King Crimson - USA

Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition contains CD plus DVD! 

King Crimson's USA was originally issued in 1975 and marked the final statement by the band's incendiary mid-1970s incarnation.

The 40th Anniversary set contains a CD with completely new stereo album mix of the full concert by Robert Fripp and David Singleton, while the DVD features High Resolution Stereo mixes (24bit/96kHz) of all three editions of the concert album.

The anniversary set is presented as a double digi-pack in a slipcase with Sid Smith sleeve notes, rare photos and archive material.

USA is a live album recorded towards the end of King Crimson's final U.S. tour of the '70s in June 1974. It was issued as an epitaph for the band in Spring 1975 as a single album. Its critical reputation grew immeasurably in the intervening years to the point where a review of the 21st Century Guide to King Crimson boxed set in 2004 identified the album as the point "...where Fripp maps out the guitar blueprint for the entire post-punk movement."

If that claim sounds somewhat exaggerated, a casual listen to the opening minutes of the album where the ethereal 'walk on...' tape of Fripp and Eno's "No Pussyfooting" gives way to the sonic assault of "Larks' II" — provides ample evidence to back up the claim. It's also worth noting the audience response to the band — especially at the end of "Starless," a piece that had yet to be recorded in the studio at that point.

The King Crimson 40th Anniversary series format — the USA CD/DVD — features a previously unreleased mix of the Asbury Park concert that formed the bulk of the original album, while the DVD features Hi-Res stereo versions of that mix, Ronan Chris Murphy's mix of the concert (issued on CD in 2006) and the expanded version of the original vinyl album as issued in 2002. 

Uniquely, of the releases in this series, USA is presented in Hi-resolution stereo only, not 5.1 Surround, as Robert Fripp decided that the live power of the quartet is best experienced in stereo sound. 

Musicians:
Robert Fripp, guitar and mellotron
David Cross, violin and keyboards
John Wetton, bass and voice
Bill Bruford, percussives