Lark's Tongues in Aspic

This is a review of the Fifteen (15) Disc 40th Anniversary Box.First, a few notes about the album proper (if you are familiar with the album, by all means, skip ahead). Larks' Tongues In Aspic, King Crimson's fifth studio album (released nearly forty years ago, in 1973), is the first of three studio albums featuring what many -- including this reviewer -- consider to be Crimson's finest line-up of musicians, the mid-1970s trio of founding member Robert Fripp (guitars and mellotron), John Wetton (vocals [Crimson's best vocalist other than Greg Lake] and bass) and Bill Bruford (drums [fresh off recording Yes' Fragile and Close To The Edge]). Joining them as Crimson members on this album are David Cross (violin and flute [Cross also appeared as a guest on Red]) and Jamie Muir (percussion and "all sorts" [of sounds]). This quintet only performed together for one tour and this one album. Other than possibly Crimson's incredible debut album, and arguably Red and Discipline, Larks' Tongues may well be Crimson's best effort, and is one of the most outstanding, and certainly one of the most unique, of the so-called "progressive rock" albums of the 1970s. If I could listen to only one Crimson album - this would be it. This is not, however, music for the faint of heart. It is an amalgam of hard rock, folk, classical and more than all of the foregoing, free form jazz. In fact, listening to the improvisations featured on this set reminded me of the Mahavishnu Orchestra (although as virtuosic as the playing is here, it is a notch below the Mahavishnu band).The album is bookended by the two parts of "Larks' Tongues In Aspic" (really two different songs), instrumental exercises which contain some terrific playing, and, with Part I, move from quiet passages to a musical assault that makes Black Sabbath seem tame. (Warning to those playing the album for the first time or who, as I did, simply turn the volume up too high; do not play the quiet intro on "Larks' Tongues In Aspic Pt. I" too loud - the drums and guitar assault that follows will hit your speakers and you like a freight train, like that old Maxell cassette tape ad). In between the two title tracks lie two beautiful ballads, "Book of Saturday" and "Exiles" (one of Crimson best songs), each of which features John Wetton's smooth vocals and Robert Fripp's creative guitar leads (using tape loops). "Exiles" also features Bill Bruford's signature drum tone and David Cross' beautiful violin parts. "Easy Money," which contains some terrific vocals, follows, and features a ferocious Fripp guitar workout, and "The Talking Drum," an instrumental which starts quietly and slowly increases in volume, concludes with some terrific guitar tone from Fripp (foreshadowing the tone of his lead on "Providence," on Red), never seems to really takes off, but does lead, rather dramatically, to "Larks Tongues In Aspic Pt. II," one of Crimson's signature songs, which in itself closes out the album in dramatic fashion.Now, on to this supposedly limited [to 7,000 copies; we'll see if that actually holds true] edition, fifteen disc (13 CDs, 1 DVD-A and 1 Blu-ray DVD) 40th anniversary issue of the album, which purportedly contains every single "known" recorded note of the LTIA quintet.This lavish package is housed in a very attractive sort of laminated hard box, slightly larger than an LP, featuring the striking original UK album cover (the US release did not have the red border, and is depicted as the cover of the booklet contained in this package). Inside are five tri-fold CD packages, each housing three CDs. For this kind of money, digipak holders would have been preferable to make handling of the CDs easier. The package also contains non-essential but nice memorabilia, including the aforesaid large booklet containing an interview with Robert Fripp and other prose and pictures, an album sized print of the UK album cover, postcard sized pictures of the band members, a facsimile ticket stub and copies of promotional material. (The materials permit one to download some additional live material that is purportedly of very poor sound quality - given the sound quality of some of the live material included here I have not bothered).What about the musical and video content?The discs are organized chronologically, so that if you listen to them in sequence, you can appreciate the development of the material. The first nine CDs contain recordings taken from Crimson's fall 1972 tour of Germany and the UK, at which the Larks' Tongues material was premiered, prior to the recording of the album in early 1973, performed in the same sequence as the songs on the album (much like the Dead perfected the material on Live Dead). The live performances include some pretty intense jams in between each of the songs. Seven of these nine CDs are remastered audience bootlegs, and the sound quality ranges from nearly unlistenable to just plain poor. The other two CDs are soundboard cassette recordings which have somewhat better, but certainly not audiophile, sound quality. Much of the material on these discs has already been released, either as CDs or as downloads, through Crimson's website. In spite of the extremely limited sonics, amongst the noise on these CDs are some terrific musical performances that showcase the virtuosity of this group of musicians (including some truly terrific guitar playing from Fripp, lovely violin playing from Cross, powerful bass from Wetton and drumming from Bruford and "all sorts" of sounds from Mr. Muir). Fans of Crimson and of this particular album will appreciate hearing these performances and having them collected together in a set. Whether the seven CDs of poorly recorded audience bootlegs will be listened to more than just once, well that will depend on the listener. The two soundboard cassette