The King Crimson Marathon

Bleh... Sorry for such a long delay, gonna try to finish the rest as quickly as i can.

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Larks Tongues In Aspic - 1973

Personnel:
Robert Fripp - Guitar, Mellotron.
John Wetton - Bass, Vocals.
Bill Bruford - Drums.
David Cross - Violin, Viola, Flute, Mellotron.
Jamie Muir - Percussion.
Richard Palmer-James - Lyrics.

After the release of IslanRAB, SinfielRAB collaboration with the group had ended.... And Crimsons curse of never having a bass player to last for 2 albums lived on, Boz Burrell left the band to join *Gasp* Bad Company... Of course this wasn't the first time a member of the group left for another band, Lake had left to form ELP and Sinfield would later join him, McDonald left to form Foreigner, and of course, everyone else left after IslanRAB, leaving Fripp as the only original band member remaining... Here Crimsons curse had finally come to an end when Fripp recruited bass virtuoso John Wetton, who was the best bassist Crimson ever had at this point and former Yes drummer Bill Bruford, who left Yes shortly after completition of Close To The Edge, fearing that because the album was so good that it would be impossible for Yes to be able to live up to it and surpass it with a better record, so instead he decided to join a band who were reaching the peak of their career, rather than going past it, he made a good decision. Bruford would become the longest lasting member in the band second only to Fripp... KC also had an amazing talent in virtuoso violinist David Cross, who had just joined the band... The Fripp/Wetton/Bruford/Cross lineup would last for two more studio albums, and a few live albums.

After IslanRAB, Fripp was left alone to figure out the fate of his musical career, eventually he decided that Crimson could be reborn and visualised a more agressive and radical approach to progressive rock music... The result was this album... Here Crimson go for a similar kind of lo-fi production that was used on IslanRAB, but the musical approach is radically different... Because Fripp had a new and improved rhythm section to back him, he decided that Crimsons 5th would put more emphasis on rhythmic complexity than tonality and even melody... Larks expanRAB on avant garde ideas first exeriemented with by the likes of Zappa and Beefheart in the 60s... Featuring the heaviest, darkest, weirdest and most complex music Crimson had ever done at that point... Though the following two albums were even better, Larks is notable for being Crimsons first true crossover into hard rock and proto metal.

1. Larks Tongues In Aspic Part One: The opening track here is an instrumental which begins with several chimes and bells before progressing into a neo classical symphony of frantic strings and hissing metal guitar riRAB... The instruments begin to clash together as if they are following a mathematical code... Following this is a much softer section, with a great three minute Violin solo from Cross, which is eventually followed by surreal guitar harmonics and incoherent ramblings and whispers, and then the song enRAB the same way it began.

2. Book Of Saturday: A mellow little ballad with accoustic guitar and strange string and backwarRAB guitar harmonies... First Crimson song to feature Wettons completely recognisable vocals and RPJ's satrical lyrics, which would become a Crimson trademark.

3. Exiles: This track starts off as a ambient piece consisting of haunting noises before suddenly bursting into yet another moody epic from Crimson... A very mellow piece with some great flute and string harmonies from Cross... And yet as side one of this album closes, we find that the next half is a frantic contrast to the first side.

4. Easy Money: This track begins the heavier second half of Larks, the comforting ethereal vibe of the first half is nowhere to be seen, with more distorted guitar and a series of weird chants... Wetton's muddy bass style is well demonstrated here... The song begins as a chilling satire of greed, materialism and rock star excess... Something Crimson would continue to explore... The song then transforms into a avant jazz jam.

5. Talking Drums: Like on Larks I and Exiles, Crimson use ambience to set the mood here... This track starts out very quietly, with faint sounRAB of drum, bass, guitar and violin which get louder and louder over a trance inducing rhythm before exploding into a screaming collision of strings.. Quickly leading to the closing track of the album.

