King Crimson Earthbound

King Crimson

Earthbound

released June 9, 1972

Earthbound is King Crimson's first official live release and is known for it's poor sound quality. The line up that recorded Islands had already broken up around New Year's 1972. The American leg of their management company had convinced the band that they still owed one more tour of the States. The band reformed to due a tour in February and March. After the tour was finished, Atlantic Records (their U.S. label) asked for a live album that they claimed was owed to them.  The band had only recorded the tour on an early cassette tape recorder connected to the mixing board. Atlantic Records deemed the quality bad enough that they didn't release it in the U.S. and was only available as an import for many years. It didn't see a cd release until 2002, thirty years after it's original release.

Songs:

21st Century Schizoid Man (including Mirrors)

Peoria

Sailor's Tale

Earthbound

Groon

Recording dates and locations:

21st Century Schizoid Man and Groon - February 11, 1972 The Armoury, Wilmington, DE

Sailor's Tale - February 26, 1972 Baseball Park, Jacksonville, FL

Earthbound - February 27, 1972 Kemp Coliseum, Orlando, FL

Peoria - March 10, 1972 The Barn, Peoria, IL

Yes, it is an official bootleg recording and the sound suffers mostly due to the fact that this was recorded on cassettes straight from the mixing board. I disagree however with the opinion that this sounded worse on record. The original Japan import of this I had years ago on record actually sounded better. Thank you Tower records. I think that this is probably due to the fact since cds have a higher resolution rate they tend to make albums that were sub-par recordings sound even more so. The remastering team of Fripp and company did the best they could. If you want a better sounding live album check out King Crimson's official web site and purchase one of the collector's club releases from this time. However, keep in mind that the performances on here are actually pretty good to great. Schizoid Man rocks real hard. Sailor's Tale has some great guitar work by Fripp.Groon show that King Crimson is the "prog rock" British equal to the Grateful Dead.