Fripp and Co. once again beat the boots with a sonic overhaul of an in-studio performance originally aired live March 12, 1972 on KFML in Denver, CO. As one might anticipate, the sound is infinitely better since it is derived from a pre-broadcast multi-track tape rather than the myriad of bootleg titles boasting this date. Likewise, this disc is more complete than FM tapes, as it contains music performed after the allotted broadcast window had elapsed. The meat of this show includes frenetic readings of several typical 1972 Crimson staples: "Pictures of a City," "21st Century Schizoid Man," and "Sailor's Tale." However, the soul of the disc lies within the improvisation. "Summit Going On" is a mid-tempo jazz/funk groove that allows bassist Boz Burrell and percussionist Ian Wallace plenty of sparring room. However, the cover of Pharaoh Saunders' "The Creator Has a Master Plan" will garner the most repeated spins. King Crimson weaves a hypnotic jazz groove that drops dead into a nasty 12-bar blues lick before gliding back into the reprise of "The Creator...." One notable variation in favor of the sonically challenged FM broadcast is Fripp's verbal derision in having to debase his craft by linking the Crimson name with a corporate sponsor. As usual he is tremendously funny. His rap includes the following remark: "...(W)hen I said that I wished to inform people that I think Pepsi is harmful and very nasty, they said that they'd press a button to cut that out because one couldn't obviously denigrate one's sponsor." The liner notes booklet contains Wallace's fascinating "From the Drum Stool" essay. Potential consumers should be aware that the DGM discs contain more music than the pricey Japanese import versions on the Pony Canyon label. Additional information on the King Crimson Collector's Club is available online at disciplineglobalmobile.com. -- Lindsay Planer (allmusic.com)

----------------------------------------------------

Recorded for a radio broadcast on March 12, 1972 at Summit Studios in Denver, Colorado, this CD is a better document of the Mel Collins-Ian Wallace-Boz Burrel version of King Crimson than 1998's Live At Jacksonville. In fact, it just might be the best work that any of the 1969-72 versions of King Crimson ever commited to tape outside of the first two albums, and is essential listening, every bit as much as those first two albums, for anyone who really wants to appreciate this band or the best that progressive rock had to offer. It is technically superior to any other live recording of 1969-72 version of the group, benefitting from the controlled dynamics of a studio and extraordinarily good fidelity. "Pictures of A City" opens the disc on a challenging note, with an intense Coltrane-like solo by Mel Collins that's a taste of things to come in this performance. "Groon", originally an instrumental B-side by an earlier incarnation of the band, is transformed into a bebop improvisation that features some of the best interplay ever heard between Robert Fripp's guitar and Collins' sax, before giving way to an Ian Wallace drum solo of astonishingly good taste and restraint, and even possessing some lyricism. "Sailor's Tale" gets some very sharp, edgy playing, especially from Wallace and Fripp, and the disc ends with the group's adaptation of Pharaoh Sanders ' "The Creator Has A Master Plan", which was the beginning of a potentially great piece that they never got to put into a final form. As a Japanese import, this is a very expensive disc, $30 plus, but it could be the most worthwhile purchase any fan of the 1969-72 version of the group might make, beyond Court of the Crimson King and In The Wake of Poseidon -adding to the value are the liner notes by drummer Ian Wallace , who gives us the lowdown on a lot of what went on behind-the-scenes musically and personally, and on what work by the later band this version of King Crimson just missed working on, literally by days. -- Bruce Eder (allmusic.com)

King Crimson Collectors' Club #9 - Feb 2000

----------------------------------------------------

Surely a contender for the strangest gig in the archive? It’s hard to imagine a KC concert as odd as this: excerpts from Symphony Sid, Flight of the Bumble Bee, snatches of LTIA Pt1, Fripp doing the blues, impressions of Monty Python, Pharaoh Sanders, and what might have happened had James Brown’s band backed John Coltrane at his most exploratory.

Not weird enough? Originally a radio broadcast, why not throw in some product placement, the intriguing absence of Mellotron and a radio announcer that sounds as lively as Rip Van Winkle on Mogadon and you have the bizarre glory that is the Summit Studio session - all committed to pristine-sounding 8 channel multi-track.

Taken together this is a quirky audio snapshot of a band with only twelve gigs left before the end of term.

This concert was first released in 2000 as King Crimson Collectors Club 9 and is still available in that format.