King Crimson - 3 CD Combo (Level Five, EleKtriK, Happy)

This three CD set draws together a collection of studio and live recordings of King Crimson as a double duo:

Released at the end of 2002, “Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With”: Featuring mostly short tracks this song-centred mini-album acted as an appetiser for “The Power To Believe” (2003) in much the same way that the mini-album “VROOOM” preceded and anticipated “THRAK” in the mid-1990s.

Recorded a year earlier, “Level Five” (2001), was issued as a tour CD and only available to concert attendees, with subsequent limited editions available from the band’s website and in Japan before being released more widely in 2008. A live album consisting of three lengthy previously unrecorded instrumentals alongside ‘The ConstruKction Of Light’ and ‘Deception Of The Thrush’ plus what was, originally, a hidden bonus track is a wonderful document of that line-up’s live power.

A further example of that live power came with “EleKtriK” - With “The Power To Believe” released and greeted enthusiastically by fans and critics alike, King Crimson spent much of the next four months of 2003 performing the material with lengthy tours of the USA, Japan and Europe. One of the Japanese concerts was filmed and recorded for DVD release. Crimson delivered in abundance on that particular tour with John Bungey of The Times calling it “.. their best live set” since the band had re-emerged in 1994. Japanese fans demanded a live CD release of the DVD concert recording and “EleKtriK” (2003), the stereo audio mix of the material was issued exclusively for that market initially prior to a wider release.

2003 would prove to be the final touring cycle for the double duo, when the line-up played its last concert in Mexico City in November of that year.