THE NIGHT WATCH

This live album, is "the definitive live statement" of the Wetton-Bruford-Cross era of King Crimson. Live albums don't get any closer to perfection than this. Everything is fantastic, the setlist, the musicianship, composition, and the atmosphere are all incredible. For those who did not like the Starless and Bible Black album because of the numerous improv's on it, each and every song sounds MUCH better here, in the context of the whole concert.

The setlist is a good overview of the Larks Tongues in Aspic and Starless and Bible Black albums. The sound quality of this live album puts almost all other 70's live albums to shame (with the exception of Genesis Archives box set and Led Zeppelin: how the west was won). The album sounds crystal clear, and it makes you wonder why other albums like Yessongs, or Genesis Live have such mediocre sound quality in comparison.

The version of Easy Money on this album is FAR superior to the USA album, and this album makes all other live King Crimson albums from this era unnecessary. However, there are two minor problems with this release:

1) In the song The Night Watch, Fripp's wailing guitar on the studio version is missing. The song is still played well, but after hearing the studio version, then hearing it again without that beautiful guitar melody, made it a less powerful version for me.

2) The song Starless from the album Red is not present here. Starless is easily one of King Crimson's most memborable compositions, and the album would've been even better had it been here.

Everything else is perfect. The improv's, the songs, everything. If you enjoy progressive rock at all, you NEED this album. If you haven't heard it, you are missing out. 5 stars easily.