Recorded: 1982, Released: 1999
Tracks: Waiting Man; Thela Hun Ginjeet; Matte Kudasai; The Sheltering Sky; Neil and Jack and Me; Elephant Talk; Indiscipline; Heartbeat; Larks’ Tongues in Aspic II
Best track: either Indiscipline, Thela Hun Ginjeet or Sheltering Sky
Track to skip: huh, none
Man, that duel drumming from Bruford and Belew that starts off Waiting Man is awesome. If you want to see how cool it is, get the Three of a Perfect Pair video. It’s beautiful how each member slowly comes in and gets this piece moving. This live CD is another from the Collector’s Club, mostly recorded at Cap D’Agde, France, on 8/26/82, with the last three tracks from Frejus on the next night. The Frejus tracks are found on the Noise video (also recommended…actually, in 2004 they released both The Noise & Three of a Perfect Pair on the same DVD…called Neal and Jack and Me. I have both on VHS, but I’ll happily replace them in the superior format). It’s wonderful to hear all these tracks in the live setting. It’s no lie that this version of King Crimson could shred wallpaper at 10 miles or whatever when playing live. Just listen to the version of Thela Hun Ginjeet and try to tell me they don’t rip it up. OK, all these songs rip. Neil and Jack and Me has an astounding energy not found in the studio version, Elephant Talk is stellar, and Indiscipline just knocks you out. I love Bruford’s drum solo at the beginning of this. I really don’t have a ton to say about how great this is, except that it shows how King Crimson, as excellent as they are in the studio, are a LIVE band. Everybody shines on this. For the best possible overview the live version of this 81-84 Crimson, I’d go with Absent Lovers, but this is a wonderful little extra bit of live KC that just might convert you. This is one of the better Collector’s Club discs and I listen to it quite a lot, even more than some of the studio albums. I definitely listen to it a lot more than Beat, that’s for sure.
Rating: 94
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