DGM & Panegyric are presenting the 50th anniversary edition of the King Crimson classic album Red. A 2 Blu-ray + 2 CD edition features completely new Dolby Atmos, 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio Surround & Stereo mixes by Steven Wilson taking the music to new levels of clarity & power. Red was one of the earliest mixes undertaken by Steven Wilson in 2009 & King Crimson was the first of a number of classic bands & artists to be mixed by Steven so it’s entirely appropriate that he return, some 15 years later, to take the album into the Dolby Atmos era.
“What I hear on Red is the best representation of 72-74 era line-up in the studio. In effect this is a power trio record and their sound is just huge.” – Steven Wilson
Also featured are a complete album’s worth of Elemental Mixes by long-time King Crimson producer (& band manager) David Singleton – using the original multi-track recordings to present a very different audio picture of the album, with greater separation of instruments & utilizing many recorded elements recorded for, but not included in, the original mixes.
As King Crimson biographer Sid Smith puts it in his new notes for the album: “David Singleton’s elemental mixes pull the veil aside on the original sessions and act as a kind of alternative account, a Red that could have been, revealing the different passes and takes that the band undertook as well as those Collins, Charig and McDonald as they engaged with the material”.
Multiple new to disc tracks & studio takes – representing all material to survive from the recording sessions have also been mixed &/or mastered for inclusion, making this the most comprehensive overview of the album to be released.
Red was recorded immediately after King Crimson’s final US tour of 1974 & the anniversary edition reflects that by including all three Hi-Res Stereo mixes of the live album USA in its full concert versions. Also included are a quintet of audio restored bootlegs being issued on disc for the first time, alongside a bootleg of the band’s final US concert in New York in 1974 which Robert Fripp claimed was: “the first gig since the 1969 Crimson where the bottom of my spine registered ‘out of this world’ to the same degree.”
In the decades since its release, Red has gone from being an album that was, upon release, under-promoted – as the band had already split up, to being one of the most lauded albums of its era & (after In The Court of the Crimson King), King Crimson’s biggest selling album. Writing in The Mojo Collection in 2000, John Bungey assessed Red as, “That rarest of records, the sound of a line-up quitting while ahead.”
By the time King Crimson entered the studio in July 74, the band had spent the best part of two years on the road, recorded two albums along the way (Larks’ Tongues In Aspic & Starless & Bible Black) & shed two band members en route; percussionist Jamie Muir having quit early 1973, and violin/mellotron player David Cross at the end of the US tour just a week prior to the recording of Red.
Crimson had built a reputation as one of the tightest, most powerful bands on the rock circuit. Recording as a trio in Olympic studios in London, with one improv piece (Providence) drawn from that final US tour & with contributions from former members & friends on saxophones, violin, and oboe, the group produced the last Crimson studio album of the 70s & one of the decade’s masterpieces – Red.
Red emerged as a distillation of everything Crimson had been working towards live & in the studio between 72 and 74. In the half century since its release it has built an enviable, enduring reputation among fans & professional musicians alike – with bands from each succeeding decade citing it as an important influence.
Album notes:
• 50th Anniversary editions of King Crimson’s classic 1974 album
• 4 disc boxed set with 2 x Blu-ray & 2CDs
• 2 x Blu-rays featuring completely new mixes of the album in Dolby Atmos, 5.1 DTS-HD MA Surround & Hi-Res Stereo by Steven Wilson, New Elemental Mixes in Hi-Res Stereo by David Singleton, a number of extra tracks drawn from the existing sessions reels mixed by David Singleton, all three mixes of the live album USA in Hi-Res Stereo, 5 audio restored bootleg concert recordings from the 1974 US tour making their debut on disc & the audio restored bootleg of the band’s final US show in Central Park NYC on July 1st, 1974
• 2 x CDs feature new Stereo + instrumental mixes by Steven Wilson & new Elemental Mixes & a sequence of studio recordings detailing the making of ‘Starless’ mixed by David Singleton
• Presented as two vinyl replica sleeves in a rigid slipcase with booklet including photos & new sleeve-notes by King Crimson Biographer Sid Smith
Whilst mixing the album for Dolby Atmos, Steven Wilson also prepared new stereo & 5.1 mixes. Those new stereo mixes are what appears as LP1 of this 2LP set. LP2 consists of a complete album’s worth of Elemental Mixes by long-time King Crimson producer (& band manager) David Singleton – using the original multi-track recordings to present a very different audio picture of the album, with greater separation of instruments & utilizing many recorded elements recorded for, but not included in, the original mixes.
Preorder at burningshed.com/kingcrimson.
Tracklisting:
CD1 – 2024 Mixes and Additional Material
“Red
“Fallen Angel
“One More Red Nightmare
“Providence
“Starless
Additional Material
2024 Instrumental Mixes
“Fallen Angel
“One More Red Nightmare
“Starless – Edit”
Produced and Mixed by Steven Wilson
“Providence - Complete Track”*
Produced and Mixed by Robert Fripp and David Singleton
CD2 – Elemental Mixes and Session Material
“Red”
“Fallen Angel”
“One More Red Nightmare”
“Starless – Percussion”
“Starless”
The Making of Starless
“Starless – Mellotron”
“Starless - Three Saxophones”
“Starless - Basic Take”
“Starless - Sax Solos”
“Starless - Cornet and Guitar Solos”
“Starless - Cornet takes”
Produced and Mixed by David Singleton
Blu-Ray 1
USA
1 June 28th, 1974, Casino Arena, NJ
DTS-HD MA 24/192 Stereo, 2013 Mix
Mixed by Robert Fripp, David Singleton and Tony Arnold
June 28th, 1974, Casino Arena, NJ
24/48 Stereo, 2005 Mix
Mixed by Ronan Chris Murphy
24/96 Stereo, 30th Anniversary Mix
June 28th, 1974, Casino Arena, NJ
24/48 Stereo, Original album mix
A Crimson Production, Remastered by Simon Heyworth and Robert Fripp, 2001
II USA Tour Concerts
24/48 Stereo
April 17th, 1974, Muthers, Nashville, TN
April 20th, 1974, Hollywood Sportatorium, Miami, FL
May 1st, 1974, Felt Forum, New York, NY
June 4th, 1974, Municipal Auditorium, San Antonio, Texas, TX
June 19th, 1974, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, CA
The Final US Concert
24/48 Stereo
July 1st, 1974, Central Park, New York, NY
Blu-Ray 2
Red – 2024 mixes and additional material
