THE ESSENTIAL KING CRIMSON: FRAME BY FRAME

This could have been a five star compilation. A four CD chronicle of the history of one of the greatest bands ever, with the last disk being rar (at the time) live tracks. It sounds easy. And it should have been.

There are two major flaws to this collection. First, many of the songs are shortened, with at least one missing the best parts. Sure, cutting out the spacy instrumental noodling on Moonchild may have seemed like a good idea to someone, but to me it ruins the song. And the edit on Starless, taking out the best part of the song, leaving it sounding like a version from a John Wetton solo album, is just criminal.

The second flaw makes me think Robert Fripp was having some sort of feud with Gordon Haskell at the time of this release. The two songs included here where he originally appeared (Cadence And Cascade and the Bolero section from the Lizard suite)are "remixed" versions. By remixed, they mean Haskell's vocals have been rerocded by Adrian Belew, and the bass rerecorded by Tony Levin. ANd the best songs from Lizard are totally unrepresented. Very disappointing.

The first disk features every song from In The Court Of The Crimson King (with the above mentioned edited Moonchild). Given the historic nature of that album, I suppose it's a good idea., and songs from other albums through Islands. The bonus on this is the studio version of Groon, originally the B-side of the Cat Food single.

The second disk is the biggest abomination. Three of the nine songs, actually the three best (Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part I, Fracture and Starless), are abridged. These are some of my favorite KC songs, and the edits make me cringe. Otherwise, the song selection is pretty good.

The third disk is the eighties Crimson. 'Nuff said. There is Tony Levin's humorous The King Crimson Barber Shop tacked on the end ("Tap your foot in 21").

The fourth disk is what I was anticipating at the time. Three rare recordings (at the time, this was before DGM released all of those Collector's Club live disks) of the original lineup, three Wetton-era live tracks, and three eighties live tracks. This is the best disk of the set, and that's probably one reason so many live recordings of Crimson have been released since (that and the love of the money they bring in).

At the time it was released, I would have rated it four stars. But now, get the original albums, up through Red, and some KCCC releases from your favorite lineups, and you can skip this collection.