recordings are more likely candidates for repeated listening.The sound quality dramatically improves once we get to disc 10, called "Keep That One, Nick," which contains one 70 plus minute track of the band laying down the album tracks in the studio, and includes some terrific material in excellent sound.Disc 11 contains the 30th anniversary re-master of the original album mix, which, after listening through all of the bootlegs, sounds pretty damn good. Most Crimson fans likely already own this re-master which was released in 2004. This disc does add some bonus material, however, a U.S. radio advert for the album, and the content of a U.S. promotional EP, containing edits of "Easy Money," "Exiles," and the complete "Larks Tongues In Aspic Pt II." The bonus material will likely be listened to just once.Disc 12 is the DVD that will also come in the standard CD + DVD 40th Anniversary release (which as of this writing, has not yet been officially released in the U.S.). This disc features Steven Wilson's 2012 5.1 surround sound re-mix of the album (the 5.1 re-mix has been the feature of each of Crimson's 40th Anniversary releases). This reviewer, however, does not own a 5.1 surround system or a DVD-A player (required for the audio tracks), so I will focus on the video content only (in mono sound). The video, which is not up to today's standards of quality, is taken from a studio performance in a Bremen, Germany, and appears to be created for television broadcast (the last track is in fact a television broadcast). Some of the video is edited so that the screen presents montages of different performers. A great deal of video focuses is on Jamie Muir, whose contribution consists mostly of adding sounds, but who is very animated. As unusual as Muir is, it is nice to see the performances of rest of the band, most of whom must have been in their twenties at the time. The material included is a lengthy improv, a shortened version of "Exiles" and two shortened performances of "Larks' Tongues In Aspic Part I." For a set like this, I would have liked a better quality video containing more material. This, apparently, was all that was available.Disc 13 contains alternative versions and/or re-mixes (mostly by Steven Wilson) of the album's songs, sequenced in the same order as the album. This disc, in excellent sound quality, is a really nice addition to the set, and although certainly not essential, it does contain some excellent tracks. The alternative take of "Book of Saturday" features just Wetton's vocals and Fripp's backing guitar; the excellent remix of "Exiles" presents an instrumental featuring a heavy emphasis on mellotron and acoustic guitar (until the lead guitar comes in, this sounds like it could have been an outtake from one of the first two Crimson albums) and there are two versions of "Easy Money," one of which is just Jamie Muir making sounds and the other a most worthwhile alternate take featuring, as does the original, a Fripp guitar workout.Disc 14 contains Steven Wilson's 2012 stereo re-mix/re-master of the original album. It is phenomenal. The album just sings. The re-mix maintains, and even enhances, all of the terrific dynamics that made this album so special, contrary to all of the re-mastered CDs that are simply just louder. The detailing, the imaging, the clarity are all fantastic. You will hear music that was either buried in the mix or not included before. In short, this is one of the best re-mixes/re-masters of a classic album that you are likely to hear. For anyone who loves this album, this one disk -- in whatever set you obtain it in -- is a must buy. Like Disc 12, this disc (perhaps with some other bonus material from this set) will also be included in the standard CD + DVD release.Disc 15 is a blu-ray DVD, which contains a boatload of material: the video content featured on the DVD-A, in slightly better quality; numerous versions of the album [the featured 2012 5.1 surround sound remix, the awesome 2012 stereo re-mix (also on CD 14), and the 30th Anniversary re-master (also on CD 11) (each of which also appear on the DVD-A), as well as the original UK vinyl transfer and the original US vinyl transfer]; the session reels from CD 10, and the alternate takes and re-mixes from CD 13. Additionally, on the blu-ray, as on the DVD-A, one can also listen to some or all of the audio material in several different audio formats. Although I do own a blu-ray player -- which because of its HD video capabilities is a more popular format than DVD-A --I have not yet listened to much of the audio on the blu-ray disc, as the CD re-mastering -- of the studio material -- is quite fine. The blu-ray disc is only available in this box set, and for those with a 5.1 surround sound system and a blu-ray player -- but not a DVD-A player -- this is a significant bonus to purchasing the box set, as the 5.1 mix can be enjoyed without purchasing another piece of hardware (Steven Wilson's 5.1 mixes have received rave reviews).So, is the box set worth it? If you are a serious fan of Crimson's music, and of this album in particular, and you have the dough, perhaps, as this is undoubtedly a really nice collection. If you have a 5.1 system, a blu-ray player, but not the capability to play DVD-A discs, the blu-ray disc adds value to this set. This is a collector's box, however, and most of these discs (many of which are bootlegs of poor sound quality) will not get much playing time. For anyone else, the soon to be released CD + DVD set will serve just fine, and will present one of "progressive" rock's best and most unique albums that - even without a 5.1 system -- can be enjoyed in absolutely stellar sound. For now at least, the 2012 re-mix/re-master is the "definitive edition."© 2012 D.A. Rich

You can't go back, but it's all here.Crimson at their best...Dig it!!!

