This commentary is on the "Dèjà Vroom" DVD, It is by R.Fripp, I don't know If this is the right forum section but it is the one that seemed more sensible to me.

Line-up One (1969)
__________________
Robert Fripp guitar
Ian McDonaldwoodwind, keyboards, mellotron, vocal
Greg Lake bass guitar, lead vocal
Michael Giles drums, percussion, vocal
Peter Sinfield words & illumination

Introit
_______
The shock of this group's performances in England, from its debut on April 9th.
1969 at the Speakeasy in London, is difficult to convey 29 years afterwards to someone
who wasn't part of it: something like the explosive impact of punk seven years later. A
considerable influence on the musicians and groups of its generation, it is also the only
Crimson which could have had massive commercial success. Inevitably, it drew as
much hostility as support.
The only studio record from this period - In The Court Of The Crimson King -
failed to convey the power of its live performance but does have the intensity which
characterises classic Crimson of any period. Contemporary ears might find the music
part of another era until they listen THROUGH the music rather than AT it. The sonic
landscape remains as bleak an authentic Crimscape as it gets. Neither heavy metal nor
hard rock have been able to blow me away since I spent nearly all of 1969 playing
"Schizoid Man" and a mellotronic, stroboscopic "Mars".
In 1997 Discipline Global Mobile released Epitaph, a 4 CD set drawn from
bootlegs and archive recordings of (mainly) live performances during 1969. This was the
first opportunity for a new generation of the listening community to access primary
sound sources of Crimson live in 1969; and make their own assessments of the group
and the music.
My own perspective on Crimson is obviously rather different from the other
founder members of the 1969 band. My impression is that they consider their Crimson to
be the only real Crimson, a view with which I have sympathy but disagree. We would
probably agree that this founding Crimson was charmed. There was something
completely other which touched this group and which we called our "good fairy". After
reflecting for several years on how we went from abject failure to global commercial and
musical success in nine months, I eventually concluded that sometimes music leans
over and takes us into its confidence. This was one of those times, these were some of
those people.
But we were also young men, too immature to handle the strains involved in
rapidly moving from local and national failure to international acclaim. The group's
birthday was on January 13th. 1969 at the Fulham Palace Cafe in London. It broke up in
California, December 1969.
This generation of rock (1969) became known as "progressive". Bombast,
exaggeration, excess, self-indulgence, pretension and long solos (by any instrument in
the group) came to characterise the archetypal "prog" outfit. In January 1994 Vox
magazine printed a "Prog Rock special".
This is the letter, dated December 30th. 1993, which I wrote to the Letters
column:
< In the Vox January Prog Rock special your Vox writer suggests that "King
Crimson personified the direction that British rock was taking towards the end of the `60s".
In my view Crimson is a bad example of mainstream Prog Rock (your label) for several
reasons - one being that whenever one particular approach ran its course the group
changed direction and/or personnel. Not the high road to commercial success.
And your writer has drawn a wrong conclusion from a specific Crimson example -
extending a song title into sections. The reason songs and pieces (not "works"!) acquired
separately titled sections (like "In The Court Of The Crimson King" including "The Return
Of The Fire Witch" and "The Dance Of The Fire Witch") was so the group would get paid
full publishing royalties on our American record sales.
David Enthoven and John Gaydon, the E and G of EG Management, told King
Crimson we had to have more than our 5 titles on "In The Court Of The Crimson King" to
get the maximum publishing royalties in the US. So, we added titles to sections until we
had the number necessary to be paid the full rates (by titles, not by running time).
This mundane explanation is much less fun than the one your writer assumes -
artistic pretension - of which there was, in any case, enough to go around.
"The Devil's Triangle" had no singing on it and was not, therefore, a song. Neither
was it "a work", nor "a composition" - it was an instrumental piece. And not a very good
one.
Overall, the article gives a fair impression of the impressive prattiness
surrounding a lot of the scene, but misses some OTT examples of which VOX would
probably have to field libel actions were it to discover and print.
Your general picture - of dopey musicians discovering they are being taken
seriously (fair enough as far as it goes) - is naive, and overlooks the sordid side of what
happens when young men suddenly acquire and are attributed personal, professional and
financial power. Neither does the article adequately explain how the "progressive"
movement became such a flaccid phenomenon. For that, you would also have to
consider the unstoppable growth of the record industry between 1968/78 (particularly in
the US), drug use in general and specifically the widespread adoption of cocaine and
heroin (replacing grass and LSD) by both musicians and executives within the music
industry after 1971 (the consequences were horrific), and the degree to which drugs were
used by certain characters on the business side of the industry to manipulate musicians
(which I saw for myself).
You would also have to take into account the world outside the self-sustaining
Prog world-view of hand-polished landscapes - Vietnam and Watergate, for example.
The original impulse of the "Prog-Rock" genre was the hope that "we (and the
word was a statement of bonding) can change the world". "Sergeant Pepper" and the
outdoor music festivals celebrating community and affirmation, notably Woodstock,
proved it. As a young musician and "hairy" travelling across America in 1969 the
connection was unmistakably clear between the peace movement, rock music as an
instrument of political expression and the voice of a generation. The demarcation between
"straights" and "hairies" equally so.
My personal view is that this impulse failed to carry over into the 1970s and by
1974 the "movement" as a whole had been corrupted, diverted and gone irretrievably offcourse.
Your banner headline - "Jurassic Prog: when dinosaurs ruled the earth" - I believe
I was the first person to use the term "dinosaur" to describe Prog groups: in interviews
during Autumn 1974 explaining why I was then quitting the music industry. Difficult
perhaps to grasp now, but at the beginning the music could be as powerful and overtly
critical as The Clash, Sex Pistols and The Jam a few years later.
I'm not sure Elvis survived the Army but I hope I've forgiven him, so please
forgive me if I seem to fall into the crime of taking your article seriously. But the music
industry was (and is) a microcosm of a particular generation and its concerns. The mess
our elders made of their chances is enough reason to attract the hostility of a succeeding
generation, and not enough reason to forget their real aims.
Musicians, as well as writers, grow up in public. We learn how to do what we do
with all our weaknesses, pretensions, aspirations and ambitions in full view of each other
and the public. By the time punk appeared (a necessary and welcome blast) I had moved
to New York and watched self-importance in personal expression move (mainly) from
young musicians to young music writers.

