Starless, King Crimson box covering October 1973 to April 1974

[Robert van Diggele]

DGMlive.com announced the up coming release of a new box set with live and studio recordings, this time covering the period October 1973 to April 1974.

DGM is pleased to confirm that an October release date has been set for Starless, a multi-disc CD/DVD-A/Blu-Ray boxed set featuring live and studio recordings from October 1973 to April 1974.

This set will feature the first complete release of the blue tapes - the highest quality reel to reel direct to stereo/soundboard live recordings of King Crimson from the era with many appearing on CD for the first time. More details of the content will be announced nearer the time of release as will the pre-order page.

Looking good, especially the inclusion of dvd-a and bd. Looking forward to more details.

 

[rtbluray]

Hopefully we will get high-res of these full shows:

Oct 23, 1973 - Glasgow
Nov 15, 1973 - Zurich
Nov 23, 1973 - Amsterdam

It will also give them a chance to release the 1974 Paris footage (originally released on the 'Red' CD/DVD-A) as part of this box set since it was left off 'The Road to Red'
I wonder if any more songs from the Amsterdam show (originally released as 'The Night Watch') were mixed in 5.1 surround. We got "Easy Money" as a 5.1 bonus track on the original "Starless & Bible Black" CD/DVD-A set.
Of course all of the single edits from the "Starless & Bible Black" album should also be included, but will the Central Park 1973 footage make it on here? I'm really not sure about that one…

What would REALLY be amazing is if they could find the multi tracks for "Trio" and "The Mincer" and do discrete 5.1 surround mixes for those tracks.
Regardless of what actually ends up being in this set, this set will be 3rd on my buying list after I get the "Beat" CD/DVD-A set and (*hopefully*) tickets to a King Crimson show this fall!

 

[user 1679]

I suspect that the best shows are the ones that they've released already, maybe tidied up a little more where possible? Still, I love this era of KC so it's not going to be a hard sell for me - like Road to Red I'll keep an eye on the various sites for a good deal and pull the trigger when I see one.

I'm hoping for some 5.1 as well but after Road to Red coming without any 5.1 I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm sure Neil will fill us in as soon as he's allowed to.

 

[ssully]

Want 5.1 mixes of live stuff, otherwise not really seeing the point of this, except for completists. Then again, I passed on 'Road to Red', too.

 

[kap'n krunch]

Good 'ole Neil will step in at some point and tell us what's what...(whenever he's allowed)

 

[Robert van Diggele]

A little update from Sid Smith,

Following the announcement a couple of weeks ago that a multi-disc box set of gigs from 1973 and 1974 was in the pipeline, there’s been a few responses from folks with audience recordings and eye-witness accounts. There’s also been a few folks wondering just what the devil the blue tapes are. Well, just for the curious, here’s a pic of them...

 

[neil wilkes]

Most of the material on offer here is in fact previously unreleased - even the ones that have had versions available before are far, far better in this set as DGM have gone back to the original tapes for this edition, and an awful lot of them are from 15IPS reels, newly transferred & lovingly tweaked by David & Alex. There are also shows that will be from multitracks, again newly transferred & mixed specially for this set.

I'll post details as & when it is cool to do so - but I can assure you all this will be well, well worth getting on pre-order as fast as you can as not only will these boxes will be limited editions (by which I mean one replication run will be made and once those are gone that will be that) but the quality on offer is simply superb. Expect the unexpected as well as some VERY nice surprises too.
'nuff said for now, methinks

 

[rtbluray]

Hold on to your butts:

https://www.burningshed.com/store/kingcrimson/product/313/6012/

Starless offers an in-depth overview of the celebrated mid-1970's live line-up of one of the world's most significant and innovative bands.

Few bands have offered as much variety in material from night to night. King Crimson's propensity for improvisation and fondness for playing its newest material - often unreleased on record at the time of the concerts - is legendary.

---------

Autumn 1973: As King Crimson's second lengthy US tour of that year was coming to a close, a short series of UK concerts for the end of October, followed by a more extensive European tour in November was already planned. Three of these concerts Glasgow, Zurich and Amsterdam were recorded as full multi-track recordings, with material from the Amsterdam show being used as core material for the January 1974 recording of Starless And Bible Black.

