Your theory about Moonchild
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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Recommendations/Featured albums
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=35758
Printed Date: February 22 2025 at 15:00
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Topic: Your theory about Moonchild
Posted By: Oneiromancer
Subject: Your theory about Moonchild
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 18:34
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I know lots of people hate the second lenghty part of Moonchild (no need to explain)... the real mystery is why did they record it! They were such good musicians... and they could do reasonable jams, live albums prove it. Speaking for myself, they were actually trying ti annoy their listeners. Which is very prog, by the way.
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Replies:
Posted By: NotSoKoolAid
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 18:38
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To spite what was popular at the time, they chose to perform the polar opposite?
Or drugs?
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Posted By: Bj-1
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 18:40
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Most likely to represent the "Illusion" part of the song. But why they made it is unknown to me. ------------- RIO/AVANT/ZEUHL - The best thing you can get with yer pants on! |
Posted By: Passionist
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 18:42
| Or exploring instruments. I personally find it easy to hear a pattern there, it's not just random rambling to me. Well I see what's the hard part of it, but believe me, I'd probably rather listen to a whole album made the same way than Piper at the Gates of Dawn. I hoipe that clears out my opinion. That it's not just random rambling made to annoy people. |
Posted By: Shakespeare
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 18:45
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Probably to estrange themselves even further from modern musicians - as
if the rest of the album wasn't enough. They felt as if they had to
show that music isn't just about making songs that are fun to listen
to, but about coming up with original ideas (in this case, their idea
was to...not have an idea!) That, or they needed to full time on the album. |
Posted By: FragileDT
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 18:49
I love the noise in moonchild.  ------------- One likes to believe In the freedom of music But glittering prizes And endless Compromises Shatter the illusion Of integrity |
Posted By: frippster
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 19:05
"The song about NOTHING!!, everybody has songs about something, we have a song about NOTHING!!!" as George Costanza would put it. KC once again proving they were ahead of their time  |
Shakespeare wrote:Posted By: Kid-A
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 19:19
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Oh come on you can talk all the bollucks you want, but from what I read they just ran out of ideas. ------------- 
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Posted By: laplace
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 19:21
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yep. if there's one thing you can say about king crimson it's that they were out of the ideas on their first album. lol ------------- FREEDOM OF SPEECH GO TO HELL |
Posted By: Froth
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 20:00
| i think you have to understand that the late 60s were very different times to now, musically. The sky was the limit and KC were really trying to experiment. We're all too cynicall to appreichiate that now though. back then, innovative music was more than just "technically demanding solos". of course, now in the 21st century, peopl like music to be dead boring and all like is to see "progressive" bands impress them with solos, so no one is interested in moonchild, or the superb studio side of ummagumma, or any "progrock" thats any good. no wonder yes and rush carried on selling out stadiums long after art rock was deemed unfashionable, we just all decided that boring music was better than good, innovative, great music. the end |
Posted By: febus
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 20:29
Do we still need to analyse a 1969 piece of music over some 38 years layer? overthinking can kill, you know!!!
Just enjoy if you like it or play Enrique Iglesias if you don't! that'it
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Posted By: Equality 7-2521
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 20:57
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Because it sounds good? That would be the simplest answer.
------------- "One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. " |
Posted By: rileydog22
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 21:03
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My theory on Moonchild? They jammed a while, liked it, and decided to put it on their record, which needed about 7 minutes anyways.
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Posted By: el böthy
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 21:14
Man, I was gonna say that!!! ------------- "You want me to play what, Robert?" 
