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Thread: King Crimson triple drummer lineup tenth anniversary

  1. #1
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    King Crimson triple drummer lineup tenth anniversary

    I had a reminder on FB about a posting I did after seeing the first KC shows in Albany in 2014 - and I realized that it's been ten years since that lineup debuted.

    I knew they would be doing older material that they hadn't done in decades, but to open with a one two punch like Larks 1 and Pictures of a City was a wonderful moment.

    I've seen them multiple times since then and while I missed the energy and forward thinking nature of the earlier lineups I was very happy to hear a lot of songs that I never thought I'd hear played live by the band.

    The only ones I can think of that would have been nice to hear that didn't make the cut (that I know of) are The Night Watch and Cat Food - it would have been interesting to hear them tackle those.

    If there will be no more live KC - and at this point it doesn't seem like there will but you never know - I'm grateful for the shows I saw and the live recordings that have been released.

  2. #2
    “Cat Food” was indeed played and featured Stacey very capably Tippett-ing through the piano parts. I believe the only place I have it is on the “Cat Food” single that was released a few years back.

    I was listening to Music Is Our Friend the other day. This is a recording of the band’s final North American show. It’s a show I attended.

    As I listened through and compared the recording to captured moments in my brain spaces, I found myself only mildly lost in nostalgia and memory. Something else happened. Something else occurred.

    That final version of the band, with Stacey heavily featured on piano—just check out what he does with “Pictures” and “Red” on that live album—is perhaps the finest Crim. Gosh, that’s hard to say, but it’s a fucking great recording.
    I want to dynamite your mind with love tonight.

  3. #3
    Thanks for the reminder! I remember seeing KC's triple drummer lineup when they played NYC in 2014. Totally enjoyed the show and hearing the many of the '70s Classics played well was a pleasant surprise (and I'd see them again in 2016 & 2021).

  4. #4
    Having seen three incarnations of Crim -- the Discipline band, the Double Duo, and the Seven-Headed Beast -- well, I loved all the five shows I saw; but I have to say that I had most fun at the shows of the seven-header. There was a more relaxed atmosphere on stage, even as those seven men gyrated through horrendously difficult music, that the audience could feel and appreciate.

    It was also, I should point out, far and away the longest-lived KC incarnation, running seven years; I don't think any prior version lasted four.
    Impera littera designata delenda est.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Sturgeon's Lawyer View Post
    It was also, I should point out, far and away the longest-lived KC incarnation, running seven years; I don't think any prior version lasted four.
    That's True! And with Robert Fripp saying the Triple Drummer Incarnation was the happiest he's ever been with a King Crimson lineup in the band's history.

  6. #6
    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sturgeon's Lawyer View Post
    Seven-Headed Beast
    Sometimes Eight.

  7. #7
    These recollections just show us how fast the years and now zipping by. It hardly seems more than a few years ago the we were reading about these first shows, and in the interim I managed to see 4 shows that, a decade plus ago, I never expected to see KC play. They were always incredible and live long in the memory. If that is to be the end of the live story, it was a fitting one.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sunlight Caller View Post
    These recollections just show us how fast the years and now zipping by. It hardly seems more than a few years ago the we were reading about these first shows, and in the interim I managed to see 4 shows that, a decade plus ago, I never expected to see KC play. They were always incredible and live long in the memory. If that is to be the end of the live story, it was a fitting one.
    This. We caught them five times over that period and I had sort of assumed I'd not catch them again at the point this started up. They were really happy affairs, IMO, playing songs I never expected to hear live and I'm really glad Robert found it so worthwhile and we got all of that. Fawning? Yeah, but that's okay. I'm really looking forward to BEAT now, but that is a different thing and I remain really happy this happened and for as long as it did.

