“Hello Again New York City” says Belew at the end of a barn-storming rendition of Thela. “I gotta tell you for a skinny boy from Illinois this is quite a thrill”. King Crimson are playing their second gig of the evening and considering the levels of energy displayed in the first house you have to wonder if they are up to the task? Well, writing on ET some years after the event Charles Jowett had no doubts. “I saw the second performance on a saturday night...It was the first time I had ever seen Mr. Fripp, or King Crimson, in concert. At the time I didn't even own any KC records, although I did have a copy of Exposure. I was completely blown away by the concert.I still consider it to be the most amazing concert that I have seen. Partly because I knew absolutely none of the material, and yet was totaly over powered by it. Adrian Belew was a maniac, bending the neck of his finger-painted stratocaster and blasting out those wild wammy-bar riffs that he favored in the early 80's...And Fripp was equally impressive, writhing around on his stool and even standing once or twice?.His solos especially amazing during The Sheltering Sky.”
DGMLive would like to give a special thanks to John Bella for his assistance with the Savoy downloads.
“Hello Again New York City” says Belew at the end of a barn-storming rendition of Thela. “I gotta tell you for a skinny boy from Illinois this is quite a thrill”. King Crimson are playing their second gig of the evening and considering the levels of energy displayed in the first house you have to wonder if they are up to the task? Well, writing on...
Unfortunately, the sound quality on this is a little worse than on the first show of that day (more hiss, louder audience, hence the 4-star rating; the sound gets better after the first half of "Discipline").
Otherwise, like the other three New York gigs of 5th and 6th November 1981, this is a superb concert.
I was originally looking for "out of this world" shows occasionally referred to by Robert Fripp in his diaries/interviews at the time. The four New York shows must be the same shows tha...
Unfortunately, the sound quality on this is a little worse than on the first show of that day (more hiss, louder audience, hence the 4-star rating; the sound gets better after the first half of "Discipline").
Otherwise, like the other three New York gigs of 5th and 6th November 1981, this is a superb concert.
I was originally looking for "out of this world" shows occasionally referred to by Robert Fripp in his diaries/interviews at the time. The four New York shows must be the same shows that in a 1982 interview with John McLaughlin Fripp referred to as "... two shows for two nights, one after the other and all of them were out of this world." (originally transcribed for Elephant Talk and recently republished on https://www.dgmlive.com/news/Fripp%20interviews%20McLaughlin) ...
Like the other NY gigs, this has plenty of extra inspired guitar and it feels like the band are plaing at a faster pace than during other gigs.
My highlights: "Discipline" starts out musically tight and fresh-sounding. "Thela Hun Ginjeet" features a ferocious Belew. "The Sheltering Sky" has some great and inspired playing. "Neal and Jack and Me" has some uneven-sounding bits but is very good. "Frame by Frame" once again features nice deviations from the interlocking guitar patterns, very energetic. "Manhattan" is very powerful. "Elephant Talk" grooves energetically along with the guitarists having lots of fun. There is a lovely "Sartori" starting out with some 2 minutes of improvised intro.
Written by Frank Hadlich
Top, peak, climax...
Whatever the right expression might be - for me this concert is the best of KC 81-84 recorded history.
Written by Emanuel Maris
Re: My previous comments..
..are describing the two shows from the first night, November 5th. I should add that on the two performances (on this 2nd night) of Elephant Talk, BB missed the fact that during RF’s solo between words C and words D, the others all came to a rest stop of momentary silence that BB failed to sense [even though the indication was there the previous night that this was where it was headed in evolution], drumming through it and turning red-faced while the others grinned at him! But he got it right ...
..are describing the two shows from the first night, November 5th. I should add that on the two performances (on this 2nd night) of Elephant Talk, BB missed the fact that during RF’s solo between words C and words D, the others all came to a rest stop of momentary silence that BB failed to sense [even though the indication was there the previous night that this was where it was headed in evolution], drumming through it and turning red-faced while the others grinned at him! But he got it right for the late set, with a smile of triumph.
Written by Emanuel Maris
All SIX shows!
Yes, I was at ALL six NYC ’81 shows, including both early and late shows on the first night of the three, which begs the question: If this is the first set, why not come out and label it ’First House’? Or ’Second House’ if that’s what it is? Even though the recording of other show this night has still not come to light, DGM, please do identify which set this is. Individually, and taken together, theses were perhaps the most defining musical experiences of my life [the 1974 Central Pa...
Yes, I was at ALL six NYC ’81 shows, including both early and late shows on the first night of the three, which begs the question: If this is the first set, why not come out and label it ’First House’? Or ’Second House’ if that’s what it is? Even though the recording of other show this night has still not come to light, DGM, please do identify which set this is. Individually, and taken together, theses were perhaps the most defining musical experiences of my life [the 1974 Central Park show was another such live experience for me]. The first set this night was so unbelievable, I was depressed - I thought they must have cheated with tapes in the background. Then the second set that night I stood front center stage, watching every last note be the result of the work of the hands present - my jaw had to be picked up off the floor - by others. I was tearing with joy!Rather than puttering around further trying to ape literacy through a display of verbosity, I’ll simply say: EPIPHANICALLY INDESCRIBABLE! Do not hesitate to purchase these downloads!
