There’s a palpable sense of energy and enthusiasm from the audience captured on the tapes at this concert as King Crimson (sharing a European tour with then label band mates Roxy Music) take to the stage in Frejus, France, in late Summer, 1982. With two albums’ worth of material to draw upon (Discipline, Oct. 1981 and Beat, June 1982) and extensive touring that had already seen the band play concerts in the UK, Europe, USA and Japan, the live shows — as often with King Crimson — had a dynamism and punch that simply couldn’t be replicated in a recording studio. Add a pair of classic KC instrumentals, (“Red” and “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic Part Two”), to that mix and all the ingredients were there for a very special performance.

Recorded initially for a video release, the audio from the concert has, inexplicably, never been issued as a standalone release. Nor has a live album from the 1980s line-up previously appeared on vinyl. Sheltering Skies presents the complete King Crimson performance across 2LPs pressed on 200 gram vinyl, with the addition of the recording of “The Sheltering Sky” from the previous night’s concert at Cap d’Agde.

The 1980s King Crimson was, in terms of concert performances/album releases, still less than a year old when this album was recorded. The collective decades of experience of the individual musicians is funnelled through the enthusiasm and freshness of the line-up and the newness of the material to produce a special concert recording.