With the line-up change and touring pressures, King Crimson were short of newly written material to record for this album. Having increased their level of onstage improvisation while touring, they used new compositions performed in concert for this 1974 released album, in some cases blending the live recordings with studio recordings.

• Limited Edition
• 200 Gram Super-Heavyweight Vinyl
• Newly Cut from Masters approved by Robert Fripp
• Cut by John Dent at Loud Mastering
• Featuring the Original 1974 Stereo Mix
• Reproduction of Original Gatefold Cover Artwork

Starless And Bible Black is the eighth in a series of audiophile King Crimson vinyl reissues and completes the availability of the band's studio output from 1969/74 on 200 gram vinyl editions. Newly cut from masters approved by Robert Fripp, this super-heavyweight vinyl re-issue is housed in a reprint of the original gatefold sleeve. The first run of this edition contains a bonus limited time MP3 codes giving access to a download of a transfer of an original 1974 pressing.

Much of this 1974 album was recorded live but was edited and blended with studio material. In 1973, percussionist Jamie Muir left the band and the band's drummer, Bill Bruford, took on the duties of percussion.

With the line-up change and touring pressures, King Crimson were short of newly written material to record for this album. Having increased their level of onstage improvisation while touring, they used new compositions performed in concert for this 1974 released album, in some cases blending the live recordings with studio recordings.

Released between the startling re-invention of Larks' Tongues In Aspic and the far-reaching repercussions of Red, when it comes to assessments of the King Crimson canon, Starless And Bible Black has often been overlooked. Yet even a cursory listen reveals this to be a powerful record, brimming with confidence born out of the band's increasing mastery of the concert platform.

Though the public wasn't necessarily aware of it when it was originally released in March 1974, Starless And Bible Black was in essence largely a live album, an experimental hybrid of in-concert material (much of it improvised) and studio recordings. Often the two are so finely dovetailed together it's difficult to tell them apart.

Only two tracks on the record ("The Great Deceiver" and "Lament") were fully recorded in the studio. "The Night Watch" contained a live introduction, while the instrumental backing to "The Mincer" was excised from an in-concert improvisation with vocals overdubbed later. The rest of the tracks were taken from concert recordings from the UK and Europe with the audience carefully edited out.

Starless And Bible Black demanded the attention and concentration of the listener. Crimson's audience responded to the challenge, making it a much loved album by the band. As with the other recordings by the mid 1970s line-up, the intervening years have seen the album's reputation increase among fans and musicians alike, while the then unusual approach to using live performances as core elements of subsequent studio recordings has also become increasingly commonplace.

Robert Fripp once talked about an album being a love-letter and a concert a hot date. Arguably, Starless And Bible Black combined the best of both worlds, making it the most accurate representation of the band's uniquely powerful mid-70s identity.

Musicians:

David Cross (violin, viola, mellotron, electric piano)
Robert Fripp (guitar, mellotron, electric piano)
John Wetton (bass, vocals)
Bill Bruford (percussion)

Track Listing:

Side A
1. The Great Deceiver
2. Lament
3. We'll Let You Know (instrumental)
4. The Night Watch
5. Trio (instrumental)
6. The Mincer

Side B
7. Starless and Bible Black (instrumental)
8. Fracture (instrumental)

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