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John Wetton??

#21
The following musics most stimulated "OMFG" moments of appreciation in me back in my yoot' (chronological order):

"Black Dog", Led Zeppelin
"Voodoo Chile (Slight REturn)", Jimi
The entire "Larks Tongues In Aspic" album (played on local prog radio, back when such a thing existed here)

Nothing has beat KC since (but Painkiller's "Buried Secrets" came close). :)

The Fripp/Wetton/Bruford/(Cross) albums are my absolute faves for KC. They are "Starless and Bible Black", "Larks Tongues in Aspic", "Red", and "U.S.A." (live). I'm still waiting for the re-release of "U.S.A.", but some of those songs are in the 4CD box anthology "Frame By Frame" (no longer in print?), which was the first music I ever bought on CD.
 
#22
"Starless" from Red is one of the high points in rock music history, in my humble opinion.

By the way, not only is the first album "UK" excellent, but the followup "Danger Money" (without Holdsworth) has some good tracks as well. The last one, "Carrying No Cross," comes to mind. Much like "Starless", it has more of that unique singing voice and some really nice bass playing.

It's just amazing the kind of tones Wetton got from the plain old Fender Precision (even with effects). Flat out power and fury.
 
#25
Wow! It's great to see such a strong KC thread going here! I'm 26 and I started listening to King Crimson about 21 years or so ago when I was about 5. I haven't stopped since. My parents had The Court of the Crimson King on vinyl and that crazy cover reeled me in. Once I heard 21st Century Schizoid Man with those crazy vocals and frenetic guitar I was hooked. It was the coolest and most unusual thing I had ever heard.

I've only seen them in concert once (in Houston on the Thrak tour) and it was great!

John Wetton definitely exhibited the most "muscular" bass playing of all the KC bass players. Although I enjoy Tony Levin too and he has been an influence on me from the beginning (as have all the KC bassists).

Peter said that he wouldn't call KC "progressive" because that lumps them with Yes and Genesis. I would call them one of the few true progressive bands. They started out progressive and they have been progressing ever since, even to this day. Yes and Genesis decided to take the non-progressive route and they are no longer prog bands.

When I was in China this past year there was this little music store there and the owner was always getting in these Japanese imports. I picked up 6 collector's club releases, the newly mastered editions of 3 of a Perfect Pair and Beat, Heavy ConstruKCtion, Tony Levin's From the Caves of Iron Mountain and Bruford and Gomez If Summer Had it's Ghosts all for only about $2.50 a piece!!! These weren't used, cutouts or bootlegs either (except for Bruford Gomez which was a cutout and thus only cost 1.25). That was like one of the CD finds of all time...especially considering that the collector's club releases can usually only be had through the website for like 15 bucks a piece.

Only one of the collector's club CD's that I got had John Wetton. Live in Central Park, 1974 has Bruford, Fripp, Wetton and Cross. Great concert!!

Anyway...that's a load of words so I'll stop here.

brad cook
 
#26
Oh yeah, about UK! They're pretty good. Not one of my favorite listens but there are some good tunes on there and it's definitely worth hearing. I have all of their albums either on CD or viny.

I'll probably be selling the live CD Night After Night soon on Ebay.

I think the first one is by far their strongest release. I dig "thirty years" and "alaska".

Has anyone seen Terry Bozzio's drumming video? He's a fantastic drummer but what a cheeseball!!! :)
Wetton is a bit cheesy too from some of the interviews I've read...also from his lyrics on Danger Money.

anyway..that's my two cents

brad cook
 
#27
Hey! Just thought I'd throw this in since we were talking about them.

I'm auctioning off UK's live Night After Night CD on Ebay. If you're interested go to my auctions using the link below. UK is the sixth one down.

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thanks!
brad cook
 
#30
Originally posted by Peter McFerrin
Speedwagon? Boston?

Dude, I'm really sorry. You guys must have been seriously deprived down there. Don't tell me Styx is venerated, too...
Click to expand...


Theres some good bass playin in alot of Reo Speedwagon's tunes, Bruce Hall's way under-rated, just listen to his work on time for me to fly.

Great bass lines in the boston stuff too.
 
#31
I was just reminded of something from my past:
I went to an audition when I was in college that turned out to be a drummer and a violinist who were on some kind of fusion kick. Well, yours truly, coming from the Grand Funk/Black Sabbath school of thought was getting overwhelmed. I was listening to a lot of KC back then, and I decided to "pull out my best John Wetton" for the duration. I didn't make the band, but it was an interesting jam, and they thanked me for coming. I had forgotten how much I listened to him at one point in my life. Hey, they didn't throw me out! :cool:
 
#32
Great thread - it's good to see mention of all those early KC albums. I'm touring next month, opening for the 21st Century Schizoid Band, which is Peter and Michael Giles, Ian McDonald, Mel Collins and Jakko Jakzsyk (sp?), playing lots of very early Crimson material, as well as some new stuff... I'm looking forward to listening to them almost as much as I am looking forward to playing! :)

cheers

Steve
www.steve-lawson.co.uk
 
#35
DigMe,

I'm opening with a solo set, on 7 of the 9 UK dates (the other two I couldn't do as I was already booked to play at the London Guitar festival...)

I'm SO looking forward to it - there'll certainly be links to reviews from my website, so I'll try and remember to post them here too! :o)

the gig list is on my site, for anyone in the UK who wants to go...

cheers

Steve
www.steve-lawson.co.uk
 
#36
In 1979, UK did NOT dissolve. Allan Holdsworth and Bill Bruford left the band to involve into Bruford's new project, with a new-coming bass player called... Jeff Berlin.

In the UK band, Bruford was replaced by Terry Bozzio, and Holdsworth was not replaced. The album of this trio version of the band, "Danger money", is a masterpiece.

I agree that John Wetton, though underrated, is a major bass player through the 70's, and at least a bit of the 80's.

You may check his official website :
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All the best,
 
#37
I think the first album is better than Danger Money. Bruford is a more tasteful drummer than Bozzio in my opinion and the songs are better. Also...Wetton gets a bit cheesy with the lyrics in Danger Money, but that's just Wetton being Wetton.

brad cook
 
#38
Well, it's just a matter of personal taste, uh ;)

I prefer "Danger money" because the musicians play in a less technical way (less "demonstrative"), I love the "dark" general ambience of this album, and at last, I find the global sound of the album is better than that of the 1st one.

But once again, it's my taste.

All the best,
 
#39
I'm finding this discussion rather amusing since John Wetton played our local theatre last year (I live in rather a small "hick" town in South East England)... My friend Howard Werth (Audience) was support that night and John W turned up just in the nick of time after having to do a huge detour due to Foot and Mouth. Good gig, his guitarist was very impressive. Sorry, no idea who that was. I believe John W is due for a return gig sometime soon.

I'm playing with Howard this weekend :eek: Much practice required...
 
#40
if you guys dig red era king crimson, you should check out a swedish band named anekdoten. they have a similar lineup - bass, guitar, drums and cello with the occasional mellotron, and their first album is very similar in general sound to that era of kc. they've since grown into a very unique sound, with familliar kc-ish undertones. sorta primus-y at times, with much better vocals.

they have a web page...

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check out the samples for the first 2 songs of vemod, their first album, they have them on their web page.
 

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