5. The "Good Fairy".
________________
The act of music is utterly mysterious. King Crimson was my initiation into the
magical world of playing music which then comes to life, of itself, as we played it. I had
been touched before by the music of other players, but in this band music leant over and
took us into its confidence.
There was something completely other which surrounded this group. I don't
believe that we went from abject failure to global musical and commercial success in
nine months without something outside the band giving us help. We sometimes
mentioned the "good fairy" and had the impression for a time that we could do no wrong,
that something special was going on. And it was. At some shows I had extra sensory
experiences - of the audience, what was happening or what was about to happen, who
had walked into the club, who was listening - that I have never had since.
My own perspective on Crimson is obviously rather different from the other
founder members of the 1969 band. I sympathise with the view that the only real
Crimson was the first Crimson, their Crimson. I agree that this founding Crimson was
charmed, but it is not the only Crimson which has had something else available to it.

6. Technology.
__________
Each live Crimson has featured some aspect of new or current technology. In
1969 this was the mellotron. Available in studios for three years (I played one on
GG&F's "The Cheerful Insanity") they were rare on the road and I believe only Crimson
and The Moody Blues were using them live in 1969. And the Moodies used them rather
differently.
Ian McDonald was the mellotronist for this Crimson. They were, and are, beasts
to play. The pre-recorded tapes play in tune (to the degree that they are able) with a
steady voltage. If the voltage drops, so does the speed of the tapes and therefore the
pitch. We discovered during the first American shows that American voltage is not as
stable as English. A strong forte downbeat on the first of "In The Court" and the majestic
D major strings fell to somewhere just above D flat. Or thereabouts. We then learnt
about voltage stabilisers.
The group began with a spread of Marshall stacks and then moved to Hiwatt.
Mellotron and electric sax through either could be frightening. Michael used a double
drum kit, fairly uncommon and remarkable in front of Giles' feet. Sometimes during a
drum solo he would kneel on the floor and talk to them.
We also used the first powerful WEM pa systems. Peter Sinfield introduced us to
onstage miking: his innovation was to leave the vocal mike turned on when the singing
stopped. No one miked drums or amplifiers in clubs: vocals were the only sound source
thought to need a mike. This changed as we moved to theatres, notably the Fairfield
Hall, Croydon (October 17th.).
Our famous light show, built by Peter Sinfield, was from plywood and Bakofoil
with coloured lightbulbs, plus a strobe light. It was considered revolutionary at the time.
Peter operated the lights, and in time made such occasional adjustments to the eight
track WEM sound mixer (at the side of the stage) as he thought necessary.
A revolutionary piece of non-musical technology was the Ford Transit van, which
transformed life for the gigging band. The Transit could carry a full load of band
equipment and two roadies, who then hurtled off into the night down or up along the
fairly recent and developing motorway system of England. (This was because we
couldn't afford hotels for the night. The group drove themselves to and from gigs in
David and John's VW Beetle).

7. "In The Court Of The Crimson King".
__________________________________
The record propelled the group to international prominence. It was recorded and
mixed in about ten days at the end of July, following an two abortive attempts with Tony
Clarke, the producer of The Moody Blues. We realised we would make mistakes, but
decided it was better to make our own mistakes.
The record was an instant smash, and still sells steadily.

8. The Record Cover.
________________
The cover was strange and powerful as anything else to do with this group. Barry
Godber, a friend of Peter and Dik the Roadie, was not an artist but a computer
programmer. This was the only album cover he painted. Barry died in bed in February
1970 at the age of 24.
The cover was as much a definitive statement, and a classic, as the album. And
they both belonged together. The Schizoid face was really scary, especially if a display
filled an entire shop window.
Peter brought the cover into Wessex Studios in Highgate during a session. At the
time Michael refused to commit himself to it, nor has he yet. But Michael has also never
agreed to the name King Crimson. We went ahead anyway.
The original artwork hung on a wall in 63a, Kings Road, in full daylight for several
years. This was the centre of EG activities from 1970 and remains so today, albeit in its
diminished and truncated form. For several years I watched the colours drain from the
Schizoid and Crimson King faces until, finally, I announced that unless it was hung
where it was protected from daylight, I would remove it. Several months later I removed
it and it is now stored at Discipline Global Mobile World Central.

