50th anniversary edition of King Crimson’s classic 1973 album
When, in July 1972, Melody Maker revealed that Bill Bruford & John Wetton were joining King Crimson – from Yes & Family respectively, it was front page news. Also joining were Jamie Muir – a key figure in London’s jazz scene & David Cross – from the band Waves. Fripp’s claims about the band’s ‘magic’ were to be put to the test that autumn when, following a three night stint at the Zoom Club, Frankfurt & TV appearance on Bremen’s Beat Club, the band undertook an extensive UK tour, which ran from the end of October through to mid-December. With the exception of the encore “21st Century Schizoid Man”, the material was all new, with a heavier emphasis on improvisation than had ever been utilised by any major UK rock group on a headlining tour. The developing material for Larks’ Tongues in Aspic was premiered to a succession of audiences who, for the most part, had bought tickets expecting to hear something else entirely (encore notwithstanding) but who responded to the challenging set with enthusiasm.
Recorded from mid-January to the beginning of February & released in late March of 1973, Larks’ Tongues in Aspic became one of the most acclaimed of King Crimson’s albums as well as establishing its reputation as a key album from one of rock music’s most significant years. After a handful of further UK concerts, Jamie Muir left the band with the remaining quartet working with ever greater success until Summer 1974 when Fripp placed the band on indefinite hiatus.
Almost half a century after its release, Steven Wilson undertook the job of mixing the album for Dolby Atmos and, in the process, prepared new stereo & 5.1 mixes. The new stereo & 5.1 mixes – no doubt informed by the more adventurous mix techniques allowed by the Atmos process – are quite different in approach, more expansive than the earlier mixes as released in 2012, while still retaining and enhancing the core power of the original material.
The Atmos mixes allow a fresh glimpse of the vast scope of the individual material & performances as recorded for the album. The key to understanding this album, which Atmos illustrates most obviously, but is also present in all of Steven’s new mixes, David’s Elemental mixes & Alex & David’s mixes of the sessions material, is that this music was always this big, complex, interwoven series of soundscapes & while it was, in 1973, released in stereo on vinyl, CD & 8 Track cartridge, it’s only in recent years with, first the 2012 stereo & Surround mixes & now the Atmos/Elemental/Complete Sessions mixes that the available mix options & domestic consumption audio options have grown sufficiently to both contain & present the material to its fullest possible extent.
While Steven was working on this aspect of the material Alex R. Mundy and David Singleton at DGM were mixing every single take of the original studio sessions. These unreleased early takes are presented not as traditionally blended pieces, but with maximum separation, mimicking the experience of sitting in the studio with the individual elements being performed around you. The “Elemental mixes” apply this same approach to the main album takes. An excitingly fresh view on the familiar, with the focus often falling in unusual places, some originally hidden, some unused. Four of the album’s core tracks feature: extended mixes of Larks’ 1 and Talking Drum along with Easy Money & Larks’ 2.
This material is all presented on Blu-Ray I of the set.
Blu-Ray II presents every single session recording from the original studio dates, all newly mixed from the multitrack tapes and presented in date of recording order, in Hi-Res 24/96 stereo – a vast collection of previously unheard studio material from the seminal recording.
Also included on this disc are the original album mix (30th anniversary master) & the audio documentary “Keep that one, Nick” – as compiled by David Singleton for the 2012 boxed set. These two inclusions are the only previously released titles on this set.
It’s no coincidence that many of the pieces from the album became staples of performance for the most recent King Crimson line-ups (2014 – 2021). The material first performed to unsuspecting concert attendees in 1972, first recorded & released in 1973 & beloved of King Crimson fans ever since, has aged remarkably well. That material is now presented in its most complete edition to date, with all of the material on the CDs & almost all of the material on the Blu-Rays (see track-listing below), previously unreleased.
In 2023, it still has the capacity to astound the ears.