Posts tagged Boz Burrell

(Review from collectorsmusicreviews.com)

This archival live recording once again revisits the “Islands” era line up who played together in 1971 and 1972. The March 27th Boston gig was at the end of their second visit to the US and were supporting Yes, who were touring for Fragile. Such a situation was precipitated, according to the liner notes, by the instability of the band in their formative years. Nearly two years later in 1971 that the band returned to the USA. Having lost the momentum that a speculative tour during 1970 might have gained them, King Crimson were once again forced to “pay their dues” supporting bands such as Procol Harum and Yes.

This date survives in progressive rock mythology as the day when Bill Bruford (Yes drummer at the time) approached Robert Fripp about joining Crimson with Fripp’s famous reply “I think you’re about ready now, Bill…”.

The show itself is the perfect illustration of the band going in two directions. It is well known that Robert Fripp disbanded this line up in January only to be coerced into this final tour. The joy of playing this material is evident in the band except for the guitarist who voices his protest through his instrument.

The scorching “Pictures Of A City” starts the set. Mellotron tuning precedes the gentle “Forementera Lady” and in the long improvisation Mel Collins takes the lead saxophone. Fripp responds by playing the nasty angular riff that would used later in the year in “Larks Tongues In Aspic Part I”. The improvisation leads directly into the jazzy “A Sailor’s Tale”.

“Cirkus” from Lizard is one of the constants during these tours. Although it began as the opener by this time it was played in the middle of the set as a respite from the endless jams. “Groon”, which on a good night could push fifteen minutes lasts about nine in Boston. “21st Century Schizoid Man”, the only song from the classic first album to survive in the set, is segued with the preceding number. A seven minute funky improvisation lead by Boz serves as an introduction to “Cadence And Cascade” featuring a gorgeous flute melody before the tape cuts out.

This is another fantastic document from the most intriguing King Crimson line up.

Line-up:
- Robert Fripp / guitar, mellotron
- Mel Collins / saxes, flute, mellotron
- Boz Burrell / bass, lead vocals
- Ian Wallace / drums, vocals

Track List:
01. R.F. Announcement – 1:35
02. Pictures Of A City – 8:44
03. Formentera Lady – 8:33
04. The Sailor’s Tale – 7:26
05. Cirkus – 8:43
06. Groon – 10:18
07. 21st Century Schizoid Man – 10:03
08. Improv – 7:45
09. Cadence And Cascade – 4:16

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(Review from progarchives.com)

You can always rely on King Crimson to challenge your expectations, even in a 30-year old archive recording from arguably the least popular line-up of the band. If you only know this Crimson from their somewhat austere 1971 album “Islands”, prepare to have your eyes and ears belatedly opened, and better late than never.

At this point in the band’s history the signature King Crimson spirit of “energy, intensity, and eclecticism” had been all but reduced to just the eclecticism. But this live-in-the-station radio broadcast, recorded in Colorado during their final U.S. tour, offers a candid and surprisingly playful portrait of a group supposedly in disarray, and as a welcome bonus it sounds a heck of a lot better than the sub-bootleg concert tapes on the posthumous “Earthbound” album.

Forget everything you might have read about this being an unhappy quartet of mismatched talents, split by creative frictions: this set captures them in peak form and high spirits. Evidence of the informal nature of the gig can be heard in some of the goofy but affectionate banter between songs, including (in “My Hobby”) Ian Wallace doing his best Mr. Gumby impersonation, for an audience not yet acquainted with Monty Python (this from a drummer, keep in mind, who according to band biographer Sid Smith once performed for the goggle-eyed comedian Marty Feldman, while dressed as a duck).

Elsewhere the band’s enthusiasm (yes, even from the normally taciturn Fripp) must have been contagious, as more than half of their performance here was clearly unscheduled. The original four-song set opens with a tight, swinging variation of “Pictures of a City” (miles removed from the “21st Century Schizoid Man” similarity on the “Wake of Poseidon” album), and was meant to conclude with “Schizoid Man” itself, here in a more circumspect version played at a somewhat lachrymose pace, no doubt to accommodate the rookie bass guitarist.

But just as the studio host begins his closing acknowledgements and thanks, an irrepressible Ian Wallace starts a spontaneous drumbeat and the band kicks into another impromptu jam. “…Looks like we’re gonna get an encore”, drawls the DJ, and not for the last time that evening. There are at least two more false endings before the true final number: a long freeform arrangement of the Leon Thomas / Pharaoh Sanders composition “The Creator Has a Master Plan”.

The variable mix of this track suggests it might have actually been a pre-show microphone check. After 15 minutes the whole thing finally unravels (with unaccountable tape splices spoiling the continuity), but not before another surprise, when the upbeat melody suddenly breaks into a filthy blues riff, inspiring even Fripp to throw his guitar (all too briefly) into some unlikely sonic contortions.

The unexpected and wholly American blues-funk flavor of this line-up still doesn’t sit well with doctrinaire Crimheads, and was never quite to Fripp’s own taste either. The guitarist himself is often the odd man out here, but it’s fascinating to hear him beginning to move away from the jazzier sound of earlier King Crimson albums toward the harder, more aggressive style soon to reach fruition only a few short months later with the “Larks Tongues” crew.

Some tantalizing hints of that uncompromising musical future are already evident. At the end of the “Summit Going On” improv you’ll recognize what would become the opening motif to “Night Watch” and the guitarist can later be heard test-driving some of the white-lightning riffs of “Larks Tongues In Aspic, Part One”, almost daring the rest of the band to follow him.

Some of this show would later appear on the haphazard “Ladies of the Road” collection, but the entire set, warts and all, might go a long way toward rehabilitating the undervalued reputation of this Crimson. For diehard fans in particular, this album fills in the blanks of an only half-sketched and long neglected chapter in the ongoing King Crimson biography.

Line-up:
* Robert Fripp – Guitar, Mellotron
* Mel Collins – Sax, Flute, Mellotron
* Boz Burrell – Bass Guitar, Lead Vocal
* Ian Wallace – Drums, Backing Vocal

Track List:
01. Pictures of a City – 9:38
02. Cadence and Cascade – 4:46
03. Groon – 13:49
04. 21st Century Schizoid Man – 10:10
05. Improv: Summit Going On – 11:39
06. My Hobby – 1:31
07. Sailor’s Tale – 6:52
08. The Creator Has a Master Plan – 15:26

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