David Cross Band - Alive In The Underworld (2008)

The violinist for King Crimson from 1972 to 1974, David Cross later launched a solo career with the David Cross Band, which featured an interesting sound comprised of violin, bass, keyboards, drums, and saxophones. David Cross was born in Turnchapel, England, near Plymouth. After leaving King Crimson, Cross formed the improvisational rock group Ascend, and spent the better part of the 1970s and 1980s composing for and working with theater groups in a variety of capacities. His first solo release was Memos from Purgatory (1989), which was later staged by Cross. With the David Cross Band, Cross moved between improvisational pieces and more composed ones. While the music bears some similarity to 1970s King Crimson, it is slower-paced with musical phrases and ideas that appear out of nowhere and disappear as quickly, leading some to call his music underdeveloped. 1998's Exiles was more song-oriented and featured guest appearances by Crimson alumni Robert Fripp, Peter Hammill, John Wetton, and Peter Sinfield. In 1999, Cross formed Noisy Records. This incarnation of the David Cross Band initially came together for a trip to Japan in April 2005. In March 2006 the band played concerts at the Robin in Bilston, at the Stables in Milton Keynes and the Underworld in North London, where the nine live tracks on this album were recorded.