Double CD of live 1969 material from King Crimson's first and, ultimately, best-loved incarnation, featuring the same lineup that performed on the first album (Fripp, Lake, McDonald, and Giles). Other than four songs from BBC sessions, the entire set was drawn from shows from their late-'69 tour of the U.S. (after which the personnel was completely reorganized). The emphasis is on the three most famed songs from In the Court of the Crimson King (the title track, "Epitaph," and "21st Century Schizoid Man"), each of which is heard two or three times. Aside from some minor variations in the solos and lyrics, these are pretty similar to the studio versions, although they do show how adept the band were at re-creating the arrangements onstage. There are also a few numbers that the band never released as studio takes, although live versions of a few sneaked out on the Frame by Frame compilation: Donovan's druggy "Get Thy Bearings," an effectively bombastic take on Holst's "Mars" (two versions), the jazzy "Travel Weary Capricorn," and some rather shapeless improvisations. The fidelity is imperfect, but generally pretty good. It's not on the same level as the debut album, but it doesn't pretend to be -- it's designed with the hardcore fan in mind (complete with 64 pages of liner notes). For that audience, it's a worthy supplement to this particular lineup's meager studio output. And if you crave yet more, two additional CDs of live '69 performances are available from Discipline via mail order only. -- Richie Unterberger (allmusic.com)