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Posted By: Asyte2c00
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 21:16
| Its loses itself after about three minutes. |
Posted By: proglil49
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 21:38
As long as it will be listened to, some people will still analyse it ------------- I want to be an astronaut |
Posted By: maups2
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 22:03
| you can hear their thoughts. |
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 22:11
Well there you go. Someone who thinks Yes is boring but Moonchild isn't. Truly every opinion is represented on ProgArchives. I do agree with your first couple statements that what Moonchild is is experimentation, pure and simple. Yes it's self-indulgent, but that's what most of us love about prog anyways. |
Posted By: Penumbra
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 22:16
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I have to listen to it now... At first I hated the majority of "Moonchild"; the same for "Gates of Delirium". Things change. :D ------------- The Holy Trinity of Symphonic Progressive Rock 
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Posted By: Ghandi 2
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 22:45
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They suddenly realized on the last night of their studio sessions their album was only 32 minutes long, so in the last 15 minutes they set up their instruments again and recorded something, even though they were really tired.
In your heart you know that's very close to the truth. :)
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Posted By: Penumbra
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 22:47
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Perhaps it really is a psychedelic (or psychotic? look at 21st Century Schizoid Man) journey, intended to be by the band for several months or weeks before they created the album. Perhaps it really is a meaningless bunch of odd percussion and stuff... ;D Wow, I can't say anything else.... I can therefore define Prog: Prog is conjecture. ------------- The Holy Trinity of Symphonic Progressive Rock
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Posted By: Matt Dickens
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 22:52
Overthinking, Overanalyzing seperates the body from the mind.
 ------------- If it ain't broke don't break it. |
Posted By: Matt Dickens
Date Posted: March 20 2007 at 22:54
"Overthinking, overanalyzing seperates the body from the mind."
^ I think it was an avid King Crimson fan who said that. ^
------------- If it ain't broke don't break it. |
Posted By: progismylife
Date Posted: March 21 2007 at 03:26
| My theory about Moonchild is that the band wanted to bring the raw sound of the band to the world. I've heard of bands jamming in a studio and come up with a song based on that jam but King Crimson gave the listeners the jam itself and not the song based out of those jams. It was innovative because no one else had ever done somehting like that. |
Posted By: The Whistler
Date Posted: March 21 2007 at 03:28
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My theory is that Bobby Fripp slumped over with a sudden heart attack, striking a serious of bells on his way down. And he was, like 83 stories off the ground. ------------- "There seem to be quite a large percentage of young American boys out there tonight. A long way from home, eh? Well so are we... Gotta stick together." -I. Anderson |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: March 21 2007 at 03:39
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the improvisational part of "Moonchild" depicts the lunatic (sic!) ramblings of the Moonchild on the nightly lawn
-------------  A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: March 21 2007 at 03:49
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Hmmm, has nobody heard L'Infonie's originally self-titled 1969 album (commonly now known as Volume 3)? This album consists of a lot avant-garde and dissonant noises and is quite akin to parts of Centipede's Septober Energy and Ovary Lodge's self-titled debut. King Crimson were not alone in being "innovative" with such improvisation (if that is what it is). I do not believe the ending to "Moonchild" was improvised at all. Indeed, I believe it to be an actual pre-meditated concept. Whoever believes the band had run out of ideas, is flatly incorrect with their thoughts. -------------   
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Posted By: oliverstoned
Date Posted: March 21 2007 at 06:33
| The long experimental part of Moonchild is beautiful and fascinating! |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: March 21 2007 at 06:40
Excellent, James!! Did not know you knew of L' Infonie either!
  I also don't think Moonchild was improvised. It is most likely their conception of musique concrete or the rock equivalent of free jazz.
Ythat's probably the most sensible interpration of the song
Wouldn't go that far, though!! ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: oliverstoned
Date Posted: March 21 2007 at 06:42
| It is. It's just a matter of level of consiousness...you know what i mean... |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: March 21 2007 at 17:31
Like what, that they were, uh , too stoned to notice how long they'd gone on  |
Posted By: Pnoom!
Date Posted: March 21 2007 at 22:33
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I don't know Moonchild yet, but from what I've heard, it's pretty good. And I like his Kristallnacht album, anyway...
