At last: King Crimson in surround

The U.S. release dates are finally official for the first batch of KC on DVD-A (yes, DVD-Audio): Sept. 22 for Red, Oct. 13 for In the Court of the Crimson King, and Oct. 27 for Lizard. And as we reported some time ago, the surround mixes are indeed by Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson, with Crimson king Robert Fripp serving as executive producer.

The announcement came on KC's Web site, dgmlive.com, and it was just updated yesterday.

I'll let the DGM post speak for itself. Here's the direct link. (The dates there are for the U.K.)

Stay tuned to the print edition of Sound & Vision for special expanded coverage of these releases, as well as other surround titles coming soon — including Porcupine Tree's new studio album, The Incident, due Sept. 22.

— Ken Richardson

Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson: Superstar!

. . . or so you might surmise from the high-profile placements he's been getting in the press lately. As you know, we here at Sound & Vision have been longtime supporters of Steven Wilson and his modern progressive-rock band Porcupine Tree, especially owing to their interest in high-resolution reproduction and surround sound. (For a list of interviews, articles, and reviews, simply enter Porcupine Tree in our search window.) So it's especially gratifying to see Wilson popping up prominently in other magazines these days.

First, he's on the cover of the current issue (March 2009) of EM: Electronic Musician. Inside is a substantial interview focusing on Wilson's new solo album, Insurgentes. You can read the interview here. And after you finish the final screen, be sure to click on the "Extended Interview" link.

What's more, the current issue (April 4, 2009) of Billboard has Wilson's byline on an "Opinion" article called "The Album Is Alive." Subtitle: "Technology Doesn't Mean the End for Extended Work — or Artistic Packaging." You can read the editorial here.

Meanwhile, this year — like every year  — will continue to be a busy one for Wilson. First up: the initial pair of King Crimson reissues, Lizard and Red, which he has remixed in surround (more details to come). Next up: a new Porcupine Tree studio album, expected this fall, supported by a tour.

— Ken Richardson

PTree in action, Crimson in surround!

I just got word from Porcupine Tree's manager, Andy Leff, that the band has the following release dates scheduled for 2008:

March: acoustic album
May: Lightbulb Sun (shown above left) in surround
September: live album
November: Steven Wilson's "sprawling" first solo album

Busy, busy, busy! The customary proviso: Whereas those dates are pretty solid, they're not locked-in 100%.

Meanwhile, as if that weren't news enough, Leff also tells me that he's now handling King Crimson and "working on getting the entire catalog reissued in 5.1," hopefully with mixes done by . . . Steven Wilson! Currently, Leff and Wilson are "waiting on Robert Fripp [who guested on PT's Fear of a Blank Planet and Nil Recurring] to hear Steven's work on some of the older KC stuff before he gives us the green light to proceed."

Just imagine the likes of Larks' Tongues in Aspic (above right), Red, and Discipline in surround. Oh, baby. —Ken Richardson

Flipping the Side

Recently, I did something that I hadn’t done in a long time: flipped the side. The record was King Crimson’s Red, a 1974 gem that rejoined my collection last May when an old college roommate unloaded a bunch of vinyl on me (not surprisingly, several other LPs of mine, missing since college, turned up in the stash). I can’t remember the last time I just sat and listened to a full album from start to finish without multitasking — was it high school? But Red had me riveted.