From mid-March to the start of April, the band was on the road in Europe again, promoting the album with their final European concerts of the decade, prior to undertaking a further US tour. A number of these concerts were recorded on stereo reel to reel machines, fed directly from the signal as sent to the PA system on the night of the performance. These soundboards are often referred to as The Blue Tapes, named after the outer colour of the original tape boxes and are especially valued for both the quality of recording and performance.

Starless offers eighteen CDs of live concert performances - seven of them mixed from the 1973 multi-track tapes and a further eleven presenting the complete run of The Blue Tapes for the first time.

CDs of the ORTF Paris TV performance and the 2011 stereo mix of Starless And Bible Black also feature. Two DVD-A discs and two Blu-Ray discs contain concert and studio recordings in stereo, quadraphonic and full 5.1 surround sound - all presented in high-resolution audio.

Limited to a single pressing run, Starless is presented in a 12" box with a comprehensive booklet featuring sleeve notes and images aplenty.

Pre-order for October 13th release.

TBA

* 19 CDs of live performance material.

* 7 CDs taken from multi-track tape including 4CDs of material from the Glasgow and Zurich shows, freshly assembled and mastered in Hi-Res from the original Great Deceiver mixes by David Singleton at DGM Soundworld in 2014, the Amsterdam show The Nightwatch mixed by Steven Wilson and a previously unheard preparatory of material from the same show prepared by George Chkiantz (engineer of all live KC shows of the era and the Red album).

* 11 CDs drawn from high quality stereo reel to reel soundboard tapes. 8 making their first appearance on CD with the remaining three re-mastered or drawn from new tape sources.

* 1 CD presenting the performance from the ORTF Paris TV broadcast

* CD 20 features the 2011 stereo mix of Starless And Bible Black by Steven Wilson and Robert Fripp

* DVD-A 1 features the Starless & Bible Black album in 5.1 Surround, with new & original stereo album mixes in High Resolution Stereo plus bonus audio material.

* DVD-A 2 features material from Mainz (mixed by David Singleton), Amsterdam (mixed by Steven Wilson) & a later show from Pittsburgh (mixed by George Chkiantz) in quadraphonic audio and High-Resolution Stereo.

* Both DVD-A discs are region 0 playable in all areas & compatible with all DVD players and DVD Rom players

* Blu-Ray Disc 1 features full lossless audio 24/192 transfers of material from the Glasgow and Zurich shows, freshly assembled & mastered from the original Great Deceiver mixes by David Singleton at DGM Soundworld in 2014 in LPCM stereo.

* Blu-Ray Disc 1 also features the Amsterdam show The Nightwatch, mixed by Steven Wilson and the George Chkiantz preparatory mix stereo in 24/96 High-resolution stereo & a 24/96 transfer of the original David Singleton/Robert Fripp mix of The Nightwatch.

* Blu-Ray Disc 2 features Starless & Bible Black in 5.1 Surround (DTS-HD MAS & LPCM 24/96) alongside new and original stereo masters of the album, a needledrop of an original vinyl pressing plus audio extras.

* Blu-Ray Disc 2 also features the Quad mixes of material from the Mainz, Amsterdam & Pittsburgh concerts.

* Blu-Ray Disc 2 also features the ORTF Paris TV footage in a new hi-res transfer from the original source files.

* Discs packaged in 8 individual 3 disc digipaks within an album sized box

* 3 additional bonus CDs of audio restored soundboard/bootlegs and audio curios are also included.

* 1 further concert (bootleg quality audio) is also available via included download ticket.

* Album sized booklet with rare/unseen photos, new sleeve notes by Sid Smith, technical notes on the recordings by David Singleton, eye-witness accounts from fans who attended the gigs plus memorabilia including an album print, poster, replica concert ticket, press release with folder, photos and more besides.

* Limited to a single pressing run.

 

[timbre4]

Stunner! Sign me up....,,.

 

[DennisMoore Jr.]

Hi gang,

Here's one of my very rare serious & normal posts:

https://www.burningshed.com/store/kingcrimson/product/313/6012/

"Starless offers eighteen CDs of live concert performances - seven of them mixed from the 1973 multi-track tapes..."


Even though King Crimson really doesn't do it for me, I am absolutely stunned after reading the full product description.

