RED

A few days before the release of "Red", the great Robert Fripp announced the end of King Crimson, something that could be expected given the controversial personality of the guitarist and songwriter. He said he was exhausted by the constant clashes with the music industry and also because he felt that the band had stopped evolving.

However, the quality was not affected by these important factors, and "Red" ended up being one of King Crimson's most accomplished albums. The somber instrumental walls built by the trio (after the departure of David Cross in the middle of the recording process), are solidly sustained by the spontaneity of the musicians and their constant obsession to experiment beyond any boundaries.

And in that sense, the album delivers memorable moments, such as the instrumental "Red" and its distorted and saturated riff, referenced as one of the inspirations for the grunge movement 15 years later; or the ballad "Fallen Angel", which ceases to be so as the song gains in intensity; or the timeless and extensive "Starless", where a deep melancholy guided by John Wetton's voice in the first minutes, combines with guitars, basses, Bill Bruford's jazzy drums and the saxophones of guests Ian MacDonald and Mel Collins, to take the song to the point of derangement, rearrange all the pieces and conclude in magnificent harmony. A crimsonian jewel and an unbeatable closing of the album.

Undoubtedly "Red" is one of the maximum expressions of creativity in King Crimson's discography and a flag of progressive rock of all times.

P.S. As nothing is definitive in this life, the "final" ending announced by Fripp was not, but only a long pause of 7 years until 1981's "Discipline".

4 stars