From cautious beginnings Improv II quickly expands into lolloping beast of a track providing what is arguably the best set-up to Exiles to date.[endtease] As Cross and Wetton hurl fuzzed lines across the stage over one of Bruford’s slow-burning jazz vamps, Fripp introduces one sustained note that lasts somewhere in the region of 37 seconds. An object lesson in making a little go a long way. Looking back on this little hummer of a gig, lyricist Richard Palmer-James offers this observation “What had seemed robust in the music the night before (at Mainz) now became threatening . . . the unsettling power of the performance comes through. In the dressing room afterwards, John sprawled naked on a bench, looking like he'd been shipwrecked; he didn't really recover before he went to bed. Even Robert had a few beers later in the pub. There was a quiet euphoria in the air, as if they'd survived a potentially lethal accident.”
TRACK
TIME
01
The Great Deceiver
03:55
02
Improv I
03:20
03
Doctor Diamond
05:24
04
Improv II
06:53
05
Exiles
07:17
06
The Night Watch
04:54
07
Lament
04:16
08
Starless
12:12
09
Easy Money
06:42
10
Fracture*
03:02
Written by Allon Kesselman
Great Lineup at Their Peak
This is the first show I purchased/downloaded from the DGM Live site, and it turned out to be an excellent choice. This lineup had been touring for several years and were at their absolute peak by the time the German tour of 1974 occurred. The versions of Easy Money and Starless may be the best I have heard, and there is really not a wasted moment to be heard. This great sounding recording is one of the most essential King Crimson performances of any era.
Written by Tom Brantseg
Powerful
I’ve had this one for a while and listened to it a fair bit, but I never got around to writing a review. The Great Deceiver - I love this piece, and the punchy, bottom-heavy mix makes it really shine. Great way to start off the concert with a bang. Improv I - Pretty dark and unsettling. This is definitely one of the “atmosphere” improvs, with guitar, bass, and electric piano trading some out-of-time riffs over drum rolls. I swear Wetton very briefly quotes a bit of the opening of th...
Written by Jeff Oaster
The band was simply on fire...
It’s really great that we have access to a bunch of the shows from this German tour. There is so much to like, and the band was scorching for this stretch of shows. The improvs, which tended to be less of a full piece and more of extended intros, are really terrific. The lead-in to Doctor Diamond is downright menacing, and the longer pre-Exiles piece is one of the finer intros to Exiles - I have a soft spot for the Pittsburgh one the following month - but this one is right up there. Starless i...
Written by James Clark
My favourite Crimson bootleg
The hottest show from the hottest leg of the ’74 tour, and I’ve heard every available bootleg from this era. This is the one you need to buy. Bruford’s funkiest and most authoritative performance ever. Wetton’s heaviest, most daring basswork...and his vocals sound unhinged, soulful, ferocious. Sometimes he screams the lyrics. This set features what is, in my opinion, THE definitive version of Easy Money (the middle section building up to the final verse is UNREAL, my friends). Also the...
DISCOVER THE DGM HISTORY
.

1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
.