"moles"

This Japanese box set contains three consecutive entries in King Crimson's live and studio archival releases. The specific volumes in question are the tenth, 11th, and 13th from Discipline Global Mobile's Collectors' Club mail-order-only series covering Live in Central Park, NYC '74, the pre-Krim Discipline: Live at Moles Club, 1981, and the last gasp of the '90s double-trio incarnation on the Nashville Rehearsals, 1997. The July 1, 1974, concert in Central Park was the final King Crimson performance by the '70s quartet. While the recording is very good - not great - the group's spirited musical antics more than make up for any lack of audio fidelity. With the notable exception of "21st Century Schizoid Man," the band draws primarily from material on the Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Starless and Bible Black, and Red albums, respectively…

This is an amazing CD reissue, three times over - for psychedelic music buffs, British R&B and soul enthusiasts, and fans of the progressive rock band Gentle Giant (which evolved out of Simon Dupree & the Big Sound). And it's also incredibly long overdue. Best-known for their Oriental ersatz pop-psychedelic classic "Kites," Simon Dupree & the Big Sound actually started out as a blues and R&B-based outfit, not too different from the Spencer Davis Group. This double-CD set covers their complete EMI output, most of which has never been reissued, and almost all of which is very impressive (and even manages to intersect obliquely with Apple Records' orbit). The group's early soul-oriented sides are killers, exciting, totally convincing pieces of British-made R&B that, in the case of "Love" and "Medley: 60 Minutes of Your Love/A Lot of Love," should have placed them head-to-head with the likes of Steve Winwood and the Spencer Davis Group…