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    Not the biggest of Crimson fans, but I do have a handful of albums, two of which rightly deserve their place near the top of prog albums. But the 7- and 8-man versions of the Crimson are the some of the best bands to roam the progressive landscape imho. Radical Action is about a perfect an album as you can get. Stellar sound, unbelievable playing and a real big cross-section of their work. And to their credit, they constantly were exploring and changing how they played some tracks so those multiple live releases where all are a treat.
    Last edited by Tangram; 09-15-2024 at 08:08 AM.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Tangram View Post
    Not the biggest of Crimson fans, but I do have a handful of albums, two of which rightly deserve their place near the top of prog albums. But the 7- and 8-man versions of the Crimson are the some of the best bands to roam the progressive landscape imho. Radical Action is about a perfect an album as you can get. Stellar sound, unbelievable playing and a real big cross-section of their work. And to their credit, they constantly were exploring and changing how they played some tracks so those multiple live releases where all are a treat.
    I have around 25 KC albums. For all the reasons you elucidate, "Radical Action" is about as perfect an album as you can get.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rarebird View Post
    Is the triple drummer with Mel Collins?
    He's in the triple drummer band lineup, but isn't one of the three drummers. They are Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harrison, and either Bill Rieflin or Jeremy Stacey.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Aggie87 View Post
    He's in the triple drummer band lineup, but isn't one of the three drummers. They are Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harrison, and either Bill Rieflin or Jeremy Stacey.
    Yes, of cause Mel Collins isn't one of the drummers. He plays saxes, not drums. I'm not completely ignorant.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Crawford Glissadevil View Post
    I have around 25 KC albums. For all the reasons you elucidate, "Radical Action" is about as perfect an album as you can get.
    I've long since lost count of how many Krim albums I have, and I still want to get more of the box sets... And Radical Action is, yes, one of the best.


    Quote Originally Posted by Rarebird View Post
    Yes, of cause Mel Collins isn't one of the drummers. He plays saxes, not drums. I'm not completely ignorant.
    Neither am I.

    But I'm working on it.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rarebird View Post
    Yes, of cause Mel Collins isn't one of the drummers. He plays saxes, not drums. I'm not completely ignorant.
    Sorry, but your question wasn't clear. I answered based on how I understood it.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sturgeon's Lawyer View Post
    Having seen three incarnations of Crim -- the Discipline band, the Double Duo, and the Seven-Headed Beast -- well, I loved all the five shows I saw; but I have to say that I had most fun at the shows of the seven-header. There was a more relaxed atmosphere on stage, even as those seven men gyrated through horrendously difficult music, that the audience could feel and appreciate.

    It was also, I should point out, far and away the longest-lived KC incarnation, running seven years; I don't think any prior version lasted four.
    Saw the Discipline tour, the double-duo Thrak tour twice, and the latest drummer bonanza twice

    Wasn't ready to enjoy the Discipline (I expected something from the 70's in their show), didn't enjoy much the standing-only La Luna Thrak much (sonic issues, but also not really aware of what to expect) but enjoyed tremendously the forced-seating Bozar show a couple of months later.

    TBH, the 7/8-men thingie was really a third-age thingie (IMHO), both for the musos and for the seated-audiences, but I was finally on-phase with the band - and knew exactly what to expect


    Quote Originally Posted by starless and bible black View Post
    That's True! And with Robert Fripp saying the Triple Drummer Incarnation was the happiest he's ever been with a King Crimson lineup in the band's history.
    that would be the Cow-Milking era.

    Quote Originally Posted by Sunlight Caller View Post
    These recollections just show us how fast the years and now zipping by. It hardly seems more than a few years ago the we were reading about these first shows...
    I'm a bit the opposite, I was a bit surprised that it was only 10 years ago. I'd have thought mpre, something along the line of 13/15 (starting with the recollection of the Scarcity of Miracles album, which I +/- lump in the Crimson studio discography))

    Quote Originally Posted by Crawford Glissadevil View Post
    I have around 25 KC albums. For all the reasons you elucidate, "Radical Action" is about as perfect an album as you can get.
    Yeah, if only for the DVD/BR, but the very vivid memories of that tour (despite cramped seating in Antwerp's Queen Lizzie hall).
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Aggie87 View Post
    Sorry, but your question wasn't clear. I answered based on how I understood it.
    Well, perhaps it was my mistake. I assumed everyone would know Mel Collins plays saxes, so he wouldn't be one of the drummers. I should have formulated my question better.

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    Jazzbo manqué Mister Triscuits's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trane View Post
    Wasn't ready to enjoy the Discipline (I expected something from the 70's in their show)
    Surely you heard "Red" and "Larks Tongues Pt. 2." I don't think the '80s Crim ever did a set without including those.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mister Triscuits View Post
    Surely you heard "Red" and "Larks Tongues Pt. 2." I don't think the '80s Crim ever did a set without including those.
    I don't remember the detailed set-list anymore (43 years ago), but I was expecting a majority of 70's stuff.
    I wasn't a real fan of Discipline (tough it has grown on me somewhat afterwards) and TBH, neither Beat of 3oaPP never did much for me.
    Tours information were very imperfect in those years. FM radio only gave some infos, and there was no music weeklies in Canada.
    It's a bit like Yes' Drama tour, I wasn't aware that Anderson wasn't on the album (release a week before) & tour.
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  20. #20
    [QUOTE=Trane;1258051I wasn't a real fan of Discipline (tough it has grown on me somewhat afterwards)...[/QUOTE]

    Interesting. While Discipline isn't my favorite Crim album (that would be either Red or the much-maligned ConstruKction of Light ... I still haven't heard the remix, and I really need to...), I would nominate it as their only perfect album: meaning that there is not one note that could be changed to improve the song it's in, and no change of song sequencing could improve the album. It is indeed "a thing of beauty, and a joy forever.")

