KC’s website - https://www.dgmlive.com/news/Sid%20S...King%20Crimson
It's interesting to compare that excerpt to the original edition. Most of the text is the same with a few parts added but also some removed as well.
Not just a Genesis fanboy.
My review, and a different book excerpt, that I was permitted to choose myself, will be running at AAJ tomorrow morning. I’ll post my usual links to both.
The liner to the new ITCOTCK is pretty much lifted from the book...and fair enough. Why rewrite the same thing in a different way?
I cannot recommend Sid’s book highly enough. More than an expanded version, it’s pretty much a complete rewrite, reorganized and also the consequence of a guy who has, since thE first book, become KC’s in-house documentarian (and more), therefore giving him so much more access to material than he has the first time around. And, of course, 20 years later he’s simply that much better a writer. Not that the first book was in any way shabby; but you’d expect him to be better after two decades of writing (there’d be something wrong if he wasn’t)...and he is. In spades.
Watch this space for the review and excerpt tomorrow morning!
PS: OOPS, just realized I already posted some of this....sorry for the redundancy. I’ve had a very busy day (radio interview with Brian Imig at Chicago’s WZRD - always fun, but tires me out - and getting ready to start in on gentle giant box.
John Kelman
Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
Freelance writer/photographer
I got this for Christmas and read the whole thing in a couple of days whilst off sick. I thought it excellent: Smith is a very good writer in general - and an outstanding one in a field where the standard of composition and construction is not always high - and this book has been put together really well (ironically, the only typo I found was when I opened the book for the very first time to p601, which is almost at its end).
A couple of other things that struck me:
* Given the standard of the rest of the book, I was surprised that there's no mention of Jamie Muir (in the band from 1972-3) in the section describing the life and work of ex-members of the band - even though Boz Burrell, who Smith says steadfastly declined to share any KC-related thoughts, does appear there.
* On p203, it says that Robert Fripp turned down an invitation from the manager of Genesis to join the band in 1976, which I'd never heard before. This is stated without further explanation (or reference) and it's - to say the least - surprising, particularly as that band already had a guitar player (Steve Hackett wasn't to leave until the following year).
Thoughts?
Calyx (Canterbury Scene) - http://www.calyx-canterbury.fr
Legends In Their Own Lunchtime (blog) - https://canterburyscene.wordpress.com/
My latest books : "Yes" (2017) - https://lemotetlereste.com/musiques/yes/ + "L'Ecole de Canterbury" (2016) - http://lemotetlereste.com/musiques/lecoledecanterbury/ + "King Crimson" (2012/updated 2018) - http://lemotetlereste.com/musiques/kingcrimson/
Canterbury & prog interviews - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdf...IUPxUMA/videos
Hurtleturtled Out of Heaven - an electronic music composition, on CD and vinyl
https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com
http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx
You're right; there's no mention of Jamie Muir in the "After Crimson" chapter of the revised edition of ITCOKC. Since there was a segment for Jamie in the original book, this is probably an oversight by author Sid Smith. This may be corrected in future editions of the book (or offered as a separate article on the DGM site). I also think that there couldn't have been as offer from Genesis for Robert Fripp to join them in 1976 (since Steve Hackett was still in the band at that time & Fripp was on his sabbatical away from the music biz). The correct year for that should be 1977 (or 1978).
Tried to order it via the Waterstone bookshop in Brussels and they say it's OOP already.
If that's so, it's good news for Sid, but hopefully, they're planning a repress then.
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Through the first hundred pages or so and it’s delightful! Very in-depth and I actually like the track by track section being at the end - when you finish the section on a particular album, you can just hop over to it and go through the songs.
Definitely a very informative read for anyone who’s a fan or just in general interested in the inner workings of a band that’s only constant has been change. Cool to how it’ll jump to stories about the present day band when appropriate, kind of helps close the circle on the whole history.
There is a recent discussion with Sid Smith about the book and Crimson in general on The Word Magazine Podcast, it is an hour long and worth a download and listen
Got mine last week. Holy crap! I had no idea how thick it was going to be!! Over 600 pages and a pretty small font size, means there is a LOT to dig in to. Very glad that I ordered.
neil
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