COVER OF THE WEEK

#6 is Earthbound by King Crimson, a live album from 1972.

When first confronted with this album in the early 1980's I suspected it was a bootleg thus the mysterious liner notes on the back cover:
"...captured live on an ampex stereo cassette fed from a Kelsey Morris custom built mixer..." and it goes on like this: "...in the rain from the back of a Volkswagon truck."

When putting the stylus down in the grooves of 21st Century Schizoid Man I was pretty sure. This ain't no official release. It sounds way too distorted! But it is. This is KC:s official live document from the 1972 US tour. Most of the songs are jam pieces with a lot of groove. Many crimheads don't like this album but I immediately fell in love with it. This is the rawest live LP ever!

Many KC fans don't like the vocalist/bass player of this KC unit, Boz Burrell either, but I think he does a great job here. On Schizoid Man it sounds as if someone has stuffed a ping pong ball down his throat and he sure plays some swingin' bass on this album. KC leader Robert Fripp seems to have been dissatisfied with Earthbound since it took him so long to release it on CD...The CD came out last year.

Sigurd Huckle