Two-disc CD/DVD-A package. Remixed for 5.1 Surround Sound from the original studio masters by Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) and fully approved by Crimson founder Robert Fripp. CD features a completely new 2012 stereo album mix by Robert Fripp & Steven Wilson, as well as three extra, previously unreleased, alt takes/mixes by Steven Wilson. DVD A (compatible will all DVD players and DVD Rom players) features a 5.1 DTS Mix and High Resolution Stereo mix (24bit/48khz). DVD A players, and some Blu Ray players can, additionally access a 5.1 Advanced Resolution (Lossless Audio) mix. DVD A features both the original album mix, new album mix and an album's worth of alternate mixes by Steven Wilson in High Resolution stereo.
Lizard, King Crimson's third studio album and second release of 1970, was, like its predecessor In the Wake of Poseidon, the product of a studio band. It was also the first Crimson album for which Robert Fripp provided all of the music. Remarkably self-contained & sounding somewhat atypical for a King Crimson album, even by the standards of a band that rarely sounded similar from album to album, Lizard is an often overlooked and under-appreciated gem from the band's early years. Certainly at the time of release, anyone expecting an extension of the soundscapes introduced & explored on the band's earlier two albums was in for a surprise.
The release of King Crimson’s seminal 1974 album Red continues the overhaul of the progressive rock band’s catalog that also — so far anyway — includes their debut album In The Court Of The Crimson King and Lizard. As was the case with those two albums, the remastering of this album was overseen by Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson, along with founding member Robert Fripp. Wilson was a great choice for this task for a couple of reasons. He’s a longtime fan, and with Porcupine Tree and his other many projects, he also definitely has the necessary prog-rock credentials.
Alternately trippy and thunderous, this 1974 LP (featuring Fripp, Bruford and Wetton) hit the U.S. charts almost a year to the day after Larks' Tongues in Aspic did. The Great Deceiver; Lament; The Night Watch; Trio this experimental gem managed to outdo the prog classic that preceded it; this reissue is full of alternate mixes and other special treats. The CD features a new stereo mix plus bonus tracks including the ultra-rare (performed once only) Guts on My Side . The DVD-Audio disc has the original and new mixes plus a 5.1 surround mix, 5.1 Lossless audio and stereo mixes, video footage of Easy Money and an improv from NY's Central Park ('73), audio extras including live cuts and radio edits and more!
King Crimson achieved the rare feat of marrying their hard-fought, hard-hitting prog sound with the bristling energy of new wave on this 1981 triumph, which nearly cracked the Top 40. The title cut; Frame by Frame; The Sheltering Sky , and the rest of the original LP featuring Fripp, Buford, Levin and Belew is here on CD in a new stereo mix with bonus alternate mixes. The DVD-Audio disc adds a 5.1 DTS mix, hi-res stereo mix, original album mix, new album mix and even a rough mix from the original sessions. On top of that, you get the 1981 12" dance mix of Elephant Talk and other audio extras plus footage of The Old Grey Whistle Test performances, new notes co-written by Fripp and more!
Having released two albums in a nine month period between October 1981 and July 1982, “Three of a Perfect Pair” is the final part of the recorded trilogy begun with “Discipline” and “Beat”. Originally released in April 1984, from the pointillist minimalism of the title track through to the urgent rush of ‘Sleepless’ and the album’s closer ‘Larks’ Tongues in Aspic III’ - the only reference to the 1970s incarnations of the band – Crimson’s distinctive mixture of rock, electronica, funk and pure pop songs, ensured the group’s status as one of the most interesting and innovative bands of the decade.
"Pictures of a City" seems meant to pick up where "20th Century Schizoid Man" left off, with it's furious ensemble passages, knotty Fripp guitar leads and Greg Lake's authoritative vocal. "Cadence and Cascade" helps fill out the ballad quotient with a beautiful, wispy vocal from transitional singer Gordon Haskell. A valuable note of humor is interjected into the proceedings via the jokey, off-handedly jazzy "Cat Food." Keith Tippet's piano and Mel Collins' sax–both soon to play larger roles–were introduced on POSEIDON as well.