Burn him...burn him...what DARK FORCES be he MEDDLING WITH (etc)
fdoddy@aol.com wrote:
>
>
> You wanna hear heresy? I don't even own that album...never have.
>
> fritz
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Dickson <mike.dickson@ gmail.com>
> To: newmellotrongroup@ yahoogroups. com
> Sent: Fri, Oct 16, 2009 12:57 pm
> Subject: [newmellotrongroup] Court
>
>
> This may sound like heresy....
>
> Does anyone else have the new 40th anniversary edition of 'In The
> Court of the Crimson King'? I do (as you may expect) and believe it or
> not, what has been done to it in terms of sonic quality is astounding.
> It's even better than the 30th anniversary edition (which I thought
> was outstanding) and comes with some really good extras too.
>
> But.
>
> To me, the biggie on this album was always 'Epitaph'. It was really
> this track that showed me the way and pointed me at a style of music I
> don't think anyone else in the genre has come /close /to equalling.
> And it was always the Mellotron that did it. Everything else in the
> track was great, but the piercing shreik of the Mellotron propelled it
> from being a /fairly/ standard minor key tune into something really
> magical.
>
> Which begs the question: /what the shiny blue fuck has happened here?
> /I was listening to the track again today having had a feeling of loss
> in a couple of previous listens, and have suddenly found out where it
> was coming from. Or not. At the close of the first chorus the
> Mellotron climbs to the top E as well all know...and never gets there.
> The note is /not there/. One note. Big deal, you may say, but it is a
> /sublime /note. As Fripp himself has droned, you '/can play any note
> they like provided it's the right one/'. And this is the right one.
> It's sweet and perfect and rounds off the chorus perfectly. So why is
> it omitted. It's even in tune!
>
> Worse is to come. /That pitch bend. /My 14 year old jaw dropped on
> hearing it for the first time. I think I destroyed my first copy by
> dropping the needle onto at point again and again and again. It is a
> fantastic, blood-curdling hair-on-the- back-of-the- neck experience. And
> on the 40th anniversary set it is /sludged out/. The crescendo behind
> it absolutely overwhelms it to the extent that you can hear the trick;
> one Mellotron plays a crescendo climbing 'flat' to E-minor whilst the
> other one bends up to it. Expert fading on the original ensured that
> the /effect /was heard but that the squeak of strings ratcheted up
> like that /was not/. It's a superb moment. And you can barely hear it
> on the new release.
>
> Has anyone else noticed this or any other weirdness/ It's the only
> track I have listened to in such detail so far, which makes me a tad
> scared for the rest now. Actually, I'm playing it now and the clarity
> of the piece now makes it sound like Mike Giles banging on timpani in
> a studio, not the far-off and distant /sound of doom /that I know so
> well. Maybe less is nore. Perhaps Fripp has /tinkered beyond. /Perhaps
> I'll ask him.
>
> Musical choices aside, the sound quality is to be heard and
> disbelieved. A friend with a good 5:1 system says that 21CSM is like
> having the band play in your front room. It's that good.
> --
>
> Mike Dickson, Edinburgh
>
>
>
> Free Music Project: http://www.mikedick son.org.uk/
>
> Or http://www.last. fm/music/ Mike+Dickson
>
> Or http://soundcloud. com/mikedickson
>
> Or http://www.planetme llotron.com/ revd4.htm# mikedickson
>
> You
>
>
--
Mike Dickson, Edinburgh
Free Music Project:
http://www.mikedick son.org.uk/ Or
http://www.last. fm/music/ Mike+DicksonOr
http://soundcloud. com/mikedicksonOr
http://www.planetme llotron.com/ revd4.htm# mikedickson