Hey, nice banner at the top of this page on the DGM site:
http://shop.schizoidshop.com/featured-items-c12.aspx
I like the way they included all the Crimson albums in order and then I guess they had room at the end so they stuck in another random thing from one of the other acts whose music they have for sale.
ASoM sounds like Crimson to me too - I liked it right away, although Collins is definitely lacking some bite. I also don't think the exact current incarnation with Mel Collins would have come about if not for ASoM happening - just a guess of course, what do I know? But to me this sort of verifies that it was a Crimson "Projeckt" - investigations for later development by some version of KC.
(granted, they had to drop a few KC albums from the banner to make room for that extra thing, whatever it is, but I guess it's important that DGM artists other than Crimson get a little exposure.)
Yeah, the version of KC that played the Scarcity material live the next time they convened for a tour.Originally Posted by JKL2000
Ha ha! Evidently it's more of a Crimson album than The Power to Believe!
Meh, TPtB is lacking the Crimson gene.Ha ha! Evidently it's more of a Crimson album than The Power to Believe!
Better run a DNA analysis!
Sorry to derail the thread further, but it is pretty gone already, so...
I clicked on the link and was amazed how much SWAG they try to sell on the DGM US site... Who buys all this stuff? Schizoid umbrellas? blankets? tote bags? A gazillion different t-shirts. Oy vey.
Jakszyk, Fripp and Collins fans, mostly. Those no-taste cretins will buy any shit remotely related to KC.
No action figures?
The Fripp model is an inaction figure.
The inaction figure comes attached to a 2"x6" plank that can be adhered to a variety of flat surfaces ("Fripp on a strip?"). The figure is immobile, but does come with the instructions that it may not ever be photographed or touched (one may only touch or grasp the base plank). If a photograph or video of it ever does occur, it transmits a signal to Santa Claus/Chanukah Harry/Flying Spaghetti Monster forbidding the delivery of any DGM merchandise that the user had desired for the Holidays. Additionally the figure transmits a signal to DGM headquarters, so that the user can be billed a license fee. If the Fripp figure is ever touched, it plays Earthbound for 24 straight hours, at maximum volume, as a penalty for the misconduct.
You're not alone. For me, just because the members of ASoM are all, with the exception (at least, at the time!) of Jakko, Crimson alum, that does not King Crimson make. After all, these people have all played with many other people, and their signatures are all over whatever they touch.
Compositionally, ASoM bears more resemblance to Jakko's wonderful solo album, The Bruised Romantic Glee Club. After all, it was Jakko who took the dual-guitar improvs he did with Fripp, and shaped them into songs with his words, and his songwriting concept. So I honestly don't think of AsoM as a Crimson record - whether it's an actual KC one or even a ProjeKct. I see it more related to Jakszyk's work of recent years. That the current Crim has played a couple songs on it only makes sense because it allowed them, especially in the first year of touring when they had little new original material, to play some music that was not strictly repertoire.
To reply to Bondegezou: here and on another thread I've seen Scarcity referred to as a King Crimson record, and when Fripp says it isn't, and when you look at its genesis, to me it seems improper to call it a King Crimson record. That's really all there is to it. I know I can be more than a bit of a pit bull when I feel strongly about something (), and perhaps have argued this point farther than its needs to be. But I respond because when I lay out what seem to me to be pretty irrefutable facts, and some folks continue to argue against them, well, the pit bull kicks in
So, sorry to be such a stickler, but I guess the bottom line is this, and I'll say it for the last time: A Scarcity of Miracles was not conceived as a King Crimson album; bears no comparison, even to other albums that did not begin as Crimson albums like Discipline, because the compositional credits were not attributed to the entire band as every Crimson album since Discipline (with very rare exception) has been; has been deemed "not Crimson" by the guy who makes the decision on that front (Fripp); and was not even recorded as most Crimson albums (at least since Discipline), where everyone was in the pool for the basic tracks, rather than on Scarcity, where only Fripp and Jakszyk played together in real time and the others were added, one at a time, when Jakszyk & Fripp decided, based on what Jakszyk brought back after he took their improvs home to work them into songs, that they would benefit with the addition, first of Collins, then of Levin and, finally, of Harrison.
There's nothing about the way the album was conceived or executed that resembles Crimson's "way of doing things" and it seems disingenuous to call it a King Crimson album. There's nothing wrong with talking about it in the larger Crimson universe, since it has many alumni and has the involvement of Fripp. But musically it's such a gentle, beautiful album, for the most part, lacking in the angularity, edge and, considering the later Crimson incarnations, hints of metal that Crimson had assumed.
