited by A Lark Ascending
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What is going on in Rock reissues is what on with on with Jazz. Just how many times has Kind of Blue been reissued?....the 40th Anniversary reissue of Red just happened in 2009? Barely 4-years later. There is even a whole remastering/engineer fetish in the publicity about it. New stereo mix from Fripp and Steven Wilson.

Does anyone sit back and ask what was wrong with the last stereo mix involving Fripp that a new mix was needed only 4-years later?

Edited by Blue Train
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But not a lot of it seemed improvised, so will one concert really be different from the next?

The variation of setlists isn't as great as with the Dead but the improv sections (anywhere from 1 to 3 per show around this time) can vary a great deal. There can be differences in solos within the songs. The Great Deceiver box does a great job of illustrating the way the improvs can differ and some get dark. (Just look for the amusingly named tracks). So this box is great for those of us who have outgrown (or rather played to death) the The Great Deceiver and want more beyond the kcccs and downloads. I'm looking forward to having 6 of the shows as blu-ray audio too.

It certainly isn't a necessary set but I'm happy they're going whole hog including finding shows that weren't even bootlegged. It's getting to the point where I have so many hi-rez discs that also happen to be 5.1 discs that I should probably buy a home theater amp and a few more speakers. :lol:

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What is going on in Rock reissues is what on with on with Jazz. Just how many times has Kind of Blue been reissued?....the 40th Anniversary reissue of Red just happened in 2009? Barely 4-years later. There is even a whole remastering/engineer fetish in the publicity about it. New stereo mix from Fripp and Steven Wilson.

Does anyone sit back and ask what was wrong with the last stereo mix involving Fripp that a new mix was needed only 4-years later?

When they started this project Steven Wilson did not remix Red as he thought it was perfect the way it was. However 2 things happened since then. 1 is that Wilson has a huge following for his good taste in remixing & remastering. So he did a remix to complete the set. Secondly is that once the KC series was underway (about 3 releases a year) the Pink Floyd Immersion sets and other boxes with marbles & scarves & crazy packaging sold well so Crimson went beyond just doing one for the debut album but put one together for Larks. It apparently sold well enough that they've now done one for Red.

As always if one doesn't like this stuff one doesn't have to buy it. ^_^

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And the whole "engineering fetish" thing shouldn't be discounted as frivolous, Wilson did an absolutely BRILLIANT job remixing these records. These King Crimson records sound better than they have ever sounded, I doubt I'll ever listen to the original mixes again, there is really no need.

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  • 1 month later...

And the whole "engineering fetish" thing shouldn't be discounted as frivolous, Wilson did an absolutely BRILLIANT job remixing these records. These King Crimson records sound better than they have ever sounded, I doubt I'll ever listen to the original mixes again, there is really no need.

ditto.

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I resisted buying this box set for an entire year, expecting to become available. It still is available, and I'm really glad I bought it! Fantastic package, even with the redundant DVD-A/Blurays (likely never to be played, unless I somehow get a massive upgrade to my stereo system). Grand Rapids has an excellent improv.

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