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King Crimsom — Vrooom Vrooom
(Discipline DGM0105, 2001, 2CD)

by Jeff Melton, Published 2002-04-01

Vrooom Vrooom Cover art

In DGM's ongoing mission to give access to excellent live recordings and combat the bootleg market, the label has released a top-notch 2CD set of contrasting shows from 1995 and 1996. Each disc weighs in with over an hour of crafted mayhem and focuses on the strong points of the band's set across each year. Disc one is from the fall of 1996 in Mexico City, one of the last gigs by the double trio, and it is blistering. High points include the opening title track as well as the segue from "The Talking Drum" into a heavy (word) incarnation of "Larks' Tongue in Aspic Part II." Closing out the disc is a short improv between Fripp and Gunn which leads into the only official version of "21st Century Schizoid Man" available by this incarnation of the group. Having seen a tour stop in Berkeley, I was taken back to relive the crafted interplay between Bruford and Mastelloto and Adrian Belew's wrenching leads. Fripp is still lurking in the backdrop along with Gunn's mid-range contributions: both subtle and menacing. Disc two is from the group's stopover in NYC and features a broader song list with four tracks from "Discipline" and Belew's solo version of the Beatles' "Free as a Bird." The common points between the discs are the two versions of "B'Boom" and "Thrak" separated by slight changes in force and intensity. The entire set is simply the definitive live statement from the double trio and should be considered essential to devout fans that caught a brief glimpse of nirvana this past summer.

Filed under: New releases, Issue 24, 2001 releases

Related artist(s): Adrian Belew, Bill Bruford / Earthworks, Robert Fripp, King Crimson, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Trey Gunn

 

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