I was thinking that Karn Evil #9 was an amazing departure from what he was writing with King Crimson.   It seems like a change in tone, and almost operatic in scope compared to what he did with Crimson.  I'm not sure of a longer work that he did.  Memoirs of an Officer and a Gentlemen was full-side, which may be his next longest work. 

This is a tough area for a "progressive" board and its scope of ideas.

I say that because PS went from writing something that we do not understand or have many ideas about (ITCOTCK), to many other works in Italian and translations thereof that we are not sure about, or seem to understand and appreciate.

His best known work, I think, would be the pieces he wrote for KC, because, for me, specially the first album, the "photography" of the words was so beautifully grasped by the music, and gave us such a strong and impressive snapshot of the time, place and vision, which we have a hard time thinking about, or trying to make sense of.

As he got older, writing a couple of very big hits for some artists, I do not think that he went downhill ... every poet and writer continues on, always different, because the stories change all the time, and he sees different things all around him. 

Some think that he writing a hit song for Celine Deon is a come down, and I do not think so. It is what it is, and she gave expression to those lyrics ... however, the expression went from "poetic" about the time and place, to what can be easily be thought of a a "personal song", that is not necessarily "poetic" in its written form ... it is just a song. 

The main thing is that the earlier material did not have the usual music designs and formats, and later it seems that he was better able to match those things, or at the least we have to give the singer some credit for making sense of the lyrics in a way that PS could not have done himself.

I tend to not "evaluate" one's career in the arts. Example: I do not think that his blue period is better than the red period or better than the cubist period than the free form period. Picasso is just Picasso. Same thing for Dali ... evaluating his changes and work, will only drive you crazier and into black holes with nothing to see or find.

In the end, it is all about ALL of his work and not just a piece that was written 40 years earlier, for example. 

And if we put it all together into one volume, it would be very impressive to read, even if we did not know the musical context behind or under it.  I simply think that his poetical wording and visions, were very helpful to a few bands in their early days ... and those things, when they come together have a tendency to create a lot of very pretty things, that we remember well.

As such, you have a great writer, and poet.

I've been saying the same thing on several threads now....

;)

I prefer his 'Still' lp to much of what he did with other people though some of it is a bit saccharine or over-whimsy.

But 'Land of Make believe' by Bucks Fizz... yuch.. I know we've all got to earn an honest living but.....

If he progressed, I'd say it's from chaos to simplicity.

 

Hi,

This is a little strange. Generally, a writer does not worry about the length in things, since you can not limit the size of your imagination when writing, or creating something.

It would be extremely strange, and weird, at a time when longer (and larger) pieces of music were coming around in rock music, I would even suggest to a point that Pete Sinfield helped in that area, that coming up to the piece of music with lyrics is not an issue ... it is much more likely that the music extended and adjusted to the wording, since there are a few times, when a moment or two, or a line, can help define what the music will sound like. I supposed I should say that same can happen the other way, too!

All in all, a writer, will likely remain a writer, a lot longer than rock'n'roll (so to speak!), because a writer, does not stop writing, just because a song stops. 

Now, defining Pete Sinfield as "progressive" ... I don't think so, however, his expression was valuable and important to the late 60's and how his words were used, although, in many ways, folks tend to not take lyrics seriously and think that mostly they are all about macaroni and cheese. 

I'm not sure, however, the songs he had later, for Celine and others, were not that good, either. We just do not accept that he is a writer, and some people (probably Rene in this case) appreciated his words more than some folks could and had a song created for his wife. But I'm not sure that is any different, writing wise, than creating a song about megalomaniac dictators and leaders ... many of which were in the news at the time, too. VietNam and Ireland, were not the only ones out there! And PS saw them, as well as we did, if our eyes were open, and we did not think that "All Along the Watchtower" is about the kitchen sink! Bob Dylan can be vain, but he is not THAT vain!

;)