    The "Discipline" tour was also my first Crim show, and I came out of it blown away -- partly because I was familiar with the studio album, and was totally gobsmacked that they managed to pull some of that stuff off live. (I mean, how did they manage to end, or make sudden changes of direction, at the same time? Were they actually counting the whole time?)

    I saw the Double Duo twice, once for each of their albums; and the Seven-Headed Beast twice also. I was never disappointed by any of these shows, but those last two were pure gold-pressed latinum, with a cherry on top. (I also got lucky in that the last time I saw them they played "Fracture," which was a kind of completion for me.)

    I regret not seeing the THRaK "double trio." The live material I've heard is just brutal.
    Impera littera designata delenda est.

  21. #21
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    Dan'l - I was excited for the The ReKconstruction of Light - with Pat's modern kit - but found it didn't resonate with me the way the live versions of those tunes do. YMMV but I was glad I have / heard it

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sturgeon's Lawyer View Post
    Interesting. While Discipline isn't my favorite Crim album (that would be either Red or the much-maligned ConstruKction of Light ... I still haven't heard the remix, and I really need to...), I would nominate it as their only perfect album: meaning that there is not one note that could be changed to improve the song it's in, and no change of song sequencing could improve the album. It is indeed "a thing of beauty, and a joy forever.")
    You don't think Larks' Tongues in Aspic is a perfect album? What would you do to improve it? (I'm in agreement with Ian Beabout about it.)
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  23. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Batchman View Post
    You don't think Larks' Tongues in Aspic is a perfect album? What would you do to improve it? (I'm in agreement with Ian Beabout about it.)
    Okay, then. It's a helluva great album, but...

    First off I would remix (or remaster or whatever it is you call it) "Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part 1" so that innocent people hearing it for the first time won't turn their volume waaaay up and then get blasted. I like me some dynamics, but that's so extreme it can cause harm - I was driving the first time I listened to the album -- in fact, it was the first Crimson album I ever heard -- and when the BA-DA-DA-DA-BA-DUM section came in I jumped so hard I nearly rammed the car in front of me. No warning, man. (I also damaged my left speaker so that it always buzzed in the bass, but that's another matter.) I don't think easing the jump by half a decibel or so would hurt the quality of the music in any way.

    I would also replace the fadeout on "Exiles" with an actual ending (I generally detest fadeouts, unless -- as in "Supper's Ready" -- they are there for a good reason), and I might shorten the noodling that takes up its first minute and a quarter.

    Finally, "Easy Money." I can point to a dozen live versions where the improv section is much better than the studio, thus showing that it could be and was improved upon by the band themselves.

    I don't hear anything in live '80s Crimson that improves on the songs from Discipline, other than the vibe of "live-ness," which you just aren't going to get in a studio album (unless you do the "Starless and Bible Black" trick).
    Impera littera designata delenda est.

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    Points well made.

    I recommend that one not listen to King Crimson albums in a moving vehicle (unless it's totally silent like EV's are supposed to be). Islands would be another (particularly "The Letters") that would not fare well in that environment.

    Interesting observation about "Supper's Ready" and perhaps your comment casts some light on why it's faded out on the live "Seconds Out." But I'd like you to explain the artistic rationale, from your point of view.
    What we feel we have to solve is why the dregs have not dissolved.

  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sturgeon's Lawyer View Post
    Okay, then. It's a helluva great album, but...

    First off I would remix (or remaster or whatever it is you call it) "Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part 1" so that innocent people hearing it for the first time won't turn their volume waaaay up and then get blasted. I like me some dynamics, but that's so extreme it can cause harm - I was driving the first time I listened to the album -- in fact, it was the first Crimson album I ever heard -- and when the BA-DA-DA-DA-BA-DUM section came in I jumped so hard I nearly rammed the car in front of me. No warning, man. (I also damaged my left speaker so that it always buzzed in the bass, but that's another matter.) I don't think easing the jump by half a decibel or so would hurt the quality of the music in any way.
    I love the dynamics of the album! All music does not need to be listenable on cars...
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