Live at Jacksonville, 1972

AMG Review of Live at Jacksonville, 1972

Lindsay Planer
All Music Guide

This volume available through the Discipline Global Mobile Collectors' Club is derived from the same cache of early 1972 U.S. performances as King Crimson's first semi-official live album Earthbound. This status is due to initial distribution by Island Records in Europe only. Atlantic Records declined to release Earthbound stateside, citing inferior sound quality. Despite the raw nature of the surviving recordings of this tour -- which were captured on an early consumer cassette deck -- the frenetic essence of this band is accurately represented. Live at Jacksonville 1972 examines King Crimson on the road supporting the album Islands. This incarnation of King Crimson is arguably more musically aggressive, as well as exceedingly more jazz-oriented, than previous versions. At the height of the improvisational wailing -- as heard on "Sailor's Tale" and "21st Century Schizoid Man" -- the various distortions, anomalies, and other sonic abrasions virtually melt behind the overwhelmingly cohesive music. However, the brilliantly executed free jazz leanings aren't the only reason this tour recording is favored among Crimson enthusiasts. Another is the significant inclusion of rarely performed tracks such as "Cirkus" and "Formentera Lady" -- the latter being especially effective with Mel Collins alternating flute runs and sax solos against the double-barreled polyrhythms of percusionist Ian Wallace and bassist Boz Burrell. This performance replicates the Islands running order and neatly dovetails into an especially potent and loose "Sailor's Tale," featuring a smoldering percussion solo from Wallace. The 24-page liner notes booklet includes Fripp's "Notes From the Guitar Stool" essay, rare photographs of the band in performance, as well as entries into Fripp's Discipline Global Mobile diary -- recounting the day-to-day methods and thought processes used to create the DGM Collectors' Club. Live in Jacksonville 1972 is available exclusively through DGM, as are all club releases. Complete information on the club is available online at http://www.disciplineglobalmobile.com/club/outline.shtml.