9. The Media.
_________
Began favourable, got mixed, and was immense.

Afterward One : Prog Rock and Its Criminals.
___________________________________________

I
At the beginning of 1969 Crimson was "Underground" and by the end of 1969
had become "progressive". After 1972, and into the 1980s, Crimson became part of "Art
Rock" and in the 1990s seems to be considered part of a "Prog Rock" revival.
In January 1993 Vox magazine published a Prog Rock special in which its writer
suggested that "King Crimson personified the direction that British rock was taking
towards the end of the `60s".
This, by virtue of the year, can only apply to the first Crimson. And some, like the
original Crimsoids, might argue that there was only one true King Crimson, and no
continuity other than in name.

II
In the aftermath of the 1969 collapse, Peter Sinfield and I agreed to continue
Crimsonising. The 1970/1 period, in Peter's view, was the Fripp & Sinfield Band. I
sympathise with his opinion, but for me this highlights the fundamental difference in aim
between us and which lead to our eventual separation in December 1971. I view 1970/1
as an interim period or, in Crim history, The Interregnum.
At the beginning of 1970 I felt that everything to be done for the next two years
would be wrong but had to be done anyway, to get to the other side. What was on the
other side, I didn't know. (This is Standard Operating Procedure for me). In retrospect,
my sense of the immediate future seen from early 1970 seems justified by the Crimson
and its music, but 1970/1 had its own particular triumphs despite the ongoing and
growing personal bickering, dissension and disagreement between everyone involved.
Fortunately, all the main people now talk to each other. One of my personal
highlights of 1995 was Peter Sinfield's success with a world-wide hit for Celine Dion.
That Peter's triumph might be my triumph strengthens my heart. The only personal
animosity towards myself from this difficult period, and of which I was aware, was from
my old school friend Gordon Haskell. Gordon sang "Cadence and Cascade" on "In The
Wake Of Poseidon" (1970) and played bass and sang on "Lizard" (1970). He felt
cheated out of royalties on "Lizard" which he believed he was promised. I don't, and
didn't, and have sympathy for any dedicated musician of long and hard apprenticeship
and standing. I have no ill feelings towards Gordon. We had a convivial meeting with all
the members of the original 1963-65 League of Gentlemen in the Summer of 1997.

III
King Crimson is not the Robert Fripp Band, this a wearisome subject in dozens of
interviews over two and a half decades. If in doubt, ask the other members.
Nor is King Crimson simply the sum of its members. There has always been
something other, completely outside the operations of the musicians, the business, the
paraphernalia of rockdom, the records, the performances, and everything which gives
rise to the tangible entity of the group/s, King Crimson.
My experience of Crimson is probably very different to the other players, and not
necessarily any more true. Different opinions, based on different experiences, are not
necessarily wrong, or right, merely different. My own experience of the Individuality
which informs the musicians incorporating any particular King Crimson makes me feel a
particular responsibility to the project. Honouring that responsibility has been
educational, stressful, joyful, painful, illuminating and not something I would do to earn a
living (EG made more money from KC than any of its musicians). Neither does it make
me a "bandleader".

IV
The commentaries I have read on "Progressive Rock" mainly consist of recycled
views of careless musical history substantiated by reference to inaccurate authorities
(and worse) who themselves drew on inaccurate articles, reviews and interviews,
regurgitated over a period of years. If matters of my personal experience are this
distorted and misrepresented in the tiny paddock of one small musical field for 25 years,
even by writers who consider themselves to be informed and of serious intent, I doubt
that history can be reliably written on large matters over large periods of time.
These seem to be common Prog generalisations, particularly in England:
1. The generation of rock which became known as "progressive" is characterised
by bombast, exaggeration, excess, self-indulgence, pretension and long solos
(by any instrument in the group); i.e. Prog is subtle, NOT.
2. All Prog is appalling - the feeble pseudo-mythical concepts, unintelligible words,
fantastic album covers, dopey clothes, bitty and formless music, the rhythm
suspect and peculiar which no-one can dance to, or would want to unless
deranged by drugs - and at its most favourable it should be hated by everyone.
3. The musicians were all prats. They probably still are, but now they are fat and
bald old prats.
4. Prog is universally derisable, and is derided by anyone other than acid
casualties, unreformed hippies and the witless.
5. The most successful Progressive bands in its Golden Age were Yes, Genesis,
ELP and King Crimson.
6. The main culprits of Progressive music in its Golden Age were Yes, Genesis,
ELP and King Crimson. But everyone else was terrible too.

VI
The only part of this to which I take exception is to have Crimson since 1970
regularly placed alongside Yes and Genesis, and frequently ELP. We may have shared
the same part of the planet and space in time, even a musician or two, but our aims, way
of doing things, history and (even) music, are very different.
Crimson's personal history is fairly circuitous but well documented (although with
inaccuracies) and remains available to enquiry, and listening. But not facile
generalisation or the reiteration of cliché, originating in flaccid critical acuity. Even in
1996 Clinton Heylin in "Bootleg" refers to KC as "this previously overlooked dinosaur of
prog-rock" (p.10n). I find Mr. Heylin's opinion somewhat underdetermined.
One simple reason Crimson is a bad example of mainstream Progressive Rock is
that Crimson changed its direction and/or personnel whenever a particular musical
approach had run its course. A primary rule of commercial success is to repeat yourself.
Clearly commercial success was not the priority for Crimson and in this we succeeded,
which is the second simple reason that Crimson is a bad example of mainstream
Progressive Rock.
(NB The only time I made money from King Crimson was in the three years after
its 1974 break-up - the expenses stopped and the albums continued selling).

