Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
King Crimson‘s ‘Earthbound – 45th Anniversary Edition‘ Expanded CD & DVD is now available for pre-order and will be released on November 17th.
The original 1972 ‘Earthbound’ album was one of the earliest (many dispute the first) “official bootleg” released by a major rock band, consisting of a series of deliberately lo-fi live recordings of King Crimson‘s Islands-era lineup on tour in the U.S. The record was ignored by most charts while Atlantic Records in the U.S. didn’t even bother to release it.
By then, the band had broken up and the label had already been made aware of the likelihood of a new King Crimson line-up promised to surface later that year. Like the later live album, USA, Earthbound remained unavailable in the early CD era, with both finally being released on CD in 2002.
The new version of ‘Earthbound‘ features an expanded version of the original album on CD & DVD. As a series of stereo-only/low-fi recordings, a 5.1 edition was neither possible nor appropriate. However, also included on the DVD of this release is the full performance from Summit Studios, captured on the same U.S. tour in 1972, appearing in both new stereo and quadraphonic mixes, providing the only live surround recordings of this lineup.
This release also features 15 minutes of material not included on the original mailorder-only CD of Summit Studios as issued by DGM Live in 2000. The DVD also features the “Schizoid Men” sequence from the ‘Ladies Of The Road’ live album and a transfer of a 1972 vinyl edition of the ‘Earthbound’ LP.
The line-up for King Crimson on these recordings consists of:
Boz Burrell: Vocals, Bass
Robert Fripp: Guitar, Mellotron
Mel Collins: Saxes, Flute
Ian Wallace: Drums
To pre-order King Crimson‘s ‘Earthbound – 45th Anniversary Edition‘ Expanded CD & DVD, head here.
