21ST CENTURY SCHIZOID BAND (KING CRIMSON ALUMNI GROUP) - LIVE IN JAPAN (DVD)

Anything about King Crimson has always attracted my attention as the band is truly a progressive band: it evolves in many forms and styles of music. 21st Century Schizoid Band were a King Crimson alumnus plus one musician formed sometime in 2002. Everyone who claims as prog head must have known that "21st Century Schizoid Man" is a legendary name that refers to a brilliant song by King Crimson from their debut album, sung by Greg Lake (originally). I love the early years of King Crimson where they had Mel Collins on saxophones, flute and keyboards, Michael Giles on drums, Peter Giles on bass, Ian McDonald on saxophones, flute and keyboards which span across four albums - all of them are excellent ones. Those alumni plus Jakko Jakszyk on guitar and vocals formed the new band. The band played live and filmed in this DVD, recorded in November 6, 2002 at Shinjuku Kouseinenkin Hall, Tokyo, Japan.

When the concert starts off with "A Man, A City" I was so stunned by the excellent performance they play especially on the ability to provide energy and harmony of this wonderfully crafted track from Lizard album. One that really impresses me is Michael Giles who still can play drums wonderfully as it was in the late sixties or early seventies with his varied shots plus raw drum sounds. It's really wonderful especially looking at the fact that he is no longer young by the time the concert was recorded. The other is Mel Collins who has been very consistent in prog music since then until now. My favorite "Cat Food" was performed in slower tempo that at first listen did not impress me at all ...but later I like it because it's different than the studio version. Jakko is really good in vocal as well as guitar work.

To me it's something like a trip to the past where most of legendary tracks performed again live in 2002 with much better audio technology so I can feel the vintage "In The Court of Crimson King" performed with better sound quality but maintaining the raw drums sound. I think Michael Giles creates the character of the music here as his work makes the overall music rich in nuances. Flute work also nice and it's performed sometimes by Collins and sometimes by Ian McDonald (like in I Talk To The Wind where he gave long flute solo). "Formentera Lady" from Islands album is another great performance, in some way it's better than the studio version. I think the most interesting part is "Ladies of The Road" as the song was performed differently with excellent delivery of complex arrangement at the end.

The performance was peaked at Epitaph where at the end of the song the band members closed the performance. It's quite a joy having "Epitaph" performed by maintaining its vintage nuances. Jakko's voice can produce great voice even though quite different from the original studio version. The mellotron-drenched composition still make the song enjoyed as if it was the seventies performance. The band gave two songs as encore: one from McDonald's instrumental song "Birdman" and the really last one is the wonderfully-crafted song "21st Century of Schizoid Man". WOW!!! This last song really make my day! It's really great performance and almost flawless from the beginning until the end part. I do enjoy the sax improvisations as well as stunning guitar solo by Jakko. Oh by the way ... Peter Giles also played wonderful bass guitar throughout the show. The sax solo is played initially by Collins and then followed wonderfully by McDonald ...Oh man ......! You will be amazed with this performance!!! I always replay this last song as it's really top notch! In fact the distorted sound of vocal by Jakko is also great.

Overall , this is an excellent performance by King Crimson alumnus plus Jakko as lead vocals and guitar. I envy on Japanese who had the opportunity to watch this excellent performance. Long live King Crimson! Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

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