Another one of those mega King Crimson box sets is due in November. Sailors’ Tales brings together the ‘complete’ 1970-72 King Crimson across 27 discs with a price-tag that would make Paul McCartney blush.

This set includes 21 CDs, four blu-ray discs and a pair of audio-only DVDs. Specifically you get:

• 3CDs feature Steven Wilson and Robert Fripp stereo mixes of In The Wake Of Poseidon, Lizard and Islands plus additional tracks.
• 6CDs feature the Islands line-up’s early concerts from Germany (new to CD) and the UK (1971).
• 9CDs feature live recordings (several new to CD and/or previously unreleased in any format) from the 1972 US tour, including a new stereo mix of Summit Studios and an expanded Earthbound.
• 3CDs feature auditions for the Islands band and two further, as yet, unidentified concerts from 1972 (all previously unreleased).
• 3 blu-ray discs contain the main studio albums in 5.1 Surround Sound, recent stereo editions mixed by Steven Wilson and Robert Fripp, 30th anniversary masters of the original stereo albums mixes (all in 24/96 hi-res), plus extensive additional material with each disc also featuring a complete alternate album and a further selection of additional, related studio/live material in hi-res.
• The Lizard blu-ray also contains the audition material from CDs19/20.
• The Islands blu-ray also contains the following concerts in stereo Zoom Club (4 shows), Marquee Club, Plymouth, Glasgow, Detroit all from 1971.
• The Earthbound Tour blu-ray features an expanded version of the original album, Summit Studios gig in Stereo and Quadraphonic (newly mixed), the Schizoid Men sequence from the Ladies of the Road album, 2 newly discovered concerts in hi-res stereo and every existing soundboard concert recording from the 1972 US tour: Wilmington, NYC (2 shows), Chicago (2 tracks only), Detroit, Jacksonville, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Peoria, Indianapolis & Denver (2 shows).
• The two DVDs feature the expanded Earthbound, Summit Studios, Schizoid Men, New York 1972 and the recently discovered live concerts.
All of the above is presented in a large format 12” x 12″ box with booklet, memorabilia, a further downloadable concert (!), and sleeve-notes by Sid Smith, Jakko Jakszyk and David Singleton.

If you buy this, you obviously don’t need the expanded Earthbound release. Various pre-order links can be found below. Burning Shed, I believe, have this exclusively for pre-order in the UK.

The Sailors’ Tales box set will be released on 3 November 2017