Gracias

I wanted to love this set. The music is uniformly great. The Blu Ray Disc (and corresponding DVDs/CDs) of studio sessions are impeccable in every respect (performances, audio quality). The set is physically gorgeous. The accompanying book of photos and liner notes is interesting and engaging.But --- and this is a big "but" -- The set of live CDs derived from bootleg recordings are so poorly recorded that are painful. It is a shame, the playing is fabulous, but the sound is misery.What you get in this box are nine compact discs of bootleg audience recordings with great playing but such bad recordings that only the most dedicated will listen to them even once.Then there are four CDs of various studio recordings (the album, outtakes, alternative versions), two DVD-A discs with the same content as the CDs plus the album remastered beautifully in 5.1 surround, and a video, live in the studio, and a Blu Ray disc with all of the studio recordings and the video, in high resolution sound, exquisitely mastered.So, if you think of this as an expanded version of the 40th Anniversary CD/DVD, and don't mind the price, it is a winner. But if you are expecting nine CDs of concerts, think twice before buying. Maybe find some samples to listen to first. This set is not like Starless or Road to Red. The concerts here are uniformly bad, painful recordings. One other person posted an honest review warning about this issue, I should have paid attention. I'm posting this for emphasis because there seem to be many reviews that either the posters didn't actually listen to the CDs or they are infatuated with Crimson to the point of overlooking the flaws.Just be aware that what you are getting is basically a single Blu Ray (and DVD-A, CDs with the same content) of studio recordings with an interesting book and some memorabilia, plus a bunch of bootlegs that you may never listen to, depending on your tolerance for distortion. Unless you have money to burn, the 40th Anniversary Larks Tongue plus Starless and Road to Red is probably a better choice.

The massive Lark's Tongues in Aspic box set is one of the greatest and most expansive ever. I would have to guess that it is the single largest box sets ever devoted to basically one album.Although you (believe it or not) will need other releases to complete this listening period in the history of King Crimson , this will get you well on your way.What you have here is a chronological presentation of several concerts that pre-dated the release of the studio version of this release. King Crimson would hone songs in concert prior to recording them in the studio , thus perfecting the songs prior to actually releasing them.One would logically think that hearing so many versions of the same song would be tiresome , but this is simply not the case. Each song shows natural growth and development throughout each performance culminating in the studio release. After hearing many , many versions of David Cross on violin , sadly the studio version contained only portions of him with the band , as he had departed. However , Robert Fripp plays many of his parts on guitar , which presents an entirely different listening experience .Although many of these recordings are of bootleg quality , non are all that bad. Even the "secret download" included in the box (Check the back of the ticket stub) is great to hear.The remastered , remixed version by Porcupine Tree genius Steve Wilson is simply breathtaking.A close second in my opinion for the best Crimson album (with the debut being first) , this IS the treatment to get of this monumental recording.Don't be put off by the price tag , it is worth every $$$.

O produto foi muito bem embalado, devidamente protegido, e chegou em tempo hábil.Quanto ao disco, trata-se um dos melhores trabalhos do King Crimson.Muito satisfeito com a compra.

I love this album and I was looking for a new pressing to enjoy again. This one is remastered with Robert Fripp's blessing, but I was out of luck.I had ordered a version which included a download code, great to get a digital copy of the original pressing.Disappointingly the copy I received had seams split, top and bottom.I returned it and was sent a replacement. However, I received a version which had no download code so again I returned it. I thought I'd leave it at that. mm My attempted Larks' Tongues In Aspic purchase seems to be cursed.

REVIEW FOR THE VINYLI was very excited to get this vinyl, but straight away I noticed the cover was bent and the actual record itself is warped massively and has marks and scratches all over it! I’ve never seen a record in worse condition than this even though it’s a new print! When played it has this annoying surface noise over the songs. In actual awe at how bad the press is, DO NOT BUY THE VINYL RECORD!

Among their best work,The Wetton-Bruford-Fripp era of KC is easily my favourite, this album having the wonderful David Cross on violin definitely added a lot.All songs are amazing, especially LTIA Pt.2

My fave Crimson album.