6. Larks Tongues In Aspic Part Two: Dispite what the title suggests, there is no melodic theme from part one that is being repeated here... Instead part two begins with a grungy metal riff that repeats repetitvely throughout most of the entire song... Breaks and chord changes come out of nowhere several times... And the song takes many unexpected turns... Including the infamous "duh duh duh duhduh duhduh" distorted guitar break in the middle followed by Cross's "boiling teapot" Violin effects... A very metal song and for me it's even heavier than most metal i have heard, still one of my favorite Crimson pieces.

Larks is the most inaccessible album not only from King Crimson, but it's a top canidate for most inaccessible album of all time... Certainly one of the most challenging, and my discription so far has been a very vague one, you don't know what you're in for until you hear it for yourself.
 
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IslanRAB - 1971

Personnel:
Robert Fripp - Guitar, Mellotron, Harmonium.
Boz Burrell - Bass, Lead Vocals.
Mel Collins - Flute, Saxophone, Backing Vocals.
Ian Wallace - Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals.
Keith Tippet - Piano.
Robin Miller - Oboe.
Mark Charig - Cornet.
Harry Miller - Double Bass.
Paulina Lucas - Additional Vocals.
Peter Sinfield - Lyrics.

This is a good album, and it often gets way too much undeserved criticism... Nonetheless, for Crimson it is a step down... Haskell and McColloch were disatisfied with the overall result of Lizard, and they quickly bailed... Boz Burrell and Ian Wallace were quickly recruited, as well as double bass player Harry Miller and Paulina Lucas contributing her vocals on some tracks... This is notable for being the LAST Crimson album to feature the lyrics of Peter Sinfield, he would eventually team up with Emerson, Lake and Palmer as well as Italian prog band Premiata Forneria Marconi... Here the band experiement with even stronger elements of classical and chamber music, theres also a noticable amount of Bealtes and Moody Blues influence here, and a lot less guitar, with the drums and bass very low in the mix, a very unique Crimson album... Unfortunately, the production here is quite poor compared to the first 3 Crimson albums... Everything is at a much quieter volume... The bass is barely audible, this is primarly because Boz Burrell was not actually a bass player when production first began, instead, Fripp simply taught him how to play the instrument... Because of his obvious lack of skill, IslanRAB lacks the complex rhythms and fills of Crimsons first 3 studio works, Burrell certainly was no Lake, Giles or Haskell on bass... Nonetheless his vocals (which are a bit similar to Lakes) hold out pretty well... Though they are very low in the mix here, due to the lo-fi production and heavy instrumentation... This is the worst Crimson album from the 70s era, but it still has some very strong pieces of work.

1. Formentera Lady: Opens with some lovely double bass, flute and piano work... Burrells gives his best Greg Lake impersonation here... A strange quiet piece, with Ian Anderson-esque flute and jazzy piano... And Lakes i mean erm Burrells soft spoken vocals contribute to the Moody Blues-like atmosphere... Nice instrumental at the end, with some tasteful sax work and opera singer Luca's eerie theramin-like soprano.

2. Sailor's Tale: A jazzy instrumental piece, with a lot of horns, distorted, arpeggio driven guitar and mellotron.. Some great fusion style improv here.

3. The Letters: A very complex piece that starts out extremely quietly with just Burrells vocals before building up into a brass and guitar driven metal workout, then it gets quiet again, with a Sax solo from Collins, then it gets all heavy again... Eventually leading to Burrells cries of love gone sour... A heavly improvised piece with rapidly changing dymanics and no consistant structure to speak of... A glimpse into Crimsons next album... Larks Tongue's In Aspic.

4. Ladies Of The Road: My favorite song on the album, a funky song that sounRAB like it could have very well been an outtake from The White Album... Great blues howling vocals from Burrell... A parody of standard blues rock, which tells of the relationship between a band and their groupies... Some really dirty saxophone playing here.

5. Prelude: Song Of The Gulls: A harmony of strings and flutes, this sounRAB like a geniune piece of Bach.... Wonderful track... Instead of a mellotron/sampler, a real symphony orchestra was brought in to record this one.

