What does it sound like?:
This two cd set is the seventh in the Tour Box series, although this one represents and celebrates the tour that never was, Covid causing the hopefully temporary postponement of the 2020 dates until next year. Coming in the usual digipack format with a superb twenty eight page booklet with contributions from Robert Fripp and Crimson historian Sid Smith, the music is, as usual, a collection of live material and studio cuts from over the years, many of which are appearing on cd for the first time. Among the treasures on the first disc are in concert performances ranging from 1973 right up to last year, with one of my personal favourites, Fracture, standing out, alongside a 1974 studio Starless. It’s also pleasing that two isolated sections of the playing of the late Bill Rieflin on The Letters has been included. The second disc features a mixture of pieces played occasionally by the current line up of the band, along with a selection of pieces that were left incomplete or were developed in different ways by the band or Fripp, and thus never made it on to a studio album, This approach ties in with Sid Smith’s sleeve notes where he considers a number of ‘what if’ scenarios that could have led to a different musical history of the band – what if a certain member hadn’t joined or left, what if a certain tour hadn’t been cancelled, etc – all factors that could have perhaps led the band down an alternative path in their development. As always, the playing throughout is impeccable and this innovative music really is prog in the truest sense of the word. If we can’t witness the band live at the moment, then this is surely the next best thing.
What does it all *mean*?
A T shirt is on sale in conjunction with this release, listing this year’s postponed tour dates, with all the proceeds going to the band’s road crew.
Goes well with…
Pushing boundaries.
Release Date:
Out now
Might suit people who like…
Value for money.
I have most of the previous editions, so this will be on the list.
Also worth a listen is the new solo album by Jakko Jakszyk, the current KC guitarist. Contains contributions from most of the current band and a couple of the tracks are very much KC – probably the nearest we will get to new band material…….
Two CDs? ONLY TWO FLIPPIN’ CDs?