A case of buying an album I didn't really need. My original vinyl copy is still perfectly serviceable; I'm not close to wearing it out. But that's what happens when an artist charms you. This is the other side of the coin from my enoshop experience. Whereas I've only ever made one order from there, the pleasure I take from Fripp et al's DGM Live website has spilled over into at last three purchases in the last 10 months. I don't know whether the effort that goes into that website costs more than the return from three orders, but the fact that such financial book-balancing misses the point is the point that I'm trying to make. Because DGM talks to me as though a relationship is about more than just money, I'm probably more likely to spend money with them.
From the blurb that drew me in last summer:
The new 2 CD edition consists of the original 1979 release on CD1 (the first appearance of the original vinyl version on CD), while CD2 presents a version of the 1983 remix/1985 reissue with the inclusion of the three formerly unreleased Daryl Hall vocal tracks and an appendix of bonus tracks. All material re-mastered from the original source tapes by Simon Heyworth & Robert Fripp. The accompanying 24 page booklet features archive photos, the original lyric inserts & sleeve notes along with newly written notes by Robert Fripp. Additionally, the limited edition is packaged in mini-vinyl/card sleeve packaging – allowing the release to fit in with the previously issued limited edition series of King Crimson 30th anniversary re-masters.
Sold. Note the old "limited edition" trick: so limited that it's still available a year later.
The Daryl Hall vocal tracks are an interesting appendix, but nothing more. What I notice on this listening is how my perspective on Fripp has shifted since I first got the album over 20 years ago. At that time, the skinny tie and cropped hair that he wears on the cover were sufficient to convince me of the New Wave (or "avant punk" as the selected review has it) flavour of the contents. Back then I wasn't as familiar with the later (1974ish) King Crimson as I am now. Now what I hear is less the break with Fripp's past and more the continuity. Breathless could be off Red.
MusicBrainz entry for disc 1 (first edition) disc 2 (third edition) |
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