RED

This album is a gem in progressive rock. It is as good as In the Court of the Crimson King, if not, better. This is King Crimson's seventh studio album and last for a seven year period. The line up on it is a trio of just Fripp on guitar, Wetton on vocals/bass, and Bruford on drums.

The album starts with the title track of "Red". This is instrumental and is heavy on guitar. It has multiple riffs and is known as one of the greatest guitar songs. Wetton also does a superb job on the bass in this song as Bruford is drumming.

The second track is called "Fallen Angel." on the album opens with some violin and fades into Wetton singing. This song is also known to be the last song featuring acoustic guitar. It's lyrics talk of brotherhood in New York City. The middle section has a repeating lick with trumpets and singing. It then goes into my personal favorite guitar section. Fallen Angel is a beautiful and slightly underrated prog rock song

The next song on the album is "One More Red Nightmare." This starts out with heavy guitar and drumming. The lyrics talk about a man having a nightmare about a crashing airplane. What's really amazing is Bruford's drumming. He makes a sound that sounds like a whip and I often pretend to whip things while listening to it. The song has a few superb sax solos which are mind blowing.

The b-side starts with what i think everyone would agree is the worst part of the album. "Providence." This was a live improvisation with audience noise edited out like on "Starless and Bible Black" However this takes five minutes to build up unlike the good improvisations. Although the last three minutes are probably one of Crimson's finest improvisations.

And so we get to the fifth track on the album, the twelve minute swan song, "Starless" It starts with mellotron and a small melody on the guitar. The lyrics are about depression, making it a good song to listen to for if you have a bad day. The sax is quite beautiful within these first four minutes of beauty. After the first four minutes, the song sets you up for a build up with a strange riff running the whole thing. As it builds up it gets better and finally goes into a jazz section-then a quick melody reprise-then more jazz, and then it hits you-the beautiful guitar riff from the start is played and melotron slithers in, with heavy guitar, and goosebumps every time. Starless is known to be Crimson's greatest achievement.

What I realized about this album is how much it echoes "In the Court of the Crimson King" The first song is a heavy guitar song with a different middle section on each, the second song is a more relaxing multi-insterment song, the third song is a more intense and popular song on each, the fourth song is an improvisation on each, and the last song is a beautiful long song on each. It's interesting if you think about it. Overall, "Red" is an amazing album and a must have for anyone who loves prog rock.

RANKING OF SONGS

1. Starless 2. One More Red Nightmare 3. Fallen Angel 4. Red 5. Providence

Favorite album quote: "Old friend, charity. Cruel, twisted smile, and the smile, signaled emptieness, for me." -From "Starless"