Re: New CD's available (you don't need the apostrophe there).

[rutgers!uwvax!astroatc!gtaylor (Mais, ou sont les neiges d'antan?)]

Yeah, I know. They're bourgeois elitist technology. However, since
my cassette and LP purchases still outdistance the CD bills I'm 
still street-cred. Wrong? Oh. 

Anyway, that Kind Crimson compilation is, in my humble opinion,
either miserable as an introduction to the progression of King
Crimson (in both its earlier more Protean incarnation and the late
quartet stuff) or a recording compiled by someone whose personal
biases aren't really clear to me (of course, this could be Robert
Fripp himself-busily revising his own history again). Both sets of
KC are represented by the most ah..."commercial" releases they did.
Those of you who are familiar with the older album "A Young Person's
Guide to King Crimson" will, I think, be mildly surprised to see
the selections here. The CD leans quite heavily on a Greatest Hit
(that's an odd idea for KC) format for the last 3 album and a couple
of old MegaHits from those hoary old LPs. Nothing from "Starless"
"Lizard, etc. Especially since some of the instrumental stuff is
wonderful to do a cross-listen to with the older work from the first
version of King Crimson for hearing their development and changes 
together as an improvising ensemble. An interesting
chance missed. Fortunately, EG is putting out the whole King Crimson
catalog on CD, so you can take your pick. 

On a *somewhat*  similar note, I picked up a copy of David Torn's "Cloud
Over Mercury" (He used to sort of be a neighbor of mine once, and I 
loved his guitar stuff on David Borden's last Mother Mallard recording)
and was surprised to find that Tony Levin and Bill Bruford are both
handling the rhythm section chores on the record. Yep-keeping fairly
inventive and supportive time, as well. The playing isn't as far outside
as Bruford's stuff with Moraz, but there's a whole lot of tuned Simmons
stuff that fools the ear here. Also, Mark Isham is playing a lot of trumpet
here, and generally avoiding what I always think of his more wimpy
post Group87 stuff. It's sometimes easy to forget that he can jam.
Anyway, I'd given this Torn album pretty high marks-his guitar playingj
is still that horn-like overdriven beast that alternately squirts and
machine guns those phrases in the right places, and he's pretty
content to spend quite a bit of the recording supporting the other players
in addition to riffing. This Stick/electronic percussion/trumpet/guitar
beast recording is as close as I get to liking the form (along with
some of Kazumi Watanabe's work). I'm a little bit reminded of John Hassel's
recordings by "Cloud" in that you sit through the album wondering what
it is like to *see* this stuff being made by real people in real time.
My friend in NYC says that Torn indeed does this very same material 
live with no mirrors or wires. Maybe they'll tour and come to *my* town.


we lived near each other in Upstate New York back
in the days of his "Zobo Funn Band" stuff)
, 
-- 
"As one who sees within a dream, and, later/the passion that had been
imprinted stays,/but nothing of the rest returns to mind,/such am I-
for my my vision almost fades/completely, yet it distills within/my
heart the sweetness that was born of it."(Dante/Paradiso,XXXIII 58-63)