In 2003, prog-rockers King Crimson released their final studio album, The Power To Believe, and took another hiatus. At the same time, four former members of the band (not named Robert Fripp) from its original 1969-1971 incarnation were doing their own historical excavations under the name 21st Century Schizoid Band.

Singer Jakko Jakszyk led this group during its incarnation, which did not escape Fripp’s notice; he invited Jakszyk to front Crimson when that band was resurrected in 2013 as a seven-piece monster. Jakko is a big fan of the early days of the mighty Crim, and so working with most of the original team was probably a dream come true, which is evident in the care put into the Schizoid project.

Live In Barcelona documents a 2003 show in Spain from the five-piece band, focusing exclusively on songs from the first four albums (save for one, which we’ll get to momentarily). The double-album features 11 Crimson songs played straight, which is no mean feat in and of itself. Since nobody was playing these tunes for a long time, it’s something to hear the older, wiser band working through the doom-laden “In The Court Of The Crimson King” and “Epitaph,” the noisy “Cirkus” and “A Man, A City” (called “Pictures Of A City” on the original Poseidon album), and the dull, twee “I Talk To The Wind” and “Cadence And Cascade.”

If you didn’t like these songs before, you won’t now, but for longtime fans they are quite a treat. The best of the bunch remains the instrumental “Sailor’s Tale” (check out that bassline!) and, of course, “21st Century Schizoid Man.” Beloved epic “Starless” closes the show, a track which featured none of these players and didn’t show up until 1974, but is part of band lore anyway. Also of note is “Formentera Lady,” which was an aimless jam that filled up space on Islands, but which gets new life here once the vocal section ends.

The band also has a couple non-Crimson songs; the Ian McDonald solo “Let There Be Light” is a solid ballad (better than the wimpy “Talk To The Wind,” at any rate) and “Catleys Ashes” is a ferocious, noisy instrumental where every band members gets a chance to shine. The three-song section of the album from “Ashes” to “Lady” to “Tale” is as good as this band ever got, completely justifying its existence.

A few of these guys would go on to play with Fripp again when Crimson reformed, allowing Jakko the chance to work up other songs from this period that the Schizoid Band didn’t tackle (including “The Letters” and “Islands”). So part of the joy here is in getting to finally hear powerful live versions from the musicians who helped play these songs originally, and drummer Ian Wallace, bassist Peter Giles, saxophonist Mel Collins, and flautist/keyboardist McDonald rise to the challenge. Crimson historians may know that Peter Giles was originally in KC but exited the music scene in 1968, which paved the way for Greg Lake to join as singer/bassist. (Note also: original drummer Michael Giles, Ian’s brother, was with the Schizoid Band originally, but left in 2003, with history repeating itself when Wallace took his place.)

The 21st Century Schizoid Band would dissolve in 2004, but for this two-year span, they did a great service to the original Crimson discography, and Live In Barcelona is an excellent document of that show.

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