Cheap King Crimson: Eyes Wide Open (DVD) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of King Crimson: Eyes Wide Open

That said, I am enjoying this DVD very much. The band remains an interesting live act, and the performances captured herein are exciting, intense, and different from what other bands are able to do with electronic guitars and drums. I particularly enjoy Adrian Belew's contributions - he has been and remains a great musician, and this band challenges him unlike what another band could.

The two concerts are quite good, but what really makes this a 5-star DVD and must-see is the "Improvising Crimson" section on Disc 2, which features roughly 10 song-length improvisations from different cities done by the band on their 2000 tour. THIS is what this band is and was about, and to see the improvs one after the other is a fairly awesome musical experience. Generally Mastellato and Gunn establish a nice groove of electronic drums and touch bass, Fripp does some typically intense soloing, and Belew plays staggering, creative, scarifying inside-out amplified blues from space. Belew's soloing on some of these tracks is music at the highest level. The band as well as Adrian reach some real heights on these improvised sections. I don't think there's another living guitarist who could play the rather amazing solos that Adrian plays.

Intimate, less intense view of the KING
My favorite era of Crimson had long been the early 70's (LARK'S and RED). It wasn't until 1995 that I got to see them live, and that double trio band I think was the BEST (and even then the high points of the show were killer performances from those 70's albums). But that THRAK tour renewed my love for these guys. The video LIVE IN JAPAN from that tour is definitly five star. The band was at a fresh peak, and the amount of sound from the six of them makes this EYES WIDE OPEN recording seem pale (but also more intimate) in comparison. I also miss the personalities of Bruford and Levin on stage here.

That being said this DVD while not great is very good nonetheless. The two concerts (Japan 2003 and London 2000) are great with the band and audience in top form and having fun. Some highlights for me were having Belew sing Three Of A Perfect Pair solo, acoustic. Also lots of nice close-ups of Fripp playing leads in London. Also the Power To Believe theme that runs through the Japan show is what makes Crimson great.

Compared to LIVE IN JAPAN, the filming of these shows is more intimate and accessible but also less artistic and intense.

No OVERDUBS PRESENT
i am an experienced guitarist of many years and record with professional equipment;therfore i am familiar with many guitar effects and a lot of the type of things crimson uses. i watched this very closely several times to see what the other review was refering to as overdubbed guitar solos of adrian, and i am confident that i have seen none. what i THINK the reviewer might be refering to are a few parts where adrian uses a reversing effect, in which everything you play is held in a processor's memory and reversed, then played a few miliseconds later. so you have to play a little bit ahead of the time signature, then what the viewer hears is a few seconds behind what your hands are doing. it takes a lot of skill to use this effect properly. this is not a trick or overdoub. it is a very common studio technique that is not often used live. i saw no evidence of any use of overdubbing. everything heard appeared by my experience to be played at the moment by one of the musicians on stage. i think this is an excellent dvd for any crimson fans and is fabulous material. they are vastly beyond most musicians in many ways, least of which being skill. i dont mean to contradict the other reviewer, but i am confident of what i say and i just wanted to offer my observation to others who might be deterred from this dvd because of such a thing. blessings, and enjoy =)