King Crimson 40th Anniversary releases - Page 3

Augh, you tempt me too much! I really shouldn't binge on music again... What other KC albums are up to snuff, do you think?

You know, I started to answer your question, and then I realized I listed every one of their albums from Court through TOAPP except for Lizard!!!  LOL.  I'm too much of a Crimson head to answer, I guess.

Just buy Discipline for now, since you have Court and Red.

Agreed on Discipline -- of the 80s records, that's the one! Also, "Absent Lovers - Live in Montreal" is a killer live collection from that lineup. In part I'm not so excited about "Starless and Bible Black" getting the Wilson-treatment because I think the release 'The Nightwatch' just flat out superseded the original release.  That and... I just don't have a surround set-up.

I received In the Court and Lizard today from amazon and In the Court sounds incredible!  I previously owned the 2004 HDCD remaster and the 40th done by Steven Wilson is a big improvement.  Can't wait until Islands and In the wake of Poseidon come out later this month.  I discovered King Crimson earlier this year after reading other members recommendations and needless to say, In the Court is probably one of my favorite albums of all time

Actually, they can already be ordered from Burning Shed .  And they're outstanding.  I got them both and have been digging them both!

Burning Shed did right by me when I bought the big box ITCOTCK -- got it earlier and cheaper both than I had I gotten it domestically.

Finally got around to ordering the 40th anniversary edition of Lizard. The new stereo mix is stunning. I have the new editions of ItCotCK and Red, and while I thought both were well done, Lizard is revolutionary. It's like listening to the album for the first time again. Well done, Robert and Steven!

I'd get the debut album just to get that backing track to "Epitaph." I've always wanted to dissect all the Mellotron work, and it was an unfulfilled dream of mine to sing this song at my graduation party so many years ago, just because it's so depressing. A classic album, and I think it got the short end of the stick in the 2005 edition--nasty, tizzy sound. I hope the original masters have more potential than I hear on this edition.

The 40th remaster of "Court" is an absolute revelation.  It's a full tape generation better than anything we have EVER gotten before. 

And in the new mix, the vocals in "Epitaph" are much cleaner and a little more forward, which improves the song significantly, IMO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab 

The 40th remaster of "Court" is an absolute revelation.  It's a full tape generation better than anything we have EVER gotten before. 

 

And in the new mix, the vocals in "Epitaph" are much cleaner and a little more forward, which improves the song significantly, IMO.

It's really amazing the difference between the 40th and 2004 remaster.  The anniversary edition is probably the best sounding album I own now, in part to how natural it sounds now.  The intro to "I talk to the wind" sounds perfect now and without any distortion.  If only all classic rock albums had this good of a remastering job

So... I received the 40th Anniversary Edition of Islands from Burning Shed today.

This is no small thing for me. Of my 800 CDs, 500 LPs and 4TB of live music downloads, there is no record I've played more often than Islands. I've got it pretty much memorized -- not just the music, but the mix and all its little peculiarities.

The verdict? Sounds great, but it's going to take some getting used to. "Formentara Lady" and "The Letters" both take on new life, with Fripp's parts more prominent and enjoyable. "The Sailor's Tale," however, seems drastically changed. One of my favorite moments in the previous mix is when (please forgive me if this doesn't make sense) at the beginning of the song, during a bit of a percussion break, the stereo image shifts from a very narrow window skewed toward one channel to a wider image that occupies all of both channels. That moment is nearly lost in the new mix. Was it an error in the previous editions, or was it just deemed not worth re-creating? In addition, some of the distorted high frequencies seem shaved off, and the horns seem particularly manipulated and weirdly processed-sounding.

All in all, it's quite a thing to listen to a piece of music that you literally grew up listening to be re-worked in minute but incredibly telling ways like this. I'm kind of exhausted.

Anyway, rant over. Back for listen #4.

Olias, you and I may be the biggest fans of Islands that there are on earth   I so far have appreciated the improvement in sound that the 40th of Islands brings - but I have not been able to get myself to listen in 5.1 yet - I am afraid.  I've only played the hi-res stereo tracks.  I really need to get up the courage to listen to the multichannel mix.

I heard that some of the remixes were compressed and they even added some compression to the original mixes present on the DVD's. ITCOTCK does not seem to suffer from this. Anyone care to comment?

Quote:

Originally Posted by evanft 

I heard that some of the remixes were compressed and they even added some compression to the original mixes present on the DVD's. ITCOTCK does not seem to suffer from this. Anyone care to comment?

The only one I felt that was true of was Red.