Although there has been a glut of live King Crimson made available from the band’s 2014-2021 touring era as a noisy seven-piece, there hasn’t been as much released from that initial 2014 lineup that kickstarted the whole thing, so 2014 NYC aims to fill that gap by showing how the whole thing came about.
A history: the band’s last studio album was in 2003, and the final tour was in 2008, and that was that for Crimson for a while. In 2011, guitarist/bandleader Robert Fripp recorded an album with singer/guitarist Jakko Jakszyk and original KC sax/flautist Mel Collins called A Scarcity Of Miracles, with help from drummer Gavin Harrison and former KC bassist Tony Levin. Although nobody said it, this was essentially the next phase of King Crimson forming—without Adrian Belew, who had served the band since 1981.
But rather than taking the five-piece on the road as the fifth incarnation of KC, Fripp decided something different needed to happen to set the band apart this time, and hit on the idea of two additional drummers. Hence, he brought back Pat Mastelotto (who had joined the band in the ’90s) and hired newbie Bill Rieflin. The three drummers were then set up at the front of the stage, with the other four guys in the back. Boom, new focal point.
Some of Fripp’s favorite KC shows have been in New York, and so when the tour got to the city for a four-date run, the band had already worked out the kinks in the previous Albany, Philadelphia and Boston shows. NYC 2014 documents the best performances across those four nights in a two-disc or two-album set (beware: the CD version includes several songs that are missing from the vinyl version), and it’s a fine representation of the shows.
What set this version of KC apart from the others is in how fearlessly Fripp and co. pulled out forgotten songs from the back catalog, playing stuff that hadn’t seen the light of day in decades. Indeed, on this release nearly every KC album has at least one song featured. The ’80s 
Discipline era is skipped (for now) as Jakszyk and Collins have a sweet spot for those first seven albums, so two songs from Islands and three each from Red and Larks’ Tongues In Aspic feature prominently.
Collins adds sax and flute to songs that previously did not have it and the triple drum attack, though sometimes at odds with each other, interlocks and gels in other ways that add dimension to the tracks. Rather than play each one note-perfect, the septet (heptet?) reinterprets some guitar lines, tempos, drum patterns, etc. to bring each song into the 21st century.
So yes, “Pictures Of A City” and “Sailor’s Tale” are a little slower, but they are played with confidence. “Red, “The Talking Drum” and “Larks’ Tongues In Aspic Pt. 2” (and Part 1) also make welcome appearances and remain great prog instrumentals. Making a surprise appearance is “The Letters,” which is still not a good song, but at least Jakszyk’s passionate vocals make it interesting now.
Of particular interest is “VROOOM” and “Coda: Marine 475,” the leadoff tracks from 1994’s underrated THRAK effort. Fripp’s guitar and the drums are choppy and not choreographed (on purpose), likely to catch the listener off guard, but eventually they gel and Collins adds a sax line that didn’t exist before in lieu of the guitar screeches. “Coda” is then played a little slower but with a better guitar solo than the studio version and without the recitation of the numbers.
How you feel about early Crimson will dictate how you like the two Jakszyk-sung tracks, “A Scarcity Of Miracles” and “The Light Of Day.” Both seem like a conscious attempt to recreate the sound and feel of Lizard and Islands, and neither one really succeeds, though one could argue on the basis of “Miracles” that he’s the second-best singer to ever be in the band. And if you’re in the minority who actually liked both of those albums, you’ll appreciate what the guys are trying to do here.
On the CD version, the band also takes on “The Construkction Of Light,” “Level Five,” “One More Red Nightmare” and “Starless,” the latter two of which are catnip to longtime fans, and then both formats close with (of course) “21st Century Schizoid Man.” As every Crimson incarnation has to do this song, there’s little new to be said about it, but damned if they don’t nail every bit of it, from the (slightly changed) mechanical vocals to solos to a new triple-drum solo to Collins’ skronky sax fills. It’s a classic.
Again, as much of this is available already on other live releases from 2016 and beyond, there’s not much here that revelatory other than the two Miracles tracks and the two ’90s songs, all of which were eventually dropped from the setlist. But if you’ve not had a chance to own anything by this version of the band and you’d like to hear something from pretty much every album updated for the modern age, you really can’t go wrong with 2014 NYC.