King Crimson Vroom Vroom CD - Import

King Crimson: Adrian Belew (vocals, guitar); Robert Fripp (guitar, electronics); Trey Gunn (guitar); Tony Levin (bass, Chapman stick);
Pat Mastelotto, Bill Bruford (drums. electronic drums, percussion).
Recorded live at Metropolitan Theater, Mexico City, Mexico and Longacre Theater, New York, New York on August 2-4, 1996 and November 20-25, 1995. Includes liner notes by Robert Fripp and Trey Gunn.
Personnel: Adrian Belew (vocals, guitar); Robert Fripp, Trey Gunn (guitar); Pat Mastelotto, Bill Bruford (drums, percussion).
Audio Mixers: R. Chris Murphy; Adrian Belew; Ken Latchney; Robert Fripp.
Liner Note Author: Robert Fripp.
Recording information: Longacre Theater, New York, NY (06/30/1995-08/04/1996); Metropolitan Theater Mexico City (06/30/1995-08/04/1996); Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, CA (06/30/1995-08/04/1996).
Photographers: Robert Leslie; Steve Jennings; Tony Levin .
This is a two-CD collection capturing King Crimson during a pair of multi-night stands at The Longacre Theater in New York City (November 20-25, 1995) and The Metropolitan Theater in Mexico City (August 2-6, 1996). This double-trio lineup includes the talents of: Robert Fripp (guitar, soundscapes), Adrian Belew (guitar, vocals), Trey Gunn (touch guitar), Tony Levin (basses, stick), Bill Bruford (percussion of all sorts), and Pat Mastelotto (percussion of all sorts). Vrooom Vrooom includes much of the same frenetic energy and immaculate sonics that awaited attendees of these performances. Happily much of the repertoire focuses on materials from the 1995 studio release, Thrak, King Crimson's first in over a decade. Likewise, both the Mexico City and New York City sets are laden with the profound and otherwise solicitous vibes that present themselves whenever this band is running at full capacity on all six cylinders. The Mexico City disc opens with a quintet of instrumentals and improvisations circa the Thrak album: "Vroom Vroom," "Coda: Marine 475," "B'Boom," and the title track, "Thrak," as well as more structured compositions such as "Dinosaur." Likewise, the N.Y.C. disc includes "People" and "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream," as well as profound renderings of "One Time." Of special note is the Belew-led impromptu cover of the Beatles' "Free as a Bird" and the King Crimson original "Walking on Air," the latter of which is a one-off bonus track from a Wiltern Theater performance in Los Angeles on June 30, 1995. Additionally, there are quite a few tracks that hearken to previous incarnations of the mighty King Crimson, especially the '80s quartet of Fripp, Belew, Bruford, and Levin. "Three of a Perfect Pair," "Elephant Talk," "Indiscipline," "Neurotica," and "Thela Hun Ginjeet" are among the tracks given the intensity of a sonic triple espresso. Longer and more complete recordings from these specific runs have likewise been made available. The Mexico City show was offered via download through the Discipline Global Mobile website and the N.Y.C. run is available under the title On Broadway: Live in NYC, 1995 from the DGM Collector's Club. Information on both the Broadway release and club can be found at www.disciplineglobalmobile.com/club/outline.shtml. ~ Lindsay Planer
From the mid-'90s on, a steady stream of archival live King Crimson recordings began to appear, released by Crimson guitarist/leader Robert Fripp as the backbone of his independent cottage industry. This thicket of albums can be an intimidating proposition for the uninitiated, even though each one bears its own distinctive charms. For historical context, let's note that VROOOM VROOOM's two discs feature material from two separate stints in 1995 and '96 during which the band was exploring the "double quartet" concept. This format added second drummer Pat Mastelotto and "touch guitar" player (its nearest relative being Tony Levin's Chapman Stick) to the four-man lineup that led Crimson's '80s return to action.