King Crimson

King Crimson is a decidedly unwieldy band. Spanning more than 35 years (as of this writing) and at least seven distinct lineups, and complicated by the studio vs. live dichotomy (not to mention no hits to speak of), this is a band that almost refuses to be anthologized. Anything less than a box set doesn't really do the band justice, but anything more than two discs may seem like a grand investment to someone who just wants to get acquainted with them. Since King Crimson completely ceased to exist in the mid- to late '70s and early '80s, that seems a logical dividing point in examining the band's output. And that's exactly how Robert Fripp approached it when he assembled the 21st Century Guide to King Crimson in two volumes.

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…

With its varying short-lived phases, King Crimson is well suited to the box set treatment, and overall, Frame by Frame: The Essential King Crimson doesn't disappoint. At four discs, it's perhaps a little hefty to serve as a comprehensive introduction for newcomers, even though it could work very well in that context; in the end, the box is more of a close-to-definitive package for fans who fall somewhere in between the realms of casual and devoted. The first three discs do an excellent job of summarizing King Crimson's extremely distinct prime-period lineups: the first disc concentrates on the often jazzy symphonic rock of 1969-1971 (including almost the entirety of In the Court of the Crimson King), the second covers the heavy, experimental soundscapes of 1973-1974, and the third features the off-kilter, new wave-influenced prog pop of 1981-1984. The fourth disc is a career-spanning sampler of live Crimson, and although the varying sound quality and musical styles make it a less cohesive listen than the other discs, it does give an excellent idea of the various lineups' extraordinary performing range.

Finally on vinyl, the King Crimson 40th anniversary albums mixed and produced by Steven Wilson and Robert Fripp.
• Cut from the same hi-res masters used for the 40th anniversary CD/DVD-A series
• Pressed on 200gram super-heavyweight vinyl for the best possible audio reproduction
• King Crimson is on tour in the UK in from end of October into November, with the current band playing much of the material on these albums
• Boxed set contains the band’s three classic albums by the celebrated 1972 – 1974 line-ups plus a fourth album containing a complete alternate version of “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic” mixed and produced by Steven Wilson featuring the LP’s original US artwork.

Described by Variety magazine as "really about as good as rock documentaries get", the long-awaited, official King Crimson documentary by Toby Amies will be released in Limited edition form as an 8 Disc boxed set containing 2 Blu-Rays, 2 DVDs and 4 CDs. The set includes the full film, an early edited version of the film, live and studio performances from the 50th anniversary tour plus a plethora of additional footage. It also includes the music from the original soundtrack and more over 4 CDs - many tracks previously unreleased and/or new to CD.