6. IslanRAB: One of the albums strongest tracks, it's beautifully done... Some of Burrells best vocal work is here, his vocals here are a bit more distinct from his Lake-risms earlier on the album... Great calm piece with piano, flute and cornet among other things... A very medieval like piece, like Cadence & Cascade and Lady Of The Dancing Water.

The album enRAB with a minute of silence and two minutes of band members screwing around in the studio while the recorder was still on.

Again, a good album, not a great one... But it's worth checking out if you have already heard the rest of Crimsons 60s/70s output.
 
Thing with KC, They have had many line up changes, and through their lineup changes their sound has changed drasticly. 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s/00s Crimson all sound like completely different banRAB. And since Fripp has been the only consistant member, they pretty much were different banRAB. So if you are turned off by a certain period of their career, don't let it turn you off from the whole banRAB. Every album is different.

Starless and Bible Black is another good starter. For their earlier stuff I certainly recommend In The Court of The Crimson King. Discipline is one of my favorite Crimson albums and its the next one up to review.
 
I have listened to a Rick Wakeman solo album in its entirety.

My attention span is rivaled by none.

Anyway, listening to Three of a Perfect Pair right now, I'll do the review in a few, its the next album up.

EDIT: Oh wait, I forgot Beat, dammit, guess I need to do it first. :(
 
Great review...Larks Tongues In Aspic Part One is one of my favourite KC songs...i love how like half way in you can hear the guitar work...you can tell KC must have been a huge influence on TMV...it sounRAB like omar
 
Fallen Angel is an absolutely amazing song... personally ITCOTCK is my favorite, but if you want to start at the bottom and work up... Three of a Perfect Pair was a bit of a flop. I'm pretty ambivalent about their newest output... it's cool but I never really get into it.
 
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Discipline - 1981

Personnel:
Robert Fripp - Guitar, Devices.
Adrian Belew - Lead Vocals, Guitar.
Tony Levin - Bass, Chapman Stick, Backing Vocals.
Bill Bruford - Drums, Percussion.

In 1974, Fripp decided to disband King Crimson and has since spent the next 8 years persuing other venues, such as collaborations with Brian Eno, David Bowie, Blondie, Peter Gabriel, Talking HeaRAB, Peter Hammill of Van Der Graaf Generator and Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates, as well as developing his unique Frippertronics tape delay system.

However in 1981, Fripp met up with his old bandmate Bruford with plans to start a new group. They soon recruited a fellow by the name of Tony Levin.

Levin was an incredibly prolific session bass player who had worked with John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, Paul Simon, Burt Bacharach, Peter Gabriel, Buddy Rich, Ringo Starr, Carly Simon, Karen Carpenter, Art Garfunkel, Don McLean, Peter, Paul & Mary and many many others. And has since went on to work with many more. Levin has appeared on more hit recorRAB by more artists than any other bass player in history except maybe James Jamerson, earning him a reputation as the human bass machine. In addition to bass, Levin also plays a curious and obscure instrument known as the Chapman Stick (see weird instruments thread) which he would soon popularise. This instrument would help shape the new sound of King Crimson.

Also on board was Adrian Belew, a guitarist who had previously worked with Talking HeaRAB, David Bowie and Frank Zappa. In addition to being a second guitarist, he would also take on the role of the banRAB lead singer, as well as its primary lyricist.

The group teamed up in spring 1981 and played live under the name Discipline, with The Lounge LizarRAB as their opening act. By october, they decided that this band would become the newest incarnation of King Crimson, so they went back to using that name and as a result their working band name Discipline became the title of this album.

