"Totally amazing band" says a happy punter at the very end of this audience recording. Another lovely find from the recesses of the DGM archive thanks to Mister Stormy. Although not pristine audio quality this eminently listenable and previously unavailable recording captures the full Crimson set of the day. The band are on strikingly good form with Fripp’s solo on the opening sections of Sailor’s Tale being especially adventurous. There’s a wonderful reading of The Letters with a splenetic middle-section improv with furious guitar bursts and grumbling baritone sax. Ending with Boz’s voice shimmering in the same VCS3-enhanced halo that Sinfield applied to Mel’s flute at the start, Fripp has at last given up appending the track with his sickly-sweet guitar coda which often punctured the atmosphere on other live outings. Collins is on searing form as Groon builds up nice and slow, barking and roaring one minute and turning out sweetly flowing melodic lines the next; a phenomenal improviser who in some respects the band struggle to keep up with. Ian Wallace’s drum solo is beautifully constructed, again building nicely into the VCS3-processed section, though Fripp’s unaccompanied coda struggles to find any real subtance, eventually breaking down into a humourous interplay that’s greatly appreciated by the punters. After the levity of Groon, a fierce reading of Schizoid Man ups the ante with a fluidly twisting laser-beam guitar solo that’s often reminiscent of the original recording. Good fun is had ahead of The Devil’s Triangle with Fripp quoting Sleepy Lagoon better known as the theme music to the BBC’s long-running radio series Desert Island Discs hence Fripp’s quip “It’s really great to be on your show, Roy” referencing its host and creator, Roy Plomley. All in all, a great show at the Greyhound!
