Don't get to close to the crazy piano player!

When I was a young kid I always like banging on things. It or at least making noise whether it was something that had some kind of beat or not. It was fun and kept me occupied till there was another distraction around the house. One day in my later years I was just starting my King Crimson quest when I went to the flea market and found Lizard by King Crimson. I never heard it before, but sure was so happy to find it. I got home and played it on the turntable. One thing I noticed through all the Fripp chaos was the keyboard player. His chaos seemed controlled and fun and interesting all rolled up in one.

The Keyboard player had great chops made me want to know more about him. I grabbed my copy of In The Wake of Poseidon and sure enough the controlled yet cool keyboard work was Keith Tippett. I remember getting In The Wake of Poseidon wondering how the hell he could do this Keyboard work so well, that he was in total control.



"Cat Food" by King Crimson proves he is a master at his field, but it showed me he knew how to play and play well. The way he played astonished me that Rock and Roll let alone any kind of music can be in a group. So my inquires of finding his stuff was difficult. For the longest time Keith Tippett fell off the earth. I even went to record stores looking. One day I had to ask at the record store.

"Hey you have any Keith Tippett?" The record store looked at me like I was crazy. a 17 year old asking for Keith Tippett. I looked like a kid who just did something wrong. My body language was like I just asked for something like Pollack or Warhol in a Van Gogh museum . He said back after my asking, "Matt, you know if you listen to him you are in uncharted territory." "Also you might have to work a lot of hours at the library for this one." He showed a picture of the album, he did not have a copy, the picture was to remind the guy at the store, that he was looking for it too.



He told me if you find this album, it's very rare and if you know someone in England (I did not at the time) you might be able to find it. He told me he had a tape copy, that was taken from the vinyl. If I come back by the end of the week he will make me a copy. I was like "WOW" that's awesome. At the end of the week I came back, picked up the cassette and went home and listened to it.

This was odd, but not in the odd sense that it was unlistenable, but it sounded like a King Crimson with horns and stuff. It took me forever to grasp, and what made it worse it was something that I could not play on the stereo without someone telling me to turn it off.

Fast forward the Internet age. I put that album on the back of my mind. I never saw the cover again, but I would look everywhere If I could remember it. I went on Amazon, and it always said not available. When downloading was around I found it. It took me about 3 months to get the complete album, I was in heaven. I finally had a copy. Just last year a record label put it out and now I officially own one of the most unusual albums of the 1970's.



To me Dedicated To You, But You Weren't Listening is amazing album. It one you don't play at parties, you don't play to casual music listeners or you don't even play it in the car loud. It's an album to be studied and listened to with the best of ears. Keep your mind always open and if you know someone who loves Progressive Rock or English Jazz this is the album. You want to open someone's ears this will do it.