King Crimson Announce Live Album From U.S. Tour

King Crimson announced a double live album, featuring recordings made during their recent U.S. tour, that will be released on Nov. 19.

Titled Music Is Our Friend – as was the tour – the LP includes the band’s full performance at the last date in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, with four additional tracks taken from their appearance in Albany, N.Y., on Aug. 22. “Featuring fresh perspectives on classic material recorded during a tour that took place despite almost insurmountable issues, Music Is Our Friend is an official bootleg featuring all of King Crimson’s stunning final performance in North America," reads a statement.

“Taken together, these tracks represent both a beginning and an end of a tour that took place despite almost insurmountable issues. By the time King Crimson reached Washington, the band was in ferocious form with a powerful, energetic set with some arrangements reworked and differing from previous tours. Featuring a restored middle section of ‘Larks’ Tongues in Aspic Part One’ that had not been played since 1973, substantial keyboard arrangements, Tony Levin on upright bass during ‘Neurotica’ giving the piece an extra swing, there’s an emotional set closer, ‘Starless,’ and an immensely powerful ‘21st Century Schizoid Man’ as an encore.”

The Albany show was delivered in a “Friends and Family” format to offer “a more intimate feel,” the statement noted. “As befits a small venue and invited audience, the sound and pacing provide an opportunity to hear a run of material not played in Washington due to time constraints.”

You can see the track listing for Music Is Our Friend below.

The announcement also included a quote from bandleader Robert Fripp, who said: “A completion is a new beginning” – perhaps referring to singer and guitarist Jakko Jakszyk’s recent comments. In August he told UCR: “Management has said it's very unlikely we'll be back in America. I think they thought announcing it as a kind of farewell tour was a tacky device, and something you end up potentially regretting if you change your mind. But in essence, as I understand it, this'll be the last time we play here.”

King Crimson, 'Music Is Our Friend’ Track Listing
CD 1
1. Introductory Soundscape
2. The Hell Hounds Of Krim
3. Larks' Tongues In Aspic Part I
4. Pictures Of A City
5. The Court Of The Crimson King
6. Red
7. Tony Cadenza Deals It Slitheryacious-To-The-Max
8. Neurotica
9. One More Red Nightmare
10. Indiscipline

CD 2
1. Epitaph
2. Radical Action II
3. Level Five
4. Starless
5. 21st Century Schizoid Man
6. Tony Cadenza Serves It Piping Hot
7. Discipline
8. Larks' Tongues In Aspic Part II
9. Islands