When I first heard the Starless and Bible Black album in 1992, well, I was one of the many persons who was deceived by the sound of the recording, thinking that.....ummm....... Actually I wasn't even thinking at all. I just UNTHINKINGLY assumed that it was like any other album in the catalog by the group that would have been recorded in a sound studio. How little did I know? How naive of me. It wasn't until a couple of years later that I read Eric Tamm's groundbreaking little "guidebook" (published in 1990 but read by me in 1993-1994), which revealed the truth about the way the tracks were recorded and assembled. Even those early diehard Crimheads in 1974 couldn't have known that the radio broadcast of the November 1973 Amsterdam concert which they were excitedly taping for later bootleg production/exploitation was in actuality the SAME SOURCE CONCERT from which the (at the time) latest KC album SABB took many of its most interesting tracks. Those tracks were never included in the broadcast. However, it wasn't until 1997, a few years later still, that I found out that one specific track, my favorite off that album, the eponymous title track,was actually "edited in 1974 due to the constraints of vinyl". When I read that little statement at the very bottom of the very last page of the booklet accompanying the CD for The Night Watch {1997} release, I said to myself, "Now self, I do believe that you have found your 'special purpose' in this life. And that is, FIND A RECORDING, SOMEWHERE, OF THAT ORIGINAL UNEDITED/EXTENDED IMPROV." It was like a message from the ancient gods being transmitted or beamed down to me, just to me and no one else. So, if that razorburned piece of missing magnetic tape just happens to fall into your lap one day in the near or not so near future, you know who to get ahold of.

Growing up in southern Delaware it's amazing the music I was able to be exposed to. In August '72, I went to see Yes at the Spectrum in Philly only to see a straight haired blonde on drums... Back in the day of no internet, how was I to know Bill Bruford had left Yes 2 weeks earlier! I was devastated. Heart of the Sunrise with Jon playing a tambourine instead of Bruford's outrageous high hat. Of course, Chris Squire did not disappoint! Less than 2 years later, driving my '64 Buick with 3 friends in tow, we headed to the Kennedy Centre to see the mighty King Crimson with one of the greatest line ups ever. There we were in the lobby with several folks in Tuxedos waiting for the Classical Concert in the other hall. Quite genteel and very nice actually. Steeleye Span opened and were great. Between bands my mates ran off to the restroom while I sat and watched the roadies roll out the riser that had Bill's set on it. I was already blown away. Needless to say the show was absolutely fantastic. The band was in their muscular glory and the hall was outstanding for sound. Bruford was spot on and the performance was followed by several live shows over the years.

Since sometime during the Spring of 1999, upon first hearing an echoey, somewhat muddied C+ audience cassette tape recording of this performance at the old Shrine Auditorium in South L. A. on 19/6/74 (when I was actually 3 days away from turning exactly half-a-year old!), I thought to myself, what a gorgeous, almost swaying, relaxed 6-minute improv called 'The Silver Walnut' spilling out of a high-pitched eardrum-splitting guitar shriek ending to 'Easy Money', now that DGM is releasing (gradually) an archive of 'blast from the past' recordings of performances, given that this particular location holds a position so near and dear to my heart, having lived out 30 years of a troubled young adulthood in a nearby suburb (and w/KC as a go-to stress reliever for all of those years), I thought to myself, it sure would be just heavenly, and nifty, and grand, and boss, radical, cool, da bomb, awesome, real swell, groooovy man, phat, sweet..... To officially release this with any sort of improvement to the sound. And do you know what? To this day, over 20 years later, I STILL continue to think to myself, it sure would be just heavenly, and nifty, and grand...... P. S. Esp. since an improved early-generation copy of the show 100% complete has emerged since then from the deep. I lost my digital-only copy in what can only be described as a totally self-produced completely destructive tragedy about 7 years ago, and have been hoping since then that DGM might.... just possibly..... Pretty please?

My word, the version of Starless here is astonishing! This on its own makes this a must-have.

This has the wistful feeling (and similar soundscape program) to the under-appreciated November Suite album. That one is so restful, I've probably never heard the last couple of tracks. The the thing that I can only describe as the "musical train going over points very gently" sound, that you also hear in this one, is utterly hypnotic.

The band is tight and on point the entire show. Even the songs that I usually skip from this era (Facts, Power, Happy), are played with fire! I am a fan of this four piece lineup. It gives Fripp and Belew plenty of shredding room. The guitars are high in this mix btw. Sweet........