Retailing at around $90 for less than three hours of music, this Japanese import seems designed to test the most die-hard King Crimson fan. That's not the half of it, because the truth is, it's also a very good set, up to a point. The most notable element here is the presence of the first decent body of concert work by the early 1972 lineup of Boz Burrell-Mel Collins-Ian Wallace, which was the band that most fans ever got to see, among all of the early incarnations of the group. Add on the presence of a killer early performance by the John Wetton-Bill Bruford band, and one of the earlier extant shows of the group's original lineup, from the Marquee Club, and the package seems unbeatable – and pretty much, it is…
The complete audio history of one of the most important debut albums of all time is presented across 26 discs in this boxed set. Featuring a new Dolby Atmos mix by Steven Wilson, 6 CDs' worth of session material on CD & Blu-Ray for the first time (fully mixed by David Singleton), a further disc of newly compiled studio material, the box also includes the original studio album, every alternate take known to exist, every mix known to exist, all live recordings known to exist & a selection of pre/Crimson 1968 recordings.
The Abbreviated King Crimson: Heartbeat (1991). For an affordable and short (really short - 23 minutes) introduction to the wonders of King Crimson, The Abbreviated King Crimson: Heartbeat will do the trick. The EP was released to coincide with the appearance of the mammoth box set The Essential King Crimson: Frame By Frame back in late 1991. Split almost 50-50 between early Crimson and the later '80s version of the group, many classic tracks are left off (nothing off the fan favorite Red is present), so it's certainly not a definitive King Crimson anthology. Still, the band's attention to detail and perfection are nearly unparalleled, as evidenced by Adrian Belew's Police-sounding guitar gracing the ballad "Matte Kudesai," and Tony Levin's bass showcase "Elephant Talk"…
There are so many King Crimson retrospective albums on the market that all but the most carefully attentive fans must to be hopelessly confused. Cirkus, great as it is in terms of content, doesn't help matters any…
A 2019 addition to the popular Tour Box series, originally created for concert venue sales on King Crimson’s 2019 European tour. As with previous releases in the series, the full variety of King Crimson’s music is presented over 2 CDs with extracts from rehearsals, new live recordings, elements from studio recordings, full tracks, alternate takes and finished recordings from 1969-2018.