King Crimson - 1972-12-13 London, UK (2015)

You'll need nerves of steel to make it through this audience recording of what sounds like it might have been King Crimson wowing the Rainbow crowd on the penultimate gig of this incarnation's one and only tour of the UK.

Chris Charlesworth’s Melody Maker review reveals that Robert Fripp remonstrated with the audience following LTIA Pt 1: “If you’re not prepared to listen to the dynamics of the music then you’d be better off in the bar”

He goes on to note that “The latest Crimson is the most bizarre of all. It relies very heavily on improvisation and the visual antics of second drummer Jamie Muir who crawls obscenely around the stage, assaulting a battery of gongs and chimes in random fashion... each piece merges with the next and vocals play a small part in the overall sound It’s a cacophony of sound that hits the mind from the word go and doesn’t let up for the whole performance.”

No amount of sonic necromancy by Alex Mundy or David Singleton could find the spark of life in what is a fairly execrable audience recording, though there are some hardy souls who say it’s not all that bad. They’re wrong. Listen to it at your peril.
Robert Fripp - Guitar, Mellotron
John Wetton - Bass, Vocals
David Cross - Violin, Mellotron, Keyboards
Bill Bruford - Acoustic Drums And Percussion
Jamie Muir - Acoustic Drums, Percussion, Allsorts