An 8 disc (2Blu-Ray/2DVD/4CD) box set edition of Toby Amies' superb documentary In The Court Of The Crimson King - King Crimson at 50 including the full documentary film, an edit from an early version of the film, live and studio performances from the 50th anniversary tour, and an abundance of additional footage.
The music from the original soundtrack (and more) is spread over 4 CDs and features many previously unreleased and new to CD tracks.
Housed in a rigid slipcase, the 8 discs are beautifully packaged in mini-gatefold sleeves along with a 48-page booklet with notes from Toby Amies, King Crimson manager, music & film producer David Singleton, a statement from Robert Fripp and tour photos by Tony Levin and David Singleton plus still images from the film.
Film Audio: DTS-HD MA 5.1 24/48 (Blu-Ray), Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 24/48 (DVD). Audio for the film and all other selections plays in LPCM Stereo 24/48 on both formats.
Blu-Ray 2/DVD 2 include:
Tring: A one hour plus ‘Live in the Studio’ setting with King Crimson performing in the round. Presented in DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround & LPCM 24/48 Stereo with an audio only option on Blu-Ray & in Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 on the DVD.
Rock in Rio: Complete performance from the 2019 festival presented in 5.1 DTS-HD MA Surround on Blu-Ray & Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound on DVD, LPCM 24/48 Stereo on both formats, (24/96 Stereo on Blu-Ray)
Gentlemen of the Road – 38 minutes of backstage footage with the band & crew drawn from material not included in the main film.
“In the Court of the Crimson King is really about as good as rock documentaries get.” - Variety
“This elegant, intimate, funny and surprisingly moving film covers every aspect of the group — from its thorny interpersonal history to the almost religious loyalty it inspires in fans — and lays out exactly what makes Crimson such a singular and enduring musical force.” - Rolling Stone
Toby Amies’ film about one of rock music’s most enduring, but simultaneously elusive, bands provides a unique insight into the working process of a complex touring band, interspersed with contributions from previous band members to provide a contextual backdrop to the band’s past, as the most recent (2014-2021) line-up tours the world just before and during its 50th anniversary.
As King Crimson producer and band manager, David Singleton observed of the film: “All of life is here, not just music, and certainly not just rock. It has rightly been described as going beyond King Crimson into a ‘universal, inspirational study of what it is to work or dream to work as an artist’.”
While director Toby Amies writes of the experience: “In the Court of the Crimson King is not a film that wants to tell the audience what to think, rather it presents several different points of view about the creative process and what it means to be in this most unusual band; leaving the audience with a sense of both how complicated it all is, but also just how incredibly rewarding the King Crimson experience is both for the musicians and its fans.”
Robert Fripp announced that King Crimson had “moved from sound to silence” on social media after their final date in Japan in December 2021, making this release all the more poignant as a unique record of the band’s longest lasting line-up with tantalising glimpses of the band’s history.
King Crimson has been described as popular but never populist. Just as King Crimson has been, for more than half a century, an atypical rock band, this film is a refreshingly atypical music documentary.
BLU-RAY 1 and DVD 1
In The Court Of The Crimson King - King Crimson at 50 (A film by Toby Amies)
Excerpts From CosmiKc F*Kc - A 23 minutes edit from the early version of the film.
Starless - The Final Performance - Live at Bunkamura, Tokyo, December 8, 2021
Trailers and Additional Short Films
Schizophonia
Widows
Raindance
Official Trailer
BLU-RAY 2 and DVD 2
King Crimson - Tring: Live in the Studio
Radical Action Suite
The Letters
Sailorʼs Tale
Cadence and Cascade
Fracture
Starless
Discipline
King Crimson - Rock In Rio
Drumzilla
Neurotica
Red
The Court Of The Crimson King
Indiscipline
Epitaph
21st Century Schizoid Man
Gentlemen Of The Road
A 38 minutes short film: Backstage with King Crimson
CDs 1-4 (MUSIC FROM THE FILM SOUNDTRACK AND BEYOND)
CD1
1. Introductory Bellscape - Live 06-07/11/18 *
2. 21st Century Schizoid Man (edit) - mixed by Steven Wilson 2019
3. Moonchild (including cadenzas) - Live in Philadelphia, 23/09/19 **
4. Cat Food - from Cat Food EP Alt. mix by David Singleton
5. Lizard: i Prince Rupert Awakes Recorded at Wessex Studios, 1970, Keith Tippett piano
ii Bolero iii Dawn Song iv Last Skirmish v Prince Rupertʼs Lament - Live in Rome 23/07/18 * [exc I, prev. rel]
6. The Letters - Live in the studio, Tring, 2018 *
7. Sailorʼs Tale - Live in the studio, Tring, 2018 *
8. Easy Money - Live in Oakland 05/09/19 **
9. Larksʼ Tongues In Aspic Part Two (Fripp) - Alt. mix by Steven Wilson 2012
CD2
1. Fracture - Live in the studio, Tring, 2018 *
2. Fallen Angel - 2009 remaster by Robert Fripp & Simon Heyworth
3. Discipline - Live in the studio, Tring, 2018 *
4. Cadence And Cascade - Live in the studio, Tring, 2018 *
5. The ConstruKction Of Light - Live In Nijmegen, 22/06/19 **
6. Peace - Live in Vienna 01/12/16
7. Matte Kudasai (alt. intro) Recorded at Island Studios, 1981
8. The Mincer - Live in Zurich, 1973, completed at Air Studios, 1974
9. A Scarcity Of Miracles - Live in Japan 2015
10. Radical Action Suite - Live in the studio, Tring, 2018 *
Radical Action I / Meltdown / Radical Action II / Level Five
11. Peace A Theme - mixed by Steven Wilson 2022 *
CD3
1. Drumzilla - Live in Los Angeles 06/08/21 *
2. Waiting Man - Live in Frejus 27/08/82
3. Seizure - Live in San Francisco, 01/11/98
4. The Talking Drum - Alt. mix by Steven Wilson 2012
5. Indiscipline - Live in Del Ray Beach 23/07/21 **
6. Exposure - Mixed by Steven Wilson 2021
7. VROOOM - Live in Toronto 20/11/15
8. Coda: Marine 475 -Live in London 01/07/96
9. Darts - 2022 remaster by Marian Hafenstein at Possible Studios, Berlin **
10. Requiem (Extended version) - mixed by Steven Wilson 2013
CD4
1. Walk On: Rio - Live in Rio de Janeiro 06/10/19 *
2. Larksʼ Tongues In Aspic Part One - Live in Stuttgart 16/06/19 ***
3. Breathless - Live in Poland 2018
4. One More Red Nightmare - Live in Sandy 03/08/21 ***
5. Epitaph - Live in Rio de Janeiro 06/10/20 *
6. Frame By Frame - Live in Nashville 27/09/19 ***
7. Pictures Of A City - Live in Osaka 02/12/21 ***
8. Red - Live in St. Augustine 24/07/21 ***
9. The Court Of The Crimson King - Live in Rio de Janeiro 06/10/21 *
10. Starless - Live in Tokyo 08/12/21 *
Key to OST: * = Previously unreleased, ** Previously Available via download at DGM Live/Cassette only release, *** Previously available in a different mix/master at DGM Live. All asterisked material new to CD.