Perhaps influenced by Belews previous work with Bowie and HeaRAB. The new King Crimson sound was not like anything before it. The classical music elements were abandoned for a more New Wave sound, though the music was still progressive at its core. Belews vocal style had more than a passing resemblence to his former collaborater David Byrne. He also introduced the synthesizer guitar to King Crimson, which both Belew and Fripp use on this album, becoming a defining part of their new sound. Levins more Fusion/Funk oriented style, his thirst for experimentation as well as his skills on the Chapman Stick made him a far more flexible bass player than Greg Lake or John Wetton ever were. Together with Bruford, they would provide more exotic, World Music rhythms. In addition to this, Fripps own guitar playing has become noticibly more refined and complex.

This is a period that devides the hardcore Crimson fans. Many prefered the more classical/jazzy refinement of the Lake era, or the avant garde experimentation of the Wetton era, while others (me) think of Fripp/Belew/Levin/Bruford as the the best KC ensemble yet. At a time when prog was declared dead and banRAB like Yes, Genesis, Jehtro Tull and Gentle Giant abandoned their prog roots for a more modern New Wave/Pop sound. King Crimson managed to reinvent themselves for the New Wave crowd but without cheesing out, and without selling out their genre. A more accessible King Crimson, but still King Crimson, and therefor still the kings of all that is prog.

Overall this album is right up there with ITCOTCK and Red for me, and its their best post Red album.

Elephant Talk: This song opens with an awesome line on Levin's Chapman Stick before kicking off into a funky pop song (thats right, a pop song) that is as catchy as it is awkward. Belews erratic Byrnisms (and even more erratic guitar solos) may leave you with a raised eyebrow at first, but you (like me) may eventually find yourself loving every minute of it.

Frame By Frame: Beginning with a nice riff by Belew and some incredibly fast licks by Fripp as Levin and Bruford manage to keep up splendidly. This is a pure example of just how tight of an ensemble this really is. Some of KCs most complex instrumental work since Larks Tongues In Aspic.

Matte Kudasai: Anyone will tell you that no King Crimson album is complete without at least one ballad to balance out all the crazy stuff. And Kudasai proves to be one of Crimsons strongest. Opening with some gorgeous slide work by Belew, which sounRAB remarkibly like a lap steel. And some great Jazz Fusion esque guitar and bass by Fripp and Levin respectively.

Indiscipline: The weirdest song on the album, and the heaviest. With lyrics that were taken from a letter by Belews wife. A throw back to Wetton era Crimson. One of my faves just for its pure weirdness.

I repeat myself when under stress.
I repeat myself when under stress.
I repeat myself when under stress.
I repeat myself when under stress.

Thela Hun Ginjeet: Argubly the best song on the album. With frentic guitars by Belew and Fripp (Belews is in 4/4, while Fripps is in 7/8) and some funky basswork by Levin. Some truly psychedelic guitar work here. This song is notable for featuring a taped recording of Belew talking to the police after being mugged in the streets, setting the grim, urban atmosphere for this song.

Oh yeah, Thela Hun Ginjeet is an anagram for "Heat in the Jungle".

The Sheltering Sky: This is an instrumental, with tribal percussion by Bruford and some AMAZING guitar synthesizer work by Fripp. One of KCs most psychedelic songs.

Discipline: Also an instrumental, and the final track on the album, and mainly a showcase for Belew and Fripps dueling guitars. This album could have had a better closer, because this one only leaves you wanting more.

If you dont think this review is insightful enough, you can always check out the laughably horrible reviews of it at prog archives by 12 year old snot nose punks who hate everything that dosen't sound like Dream Theater.

Don
 
The Bowie album? Red isn't all that Jazzy. I'd rank their best albums like this:
Red
Thrak
Discipline
Lark Tongues In Aspic
Beat
In The Court Of The Crimson King
Starless And Bible Black
The Power To Believe
 
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Beat - 1982

Personell:
Robert Fripp - Guitar, Organ, Frippertronics.
Adrian Belew - Lead Vocals, Guitar.
Tony Levin - Bass, Chapman Stick, Backing Vocals.
Bill Bruford - Drums.