VII
Progressive is primarily an English phenomenon (although the Prog Revival is
primarily American). The excesses and dopiness of some of its main exemplars bred a
reaction of such hostility among young music writers, notably in the English comics that
promoted the Punk explosion (NME, MM, Sounds), that the nastiness continues to
reverberate today. The degree of hostility towards "progressive" for more than two
decades is a clue that something more than music alone is generating the heat.
Gushing excess may also be found, but to a lesser extent, and now mainly in fanzines. It
is harder to be negative over time than to be positive although, like John Gill, there are
some writers who are prepared to persevere.
The Scrapbook to "Frame By Frame" gives a good sample of journalistic
criticism, commentary and chit-chat both pro and con. On balance it cancels itself out: a
lot of noise minus a lot of noise doesn't equal silence, but amounts to little of value; and
teaches me very little to help me know or do better what I do.
As I grow older I am increasingly distressed at the common currency of
unkindness in reviews. I take it as a given that we perceive our perceptions, and
understand to the extent of our understanding. Similarly, the reviewer reviews themself:
what commentaries on self-loathing, careless and irresponsible opinionation and proud
ignorance are these.
A recent description of the current King Crimson (in an LA freebie newspaper
announcing three days at the Wiltern Theatre, June 1995) is of "Prog-rock pond scum,
set to bum you out". This immediately became the group's favourite self-description.
Q. How would you describe King Crimson, its music, philosophy, history, business
aims, hopes for the future, job description and your personal role within it?
A. We are, and I am, prog-rock pond scum. Our hopes for the future are to bum you
out.
I find it hard to take offence at, or be insulted by, a commentary which
demonstrates that life without sentience is not only possible but ongoing.

A Personal View From The Guitarist
__________________________________

I
Since 1994 King Crimson has been somewhat rehabilitated from the position of
ignominy it held in the history of rock music for the preceding 20 years.
Nominally, King Crimson has been regarded as begetting characteristics
associated with, even defining, rocks progressive, pomp and art. These characteristics
are often discussed in the areas of:
stage presentation: extravagant, and given to excess
lifestyle: extravagant, and given to excess
music: extravagant and given to excess
lyrics: extravagant and given to excess
So, performances might include a Persian carpet, revolving drum-riser and knifethrowing
(ELP), satin cloak and furry boots (Yes), costumes (Genesis), banks of lights
and speakers (ELP, Yes and Genesis). The lifestyle - personal and professional
entourage, forms of travel (first and second class on airplanes, limousines) - were
governed by the personal tastes of the young musicians and their income streams. The
music - including extended soloing - is sometimes criticised as having a duration
exceeding the attention span available to most audiences, if awake. The lyrics address
subject matters either fantastic or abstruse, or fantastic and abstruse, and of restricted
relevance to the human life form. Often, they are unpronounceable. Frequently, they are
incomprehensible. Always, they suck. Thus, the received opinion.
These three bands were all hugely successful, far more so than King Crimson
with its shifting personnel and repertoire, and all continue to work today, mostly with
original members.

II
"Islands" was the only studio album of the Mel, Boz & Ian version of Crimson,
recorded in mid-1971 at Command Studios, Piccadilly. It contains arguably some of the
most indigestible lyrics sung on a rock album. Not all the words reflected my personal
sensibilities and experience. My professional relationship with Peter Sinfield, already
strained, became more difficult subsequently and, following the return to England from
touring in America during the autumn of 1971, ended.
In fairness to Peter, he was writing largely in response to music offered to him by
myself. This failed to present him with much opportunity to express his own view of the
appropriate, or to fire his enthusiasm. Peter's words have been some of the most
criticised and attacked of that period. Today, he is more successful as a lyricist than at
any time during his 25 years of writing, and was recently a board member of BASCA.
"Islands", for me, contains two Crim classics: the wit and rock reportage of
"Ladies of the Road"; and the guitar solo to "The Sailor's Tale".
"Ladies" was recorded by four musicians who had been out together the night
before. The guitarist, heavily outclassed in the raving arts by the other players and
relatively unpractised in the partying mode, had on this occasion accompanied the other
members to a party.
"Sailor's Tale": the off-set accent on the hi-hat by Ian Wallace is inspired, and
appeared at a rehearsal in the basement of the Fulham Palace Cafe. The Peteneras
flamenco rhythm (a bar of 3/4 alternating with a bar of 6/8), an RF trademark, originated
in my early playing and studying. The echo halo around Boz' voice was produced by
him singing into a BBC brass bucket, several of which had remained in Command
Studios after this former BBC studio changed hands.
The guitar solo was recorded beginning around three in the morning. It was
probably the most powerful solo this young guitarist had played in his life to that point,
and is in the same class as the solo to "Fashion" (1980). Technically, it makes reference
to my guitar teacher Don Strike and his musical background, including banjo music; the
closely related 1930s plectrum guitar music associated with the Clifford Essex
publishing house; my own developed and developing right hand technique; Sonny
Sharrock; the notion of a flailing Pete Townshend; and the desperation of sheer
necessity when exhaustion denied access to coherent strategizing. A leap sideways and
outside was the only solution available. The solo was done in two takes: the opening
flailing is from the first, which defined and established the approach, and the remaining
from the second, which clarified it.
"The Letter" is a development of "Drop In", a live KC feature in 1969 and only
available on record with the release of "Epitaph", a 4 CD box set of live 1969 Crimson
(DGM 1997).
"Prelude" was an orchestration of a guitar solo, a tremolo study played with a
pick, which I had written when first in London with Giles, Giles & Fripp at age 21. The
last week of recording "Islands" was desperate, to hit the deadline before leaving on a
national tour. I would get home from the studio between 4 and 6 in the morning, to my
digs with landpersons Simon Stable and his wife Judy Dyble, and then spend two hours
writing charts for the orchestra before collapsing onto my mattress. Two hours later I
would rise to return to Command for the day's recording. I conducted with a pencil and,
to the orchestra's credit, they ignored me. This was one of the most terrifying
professional occasions of my career. The oboe soloist is the superb Robin Miller, who
was at that time co-principal oboist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Pierre
Boulez. Robin also contributed to "Lizard" (1970) and "Red" (1974).

