Ah yes, how can any music historian NOT crack a wry smile when discussing Earthbound? It pulls off the neat trick of achieving consensus in the stubbornly diverse field of rock criticism, to be nigh-universally agreed upon as one of the worst live albums to ever be released by an otherwise worthy band. You can put a tick-mark by every box on the checklist: legendarily bad sound-quality, indifferent/awful performances, and inexplicably perverse song selections combined with a brief running time. (Yeah, it's like the old joke about the restaurant: "The food is terrible! And the portions are so small!")
The reason you're seeing a lot of defensive four star reviews for Earthbound here on Amazon (most on the page devoted to the now-deleted "30th Anniversary Edition" - there is no substantive difference between this version and that one) is twofold. Firstly, it was unavailable on CD for a very long time, which inevitably increased its mystique. Secondly, devoted Crimson fans can point to one unambiguously magnificent moment on Earthbound, one cut which in our minds almost redeems the whole mess, awful sound quality and all. And that's the opening performance of "21st Century Schizoid Man." On this one cut I can happily join with everyone else here: it is truly the most monstrous, enraged runthrough of the Crimson classic ever recorded or released. Even with the godawful overloaded sound quality (in fact maybe partly because of it!) it is the definitive version: this is it, the alpha-omega of their most important early track. In fact, I'm tempted to hear Fripp's psychotic soloing here as a cathartic expression of his frustrations with the band; never before have I heard a man curse so loudly and obscenely using only an electric guitar.
But you know what? "Schizoid Man" aside, I'm not going to join many other reviewers here in attempting to refute Earthbound's awful reputation. Even as an obsessive-compulsive collector of everything Crimson has ever released, I have to admit...man, this album sucks. There's no way around it, no way to avoid the giant Hoover Vacuum ominously lurking in the corner of the room.
The facts are these: Earthbound was angrily compiled by Robert Fripp as a contractual obligation in 1972, when his label demanded product. The anger didn't just stem from his label's compulsion; he had an extremely sour view of the Islands-era band (which he felt lacked the avant-garde temperament of the original edition) and he was also still irked over their semi-revolt during the '72 tour, where they took control of shows with their blues/jazz predilections and penchant for goofing off. This resulted in a release that was EXPLICITLY intended as a bitter documentary joke: "Schizoid Man," a brusquely edited version of "The Sailor's Tale" (a cerebral high point of the band that most would have preferred uncut), two incredibly boring BLUES jams from band not exactly known for their blues chops, and (ah, irony) a gloriously UNedited monstrosity of agonizing noise known as "Groon." The first 10 seconds of it bore some resemblance to the obscure B-side of the same name, the rest of it was probably meant by Fripp as an outright DEMAND AT GUNPOINT that you get up right now and lift the stylus from the vinyl.
The title? It ain't accidental. This was Fripp's unsubtle way of declaring "Man, this band sucked! We were forever chained to the ground, unable to break free." (Thus the two redundant blues instrumentals, which would otherwise be inexplicable.) Now why would he release an album like this, given that he was one of the performers on it, and the steward of the Crimson name? Well, if you're asking that question, then you don't know Bob Fripp. That's just the sort of demonstrative fellow he is. Remember, this is a guy who held onto his circa-1970 grudge with Gordon Haskell with such tenacity that he erased both his voice (on "Cadence And Cascade") AND his bass playing (on "Bolero") out of the Frame By Frame "official history" boxed set back in 1991. No, Earthbound was a very methodical album, assembled by a man with an agenda and a warped sense of humor. It's the Crimso version of Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music.
But the reason I'm not laughing at Fripp's performance-art "joke" is because a live Islands-era retrospective didn't have to be this poor at all. This album is unfair, INTENTIONALLY unfair, to the band's legacy. Fripp himself mellowed out considerably about this band long ago, and has since made available TONS of great-sounding, well-performed material from the Islands band that gives the lie to the "thesis" of Earthbound. That's the kicker: it's not as if the only live documents of the 1971-1972 band were these godawful cassette tape masters. No, Crimson fans have since been able to purchase (via both the Collector's Club and dgmlive) A+ sound quality soundboards from both years, featuring great performances from everyone (Boz included!) that put this band in its proper context.
So I guess that's the real "joke" behind Earthbound. As Fripp has proven here, you can make ANY band look utterly hapless and stupid if you make a point to only (mostly) show them at their worst and least engaging.
If you want to really understand what this iteration of King Crimson was about, then don't look here. Go instead and buy the 2CD "Ladies Of The Road," which devotes its first disc to excellent soundboard-quality performances of their best work and its second to a hilarious notional reconstruction of a 60 minute long (!!) performance of "Schizoid Man" using only excerpts from tapes on the Earthbound tour (including part of the "Schizoid Man" featured here). This record is only for the completists. I'm a completist myself, and I'm glad I own it (again: if you really like "21st Century Schizoid Man," then you could justifiably erect a shrine to this one), but everyone else can stay away knowing they're not missing anything at all.
Bad Sound Or Not, "Earthbound" is a Fascinating Live Set
A bitter joke played by Robert Fripp on the listening public
5 tracks