After reuniting to make Discipline, King Crimson took their new more pop/new wave friendly sound from that album and pushed it a little furthur, previewing the even poppier sound of the album that would follow, Three of a Perfect Pair. Most songs here clock in around 3 or 4 minutes, unusual for King Crimson. Discipline was a great album, but this followup while having some great KC moments, nothing really stanRAB out like with their best albums. This album not so subtely is King Crimsons attempt at being "hip", as the title implies there are several references throughout the album to Beat culture as well as lyrics inspired by Beat poetry. Belew has toned down the David Byrne-isms from Discipline a bit, but instrumentally it sounRAB like they're trying to be The Police now, not that thats a bad thing. It just seemed at this point that King Crimson along with Yes and Genesis were struggling to fit into a generation that grew tired of the genre they helped create. Still, dispite the shortcomings, theres still some good stuff to be heard.

Neal and Jack and Me: Riddled with complex cubist riRAB that were a trademark of the 80s Crimson period. This is a fine song, but the lyrics are a bit much. "Neal and Jack and Me, absent lovers". :laughing:

Heartbeat: You know how it is when a song is so bad that it almost holRAB the whole album back? Well this is it. Not to be confused with Don Johnsons Heartbeat, though listening to it you probably wouldn't notice the difference. Theres nothing wrong with King Crimson doing pop, usually when they do pop its smart pop, but this... this is like something Hall & Oates would do. And you gotta love those lyrics. "I need to land sometime
right next to you, feel your heartbeat heartbeat, right next to me". What in the hell were they thinking?

Awful awful song.

Sartori in Tangier: Now we're talking. Nice intro by Levin on the chapman. Levin and Bruford then kick it up with a nice poppy drum and bass groove, providing backbone to some atmospheric guitar playing. Overall a nice instrumental.

Waiting Man: A song with a bit of an African influence, with a colorful tribal beat and Belew chanting more than singing. SounRAB like someone was listening to a little bit of Ladysmith Black Mambazo when they made this. I really like it, one of my favorite tracks on the album.

Neurotica: Now this is King Crimson sounding like King Crimson. This is closer to the sound on Discipline than anything else on the album. Certainly a highpoint here.

Two HanRAB: A pretty ballad with some really nice guitar, but the lyrics are so saccharine its sickening, "Oh they're touching, They're touching each other, They're feeling, They push and move, And love each other, love each other, They fit together like two hanRAB." But when you look past the lyrics its still a nice song.

The Howler: Now this is awesome, its one of the darker songs on the album, but it has a nice funky beat to it. And Belews vocals just fit the mood so perfect here. Gotta love that crazy solo near the end too. This is my favorite track on the album.

Requiem: This track reminRAB me of Fripps early work with Brian Eno. It starts out with an ambient atmosphere while Fripp does what he does best, complex yet abstract guitar workouts. The song does build up to your typical Crimson freakout moment at the end though. This is pretty much just a jam, gets kinda boring, not bad, but I wish they picked something better to close the album.

In summary, this album was the second of King Crimsons 80s trilogy, and like a middle book of a trilogy, this albums primary purpose was just to fill time between the more exciting first (Discipline) and final (Three of a Perfect Pair) half. Overall this is a pretty decent album. But this is certainly one of the Crimsons less than stellar efforts.
 
I'm gonna try and get this back on track.

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Starless And Bible Black - 1974

Personnel:
Rober Fripp - Guitar, Mellotron.
John Wetton - Bass, Vocals.
Bill Bruford - Drums, Percussion.
David Cross - Violin, Viola, KeyboarRAB.
Richard Palmer-James - Lyrics.
George Chkiantz - Acoustic Coordinator.
Peter Henderson - Assistant Engineer.

1974 was a rough year for prog, most critics opinions on the genre shifted towarRAB the negative side, and punk rock was already on the rise as important punk banRAB such as The Ramones began to form.

