CD/DVD Releases: King Crimson Take "Radical Action"

King Crimson have two new releases out this late Summer into Fall, starting with the multi-disc set Radical Action To Unseat The Hold Of Monkey Mind which came out on September 2 from DGM Live and available from DGM Mail Order USA (operated by Inner Knot) or DGM Mail Order Europe (operated by Burning Shed) (you can also get it from The Laser's Edge). This live box set features performances from their 2015 tours of the UK, Canada and Japan and comes in a 3CD/1 Blu-ray version and in a 3CD/2DVD/1 Blu-ray limited edition version.

"Radical Action features every song and piece performed by Pat Mastelotto, Bill Rieflin, Gavin Harrison, Mel Collins, Tony Levin, Jakko Jakszyk and Robert Fripp and as Fripp commented [in June...] while supervising mixing, 'This is King Crimson… re-imagined.'"

Here are the details of the deluxe 3CD/2DVD/1BR limited edition:

"CDs presented as individually themed 'virtual studio albums' with no audible audience & mixed for audio presentation

"One Blu-Ray featuring a complete set-list drawn from Japanese concert performances - almost 3 hours of music - in high-resolution stereo & 5.1 surround audio complete with 'picture off' mode allowing the music to be heard independently in pristine, lossless audio. (24/48khz as per original recordings)

"Two DVDs featuring the full concert performances in stereo & 5.1 surround sound.

"Expanded, perfect bound, booklet: 36 pages with additional tour photos.

"Six disc set presented in two triple digi-packs with booklet housed in an outer slipcase.

"Audio/Video performances include:

Threshold Soundscape
Larks’ Tongues in Aspic Part One
Pictures Of A City
Peace
Radical Action (To Unseat The Hold of Monkey Mind)
Meltdown
Radical Action II
Level Five
Epitaph
The Hell Hounds Of Krim
The ConstruKction Of Light
Scarcity Of Miracles
Red
VROOOM
Banshee Legs Bell Hassle
Easy Money
Interlude
The Letters
Sailor’s Tale
The Light Of Day
The Talking Drum
Larks’ Tongues In Aspic Part Two
Starless
Devil Dogs Of Tessellation Row
In The Court Of The Crimson King
21st Century Schizoid Man
Suitable Grounds For The Blues
One More Red Nightmare

"All copies come with a postcard featuring Francesca Sundsten’s striking cover artwork.

More from the press release/info from KC's website:

"It has been stated many times that King Crimson is not so much a band as it is 'a way of doing things.' Less frequently stated but equally true, is the fact that the band inevitably seeks different ways of doing things. The current incarnation of the band, 2014 - the present day, has already released two taster sets in the form of 2015’s Live At The Orpheum mini-album and the vinyl picture disc EP that accompanied the 2015 tours of Canada and Japan, while the full raw concert performance from a single night in Toronto in 2015 was presented as a 2CD set earlier this year to great acclaim.

"Now, with the release of Radical Action comes the most fully realised audio and visual statement from this band to date, running to three themed CDs and a Blu-Ray disc offering the filmed content along with an audio only option in lossless high resolution stereo and surround sound.

"The set includes at least one performance of every song/piece of music played by King Crimson in 2015, some pieces originally composed in 1969 the year of the band’s inception, others composed/initially performed at a variety of points since, some new to the tour, all arranged for this specific line-up. Indeed it is characteristic of this King Crimson - in direct contrast to all other post 1970s line-ups - to feature a broad range of material from the 1969 - 1974 era, performed in such a manner as to maintain much of what made the music so arresting when first issued, while arranged for fresh interpretation by the seven piece line-up of today. As Fripp put it (when asked what the title of the album meant to him): 'What I like about this band is, that what it is actually doing is not what it appears to be doing...'. The idea of King Crimson re-imagined, that the music as presented is new, irrespective of when originally composed, is the key element in this band’s makeup.

"The set will be released to coincide with King Crimson’s most extensive European tour since 1974, with performances slated to include, for the first time ever, material from all seven of King Crimson’s 1969 – 1974 iconic studio albums and with limited availability via mail order and concert venues."

