King Crimson is such an intriguing act. The one constant, of course, is Robert Fripp. Through the years the group had various lineups. Each had its own, unique musical identity. The version that emerged in the 1980s with Adrian Belew, Bill Bruford and Tony Levin filling out the other slots in the lineup was probably one of the biggest leaps in style of any period of the band. Their guitar heavy, experimental sound was captivating. This live album does a great job of capturing a live performance from that period. I wouldn’t say this is my favorite live release from King Crimson, but it is excellent. I know there are a lot of people who find this lineup of the band to be their favorite. They should particularly enjoy this album.

We hear someone talking at the beginning. Eventually the instruments come in, tentative at first. The voice remains during that part. Then the voice goes away, and we’re into the song proper. This 80s Crimson classic gets a cool live rendition. The spoken voice returns in the instrumental section, and then they take it into some killer jamming. They deliver on the studio promise of the song and seem to up the game.

This somewhat more sedate and melodic piece gets a great live telling. It’s another classy 80s King Crimson tune.

An extensive percussion workout with a lot of electronic drums starts things here. This song, with its peaks and valleys and tension and release sections has always been a classic. This live version really captures that so well. If anything it seems fiercer.

They dig deeper into the catalog for the title track from my favorite King Crimson song. They really put in an amazing live rendition of this thing. They capture so much of the magic of it. If anything they manage to ramp up the intensity on an instrumental track that’s already intense.

This is another song I’ve always loved. The whole groove of this is so classy. There are some intriguing changes built into it. It has a good balance between louder and quieter parts.

There seems to be both fresh concepts and faithful performance of the studio version of this instrumental. This is intriguing and has some real magic built into it. That said, I think this is one where I prefer the original studio version.

This song is another classic from the 1980s lineup of the group. They deliver a smoking hot live performance of it. This thing is absolutely on fire.

The melodic textures of this come in with a lot of style and charm. This takes seems to get rawer and more aggressive than the studio take. That’s a good thing to me. It’s another powerhouse performance.

This is an odd take on the track. The first vocals are delivered over a rather sparse musical arrangement. That holds the piece for a time after that before anything else is added. Everything comes in very gradually. This is another case where I prefer the studio version.

This vintage King Crimson classic gets a great live rendition here. This also seems to up the ante a little while also keeping it real and rather faithful.

I really prefer this version of the track to the other one on here. The groove and everything else about it just seems to work better somehow.