SAILORS' TALES

Following the previous years' megabox, Sailors' Tales summarizes a period of King Crimson, as opposed to a singular event in the history of King Crimson. However, this period was a bit more tumultuous than the 80s Krim. After In The Court Of The Crimson King, King Crimson only existed as a studio entity. There was no permanent lineup of musicians until the Lizard sessions, which after recording Lizard promptly dispersed. Finally, when it came to recording Islands a stable lineup coalesced around Ian Wallace, Boz Berrell, Mel Collins, Peter Sinfield, and Fripp. This is the lineup that dominates this box. The Islands quintet toured extensively, even producing Crimson's much maligned first official live album, Earthbound. With The King Crimson Collectors Club, this lineup has been fleshed out a bit more, with some excellent live albums (such as Detroit 71, Live At The Marquee, and Summit Studios) that show that they could make a maelstrom that could swallow ships whole. So, a collection of 16.5 discs of primetime live Crim from this era was most welcomed by myself.

For the most part, this hits the mark. When this band cooks, the fire really does burst. Collins, Wallace, and especially Fripp tear the sonic tapestry with abandon. Fripp's tones at this time were immaculate and he could really deliver a laser beam of pure sonic hell when he wanted to. Sinfield's addition of playing the VCS3 adds wonderful ambience and a bit of aural terror when applied correctly (mostly in The Sailor's Tale and Groon) and makes Wallace's drum solos much more interesting than a typical drum solo. They also had a tendency to expand certain songs and fully let the musical demons fly, which is what this lineup of Crim does best IMO. As for the best shows...I would give it to Wilmington, Detroit, and New York. Another plus for this box is the scarcity of repeated material. The two Marquee discs, Summit Studios, and Earthbound are the only shows to be previously released (not counting the studio albums, of course), which is a very good ratio for these KC Megaboxes.

However, there are two big unfortunate drawbacks. The first is sound quality. This fluctuates throughout the box, ranging from excellent to perfectly acceptable to fairly poor. (The main exception to this is the Summit Studios disc, which to be fair, was recorded professionally in a studio, thus not really an appropriate comparison to the rest of the shows which were recorded on a stage, usually from cassette sources.) This certainly isn't the most subtle band, but it is still nice to be able to hear everything clearly, which for some shows isn't the easiest task. That said, nothing in this box is as bad as some of the recordings on the Larks' Tongues box (which given the dates both shows come from is a bit odd), so I wouldn't rank it last in this catalogue. But it definitely stands out, especially after the clarity of the Thrak & Eighties boxes. The second issue is the big one for me...tape dropouts. Cassettes are not an efficient way to record long form sound sources. They much be changed fairly often. This would probably be less of an issue with shorter songs, but especially with the long form pieces Crimson play, this gets to be frustrating very quickly. There are 15 incomplete pieces here, which doesn't sound like a lot, but these don't just cut off a minute of the beginning...most of these cut off somewhere in the middle, once the piece gets fully revved up. This is most infuriating in things like Groon, The Sailors Tale, and 21st Century Schizoid Man. Also, disc 16, Live At The Barn in Peoria, is particularly plagued by this issue, with only Fripp's announcement, Ladies of the Road, and Cadence & Cascade unaffected by incompleteness of recording. That's about 10 minutes of music, and certainly not the 10 minutes I would have chosen, with Groon, 21st Century Schizoid Man, and an improv in the setlist. I have to imagine there was a better choice of a show to include in this box. Even something that has been previously released, would have been an improvement, as this one show in particular is almost impossible to listen to. Luckily, there are several gigs that appear without the dreaded tape change, all of which are satisfying if for no other reason.

All in all, this is one of the better megabox sets that Crimson has been rolling out for nearly a decade now. Well packed with new material, Sailors' Tales is certainly worth the price, even with the issue of tape dropouts and uneven recording quality. That said, this certainly isn't for casual fans. If you enjoyed any of the King Crimson Collectors Club releases of this lineup, you should investigate this set. If you don't care for the Islands lineup, this probably won't change your mind. I would give this a 3.5 on my personal scale and I feel 3 stars is about right for progarchives. Conditionally recommended.

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