This has gotta be "everything" the band ever recorded profesionally for that era. For the regular guy(us) to have access to ALL
this 1st gen material is not only unprecedented but frankly is pure audio heaven that is only dreamed about.

I am so very happy for King Crimson fans. People talk about a "dream come true". This has to be several levels past that.

I'm kinda glad this isn't happening to one of my favorite groups becasue my life would be ruined. I would stay at home 24/7 and listen.
I would lose my job, house, friends, etc...

The only complaint I have is that at around $200 US this is too much $$$ to spend if one is just a casual fan.

So much professional grade content. Now, all King Crimson fans can have the same musical access that prior only the artist & engineering staff had.
Amazing. After all these years what a remarkable treasure! I am still stunned.


.....the production team for this release must have worked for months on QA and sorting everything out...

 

[colsky]

Hi gang,

Here's one of my very rare serious & normal posts:

Yep, and no animals/castles/beer pictures too :yikes

I'm a massive Crimson fan (I'm really surprised that you are not ) and this sounds so appealing and I would love it, but my problem with something like this (like the Road to Red box and the Larks Tongues box) is finding the hours in the day to do it justice.

 

[DuncanS]

I couldn't resist just pre-ordered

 

[blue.monk]

I'm a massive Crimson fan (I'm really surprised that you are not ) and this sounds so appealing and I would love it, but my problem with something like this (like the Road to Red box and the Larks Tongues box) is finding the hours in the day to do it justice.

My feelings exactly. And yet I must have it.

 

[DennisMoore Jr.]

Yep, and no animals/castles/beer pictures too :yikes

I'm a massive Crimson fan (I'm really surprised that you are not ) and this sounds so appealing and I would love it, but my problem with something like this (like the Road to Red box and the Larks Tongues box) is finding the hours in the day to do it justice.

I'm not really into King Crimson cause I consider myself to be a "prog sissy"(my own term) that is, I love prog with sappy hooks & sweet harmonies. YES, Renaissance, Nektar, Genesis, Pink Floyd, The WHO, just send me straight to the moon on an emotional level. KC are monster musicians, but sometimes it gets to be like "math rock". I'm lucky and I've seen live: John Mclaughlin, Alan Holdsworth(many times), Pat Metheney, Stanley Clarke, Steve Morse, Jeff Berln, etc.. so I've seen my share of world class musicians. But I seem to need sweet harmony to get me down the road. That's why I love Gentle Giant Free Hand & Octopus & P&G versus the earlier more experimental recordings.

I play my King Crimson records when I think its time to force myself for some musical "discipline". Forgive the pun.

I assume you are buying this edition? As far as finding hours in the day... No prob for me, I'd start with just the surround stuff and pick the best sounding first!

Cheers! :brew:brew

 

[colsky]

I play my King Crimson records when I think its time to force myself for some musical "discipline". Forgive the pun.

I assume you are buying this edition? As far as finding hours in the day... No prob for me, I'd start with just the surround stuff and pick the best sounding first!

Cheers! :brew:brew

I play my King Crimson when I'm alone in the house, definitely when the wife is out! She's out tonight, so it'll be Power and the Glory time again :banana:

I like many kinds of music and most kinds of prog . There's not much in my opinion that beats the energy and excitement of the song Starless. For me that's up there with Gates of Delirium and a handful of others.

Sure, I'll get this, and then take a week off work sick to listen to it

Cheers from rainy London :brew

 

[timbre4]

The good news is how much these boxes deliver OVER TIME. If it takes months or years to get through it all, fine. You already paid for it!

 

[dobyblue]

HO-LEEE MOSES!!!!!!!!
My socks just flew across the room. What a package!

 

[Robert van Diggele]

The box is massive, and with 27 discs in it, the price is not that bad as it looks on first sight.

And there is obviously the wealth of extra material, including quad mixes as well!

Compared to some of other artists box sets from the past that included 5.1, the Starless set is a bargain

 

[kap'n krunch]

I AM DEFINITELY IN, it was the FIRST KC disc I REALLY dug!!!!!

 

[user 1679]

It's a "must have" for me, as is just about anything from this era KC. I think this one will be my birthday present (even if it's a gift from/to myself!)