KING CRIMSON - Night Watch (Live 1973)

King Crimson - Night Watch (Live 1973) (@256)
(Review from progarchives.com)

Never mind the studio stuff: Crimson was and always will be at their best on stage, and this 2-disc live set from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw vividly captures what many fans consider to be the band’s best line up at their creative peak, in late 1973.

Hearing the show in its (more or less) uninterrupted entirety, and with a reconstructed sound that shames most contemporary live recordings, is nothing less than a revelation. this one performance belatedly sums up all the awesome power and ingenuity of the Bruford-Wetton-Cross-Fripp configuration.

Every song is dramatically superior to its studio counterpart, from the first sudden downbeat of "Easy Money" to the final crescendo of "Larks Tongues in Aspic Part II". Listen to the band working its way through the spiral groove of "The Talking Drum", gradually shifting gears upward into overdrive with near telepathic precision. Or breaking into a funky mock-rock ‘n’ roll stomp during the acerbic "Lament", with Fripp soloing all over the auditorium (unlike his tame sustained fuzz on the later album version). Or sidestepping an unexpected technical glitch with textbook grace under pressure, after David Cross’ mellotron audibly short circuits mid-way into the second verse of the title track. A quick thinking shift to electric piano alters the entire chemistry of the song, for the better in my opinion: adding a touch of delicacy sometimes lacking in the faux-string arrangements.

However, it’s the group improvisations that have always defined the various Crimson Kings, and on this night the band was certainly firing on all cylinders, despite the claims of chronic tour burnout. You can perhaps hear their fatigue in the way each of the three improvs begins from a point of zero energy and absolute silence. But the act of spontaneous music making must have had a galvanizing effect, judging by how each one develops.

"Trio" is an oasis of calm in the often discordant sea of classic Crimson noise and fury. "Starless and Bible Black" gradually builds into a mind-frying jam of epic proportions, propelled by the Wetton-Bruford rhythm section at full steam. And in "The Fright Watch", meant as little more than a prelude to "The Talking Drum", John Wetton coaxes sounds from his bass guitar that need to be heard to be believed, reminding me of a slumbering subterranean dinosaur slowly emerging from some ancient primordial swamp.

The first two improvisations were both featured on the "Starless and Bible Black" album, but hearing each of them in the context of a complete show puts the music in an entirely fresh perspective.

It is, pure and simple, beyond criticism, and the next best thing to having been there in Amsterdam on that late November night.

Line-up :
- Robert Fripp / guitar, mellotron
- Bill Bruford / drums
- David Cross / violin, mellotron
- John Wetton / bass, vocals

Track List :
CD1
01. Easy Money 6:15
02. Lament 4:14
03. Book Of Saturday 4:08
04. Fracture 11:28
05. The Night Watch 5:27
06. Improv- Starless And Bible Black 9:13
CD2
01. Improv- Trio 6:09
02. Exiles 6:37
03. Improv- The Fright Watch 6:03
04. The Talking Drum 6:34
05. Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part II) 7:51
06. 21st Century Schizoid Man 10:38
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