King Man

It is so cool to find an album that was cut by professional musicians that sound like they are having a blast and doing what they were born to do, and a perfect example of this is Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King’s Fat Man’s Shine Parlor, a killer disc from their recent return to the venerable Blind Pig Records label!

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 group's definitive album, and one of the most daring debut albums ever recorded by anybody. At the time, it blew all of the progressive/psychedelic competition (the Moody Blues, the Nice, etc.) out of the running, although it was almost too good for the band's own good – it took King Crimson nearly four years to come up with a record as strong or concise. Ian McDonald's Mellotron is the dominant instrument, along with his saxes and Fripp's guitar, making this a somewhat different-sounding record from everything else they ever did…

DGM has long promised to bring the King Crimson Collectors' Club to 50 discs and we are pleased to announce a combined Club 49/50 to complete this special series. This CD/DVD set is packaged in a jewel case with much not-to be-missed material, including recently discovered live footage. The CD/DVD package features the complete final two shows played on July 11, 1984, partly used for the Absent Lovers release. The CD contains entirely unreleased tracks. The DVD contains both shows in full, as well as two sections of footage filmed by legendary bassist and stick player Tony Levin in 1982. The first footage shows approximately 25 minutes taken from the stage at the Place De Nations Montreal on 5th August 1982 (Please note that the footage is grainy.) The second portion of footage (some grainy, most is much clearer in resolution) is a real gem from shows at The Pier in New York and in Asbury Park, NJ, with backstage footage, narrated by Tony himself, showcasing backstage antics of the band as well as sound check and some cheeky footage of the cars being packed and artists preparing to leave the next day. The second footage runs just over 19 minutes.

The King’s Consort, with many of our new, second-generation period instrumentalists, exhibits all the benefits of authentic timbre and texture – there is no need nowadays to make allowances for uneven tone or bad intonation. The New College Choir are spot-on, poignant in mourning, exultant in victory. The whole ensemble is recorded over a wide stereo spectrum which leaves every detail clearly audible. Emma Kirkby’s ‘Israelitish Woman’ enlivens even the most pedestrian numbers. Catherine Denley contrasts but blends in their five duets, and has great facility over an impressive range. Bowman is superb in ‘Father of Heav’n’. Jamie MacDougall rises to the virtuoso challenge of the warlike hero, and Michael George focuses with no less clarity as Simon. Any weaknesses in this, the first ever complete recording, are Handel’s.

In the Court of the Crimson King (subtitled An Observation by King Crimson) is the debut album from the English rock band King Crimson, released on 10 October 1969 on Island Records in England and Atlantic Records in America. The album is one of the first and most influential of the progressive rock genre, where the band largely departed from the blues influences that rock music was founded upon and combined elements of jazz, classical, and symphonic music. The album reached No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 28 on the US Billboard 200, where it was certified Gold. The album was reissued several times in the 1980s and 1990s using inferior copies of the master tapes. After the masters were located in 2003, a 40th-anniversary edition of the album was released in 2009 with new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes by Steven Wilson.

DGM has long promised to bring the King Crimson Collectors' Club to 50 discs and we are pleased to announce a combined Club 49/50 to complete this special series. This CD/DVD set is packaged in a jewel case with much not-to be-missed material, including recently discovered live footage. The CD/DVD package features the complete final two shows played on July 11, 1984, partly used for the Absent Lovers release. The CD contains entirely unreleased tracks. The DVD contains both shows in full, as well as two sections of footage filmed by legendary bassist and stick player Tony Levin in 1982. The first footage shows approximately 25 minutes taken from the stage at the Place De Nations Montreal on 5th August 1982 (Please note that the footage is grainy.) The second portion of footage (some grainy, most is much clearer in resolution) is a real gem from shows at The Pier in New York and in Asbury Park, NJ, with backstage footage, narrated by Tony himself, showcasing backstage antics of the band as well as sound check and some cheeky footage of the cars being packed and artists preparing to leave the next day. The second footage runs just over 19 minutes.

“Beat” was released in June 1982 just eight months after the 80s Crimson lineup debut album “Discipline”. It marked the first occasion where a King Crimson line-up had remained intact for a two album stretch and was also the first album by the band to employ a separate producer – Rhett Davies. As with other albums in the King Crimson CD/DVD-A series, the stereo CD features a new stereo mix by Robert Fripp and Steven Wilson, while the DVD-A features 5.1 mixes of the album by Steven Wilson, high resolution stereo mixes of the original and new stereo mixes. Additionally, the original album is presented in rough mix form along with additional audio extras, video performance footage of two songs from The Alabamahalle, Germany and the original promo film for Heartbeat.

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"…