Count In: Four
______________

The 1973/4 touring version of Crimson was, at the time, mistakenly considered to
be part of the musical arena defined by Yes, Genesis and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
These three groups were all hugely successful commercially and all influenced by the
first King Crimson, itself the only Crimson threatened by massive commercial acclaim.
This confusion was a mistake easily made by anyone who hadn't seen the "Red"
Crimson in action and were content instead to rely on cliches, careless commentary and
witless associations. For example, the English music press. And a succeeding
generation of journalists and their readers who hadn't seen this Crimson either. (NB Cf
the note on Clinton Heylin above).
All four groups had close personal connections. Greg Lake left Crimson in early
1970 to become a founder member of ELP. At the same time I declined to join Yes to
replace Peter Banks, the job being taken by Steve Howe. Bill Bruford left Yes in July
1972 to join KC, and toured with Genesis in 1975. I declined to join Genesis in 1976
upon the departure of Steve Hackett. Genesis bought a KC mellotron in February 1970
and Phil Collins played on "Exposure" (1978/9). John Wetton worked with Bill Bruford in
UK (1978) and Carl Palmer in Asia (1981). Boz was a founder member of Bad Company
(1973), Ian McDonald a founder member of Foreigner (1978).
Bryan Ferry auditioned for Crimson in late 1970 and I turned him down but
suggested he go to EG Management (a piece of advice which he may well now regret).
He went there with Roxy Music, which was how I met Eno. My work with Eno was an
important alternative line of playing to that offered by Crimson: the release of "No
Pussyfooting" (1973) was held up for nearly two years by EG and Island Records
because they believed that Eno's association with me after his departure from Roxy
Music would damage his commercial viability. Eno's preparation of a backing track for
the Fripp & Eno tour of Spain, France and Europe in May 1975 became "Discreet
Music", the original "ambient" album. I remember drinking tea with Brian in the back
dining room chez Eno while the music was recording itself in the front room. We
recorded "Evening Star" in 1975. My work with Eno extended to working with Bowie and
Eno on "Heroes" (1977) and then to Bowie on "Scary Monsters" (1980).
When Peter Gabriel left Genesis (1974) one of his projects was to write a single
for Charlie Drake, a well known English comedian. The group for this session, at
George Martin's Air Studios over Oxford Circus, was Gabriel (writer & producer), Phil
Collins (drums), Percy Collins (fretless bass and later a founder member with Phil of
Brand X), Keith Tippett (piano) and RF (guitar). This was arguably one of the strangest
sessions of the entire era. I played on the first three Gabriel solo albums and produced
PG II. It is easily forgotten that in the 1970s Phil Collins was known as a drummer who
grasped challenge, and an important contributor to Eno's radical "Another Green
World". Phil's success as a solo singer since the 1980s, and front man for Genesis, has
overshadowed his contribution to important undercurrents of his generation.
This is a small outline of inter-relationships between a generation of musicians.
My point is that among all these musicians and their groups and projects, the live
Crimson in 1973/4 was on its own territory. It drew mainly on a European vocabulary
both for its writing and improvising. Increasingly it needed improvisation to stay alive:
this was its life blood. But that didn't show much in the studio albums. In concert, it
stepped sideways and jumped. It went places where other musicians of that rock
generation mainly avoided. This team looked into the the darker spaces of the psyche
and reported back on what it found. The 1969 Crimscapes were bleak and written; the
1973/4 Crimscapes were darker, and mainly improvised.
This was a secret to nearly everyone until December 1992 and the release of
"The Great Deceiver", a four volume CD box taken from my personal archive of live
recordings - unless they'd had their ears pressed flat against their head by John
Wetton's soaring bass. This would not have been possible before compact disc
technology, nor before the hostility against music of this era subsided sufficiently for the
music to be heard above the din of an often justifiable prejudice.
"USA", a live album drawn from recordings in America during 1974, was released
in 1975. It failed to convey a true impression of the group. After much hustling by myself,
it was deleted in the 1980s. I am now under pressure to re-release it. The four volumes
of "The Great Deceiver" are effectively four stunning volumes of "USA".
In all the Crimsons between 1969 and 1974 we were too young to play well
enough to meet either our aspirations or the challenges of much of the writing. Neither
did we have the maturity to handle the personal strains and struggles of being on the
road for extended periods. In these difficulties I found little support from management.
After all, they were (mostly) at home taking care of business. Or not. But that is another,
and regrettable, story which waits to be told.
At the time of writing we are preparing the Second Edition of USA, remixed with
additional material, for release through Virgin in 1999, as part of King Crimson's 30th.
Aniversary Year.