Oh, whoops, wrong Moonchild. I haven't listened to that album recently enough to tell you. |
Posted By: Nowhere Man
Date Posted: March 22 2007 at 12:42
Maybe they planned to improvise.  ------------- 
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: March 22 2007 at 18:12
Or got hit with with brick concrete ... |
Posted By: goose
Date Posted: March 22 2007 at 20:14
I couldn't agree more! It's one of the most enjoyable things in the world to just sit with an instrument and play something far away from what you know, for me anyway! They had the guts to record it and put it on a debut rock album - better still! And I enjoy that part maybe even better than the "song" part. If we all liked the same thing wouldn't life be dull? |
Posted By: The Whistler
Date Posted: March 23 2007 at 04:01
So Moonchild is really Inna Gadda Da Vida? I always knew the Crimsoids were drawing their inspiration from somewhere... ------------- "There seem to be quite a large percentage of young American boys out there tonight. A long way from home, eh? Well so are we... Gotta stick together." -I. Anderson |
Posted By: pepefloyd
Date Posted: March 23 2007 at 13:20
me too i dont know why people hate it  ------------- http://www.lastfm.es/user/pepe_floyd84/?chartstyle=basic10"> 
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Posted By: prog4evr
Date Posted: May 27 2007 at 09:45
This is true about Frippertronics in general. I saw Fripp do his demonstration live at UC San Diego when I was an undergrad there in 1983. 5 minutes in you had to ask yourself: am I going to be bored to tears, or am I going to allow myself to get 'lost' in the experience that the Frippertronics is producing in my brain and my body? I think the same is with Moonchild - what attitude do you have as you approach listening to it?
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Posted By: bhikkhu
Date Posted: May 27 2007 at 11:08
I agree with what you are saying about experimentation. I do appreciate what KC was trying to do with "Moonchild," and what Pink Floyd was aiming for on "Ummagumma." However, experiments are just that. They are not always successful. So I can appreciate these works, and not like them at the same time. ------------- a.k.a. H.T. http://riekels.wordpress.com" rel="nofollow - http://riekels.wordpress.com |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: May 27 2007 at 11:31
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Moonchild is amazing - and the "noise" bit is my favourite part of the entire album - the dreamy sounds paint pictures.
Some have mentioned Ummagumma (the studio parts of which I also rate very highly, even though some members of the band don't seem to) - I think there is a link there; the music is far removed from rock basics.
But as someone who appreciates much avant-garde music, I find that Moonchild really expresses huge volumes - especially in the open spaces. It fits the overall flow of the album perfectly, and is one of the main reasons that ITCOTCK is the Prog Rock masterpiece that most self-respecting prog heads know it to be.
IMO  ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Sasquamo
Date Posted: May 27 2007 at 14:20
| I think they were just trying to jam and improvise and weren't very good at it. |
Posted By: Syzygy
Date Posted: May 27 2007 at 15:37
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Incorporating bits of avant noise into songs and albums had been done before - The Who's early singles often meandered close to freeform territory, The Beatles included Revolution #9 on the White Album, the Velvet Underground had European Son To Delmore Schwartz on their debut, Zappa's Freak Out closed with The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet and of course the studio half of Pink Floyd's Ummagumma was highly experimental. Some of these experiments were more successful than others, of course, but the idea of including some free form avant garde noise in a more or less popular album release was well established by the time ITCOTCK was released. To judge from most of the reactions here, I'm guessing there's not a lot of love for Thrkattak among most of the posters on here so far. For me, it's the least dated sounding section of the album. ------------- 'Like so many of you I've got my doubts about how much to contribute to the already rich among us...' Robert Wyatt, Gloria Gloom |
Posted By: debrewguy
Date Posted: May 27 2007 at 16:11
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Good dope & lots of it, man ...
------------- "Here I am talking to some of the smartest people in the world and I didn't even notice,” Lieutenant Columbo, episode The Bye-Bye Sky-High I.Q. Murder Case. |
Posted By: Dim
Date Posted: May 27 2007 at 17:21
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I think they were trying different ways to jam, in other words experimenting. Moonchild just didnt come to anyone attention. ------------- 
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Posted By: paolo.beenees
Date Posted: May 27 2007 at 17:34
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Self-indulgence ------------- 
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