I can only finish with a quote from my review, which, in my very humble opinion, pretty much says what needs to be said:
Ok, I think I'm doneA Scarcity of Miracles returns Fripp to a nearly all-English lineup for the first time since the '70s, and while impossible to define why, possesses the most decidedly British feel of any group project in which Fripp has participated since his 1990s work with David Sylvian. It may lack the sharp corners, jagged edged and harder surfaces of latter-day Crimson, and there's none of the overt symphonic prog of early Crim, but Jakszyk's refined vocals, soft-spoken playing and haunting songwriting, Fripp's searing lines and orchestral soundscaping, and Collins' soaring melodies make for the best group record—Crimson or no—to come from the Fripp camp in nearly 30 years.
I'll be the first to take offence to that remark. I bought a t-shirt at the show, along with the tour box. But all that other stuff? Nope. And I'm as much a Crimson fan as any.
But it's not that unusual to see all this stuff. First, if you look at bands like the Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers, there's plenty of weird stuff sold as well...and the hardcore fans (especially Deadheads) love it. I consider myself a Deadhead newbie, but for me I stick to buying the music (like the July 1978 box that was just announced today - already preordered ... and, coming in May, excited!), but even the box sets, which come with tickets, backstage passes and other memorabilia I find to be kinda wasted space.
Give me lots of music and well-written, insightful liners (in the case of Crimson, by guys like Sid Smith, Declan Colgan and David Singleton), in a nicely designed box that is sturdy enough to withstand time, and I'm a happy camper. That's why the Dead's 30 Trips Around the Sun was such a great box. Other than the music and a beautiful, leather-bound book, there was a certificate of authenticity and a 45RPM single with the first and last songs the Dead ever recorded; no other memorabilia, but the box is made of solid wood with velvet interior housing the 30 2-3 CD sets, and is something that'll look great 20 years from now.
Anyway, had to weigh in, because not all pathological fans want coasters, scarves, clocks, fridge magnets, etc. But clearly some do.
I have a budget for two concert t's a year at most, but I'll always check for any interesting CD offerings. Love the 2014 KC tour box (we won't talk about the prev. unreleased Jakszyk, Fripp and Collins tracks
Well, you know, Crimson fans, they've got a lot of disposable income. Even after buying all the mega-box sets.
Henry
Where Are They Now? Yes news: http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/wh_now.htm
Blogdegezou, the accompanying blog: http://bondegezou.blogspot.com/
I wish! I think Jakszyk's a great writer and player and Bruised Romantic a lovely album... but Scarcity lacks the Bruised Romantic gene for me.
Henry
Where Are They Now? Yes news: http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/wh_now.htm
Blogdegezou, the accompanying blog: http://bondegezou.blogspot.com/
Yeah, Fripp sucks.
Possibly this is already mentioned upthread somewhere, but I saw this interesting note in the description on DGM for the upcoming KC Club42 release (Rehearsals & Blows (May-November 1983)), which is outtakes from recording ToaPP:
Speaking after the release of Three Of A Perfect Pair in 1984, Bill Bruford commented upon the album that took the group a year not so much to make as it did to find. “It did take quite a while...It’s kind of the fourth album with this version of the band. You see, we recorded one LP and more or less dumped it. We couldn’t quite see the way it was working out. When we reconvened the problems we had just evaporated!
So there's a whole "alternate" version of ToaPP, sort of like there's an alternate "A Passion Play." So I guess much of that will go on the 80s boxed set. Hard to tell if any of what's on Club42 is actual earlier tracks, or more fragmentary "outakes" from recording ToaPP. Judging from the track list of Club42, it seems more like outtakes - similar to the "Making of" CDs that Marillion has released for many of their albums.
Who's that sitting next to Belew?
Might the alternate album Bruford's talking about be containted on Club21 (January 1983), which is referenced as a partner to 42?
King Crimson's failure to recognise or develop the material available from these Champaign-Urbana sessions of 1983 was paralleled 14 years later by the Nashville sessions (CLUB13) of May 1997. RF
Maybe they could bring in Ian Anderson for some flute overdubs and then have Wilson do a 5.1 mix.
Some random dude?
Who's that sitting next to Belew?
Well, you do have to consider ASoM's genesis vs Bruised, when it comes to the songwriting process. It's one thing to write songs from scratch; another to take what were really just guitar improvs and morph them into songs....David Sylvian has done similar work by taking free improvs by some of the UK's most esteemed free players and shaped them into songs (albeit not alway possessing conventional structures) on Manafon back in 2009. Very different starting points and very different results.
But I wouldn't agree that ASoM lacks the Bruised genes...I'd say it has them, but in a way that is, by necessity different because of the vast difference in how the actual songs were composed. I guess what I am saying is that ASoM, for me, bears closer resemblance to Jakko's work than it does Crimson's.
But I hear ya.
John
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