IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING

Many say this is the very first progressive rock album. At least, it is certainly reasonable to believe it is among the first ones! For 1969, this record is outstanding and original.

Greg Lake (from Emerson Lake & Palmer) is the lead singer: his voice is absolutely legendary! There are some mellow & delicate tracks like "I talk to the wind": it has relaxing flutes, placid vocals and gentle drums.

"21st century schizoid man" has jazzy sax parts, OUTSTANDING fast and complex drums, and a very melodic, present and complex bass. Fripp's electric guitar is mind troubling, already being bizarre and experimental. The unbelievably fast and loaded end of the track sounds a bit like the fast and free jazz album "Song X" by Pat Metheny.

"Epitaph" has very poignant floating mellotron streams a la Genesis (Nursery cryme). Greg's lead vocals are emotional and passionate. Fripp uses peaceful guitars, mostly acoustic.

"Moonchild" is catchy and addictive, particularly Greg's voice. Fripp's guitar follows more the rhythm and the melody of this track, despite his electric guitar solos in the background are a bit irritating.

One of the best tracks is definitely the last one, "The court of the crimson king", which has full of intensely floating mellotron, heroic backing vocals, soothing flutes, accessible guitar sounds and varied drums. Near the end, there is an excellent childish part of woodwind instruments: very charming!

Rating: 4.5 stars