King Crimson - 1981-12-09 Shibuya Kohkaido Tokyo Japan (1981)

This series of gigs marked the start of King Crimson’s long-term love affair with Japan.Is it too fanciful to suggest that the interlocking notes played at the climax of the opening number share the same brittle beauty of koto strings being plucked? Probably is the answer to that is yes but this is a fascinating concert and no mistake.

"Sometimes while we're on the road we write new songs together. This one began in Paris and it's for the next King Crimson album" says Belew prior to a kick-ass rendition of Neal, And Jack And Me. Up until that point Crimson's debut Japanese had been subject to a few missteps here and there, but the take-no-prisoners attitude evident throughout this powerful version is thrilling stuff. The same has to be said for Manhattan - the early version of what would eventually become Neurotica. Those big crashing chords which first originated during the making of Exposure but never quite found a proper home, deliver some devastating blows. A wonderfully raucous version despite some tuning issues in the middle section. The impressionistic extended opening of Sartori is a wonderfully mysterious sequence featuring RF’s Roland, making this sound almost like some forgotten League of Gentlemen track.

The bootleg source kindly supplied to DGM by Benoit Carmichael is bright though there’s not too much on the bass end of things (aside from Levin's biting buzzsaw bass on LTIA). Nevertheless, an important historical moment has been preserved in the KC archive and now made officially available for the first time.