Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[3]

USA is a live album by the English progressive rock band King Crimson, released in April 1975, some seven months after they had disbanded.[4] It was recorded at the Casino, Asbury Park, New Jersey, on 28 June 1974, except “21st Century Schizoid Man”, which was recorded at the Palace Theatre, Providence, Rhode Island, United States, on 30 June 1974. The live recording was performed by George Chkiantz and David Hewitt using the Record Plant Remote Truck. Violin and electric piano overdubs were added to three tracks at Olympic Studios, London in early 1975 and Chkiantz mixed the album at Olympic with Robert Fripp and John Wetton.

The album opens with a brief excerpt of "The Heavenly Music Corporation" from (No Pussyfooting), an experimental album which Robert Fripp had recorded with musician and producer Brian Eno in 1972. While it was not listed as a separate track on the original album, it is present on all releases.

Eddie Jobson, then a member of fellow E.G. artists Roxy Music along with Wetton, performed violin overdubs on “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic (Part II)” and “21st Century Schizoid Man” and electric piano on “Lament” to improve the poor sound quality of the original parts played by David Cross, who had been fired from the group shortly after the live recordings were made.

“Asbury Park” and “Easy Money” were edited to about half their original lengths for the LP release. The unedited versions were released digitally on DGMLive.com in 2005, along with the rest of the show in its original running order.

Original vinyl releases contain audio content in both the lead-in grooves to both sides of the album, and in side two's run-out groove. In the latter case, the audience's applause following "21st Century Schizoid Man" continues through side two's final locked groove, causing the applause to continue on manual turntables as long as the phonograph needle remains on the record.

There have been four releases of the album:

  1. Original vinyl release in 1975. Includes tracks 1 - 6 (although track 1 & 2 are combined) with Eddie Jobson's overdubs.
  2. 30th Anniversary Remaster released 2002. Added tracks 8 & 9 to original release, credited track 1.
  3. 2005 mix from the original multi-track tapes by Ronan Chris Murphy at DGM HQ. Released as download from dgmlive.com in 2005 and on CD as disc two of The Collectable King Crimson, Vol. 1 in 2006. This edition is now the full Asbury Park concert, without Jobson's overdubs, and in the proper running order. Includes all tracks, with the uncut versions of "Asbury Park" and "Easy Money"; "21st Century Schizoid Man" is moved to be the last track and is now the version from Asbury Park rather than Providence.
  4. 2013 mix from the original multi-track tapes by Robert Fripp, Tony Arnold and David Singleton at the Courthouse, Cranborne, Dorset. Same track order and versions as release #3. Splits the improv at the end of "Easy Money" into its own track. This mix is available on The Road to Red and the 40th Anniversary edition of USA.

Cover

The cover is a photograph by British fashion photographer and film director Willie Christie, who also photographed the cover of the Fripp & Eno (No Pussyfooting) album. The idea for the cover came from Wetton and was inspired by the Statue of Liberty. [5]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part II)"Fripp6:45
2."Lament"Fripp, Wetton, Palmer-James4:05
3."Exiles"Cross, Fripp, Palmer-James7:04
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
4."Asbury Park"Cross, Fripp, Wetton, Bruford6:50
5."Easy Money"Fripp, Wetton, Palmer-James6:32
6."21st Century Schizoid Man"Fripp, McDonald, Lake, Giles, Sinfield7:32
2002 CD reissue
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Walk On... No Pussyfooting"Eno, Fripp0:35
2."Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part II)"Fripp6:25
3."Lament"Fripp, Wetton, Palmer-James4:22
4."Exiles"Cross, Fripp, Palmer-James7:24
5."Asbury Park"Cross, Fripp, Wetton, Bruford6:54
6."Easy Money"Fripp, Wetton, Palmer-James7:12
7."21st Century Schizoid Man"Fripp, McDonald, Lake, Giles, Sinfield8:11
8."Fracture"Fripp11:20
9."Starless"Cross, Fripp, Wetton, Bruford, Palmer-James14:55

Personnel

King Crimson
Additional musician
Production personnel

Charts

Chart (1975) Peak
position
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[7] 52
US Billboard 200[8] 125

References

  1. ^ Strong, Martin Charles (1995). Great Rock Discography. Canongate Press. p. 460. ISBN 978-0-86241-541-9.
  2. ^ Planer, Lindsay (2011). "USA - King Crimson | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  3. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: K". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved 28 February 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  4. ^ King Crimson - USA Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic, retrieved 29 October 2023
  5. ^ "USA - the Long View". 3 November 2016.
  6. ^ "USA - The Long View". DGM Live. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  7. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  8. ^ "King Crimson Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
Allikas: Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_(King_Crimson_album)
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