The Live & Recording Crimson.
____________________________

Records and live performance are two worlds. One is a love letter, the other a hot
date. Crimson were always the band for a hot date and from time to time they could
write a love letter too. But for me they were better in the clinches. Like, in London in the
Spring of 1969, Amsterdam in November 1973, and The Savoy, New York over three
nights in November 1981. Sometimes it's like angels descending from the clouds on
chariots of fire, blowing trumpets of gold in your ear. This is when, for a musician, life
becomes real. The rest of the superfluities, nonsense, waste, manipulation, deceit, theft
and idiocies of the professional musician's existence are the price we pay to get to the
point where music intervenes directly in the act of music. It is as absurd to expect the
law to provide justice as to believe that the music industry exists to provide music.
The performance of music in our contemporary and commercial culture is
inherently unlikely and almost impossible. But not quite.
During King Crimson's residency at the Marquee during 1969 we shared the bill
with both John Surman's band and Keith Tippet's. We shared a lot of common ground,
although arriving at different conclusions. In 1969 there was no established tradition of
improvisation for rock players. We were still looking for a way that players could stretch
out within rock, and tested the boundaries of the tradition. I doubt that rock "progressed"
but it did develop, despite the proportion of dud time in "experimental" sets. The 1969
live Crimson leaned more towards jazz for permission to move outwards, although none
of the players were themselves jazzers.
The 1972 Crimson was transiting from the very open boundaries of 1969/72 to
the harder edge which became "Red" in 1974: a harder rock which looked to rock, rather
than to jazz, for its spirit. When Jamie Muir left the band at the end of recording "Larks'
Tongues In Aspic" (Jamie's title) Crimson moved audibly rockwards.
Live, the 1981 Crimson were more song based than the earlier line-ups but Tony,
Ade, Billy & Bob could also rock out and shred wallpaper at three miles.
Comments from the audience at Moles Club, Bath, following the debut of Line-up
Four on Wednesday 1st. May, 1994:
(from a gardener) I was struck by the sexuality, but also the sophistication.
I was surprised it was derivative. The old tunes showed how far ahead they were.
It reminded me of the Talking Heads. But four people were doing live what nine
people did.
It was better than the last League of Gentlemen.
It was overwhelming.
The 1981/4 Crimson was the first which did not have a full complement of
English players. This was 50/50 Anglo American. The bleak Crim view lightened, the
musical boundaries and vocabulary widened, the hostility of the English music press
continued. In one case, that of John Gill, this continued for nearly ten years beyond the
completion of the fourth-formation Crimson's tour of duty in mid-1984.

As I sit typing this into my IBM clone PC (my keenly anticipated ThinkPad not yet
arrived) at Beau's Creperie, Canterbury at 11.20 on Saturday morning the 4th. March
1995 and eagerly await the arrival of my dear little wife for brunch, to my surprise "Matte
Kudesai" slides onto the house muzak system. King Crimson is not, from my experience
of this international contagion of aural violation, a first choice of muzak programmers.
What factors brought King Crimson to the muzak in a Canterbury creperie? Don
Maclean, Elton John, The Carpenters, yes - but King Crimson? Does this mean
imminent crossover and breakout? Should I be grateful that the unwitting and innocent
crepe and cappucini consumers of Canterbury have their unsuspecting ears accosted
by Ade's superlative slide playing?
There are probably no simple answers to these questions, posed rhetorically in
wonder and amazement while I sip the healing brew of Beau's fine cappuccino. I recall
that shortly after the release of "Discipline" I received a letter regretting (in direct terms
not compromised by politeness) the time wasted on that album by the inclusion of
"Matte". Myself, I am pleasantly encouraged that this gentle, and real, ballad still moves
me. Wonder and amazement continue.

The Music Of Business.
_____________________

The Book of Craft (2017)

There are as many paths to music as there are musicians. So, it is necessary for each
musician to find their own path.
Subjectively, this path is unique. Objectively, each path is the same path as that of others.
Eventually, the individual musician discovers this.
But, there are signposts; there are maps; there are guides.

III
If the young artist today is to succeed in the music industry, a beginning generation of
business people is needed. A new and alternative kind of music industry will probably not yield huge
levels of success. The mainstream industry is set up to address the mainstream. Its apparent success
in achieving the distribution of music is mainly apparent. Outside the industry one doesn't see the
failures, deceit, dishonesty, manipulation and distortion of the lives of artists and industry rank and
file.
Should a reasonable, professional and liberal reader, even one in a position of authority over
others, feel I overstate the case, I regret that I do not. Should a worldly-wise reader, trained in power
negotiation and irrefutable techniques of persuasion, suggest that this is the case in business
generally, I reply that I can only speak with confidence of what is within my experience.

