A defining characteristic of the reincarnated King Crimson of 1972 - 1974 was its ability to collectively improvise in a manner that wasn’t dependent on a blues vamp or a single groove. Such was the band’s capacity for this approach it was often impossible to discern what was pre-composed and what was coming off the top of the musician’s heads.
This audience recording from the fourth date of the European leg of Crimso’s first tour without the recently departed Jamie Muir provides us with ample evidence of just how good the quartet was at this point.
Although the first improv is sadly incomplete it’s nevertheless a good example of the band in full aleatoric flight with Wetton trading jabs with Fripp, Fripp, and Cross passing the baton between them and leading the overall dynamic shape from the rear, Bill Bruford constantly moving the goalposts.
The second improv, being quieter in nature at the beginning, has a strangely beautiful elegiac David Cross introduction though unfortunately, it has some competition from talkative fans. However, the volume levels increase as the sparks fly and extraneous conversations disappear as the Mellotrons duet, with Fripp on the flute setting and Cross detuning the strings. As Wetton and Bruford lock into a groove Cross, now on violin, and Fripp on sustained guitar embark on an exquisite rhapsody.
