EARTHBOUND

Earthbound ? Crimsons first Live album, must have been many prog. freaks waiting for that ! And quite a few must have been very disapointed. Live recording from this early period tends to be of a very pure sound in general, but in this case its plain terrible. On "21st Century Schizoid Man" the sound on Fripp's guitar is fine, and he delivers a great solo, so does Collins, but the backing is very muddy most of the time, and the vocals allmost anoying, not only does Boz not deliver, but the sound is distorted in the most amaturish way. Fripp is in the mood, and he is firing bullits, but as a band, not a great experience.

"Peoria" the name of an Indian Tribe, and the town where it was recorded. Nothing indian about it, as some might hope, straight forward beat music, simple track, with a very simple vocal !, but a nice feel to it. The sound still pretty bad, but better than most tracks here. Collins does a long solo, in the beginning, fine, but nothing glorius there either. Fripp fine rythm guitar stuff, a bit like on "The Sailor's Tale" but less impressive, it is a Jam !. The jamming goes on for 7.22 long minutes !

"The Sailor's Tale", again the sound so bad. Drums and bass drowning in the mix. And the version not even a good one, sad !

"Earthbound", well another Jam, maybe a bit better than "Peoria", Fripp's soloing is nice, but at this point You just dont care that much anymore, where is the King Crimson we all love ?

"Groon", same feel to it as in "Peoria", but now more complicated, making it way more interesting. Constant soloing from Fripp/Collins, more breaking, more bass diversity. The track ending out in one of those 70's drum solo's, like Bonham would play it live. I love good drumming, but 7+ minutes of drum solo, I can live without it. Second half is played trough a Synz, making it more experimental, or honestly, even more boring.

This is a recording of the kind, that should be given as a free copy when you buy Islands. Its not worth the price of shipment, unless you are the die hardest Fripp collector.