Copyright Ownership
____________________

The phonographic copyright in performances is operated by Discipline Global Mobile on
behalf of the artists, with whom it resides, contrary to common practice in the record industry.
Discipline accepts no reason for artists to assign the copyright interests in their work to either
record company or management by virtue of a "common practice" which was always questionable,
often improper, and is now indefensible.
Currently, a few well-known groups have begun to challenge this practice. Where their cases
have been successful and (discreetly) known to me, these arrangements are subject to gagging
clauses. If we accept the principle of transparency to be one of the canons of ethical business, along
with straightforwardness, accountablility, owning-up, honesty, common decency, fairness and
distributive justice, the gagging orders imply that the practices of certain major players in the record
industry put them outside what DGM considers to be ethical business conduct.
Members of the public not familiar with the norm, might not know this common practice of
the record industry: the artist pays to record the album, generally with an advance provided by the
record company. This advance is then recouped from artist royalties (which are themselves subject
to limitations and reductions in accordance with "company standard policy") while the album is owned
by the record company. The record company owns the artist's work, for which the artist has paid. If
the record company, or owner of the company, sells the catalogue or the company itself, the artist
receives nothing for their work although having created the work and paid for it to be made.
Crimson Music recognises no valid or ethical reason to assign publishing copyrights to
publisher or manager as an inevitable, necessary or useful part of the business of collecting
publishing royalties.
As a point of information for an interested member of the listening community, to someone
probably not commonly involved in negotiations with major record or publishing companies, it is now
a frequent practice for artists to be asked to sign away benefit of their moral rights as the creators or
originators of artworks.

Everything coming is for young artists i believe, some of you might find it very interesting.

The Aims Of The DGM Collectors' Club.
____________________________________

I

The aims of the Club are these:
1. To facilitate the entry of (primarily DGM family) music into the world: past, present and
future.
2. To attract the music's most likely audience.
3. To bring the music and audience together.
The music is in three main areas:
i) Works in progress; for example, current live performance.
ii) Archive recordings.
iii) Snapshots of process, musical and non-musical;
e.g. rehearsals and interviews.

We have an extensive recorded archive from over 30 years of various KC / Fripp projects,
mainly live shows. The quality of our archive recording has improved hugely following the advent of
easily-available digital technology. When I return from tour nowadays it is with a series of DAT tapes
from the mixing desk and, frequently, a series of multi-track ADATs.
So, current works in progress are of good quality. Although board mixes reflect the front-ofhouse
sound and are not necessarily "balanced" mixes, the unexpected joys of eruptile instruments
and broad-stroke sonics often match the pleasure of reflective, considered performance. The asperity
of the grain holds its own delights.

II
The first release and Club Selection is set for October 1998. DGM Collectors' Club No. 1 is
King Crimson live in 1969 at the Marquee Club, London. The second Club Selection, for December
1998, is the second KC live line-up of Mel, Boz & Ian, in Jacksonville. The third is of the KC debut
performance with Jamie Muir at the Beat Club tv show, Bremen, in 1972.
We are planning initially for six bi-monthly Club Selections a year, with the possibility of
additional optional selections.
The Club Selections will be mailed automatically to members, unless they tell us otherwise.
Optional releases will only be mailed to members if ordered directly.

III
The ruling principles are simplicity and fairness, assuming goodwill between Club and
members. If any potential Club member fears that a greedy record company and its venal leader
intend to snaffle their hard-earned pay by supplying large quantities of sonic turkeys (just like
bootleggers, that is) or multiple releases of the same group, better not to join the Club.
Club releases are supplied to members on the understanding that the records will not be
duplicated.
For European enrollment please write to:

DGM Collectors' Club,
PO Box 1718,
SALISBURY,
Wiltshire, SP5 5SW;
fax: (44) 1722 781042.
For US and Rest of the World please write to:
DGM Collectors' Club,
PO Box 5282,
Dept. CC,
BEVERLY HILLS,
CA 90209;
fax: (1) 323 937 9102.

Background To The Club.
______________________

I

As background to all other enthusiast discussion / commentary regarding DGM: please know
that it is hard to exagerrate the difficulties which a small company like ours has to merely exist. That
we are here is in itself a triumph.
Various postings to DGM and the Elephant Talk site wonder why various anticipated projects
have not yet been finalised, or released. Why have they not received a reply to their urgent request
for detailed advice on how to launch their career in the record industry, or a critique of their
unsolicited CD?
The answer to these queries is simple; for me, painfully simple. This simple answer has three
parts: time, money and necessity.
There are three primary constructs of my professional life which, although in all cases
involving the energies and contributions of others, nevertheless have been prime and determining in
my own life. These constructs are King Crimson, Guitar Craft and Discipline Global Mobile.
Throughout the period 1969 - 1984, whenever Crimson was active my involvement was total.
Since 1984 I have not been a "public figure", a role I had formerly considered to be an important part
of my necessary work and personal practice. The next seven year period, 1984-91, was dedicated to
Guitar Craft. The period 1991-98 has been one of radical reconstruction, including almost seven
years of dispute between my former managers and two of the largest music groups in the world; the
creation of DGM; the reincarnation of King Crimson; and the continuing life of Guitar Craft.
So, whereas formerly my responsibility was to one main construct, currently all three feed
upon me and exert their own ongoing demands.
Conventionally, independent companies are underfinanced. We honour this convention.
Commonly, when an independent company is successful its owner sells out to a major. The major
then uses the apparently-independent label as a front, luring young artists into mainstream control
with its attendant common trading practices. Commonly, the former owner has by now become
independently wealthy.
An historic problem for independent labels is that their independent distributor (the
organisation which puts records into shops) goes bankrupt. This causes appalling knock-on problems
and difficulties for the smaller people and artists associated with the distributor. This befell DGM in
the US in October 1997 when Alliance defaulted, by our calculation, on approximately $459,000
outstanding to DGM.
A record company's value is its ownership of recording copyrights. DGM refuses to own the
copyrights of its artists which, regardless of its status as a "common practice", I regard as a criminal
act. Therefore DGM has nothing to sell. In this sense, DGM can never be sold.

