king crimson and captain beefheart

mu missus has got me looking for various king crimson and captain beefheart, mostly

court
3 pair
starless
I cant remember the full titles

And

clearspot
unconditionaly guaranteed
bluejeans

Looking around on ebay there seems to be LOTS of different pressings, especially with the king crimson stuff.
What ones are best? Some go for lots, so maybe the best question is, are there any pressings to avoid?

Thanx.

[Scottmoose]

Well the full titles of the King Crimson albums are:

In the Court of the Crimson King
Three of a Perfect Pair
Starless and Bible Black

In terms of vinyl pressings, as usual, I gather the earliest tend to be the best. I did hear some rumours though that the first pressings of Three of a Perfect Pair left a bit to be desired -can't remember why, and I could be mistaken. Only thing to really avoid though are the original CDs of King Crimson, which are bad in my experience. My early copy of In the Wake of Poseidon for example has such quiet levels most of The Devil's Triangle is completely inaudible. The new digital copies are much better.

[Paul Barker]

I have a vesrion of Starles I love it, but haven't heard any others. Sorry I can't find it at the moment.

I bought Islands back in the day when it came out, probably from Virgin Records the cheapest supplier in Melody Maker. Probably not the best recording then, but also sounds great.

I love there style, such a shame not much has servived, they didn't hang around long did they.

There are a few riskay tracks on Islands that used to make us quite excited as teenagers, but against today media onsluaght of overtly explicit sexual upfrontness it's not titilating at all.

We used to really like listening to the Poison Letter track for it's impact.

Hope you find some good ones.

Thanks folks

Hi, my alltime favorite crimson L.P. is Lizard,featuring Gordon Haskell on vocals and bass and guest appearance of Jon Anderson on side two.
As far as I know crimson are still recording and touring to this day.
Beefheart ? Spotlight kid and Clearspot best he ever did,after trout mask replica. First pressings American import probably.....Happy hunting and listening.
Good luck.....juggler

[IslandPink]

I'll put in a vote for Lizard . The first album , then Larks Tongues... and Lizard , then Discipline later .

But as Don said :
"Art is close to perfection as you can get without getting caught up in the wake"

MJ

[Scottmoose]

I like In the Wake of Poseidon myself... assuming you can get a decent copy of it of course. Discipline comes next, along with The ConstruKtion of Light

[slawts]

Favourite is Larks Tongues in Aspic. The quality of the rereleased hdcd's is outstanding.

In terms of of vinyl quality Island pink label for Inthe Court of and In the Wake of Poseidon.
Island Pink rim for Larks Tongues, Starless, Red and Islands.

Red hasn't been mentioned but is superb. Ends with Starless which is my current fave Crimso tune.

[Richard]

Mmm, just bought these 30 years (or 40!) too late , KC on Polydor, so a re-issue, but superb vinyl, Court, and Larks Tongues, prefer the former, the last track side 1 is mesmerising in a prog rock sort of way but maybe it recalls an era long passed and deeply embedded Don't get hung up on the label, pink is nice but v expensive for this one. Condition unfortunately is quite important as the dynamic range is much more like a classical record than typical rock and has lots of quiet passages which beer and make-up stains don't enhance. And the good Captain, getting out of it on Strictly Personal, original on Sunset, more difficult, took a couple of plays but I'm beginning to get the drift.... one of the good things buying this far on is that true classics still stand out.

[slawts]

Originally Posted by Richard

Mmm, just bought these 30 years (or 40!) too late , KC on Polydor, so a re-issue, but superb vinyl, Court, and Larks Tongues, prefer the former, the last track side 1 is mesmerising in a prog rock sort of way but maybe it recalls an era long passed and deeply embedded Don't get hung up on the label, pink is nice but v expensive for this one. Condition unfortunately is quite important as the dynamic range is much more like a classical record than typical rock and has lots of quiet passages which beer and make-up stains don't enhance. And the good Captain, getting out of it on Strictly Personal, original on Sunset, more difficult, took a couple of plays but I'm beginning to get the drift.... one of the good things buying this far on is that true classics still stand out.

Unfortunately the Pink and Pink rims sound better. I've got Court on Polydor and it does sound worse. The values are ridiculous but look out for American imports on the Atlantic label; the early ones are as good as the Island pinks.

If you are just starting to explore KC I don't think that you can do better than the HDCD remasters and then cherry pick the vinyl.

Agreed they are presented more like classical in dynamic range which makes the case for HDCD stronger. And.. they are really f***ing good!