Search - King Crimson :: Earthbound: 30th Anniversary Edition

An Absolute MESSterpiece!!!

P. McKenna | Atlanta GA | 10/04/2004

(1 out of 5 stars)

"As a long time King Crimson fan, I have to admit I'm puzzled and troubled by the re-release of Earthbound (outside of the fact it was by huge fan demand). It just goes to show that even the best digital remastering implements can only go so far in cleaning up an inherently bad recording. But what do you expect, it was originally taped on a casssette recorder in pouring rain.



But the sound quality issue nearly pales compared to the performance itself, which in this Owl's opinion was HIDEOUS! What I hear is 3/4 of a functioning band bogged down by one very weak component in the system, namely bassist/singer Boz Burrell, whose vocal ability is rather dodgy at best and his bass skills rather rudimentary (he had NEVER played an instrument prior to coming onboard, Robert Fripp had to teach him by rote how to play). Instead of having a situation where the musicians challenge each other to greater heights, what winds up happening is that the musicians have to play down to that person's weaknesses. The end result, a muddled at times inept version of Crimson that had to resort to 2 or 3 chord jams to fill out things in addition to the composed pieces that Boz had just barely enough competence to play. Try as hard as they did, Fripp, Mel Collins and Ian Wallace just couldn't get the beast to wake up and roar to life. Collins and Fripp sound especially frustrated in their playing (Mel Collins skronking far more than usual). Boz's scat vocals are laughable at best, I actually would've welcomed a guest appearance by William Shatner on some of this just to make it halfway interesting.



Thankfully, this version of KC was short-lived and not long after, Fripp found the players for what would become the most loved version of KC (Wetton, Bruford, Muir, Cross).



Chalk it up to experience, never settle for less.

"

Complete chaos at its best, stupid scat singing at worst

the18yroldmusiccritic | Michigan | 09/19/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"King Crimson's "Earthbound" has a terrible reputation even within Crimheads (which I'm not). I think this album's been brought back from the grave which Robert Fripp consigned it to; the remastering that was done is damn near miraculous. This album had a dubious reputation as having one of the worst official live mixes on vinyl ever, so the sound, while definitely not perfect, is far, far better than the LP. So the band's benefited from this sound improvement. The band here is Robert Fripp on fuzzed-out, waywardly rockin' electric guitar, Mel Collins on careening, shrieking saxes and icy mellotron, Boz Burrell on oily, groove-oriented bass guitar and gritty, occasionally ridiculous vocals (though he's a better singer and bassist than he's usually given credit for), and Ian Wallace on incredibly layered drums and bass drum abuse (to get what I mean, listen to the samples). Hunter MacDonald should be given credit as soundman (not as engineer) and VCS3 synthesizer operator. The VCS3 is responsible for some very interesting moments on the CD, so MacDonald gets some good moments too.

This album's totally atypical within the Crimson catalog - two of the tracks, "Peoria" and "Earthbound", are live, rather funky blues jams that Fripp released as group compositions. The other three tracks are the perennial favorite "21st Century Schizoid Man", the awe-insipiring "The Sailor's Tale", and a very long, extended take on an old B-side called "Groon". All in all, it's a surprise from beginning to end - kind of like King Crimson's "Metallic K.O.". Proceedings blast into the stratosphere immediately with an absolutely brilliant version of "21st Century Schizoid Man" - it's so raw, so witless, yet so virtuosic, and so on the verge of atonal collapse that it truly illustrates the impossible balancing act that Crimson was as a live combo. Most still think they're better live than studio, which I think is true - this album kicks far more ass than "Islands" ever did. Fripp's chainsawing solo and Collins' reed torturing on "Schizoid Man" are truly worth hearing, and Burrell sounds like he's had a ping-pong ball shot through his larynx - I love it! Things immediately deteriorate, though, with "Peoria". Good instrumental playing from everyone here, but Burrell's vocal improvs (I won't deign to call them scats) are so stupid and banal that they nearly ruin the jam for me. I can laugh at him, though, most days of the week. Things pick back up to the same brilliant level with an astounding version of "The Sailor's Tale", with great bass from Burrell, astonishingly violent drumming from Wallace, and Fripp and Collins in startling form - Collins in particular sounds marvelous. It's faded on a Wallace drum solo, and then we get "Earthbound", which is better then "Peoria" because of some cracking funk drumming from Wallace, even if Boz plays a very, um, minimal bass line. "Groon" is a looonnnggg jam on an old B-side. It has "artistic self-indulgence" written all over it, but Collins, Fripp and Wallace sound pretty great (Wallace sounds so cool through the VCS3), and Burrell plays some more good bass. Hey, I think he's a quite good bassist myself, just not exactly as good as King Crimson would demand. And could you exactly blame him for not always sounding so great? He'd only learned how to play bass from Robert Fripp right before recording "Islands"! So, all in all, it's a great album. Get this and "Ladies of the Road" to hear this lineup of Crimson live - you may agree that they sound a lot better live than in the studio."

It's rough, live, down to earth, and deep...the King's did i

Eddie Lancekick | Pacific Northwest | 01/29/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Many critisize this album for it's sound quality. Well being in a digital age we can be rather cynical, but besides that, I own this on vinyl, original from it's release in 1972 and I think the slightly rough sound add's even more to the raw, powerful music that is known as KING CRIMSON!



"21st Century Schizoid man" clocks in at over 11 minutes long and has a powerful message yet reonating back-garage feel. This song alone live on this album, is one of the best thing's I've heard in terms of jazz, blues, and other elemements of music that make this "prog rock" gem worth a try! To give you a better idea of what this album is about, just look at the track listing below. All in all a great live "prog rock" album that is great for any fan of great guitar and instrumental technics, or just progressive rock in general.



"Peoria" (Boz Burrell, Mel Collins, Fripp, Ian Wallace) - 7:30

Recorded at the Barn, Peoria, USA, March 10, 1972



"Sailor's Tale (Fripp) - 4:45

Recorded at the Baseball Park, Jacksonville, USA, February 26, 1972



"Earthbound" (Burrell, Collins, Fripp, Wallace) - 7:08

Recorded at Kemp Coliseum, Orlando, USA, February 27, 1972



"Groon" (Fripp) - 15:30"