RED

Red by King Crimson is known as one of the band's most heavy albums to date. This album is KC at their heaviest and most creative period out of all their incarnations. Unfortunatley, this would be their last effort of what I think was their finest and most talented line-up, but all the line-ups were great. The line-up consisted of John Wetton on bass/vocals, Bill Bruford on drums and Mr. Robert Fripp on guitar. The band hired a nice handful of former members to fill in on some instrumental parts such as for violin, some horns and a couple of saxes. The band played heavily on this particular album and this may have been a blueprint for most heavy rock acts to this very day.

The album opens with one of their heaviest songs, "Red". This song starts off with an interesting chard progression with the bass and guitar. The main riff of the song itself is kept in a doomy-sounding melody which is why it comes out to be such a heavy piece of music. The middle part which includes some nice guitar and chello work makes the song itself sound amazing.

The second song is the nice and calm "Fallen Angel". The song starts off with some nice bass sounds as well as chello work. Wetton's voice is very warm in the song throught and gives it a nice ambience. Fripp's acoustic to electric guitar work sounds amazing and still manages to keep it's ambience throught. The heavier parts has some nice trumpet work included in it as well.

The next tune we run into is the doomy "One More Red Nightmare". The song starts with some heavy riffing from Wetton and Fripp. The drumwork given to us by Mr. Bruford is really something to listen to on this tune especially. Wetton's singing in this one sounds very heavy and anxious just like he is in the lyrics itself. The song then shifts into another gear for a more down tempo part which has some nice sax work. The song then goes back to the main riffing and again into the down tempo part where it ends.

Next is the very calm and interesting tune "Providence". This song has the same "jazzy" feel that is very reminescent of "Moonchild" from their debut album, "In The Court Of The Crimson King". The song starts off with some nice violin which builds itselfs out through the song. A great piece of prog music.

The final song on this amazing album is the epic "Starless". The song starts out with some nice mellotron and guitar ambience. Fripp's guitar work on this particular song is very sad, as if they knew it would be the final song they would dish out before going their separate ways. An excellent closer to the last album of a great era.

In all, this album has to be one of their most heaviest albums and a perfect way to close the door on a great era of their band.