Let's pause here to give you the tour itinerary:

Sep. 09, 2016 -- Stuttgart -- Beethoven-Saal
Sep. 11, 2016 -- Berlin -- Admiralpalast
Sep. 12, 2016 -- Berlin -- Admiralpalast
Sep. 14, 2016 -- Prague -- Forum Karlin
Sep. 15, 2016 -- Prague -- Forum Karlin
Sep. 17, 2016 -- Zabrze -- House of Music & Dance
Sep. 18, 2016 -- Zabrze -- House of Music & Dance
Sep. 20, 2016 -- Wroclaw -- National Forum Of Music
Sep. 21, 2016 -- Wroclaw -- National Forum Of Music
Sep. 23, 2016 -- Copenhagen -- Falkoner
Sep. 24, 2016 -- Copenhagen -- Falkoner
Sep. 26, 2016 -- Oslo -- Sentrum Scene
Sep. 27, 2016 -- Oslo -- Sentrum Scene
Sep. 28, 2016 -- Oslo -- Sentrum Scene
Sep. 30, 2016 -- Stockholm -- Filadelfiakyrkan
Oct. 01, 2016 -- Stockholm -- Filadelfiakyrkan
Oct. 03, 2016 -- Hamburg -- Mehr! Theater
Nov. 02, 2016 -- Antwerp -- Stadsschouwburg
Nov. 03, 2016 -- Antwerp -- Stadsschouwburg
Nov. 05, 2016 -- Milano -- Teatro degli Arcimboldi
Nov. 06, 2016 -- Milano -- Teatro degli Arcimboldi
Nov. 08, 2016 -- Florence -- Teatro Verdi
Nov. 09, 2016 -- Florence -- Teatro Verdi
Nov. 11, 2016 -- Rome -- Auditorium Conciliazione
Nov. 12, 2016 -- Rome -- Auditorium Conciliazione
Nov. 14, 2016 -- Torino -- Teatro Colosseo
Nov. 15, 2016 -- Torino -- Teatro Colosseo
Nov. 17, 2016 -- Monte Carlo -- Opéra Garnier
Nov. 18, 2016 -- Monte Carlo -- Opéra Garnier
Nov. 21, 2016 -- Madrid, Madrid -- Palacio de Congresos
Nov. 22, 2016 -- Madrid, Madrid -- Palacio de Congresos
Nov. 24, 2016 -- Barcelona, Catalonia -- Auditori del Forum
Nov. 25, 2016 -- Barcelona, Catalonia -- Auditori del Forum
Nov. 27, 2016 -- Marseille -- Le Silo
Nov. 30, 2016 -- Vienna -- Museumsquartier
Dec. 01, 2016 -- Vienna -- Museumsquartier
Dec. 03, 2016 -- Paris -- Salle Pleyel
Dec. 04, 2016 -- Paris -- Salle Pleyel

The press release goes on to say...:

"Audio: Three themed CDs of material recorded in 2015, each forming a separate discrete performance with audio selected from a variety of shows and fully mixed from multi-track tapes by Chris Porter, Robert Fripp and David Singleton. As no audience is audible between tracks, this allows for a 'virtual studio album' effect. (The current King Crimson line-up was deliberately conceived as a performing band rather than as a band concerned with making full studio recordings).

"Video: Among the problems most associated with filming live performance, perhaps the key problems are those of the film-makers’ cameras intruding on the audience’s capacity to enjoy the show without interruption and the intrusion of the cameras on the band’s performance. In effect, both performance and audience response must be misrepresented to approximate a live show for later consumption. In order to record the performances more accurately, a series of Japanese concerts was captured via a number of discreet cameras in a 'video vérité' style - with neither band nor audience disturbed by filming - by Trevor Wilkins who also edited and assembled the footage.

"Audio/Video: Two DVD discs featuring the complete concert performances. Blu-Ray features the concert film in high-resolution [24/48] stereo and 5.1 surround sound with additional ‘video off’ mode allowing for high-resolution audio only playback in stereo and surround sound.

"In essence the music can be experienced in a number of different ways - as continuous uninterrupted audio on CD, as a viewable concert performance in stereo or 5.1 surround on the DVDs and Blu-Ray, or in high-resolution, lossless audio stereo or 5.1 surround without pictures on the Blu-Ray."

[Source: DGM Live, Burning Shed, Laser's Edge]