Released: 1976
Tracks: Epitaph; Cadence & Cascade; Ladies of the Road; I Talk to the Wind (previously unreleased version); Red; Starless; The Night Watch; Book of Saturday; Peace – A Theme; Cat Food (single version); Groon; Coda from Lark’s Tongues in Aspic, Part I; Moonchild; Trio; In the Court of the Crimson King
Best track: Starless
Track to skip: none
I own this on vinyl, so for this review I’ve busted out this treasure and I’m digging in. The package on this compilation, Crimson’s first, is excellent. The gatefold features song info and artwork for all of the previous 9 Crimson albums and an excellent book featuring many articles and diaries by and about the band. There are just a ton of great pictures in the accompanying book. Just by glancing through, I see that just about all of the photographs were reprinted in the book for Frame By Frame. More or less all of the words in the book too. I remember years ago, when I first bought it, finding a couple of differences, but it’s nothing substantial or earth-shattering.
The first thing you notice about this, what’s really a “best of” for the years ’69-’74, is the absence of Crimson’s biggest “hit”, 21st Century Schizoid Man. Robert Fripp excluded this song on purpose – probably his odd sense of humor, or more important, forcing the listener to pay attention to the *other* great songs the band did. I’m sure that by ’76 he was quite tired of the attention that Schizoid Man received. In truth, it doesn’t detract from the quality of this compilation. King Crimson has so many great songs, that if you leave off Schizoid Man, it’s not a huge loss. It actually took me a few years to notice that it wasn’t there!
There are some rarities here, which is nice. Side 1 gives us a previously unreleased version of I Talk to the Wind from 1968 featuring Judy Dyble on vocals. This track is really Giles, Giles & Fripp with the addition of Dyble and Ian McDonald. I love this version of the song – Judy Dyble has such a perfect voice for this song. Except for this album (which immediately went out of print), the track would not surface again until the GGF archival album, The Brondesbury Tapes, released in 2001. Side 3 features the rare Cat Food single from 1970: the single edit of Cat Food and its B-side, Groon. Both of these tracks would later be released on 1991’s Frame By Frame Set, and then again on the 30th Anniversary Remaster of In the Wake of Poseidon. Side 3 also features the Coda from Lark’s Tongues in Aspic, Part I (the last two minutes, just the crazy talking bit); it’s incorrectly labeled as the Coda from Lark’s II. Otherwise, all of these tracks are found on their respective albums (Moonchild thankfully omits the annoying 6 minute improv from the In the Court of the Crimson King version).
There’s no need to seek out this album, unless you just want it for collector purposes. That’s the only reason I have it. All of the songs and edits have been released since this compilation, most are from their original albums. Taken on its own, however, it’s a great summary of what King Crimson did from 1969-1974. Schizoid Man is the obvious exception, but it’s also a little strange that Lizard isn’t represented here. A “little” strange, but really not much, as Fripp completely dislikes that album. No matter. I think the track selection is very good with the only odd omission being The Sailor’s Tale from Islands. Otherwise, all of the highpoints are hit here. It’s a solid compilation with a ton of great material and not a weak second on the whole thing. I’m sure Fripp could sell enough copies to justify the cost if he issued it on CD (both discs total 75 minutes), but for whatever reason he didn’t. No matter. I think all of these songs are excellent and it’s kind of hard to choose a “best track”; for me it’s probably Starless. I think this was the best song from this early period in Crimson’s history. A great way to spend 75 minutes of my day.
Rating: 94
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