II

Discipline is seeking an informed and engaged audience for our artists and music.
I conceptualise the music industry as working on three levels (which also have three internal
divisions):
1. First division: access directly to the mainstream. This means, in DGM terms, that our
releases are stocked and available in shops.
This is the world of popular and mass cultures. Popular culture is where our poets, authors
and singers call on the highest part in all of us, where we are the same person.
Mass culture is where our artists tell us what we want to hear, for money. This is a domain of
consensual deceit, is enormously seductive and immensely powerful.
2. Second division: this provides indirect access to the mainstream, via a public which
has its eyes and ears open. This constituency is addressed DGM mail order.
It is the world of the professional, rather than the popular, artist; of the enthusiast rather than
the fan. Enthusiast appraisal is personal, but informed. The fan's view is governed by like and dislike,
by attraction and aversion. The fan's assessment is subjective.
3. Third division: access to a specialised and informed audience. This is the likely world
of the connoisseur, where the artist relies upon the critical judgement of an expert audience. For the
artist, this is the domain of musical R&D. Performances will be mostly in small spaces and venues,
with record sales to match.
The specialised nature of third division music, artist and audience place all three outside the
mainstream. The small sales of CDs in this division may not even justify release on a general mail
order catalogue.
This is the operating niche for the DGM Collectors’ Club.

III

The public in each of the divisions has its own expectations and demands. My expectation as
record buyer for a DGM (or any) record bought from a Virgin Megastore, in sonics and packaging, is
"professional" at least. Also for mail order. In a bootleg outlet, whether under the counter or through
discreet mail order, I anticipate amateur art and sonics (unless the bootleg comes recently from
Japan).
Many of DGM's natural audience, as reflected in the Elephant Talk internet newsletter, my
large personal correspondence over many years, and letters to DGM, belong naturally to the third
division.
Please note ongoing comments on bootlegging, and recent postings about recordings of
ProjeKct One & Two shows. There is not much complaint about the dismal sound quality and feeble
artwork. If DGM released two CDs from Ronnie Scott's in Birmingham at the quality of the currently
available wretched volumes, we would be deluged with complaints.
Why this radical disparity in expectations?
We reasonably expect from a professional record company records of "professional" quality.
Here the irony and the paradox: if DGM is unable to meet "professional" standards with its releases, it
can't release them. So, we can't compete with bootleggers. This has the effect of limiting our
catalogue to records where we are able to meet our own high standards (in some cases where we set
the industry standard).
In the DGM archive series, "Epitaph" took four months of painstaking sonic editing and
scrapbook assembling. "The Night Watch" is another labour of love, with specially commissioned
artwork from Pam Crook, an established artist. The sleeve and notes, again, are an extended
commitment. "Absent Lovers", also the same. In 1992 "The Great Deceiver" took four months to
prepare. Now this has reverted to DGM from Virgin, and is out of print, we have to choose whether to
reprint in its existing format or to remix / re-present in a Second Edition.
None of this work is economically justifiable by the normative commercial standards and
practices of the record industry.
A new release of a Soundscape album, of less appeal than classic King Crimson, requires
enormous listening and sifting; e.g. assessing 50 performances (as on the G3 tour of North America)
over a two month period. Editing, mastering and commissioning original artwork follows. Although
Soundscapes have not yet found a mainstream audience, some of the new artists joining DGM aren't
even as well known as Soundscapes.
We are able to place our established artists in stores, and provide our becoming-established
artists with reliable mail order distribution. But we have been unable to address the audience which
bootleggers supply, this in two main areas:

1. Speedy releases of current musicking and live performance.

2. Rare items of classic / historic live performance.

This is not because the RF / DGM archives are lacking in material from current or classic
work - shelves groan with four months of Frippertronic reels from 1979 alone, 8-track tapes from
1982 Crimson, every performance by ProjeKct Two and ProjeKct One (and unreleasable goodies,
like Peter Gabriel croaking an early morning demo into a cassette for me to learn a song for his first
album) - but because we have not been prepared to compromise our standards in sound or
packaging.
The effect of this has been to:

1. Distance us from our natural audience: the audience whose primary concern is the
spirit of the music and its performance; secondarily the sonics; and thirdly, its presentation (this is my
sense, based partly on viewing the broad range of commentary and suggestions to DGM).
2. Limit DGM to around 6 - 12 releases a year.
DGM is a definitive example of an ideal third division record company. Our second division is
very good, and our mailing list growing steadily. Our first division is effective and successful for first
division artists, that is, King Crimson.
So, from the third division we address all three divisions.
But right now we have a powerful download of music underway, and available, which we
need to release: this to honour DGM's first declared business aim - to help bring music into the world
which would otherwise be unlikely to do so, or under conditions prejudicial to the music and / or
musicians.
The DGM Collectors’ Club is a proposal to meet this perceived need, but is dependent upon
support from the listening community.
DGM Collectors' Club
PO Box 1718,
SALISBURY,
Wiltshire, SP5 5ER
(44)722 781042: fax
mailto:[email protected] - [email protected]
July 21, 1998

The End.

So what are your opinions on this organisation ?