King Crimson - Larks’ Tongues In Aspic Part II (The Noise - Live At Fréjus 1982)

Ah, here we return to King Crimson in full flight, back in 1982. Looks suspiciously like we’re having fun in my ‘spiritual home with a bed of nails’. In 1982, confidence was sky high. We were pretty sure we were one of the better bands on the block with an interesting perspective on how and what rock musicians should be doing, and what they should be doing it with. Lots of boobams, electronic drums, stick bass, guitar synthesisers, out-board effects processors and pink suits would all be in the mix. I’m playing double bass drums: the one on my left foot is a Simmons trash-metal ‘bass drum’, prominent here at 3’32”. The slashing 3-3-2-2 figure that begins the thing has links to Igor Stravinsky’s work. In musicologist Andrew Keeling’s words “[The 10/8 metre] bears some similarity to the ‘Auguries of Spring’ from [Stravinsky’s] the ‘Rite of Spring’ and Bartok’s ‘Bulgarian Dance No 153’ from ‘Mikrokosmos VI’, and… the theme music for the TV series ‘Mission Impossible’” (Keeling, A. A Musical Guide to Larks’ Tongues in Aspic. Spaceward, Cambridge. ) A good example, then, of how multiple music influences could and did seep into rock music in a receptive and adventurous decade such as the 1970s, when this piece was written. How did I feel when I played big places? Was I nervous? The more people on stage, of course, the more places to hide. If you’re at the back of seven people or more and your name is not on the Marquee, there’s not much you need to worry about. On the other hand, a hundred knowledgeable listeners plus the critic from the New York Times at the Blue Note, NYC, on an evening of ‘your’ music with ‘your’ band; then that, nearly, became insurmountable in my later years. Paradoxically, the larger the venue and audience, the less forensically detailed is the attention given to what’s actually happening on stage. Impressive train-wrecks up there can go seemingly unnoticed by whole sections of a large crowd. King Crimson was mid-level attraction. It wasn’t my band or music, but I was heavily invested. Audiences could be large, but generally not so large that close attention was impossible. So we had both attention and decent hotels. No complaints! #billbruford #drummer #tamadrums #yes #earthworks #jazzdrummer #kingcrimson #paistecymbals #drumsolos #electronicdrumkit