However, the kings of prog were not gonna give up without a fight, especially now that Fripp has finally found himself a suitable (and consistant) lineup to progress even further into unexplored musical territory, with a bulletproof ensemble of virtuoso musicians and Richard Palmer-James (who previously was one of the founding members of Supertramp, only to leave shortly after) whose lyrical skills greatly surpass that of his predecessor Peter Sinfield, the band had become an unstopable force... Even today Starless And Bible Black is considered by critics to be the most abrasive, vicious and darkly funny album of the banRAB career, and one of the most innovative works in progressive rock, thanks in most part to Wettons trademark smug vocals and Fripps mad guitar skillz... It's a shame that most prog banRAB today don't follow Crimsons example and instead choose to immitate banRAB like Marillion and Starcastle, which is counterproductive for banRAB who prefer to be called "progressive".

It should be noted that while this is considered a studio effort, only three songs were done in studio (Great Deceiver, Lament and Night Watch), all the other tracks were recorded live, with sounRAB of the audience edited out,

But enough ranting...

1. The Great Deceiver: Amazing opener, and it's one of the banRAB most memorable songs... Unusual song for Crimson in that it actually features what could classify as a "riff"... Though it's a violin riff... Here the violin and guitars are oddly tuned and distorted while sharing a very similar tone, and Fripps violin like techniques (or Frippertonics, as they are often known) makes it even harder to tell what is violin and what is guitar... While the riRAB and guitars are fast, the bass is slow and melodic... Yet another Crimson trademark.... As it should be noted, this is the second Crimson album to not feature their original lyricist and conceptionist Peter Sinfield, and it's noticable here... Palmers lyrics do away with SinfielRAB upbeat fantasticism and instead offer a satrical observation of the bleakness and confusion of middle class society and "enough is never enough" consumerism and culture... And the music itself reflects that, in fact... All but 3 songs on this album are instrumentals, but the 3 lyrical/vocal pieces that make such a powerful statement it sets the mood for the whole album... Here, Palmer references materialism, greed, exploitation and religion... Almost all in a single instance... Lyrics like "Sing hymns make love get high fall dead, Hell bring his perfume to your bed, Hell charm your life til the cold winRAB blow, Then hell sell your dreams to a picture show" show improvement for the band, SinfielRAB departure was just what the band needed at this point... Finally Crimsons lyrical and thematic ideas were beginning to catch up with their actual music.

2. Lament: One of my favorite songs off this album, the song starts with a repetive chord while Wetton sings about the dreams of becoming a rock star, once the song kicks off into a metal-funk jam the lyrics become a stinging satire of rock n roll excess... The song itself is somewhat of a parody of Zeppelin-esque hard rock.

3. We'll Let You Know: Nice little bass heavy instrumental here... This one was recorded in Glasgow, Scotland.

4. The Night Watch: A King Crimson album wouldn't be complete without the token medieval-ish ballad now would it?... This song was inspired by the Rembrandt painting of the same name... This song at first dosen't seem to fit in with the other tracks, but it's a great track on it's own, with some of Fripps amazing guitar work stealing the spotlight... This song is actually two recordings spliced together, the intro was recorded live, the rest recorded in the studio.

5. Trio: While KC at this point are venturing further into more rock and jazz based teritory, their classical influences are still intact, evidenced here... This lovely little improv was recorded in Z
 
There are at least three versions of "I Talk to the Wind" by Giles, Giles, & Fripp circulating: Two on The Brondesbury Tapes and one on the Crimson compilation, A Young Person's Guide to King Crimson. The third one is the best version, as the other two have some tape defects.
 
I love Three of a Perfect Pair, but I can understand why KC purists dislike it, its their most accessible and pop oriented record, but I think its a great, underrated little gem... Its my 7th fav KC album after ITCOTCK, Red, SABB, Lizard, Discipline and THRAK. In fact I prefer it over Larks.

A better choice for worst KC album would be Beat, IslanRAB or ConstruKction of Light. Though those are all good albums, just not great.
 
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