I am foregoing reviews of new releases this month and focusing on a few deluxe boxed sets available on both vinyl and CD, packed with extra goodies and the sort of memorabilia we baby boomers love! Next month I’ll again tackle new releases. 
King Crimson
Live at the Orpheum (2015)
Global Mobile Archive
If last year’s lavish 21 disc set (seriously) didn’t sate your appetite for all things KC, this more practical set, released from the seemingly bottomless King Crimson archives, should help tide you over. Recorded in the fall of 2014, the focus is on the then current incarnation of the band, a year or so after founder and leader Robert Fripp unexpectedly returned to the fold.
Notable for the inclusion of three drummers (band veteran Pat Mastelloto, and relative newcomers Gavin Harrison and Bill Rieflin), the sound is understandably full and noticeably more thunderous. Also on board are long standing bass player Tony Levin, saxophonist Mel Collins (who hasn’t been an active part of the band since 1972), and new kid on the block Jakko Jakszyk on guitar and vocals.
Jakszyk was also given the daunting task of sorting through hundreds of hours of recordings and deciding which ones were worthy of release. That either shows how much confidence Fripp has in the man or how disinterested he is in maintaining the band’s legacy. 40 plus minutes of Crimson love, aided by a well produced DVD of the full show and a snippet of behind the scenes footage adds up to yet another fine addition for the KC fanatic to whom this is obviously intended. ****
The Rolling Stones
From The Vault: L.A. Forum 1975 and Live From the Tokyo Dome
Eagle Rock/Eagle Vision
This 1975 show, culled from a tour hastily tossed together in support of the Made in the Shade best of compilation, shows the band at their most dispirited, sticking to the well worn hits while lacking much of the fire that made them the World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band. Ron Wood was still finding his way (he would not be allotted full band status for another decade), and while the essential rhythms of Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman remain perfect the band seems out of sorts.
Much of this is attributed to Mick J’s nearly lost stage presence, as he mumbles, stumbles and slurs his way through. “Keith is Keith,” the piano work of Ian Stewart is barrelhouse sublime, and the addition of Billy Preston (who adds a pair of his own tunes) works well within the band’s framework. But the focus is on Mick and that’s where this unevenly and blandly shot DVD falls short.
The audio version is much better and far less distracting, although the less said about the infamous inflatable dildo that dominated the stage, the better; ** stars are the best it can muster. Tokyo Dome, recorded at the end of the 1990 Steel Wheels tour, fares much better.
After a seven year hiatus from touring the Stones came back strong, reenergized and ready to reclaim their stature in the rock world. It marks the final time Wyman would tour with the boys, meaning there’s a good serving of funk and fury.
Highlights include a mesmerizing “20,000 Light Years from Home” and an equally welcome “Ruby Tuesday”. In many ways Tokyo Dome bridges the two distinct periods of The Rolling Stones long history, a crossroads at which they honored their past before becoming enslaved by it. ****
Eric Clapton
Slow Hand at 70 Live at The Royal Albert Hall
Eagle Rock/Universal Music
Nearing now four decades, Eric Clapton has booked a month-long residence at his beloved venue, a tradition that seems to have no end in sight. In choosing to document the event — not the first time, as 1991’s 24 Nights holds that distinction — Clapton wades into overly familiar waters with a sense of both reverence and reflection.
Not much here is unexpected, although turning over the occasional vocals to keyboardist Paul Carrack might be considered so, which gives this a comfortable sense that is both reassuring and frustrating. Tributes to the recently passed J.J. Cale (the show kicks off with “Someone Knockin’ On My Door”) and Joe Cocker (“You Are So Beautiful” and “High Time We Went”) are sincere enough but the mid-tempo buzz that dominates this two disc/DVD set makes one mourn for the fiery “Slow Hand of old.”
As I write this I am listening to a disc of 1965 Yardbirds primitive recordings, including a young and hungry EC. It’s from a time when he had everything to prove and not a darn thing to lose, and while I recognize the unfairness in expecting a man of 70 to be a boy of 21, there is no denying I miss the Clapton of old, even while I appreciate his still being with us. ***
