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Plymouth is King Crimson still sounding much like the progressive band they were in the late sixties
From Anonymous of Little Valley, New York on .
The third incarnation of King Crimson who recorded Islands together made their stage debut in Frankfurt, Germany with four shows at the Zoom club in mid April. Their first show in England, and the first King Crimson concert there in two years, fell on May 11th, 1971 in Plymouth.
Live At Plymouth 1971 was released in December 2000 and is primarily sourced from a powerful soundboard recording. An audience tape being used to “add ambiance” and to repair the missing introduction to “Get Thy Bearings” running from the song’s beginning to the 2:33 mark.
The soundboard is very clear and records many of the problems with the balance of the sound coming out of the PA. Especially true in the opening number “Cirkus” where the mellotrons overpower the other instruments, the vocals drop in and out and the drums are very loud. The sound engineer does begin to find a nice balance during the performance.
The opening two songs “Cirkus” and “Pictures Of A City” are tight but strained. The liner notes point out that: “It wasn’t until the third number, ‘Sailor’s Tale,’ that the band noticeably relaxed. Substantially different from the finished studio version, the piece at this stage of its development had a looser feel with none of the brisk urgency or solemnity of its studio counterpart. In place of the abrasive guitar solo, Mel Collins slowly unveils a flute solo, briefly borrowing some eastern motifs before winding up in a Dervish-like euphoria. Not without humour, the solo contains a fleeting reference to ‘St. Thomas’ by sax hero Sonny Rollins (8:24) - a tune which had been a regular feature in Circus, Collins’ previous band.”
The fifteen minute long improvisation hits upon many different genres and generates many idea, but there is mostly a jazzy feel to the piece due to Collins’ influence.
“Lady Of The Dancing Water” from Lizard segues nicely with “Cadence And Cascade” from In The Wake Of Poseidon, the two previous King Crimson LPs. Both are quiet ballads with similar thematic emphasis. The Donovan cover ”Get Thy Bearings” is a carry over from the 1969 setlist. Whereas Greg Lake improvised many of the lyrics, Boz is faithful to the original words. This performance is over thirteen minutes long, strange synthesizer solos in the middle of the improvisation.
“In The Court Of The Crimson King,” which would eventually be dropped, is followed by the new song “Ladies Of The Road.” Robert Fripp introduces the band and points out that Boz Burrell has been playing bass for eleven weeks before they launch into “21st Century Schizoid Man.”
The concert ends with another carry over from 1969, the cover of Holst’s Mars. Quite short at only nine minutes, it provides the perfect ending to the show.
Live At Plymouth 1971 is a remarkable document to listen to and compare to the later shows from the Island line up. The album had not even been recorded yet, but you can see them still trying to attain the general uneasiness of the first line up. Of course this ensemble would reach more into the American blues, much to Fripp’s consternation. But Plymouth is King Crimson still sounding much like the progressive band they were in the late sixties.
Still a bit unfocused but getting it together.
From Jerry Smith of Tacoma, Washington on .
First off, the sound quality on here is pretty good except for the beginning getting the mix dialed in and also the aud patches. These are not big problems but I do find it fitting with the performance itself where the band is still trying to get dialed in too. This line up's first performance had only been the month before and with Boz having about 5 weeks on the bass at this time, it's quite remarkable. Still, while the sound quality is better than some from this era, the performances don't always reach the same level of other performances by this band.
Much better than ISLANDS would lead you to expect
From Joe Prisco of Snohomish, Washington on .
It's releases like this which fill me with the urge to throw caution aside and ordering from DGM with blind faith. Since ISLANDS was easily my least enjoyed KC release, I've passed over anything else from this edition of the band. But the negative reviews for the '71 Brighton release intrigued me -- and by some strange logic caused me to order this and Club 18. I listened to both in rapid succession, astonished at the strong arrangements and wonderful band interaction.
True, some of the 'new' material is not as strong as we might like (and some old: 'Cadence' isn't exactly riveting), but where else will we hear live renditions of songs from POSEIDON or LIZARD? And these guys do in fact serve justice to the material: Boz proves to be a fine bassist and an excellent vocalist -- in fact, this is the most vocal of all Crimsons, with at least three voices heard. Ian's drums are wonderfully well-mixed, and he gives as good as he gets. Fripp is great in every facet of his styles, and Mel proves just as capable.
If this version of the band was still touring, I'd be in the front row. How unfortunate for them that they had to follow the Lake/ MacDonald/ Giles era, and precede the Wetton/ Bruford era, because this is definitely worth 4 stars. Joe sez check it out :-)
Im the first to right a review for this!
From Michael Hirsh of Ocean, New Jersey on .
wow I was not sure what I getting sonically. It's excellent. I had Earthbound and Jacksonville and yes they sound like normal bias soundboard cassette tapes from 1971. But this sounds like it was recorded on a reel to reel from soundboard ( it must have been ) sounds like the zoom club shows from dgm live. The reviews I read for the new one 1972 with this particular KC were like horrendous I can't imagine what that one must sound like. But this has a great price and you hear everything clear. I hope there is more shows from this period that sound like this
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