King Crimson had played 83 concerts in 1995 in support of the THRAK album, released in April of that year.
As had become the norm since the arrival of portable digital recording technology, all shows were routinely recorded from the mixing desk of sound man George Glossop, both as stereo front-of-house mixes onto DAT as well as the full multi-track feed onto a series of ADAT tapes. For a 6 piece band with two drummers that meant a lot of tape, and at the end of a tour these would eventually find their way back to DGM HQ to be placed into storage to await whatever future might present itself. That future arrived sooner for some of these as over the winter David Singleton began sifting through the recordings from the recent dates in October and November, from Japan and the USA, working with Robert to compile an album based upon the band’s improvisations that were a nightly part of the performance of the instrumental piece THRAK.
Over the years the band had become well known for its use of improvisation, both in concert and on record, but a whole album of improvisation was a new concept, but an idea that had been discussed by the band on the tour bus as well as amongst fans on internet forums such as Elephant Talk.
Robert noted: “The aim is to be true to the spirit of what an hour or so of THRaKKING might actually be like, were the audience to have the generosity and patience to support the leap, and the group the courage to take it.”
Early in January 1996 Bill Bruford came for a day at the studio to listen to the work in progress and give his approval to the drum mixes.
With the album completed and a release date set, Thrakattak was launched ahead of tour dates in Europe and USA.
The CD was rather extravagantly packaged for such a leftfield recording, the blueprint for the package having somehow been based upon Bjork’s Post album, even after DGM’s account manager Ian Rowe, at distributor Pinnacle, had advised that perhaps Bjork at the height of her pop success might not be a direct match for an all-instrumental King Crimson album. However artistic vision prevailed, and Thrakattak was ready for release in May, complete with booklet and poster.
Robert summed up the approach: “This album would have been quite impossible unless the group, through Discipline Global Mobile, were in the position to act on its wilder impulses; also impossible without our current management, which supports the group in what it hopes to achieve for itself. Any group, to be independent in its creative choices, must necessarily be independent of direction and control by both their record company and their management. Either way, the group pays for the choices it makes”.
A schematic for ‘The Crim Valet', a handy flight-cased device that Tony Levin had dreamed up, housing an espresso machine, room for 12 cups, 6 wine glasses and two bottles (contents unspecified), made up the centre pages of the booklet. Perhaps it brought some solace for Tony who, towards the end of the 1995 tour, had suffered a devastating fire that destroyed his barn including many of his cherished basses and amplifiers.
Making the best of a terrible situation, Tony wrote: “When I heard about the upcoming THRaK aTTaK cd from Crimson, I pondered, what very radical photo could I take to use for this package. The burnt instruments, of course! I tried projecting the band photo onto them - didn't work. Finally, in the Blizzard of '96, I layed them out in the snow, with the burnt barn behind them. Shot in b&w, hand tinted the result and painted in burning sky. Radical!”
In a continuation from the previous year, support on the tour came from The California Guitar Trio, delivering a 30 minute opening set of acoustic guitar instrumentals each night, except for the very last date of the tour in London. A travel scheduling mix up meant that they were unable to play and Robert stepped in to deliver an opening set of Soundscapes.
On the tour bus in Italy
The 1996 European tour was nearly twice as long as the brief visit they had made to the continent at the start of 1995. It also broke new ground, with the band playing for the first time in Eastern European countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia), that had formerly been behind the ‘iron curtain’ of the Soviet Union. Unsurprisingly the power of the music had penetrated this barrier and there were many Crimson fans eager to hear the band. There were also returns to cities such as Madrid and Rome that had not seen a Crimson concert since 1982.
Drawing heavily on material from THRAK and the 80s albums, with The Talking Drum, Larks’ II and Red from the 70s, there were a couple of surprises brought in to refresh the setlist in 1996. For the first time since New York's Central Park in 1974, 21st Century Schizoid Man was performed as part of a Crimson concert. And further delighting the fans The Sheltering Sky was added to the set. Another notable moment came from the last night at Shepherds Bush Empire, a spellbinding guitar improv of sustained notes from Adrian, Robert and Trey, a pre-echo of what was to come when the band began its ProjeKcts the following year.
All in all a great conclusion to the tour and with none other than Jeff Beck spotted backstage it was clear the band were doing something right.
When it came to compiling the boxed set for the Double Trio lineup in 2015 the tapes from 1996 were revisited.
Writing in the THRAK Boxed set, David Singleton had this to say: “Much as I tried to sidestep the inevitable, this was also obviously the time for a sequel to THRAKaTTAK - something Fripp and I have been discussing ever since the first album (although this time I found myself strangely alone during the long hours of editing, without those late-night red wine sessions on the lawn at Reddish House). The process of “composing with found sound” is fascinating. You identify fifty or sixty themes, drawn from as many concerts, internalize them (often with bizarre descriptive names) and then step back and watch the jigsaw puzzle assemble itself in front of you. This new one, assembled from the concerts in 1996, is both the same as THRAKaTTAK and entirely different, like any other sibling”.
Available for download, streaming or on CD The Thrakattak Tour
Download Thrakattak the album
photos by Tony Levin.
