King Crimson - Live At The Marquee, August 10, 1971 (2012)

Arguably the greatest find in Mister Stormy’s trawl through the Crimson archives: uncovering a previously unheard set on the second night at the band’s stint at The Marquee. Having only had the fairly grim-sounding bootleg to go on, it’s wonderful to hear the band in pristine sound. Fascinating also to at last be able hear some of the vocal harmony ideas that they had in mind for Formentera Lady.

After a thumpingly good Cirkus (complete with crystal clear mellotron duet and Ian Wallace’s double bass-drum thundering in the coda) Boz introduces “yet another newie” in the shape of The Letters featuring an exceptionally good free section. This is followed by what is arguably the very best version of Cadence And Cascade played by this line-up.

It’s interesting to note that at this stage the as-yet-untitled amalgam of LTIA 1 & Lament were clearly under active consideration for inclusion on Islands according to Fripp’s stage announcement. Although the band did record a studio version (available on the 40th anniversary edition of Islands) it clearly wasn’t thought to be ready enough to make it to the final running order. It’s interesting how similar in feel this version is to parts of Emergency! by Tony Williams’ Lifetime.

Hearing the band in such good audio quality is always welcome and more so when you can hear them enjoying themselves as much as they did here.