LIVE IN DETROIT, MI 1971

There seems to be a good number of live recordings of this King Crimson lineup out there, a lot of them better than the Earthbound recording, which did not capture how good the band was. This one, while not perfect, is a very good set.

The recording sounds like it came directly from the mixing board. Therefore, Boz' vocals and Mel Collins' various instruments are all pushed a bit too far out in front. But other than that, the quality is pretty good.

The song selection is nice as well. This was the only King Crimson band that played songs from the first four studio albums. Many of those are documented on numerous of these KCCC releases. The rarities here are Formentera Lady, Groon (unfortunately, it sounds like the tape ran out in the middle, so there is a big gap in the song), a version of Mars, introduced as The Devil's Triangle, containing lots of now cheesy synth effects. But the gem is a version of In The Court Of The Crimson King, played as an encore because the audience kept requesting it (imagine grumpy old Fripp doing that in later years), and played as a fairly straight blues.

Four stars.