RED

Let me start my review of Red with a question for my fellow reviewers. Does anyone else out there hesitate to review their favorite albums? Perhaps it's because I want to pick the right words, and it's difficult to describe absolute brilliance. It has taken me a while to get around to reviewing Red, which is Kiing Crimson's best album IMO. I considered the warning about posting 5 star reviews on this site very carefully. But this album rates 5 stars as much as any album I've ever heard.

I thinik what makes Red so great is that it encapsulates the various elements that make up King Crimson. The mellotron sounds that originated with their first album are here on "Starless". David Cross' violin, last heard on Starless and Bible Black, is also here. But we also hear the aggresiveness of the Discipline album in the song "Red". As other reviewers have also noted, it's almost metal.

"Providence" is almost free jazz in the style of Beat's "Requiem". If I had to pick one track that doesn't measure up to the rest, it would be this one; it's TOO free form to love unconditionally. That's a minor complaint in the grand scheme. I love the woodwinds (I guess cornet is a brass instrument) on "One More Red Nightmare" and elsewhere. I wish KC would incorporate more of them in their music.

Then there's "Starless". As cerebral as King Crimson tends to be, I'm sometimes surprised at the beauty of some of their music. "Starless" incorporates KC's various elements into one 12-minute track. It's one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. The range exhibited in this short 40-minute album is what puts Red at the top of the list; In The Court Of The Crimson King and Discipline come real close. For my money, though, Red reigns supreme!