King Crimson- Midnight Special 1973 "New" Footage

[Sean]

They have recently opened the vaults and started releasing footage from that amazing show. We've seen some footage where they were dressed in a similar manner but this is different. I suspect that Genesis footage will surface before long as well. Something that has been bootlegged a 1000 times. Meanwhile this I don't think has ever been seen since 1973... And it looks like it was filmed yesterday!

[interbellum]

One word: WOW!
Thanks.

[Paulrus]

They have recently opened the vaults and started releasing footage from that amazing show.

Well how awesome is that (even if they're the super-duper short versions of the songs)?

[Sean]

I just love the fact they're not lip synched.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Observations:
1. The "censored" version of the "Easy Money" lyrics. Well, '70s tv...
2. They may be short versions but they got the essentials in.
3. A more general observation about videos taken from "Midnight Special" and "Don Kershner's Rock Concert" -- unlike watching on TV back then, I can hear the bass notes properly. Makes a substantial difference!

Anyway, thanks for posting these!

[TheH]

simply awesome, want more of those :-)

[Bytor]

Bill sounds AMAZING!!!

[Tbone]

Totally agreed 👍🏾

[timmy]

Real musicians, not entertainers, performing live music. Man, bring this back. This new reality sucks.

[Sputnik]

Absolutely killer. Chilling, really. Everything I love about KC, and Prog generally.

Bill

[taliesin]

Wow that was great.

I'm not sure I've ever heard David Cross dig in that hard in Larks 2 before.

[Progtastic]

Re: the "risqué" lyrics to Easy Money

I guess most of my listening to this song, has been via live tracks from the 73-75 era. I'm not sure at the time if I even heard the original album version. So how did the alternate live lyrics come about? Was it a Wetton invention do we know?

[boilk]

Wow that was great.

I'm not sure I've ever heard David Cross dig in that hard in Larks 2 before.

I was thinking the same thing.

Neil

[TCC]

WoW ... g r e a t !!
Thankx!

[Sean]

Fripp.jpg

That, "I'll be covering Metallica in my kitchen, someday..." look.

[SunRunner2]

Great viewing and listening stuff here, however, it appears to have been recorded just after Jamie Muir left, which is unfortunate. Muir was an amazing, if not short-lived, contributor to KC and he even was responsible for the album title; "which was coined by Muir; when asked by Fripp what the music sounded like, Muir responded "why, larks' tongues in aspic... what else?". Also, he was responsible for most of those noises and sound effects on ALTIA, which they apparently filled in for these videos above with their own instruments.

According to Wikipedia: "during his tenure with the band, Muir occasionally played a standard drum kit, but more often he contributed an assortment of unusual sounds from a wide variety of percussion instruments, including chimes, bells, gongs, mbiras, a musical saw, shakers, rattles, found objects, and miscellaneous drums...". I recall him using that evil laughter gag toy which you could buy at the Spencer stores in every mall, which was heard at the end of "Easy Money".

I, personally, would have loved to see him up there on that small-ish stage, knocking around all those found objects during "Easy Money" and "Lark's Tongue" part two.

To my way of thinking, Muir was to KC what Morris Pert was to Brand X. Found Sounds, indeed...

[Ridge]

Amazing footage, very cool short versions. All the band members can be heard clearly.

Many thanks for sharing.

[calyx]

I'd had this footage for a couple of years but had promised not to share it with anyone. I'm glad it's out there for everybody to enjoy, as it's really, albeit in a condensed form, perhaps the strongest performance by this line-up of KC captured on camera. I've always thought Melody 1974 didn't show them at their strongest. And it's definitely the best mix.

What's interesting about the unedited footage I have is that both segments have introductions by the Bee Gees, and it's fun to hear them introduce King Crimson. Those sequences don't have King Crimson in them, they are just links, but fun stuff.

[progcd54]

And a real Mellotron on stage too...WOW!!! Did they have a tech waiting in the wings to handle the beast?

[Steve F.]

And a real Mellotron on stage too...WOW!!! Did they have a tech waiting in the wings to handle the beast?

Two - Not in this clip, but when I saw them in DC the next year, there was Cross' white and Fripp's black.

[Dave (in MA)]

I'd had this footage for a couple of years but had promised not to share it with anyone. I'm glad it's out there for everybody to enjoy, as it's really, albeit in a condensed form, perhaps the strongest performance by this line-up of KC captured on camera. I've always thought Melody 1974 didn't show them at their strongest. And it's definitely the best mix.

What's interesting about the unedited footage I have is that both segments have introductions by the Bee Gees, and it's fun to hear them introduce King Crimson. Those sequences don't have King Crimson in them, they are just links, but fun stuff.

Several years ago the Mrs. wanted the Midnight Special DVD collection that was advertised on TV, so I bought it for her. I don't think she's even cracked open the shrink wrap on most of the cases; she apparently only wanted to see a handful of artists scattered across some of the discs. I wonder if the Crimson show was on one of them.

[Sean]

Absolutely not.

[Guitarplyrjvb]

A couple of observations: Cross's violin doesn't seem to have much problem cutting through the mix as was so often lamented by Robert Fripp; also, it doesn't appear that Fripp had adopted his "new standard tuning" as he seems to be playing in standard tuning. Oh, yeah....this is great!

[Nashorn]

also, it doesn't appear that Fripp had adopted his "new standard tuning" as he seems to be playing in standard tuning. Oh, yeah....this is great!

The NST only came after the eighties trilogy of King Crimson albums.

[Trane]

Awesome stuff.

Thx for sharing.

A couple of observations: Cross's violin doesn't seem to have much problem cutting through the mix as was so often lamented by Robert Fripp; also, it doesn't appear that Fripp had adopted his "new standard tuning" as he seems to be playing in standard tuning. Oh, yeah....this is great!

ypu hear DC plenty here too.