What initially began as a one-off release for the 2014 King Crimson tour has now grown into an annual event. The Elements Tour Box 2018 features snippets, outtakes, extracts from rehearsals, live recordings, studio recordings (fragmented and complete), alternate takes and finished recordings spanning 1969 – 2017. Much of the material makes its first appearance here across the 31 tracks presented on two CDs.
From the completely useless noise of “Wind (Extract),” to a snippet of the original “The Court Of The Crimson King (Instrumental edit section),” to a live read of a truncated version of this, arguably the band’s most popular song, from 2015, to some floaty piano behind Robert Fripp’s noodling guitar all mixed into a plodding Mellotron sound and jazzy sax drama of “Cirkus (Live 2017)” to the iconic (and another live take) of “Larks’ Tongues In Aspic Part I (Live 2016),” the first CD offers 11 tunes. The big bass and drum muscling of “The Errors (Jakko Jakszyk, Tony Levin & Gavin Harrison Demo recording)” and “Heroes (Radio Edit),” featuring that single-note slicing of Robert Fripp in a funky read of the Bowie classic (which Fripp originally played on), really helps fill out the disc.
A quite pretty synth string sweep begins “Deception Of The Thrush (Robert Fripp: Guitar/Soundscape extract).” When Fripp’s perfectly placed, overdriven single notes slip in, the whole enterprise opens up into a track that really comes right for your heart. The live tracks range from as far back as 1984 to as recent as 2017. “Matte Kudasai (Live 1984)” is a slow and plucky funk with Fripp sailing high above and Adrian Belew warbling in his high timbre voice. Its certainly is one of the cooler tunes on this set. The tentative piano and suburb vocals on “Islands (Live 2017)” are high points, creating a perfect bed for Mel Collins to blow his sax for an extended solo.
Presented as the last track, the sweet guitar and flute of “I Talk To The Wind (Original album recording session)” are isolated without vocals. Like Collins, Ian McDonald was (and still is) no slouch himself in the wind instrument department. Here, we get to really hear his mastery with the flute from 1969. Packaged with the CDs is a booklet with notes by Sid Smith, memorabilia photographs, information about the band’s 2018 tour, and photos of the 2018, eight-piece King Crimson. In short, The Elements Tour Box 2018 is essential for any King Crimson fan looking to add something special to his or her collection.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
