King Crimson / Starless deluxe box

Starless is a new King Crimson box set that offers an in-depth overview of the band’s celebrated mid-1970’s live line-up at its most exploratory.

When we say ‘in-depth’ that’s what we mean since this set will contain a staggering 27 discs, made of up 23 CDs, two DVD-As and two blu-ray audio discs.

19 of the CDs are of live performance material with a 20th disc offering the 2011 stereo mix of Starless And Bible Black by Steven Wilson and Robert Fripp. The other three CDs are described as ‘ bonus’ discs and contain ‘restored soundboard/bootlegs and audio curios’.

The two DVD-A discs and two Blu-Ray discs contain concert and studio recordings in stereo, quadraphonic and full 5.1 surround sound – all in high-resolution audio.

All this content is presented in a 12-inch box with a comprehensive booklet featuring sleeve notes and photos, memorabilia, album and poster prints. The 24 discs (i.e. not including the bonus CDs) are packaged in eight individual three-disc digi-packs within the album sized box.

Further details listed below, but this set is limited to a single pressing run (the run quantity hasn’t been stated).

Starless can currently be ordered from Burning Shed and Amazon in the US but more pre-order options should be available soon. It will be issued on 28 October 2014.

• • Burning Shed Pre-order: Starless (Deluxe box set)

• • Amazon UK Pre-order: Starless (Deluxe box set)
• • Amazon USA Pre-order: Starless (Deluxe box set)
• • Amazon Canada Pre-order: Starless (Deluxe box set)

More details about the content:

* Seven CDs taken from multi-track tape including 4CDs of material from the Glasgow and Zurich shows, freshly assembled and mastered in Hi-Res from the original Great Deceiver mixes by David Singleton at DGM Soundworld in 2014, the Amsterdam show The Nightwatch mixed by Steven Wilson and a previously unheard preparatory of material from the same show prepared by George Chkiantz (engineer of all live KC shows of the era and the Red album).

* Eleven CDs drawn from high quality stereo reel to reel soundboard tapes. 8 making their first appearance on CD with the remaining three re-mastered or drawn from new tape sources.

* One CD presenting the performance from the ORTF Paris TV broadcast

* DVD-A 1 features the Starless & Bible Black album in 5.1 Surround, with new & original stereo album mixes in High Resolution Stereo plus bonus audio material.

* DVD-A 2 features material from Mainz (mixed by David Singleton), Amsterdam (mixed by Steven Wilson) & a later show from Pittsburgh (mixed by George Chkiantz) in quadraphonic audio and High-Resolution Stereo.

* Both DVD-A discs are region 0 playable in all areas & compatible with all DVD players and DVD Rom players

* Blu-Ray Disc 1 features full lossless audio 24/192 transfers of material from the Glasgow and Zurich shows, freshly assembled & mastered from the original Great Deceiver mixes by David Singleton at DGM Soundworld in 2014 in LPCM stereo.

* Blu-Ray Disc 1 also features the Amsterdam show The Nightwatch, mixed by Steven Wilson and the George Chkiantz preparatory mix stereo in 24/96 High-resolution stereo & a 24/96 transfer of the original David Singleton/Robert Fripp mix of The Nightwatch.

* Blu-Ray Disc 2 features Starless & Bible Black in 5.1 Surround (DTS-HD MAS & LPCM 24/96) alongside new and original stereo masters of the album, a needledrop of an original vinyl pressing plus audio extras.

* Blu-Ray Disc 2 also features the Quad mixes of material from the Mainz, Amsterdam & Pittsburgh concerts.

* Blu-Ray Disc 2 also features the ORTF Paris TV footage in a new hi-res transfer from the original source files.

* 3 additional bonus CDs of audio restored soundboard/bootlegs and audio curios are also included.

* 1 further concert (bootleg quality audio) is also available via included download ticket.

* Album sized booklet with rare/unseen photos, new sleeve notes by Sid Smith, technical notes on the recordings by David Singleton, eye-witness accounts from fans who attended the gigs plus memorabilia including an album print, poster, replica concert ticket, press release with folder, photos and more besides.

* Limited to a single pressing run.