RED

Rock'n Roll here we go, the album starts out with three tracks, taking up the entire A Side, all of them very powerfull. Not lacking on the tempo change, strange meters and tone combinations. The mid track "Fallen Angel" starts out as a ballad, but develops relatively fast into a more complex texture, even though the tempo is slow compared to the others. One of the best ballands they ever did, seen from a prog. view, so complex, but on the other hand, lacking the classical sweetness from the earlier, "Cadance and Cascade" "Lady of the Dancing Water" and so on. "Red" and "One More Red Nightmare" both wild and heavy, wonderfull tracks perfectly combining complexity with accebility, melodic in a sence, but yet made out of those strange parts, seemingly impossible to connect. Bruford hammering on those drums, with those wonderfull fills. Fripp's disorted guitar, all over the place. Sax here, violin there. Bass runs, rythms, riffs. On "Red Nightmare" topped by a Wettons vocals. Though lyric forgettable, the mood is fine.

Side B, two very diffrent long tracks take up the side, "Providence" (live) opens with a nice violin solo, the band sneaks in behind, slowly lifting the level of cosmic caos, you sence the danger, when will this explode, tension building and building, at around the 5 min mark, the track opens up into a rock feel, still building though. At around 6, the eruption. Fripp firing aggressive maschinegun solo notes, Wettons bass soloing at the same time. Bruford hammering the Drums. This is good ! Violin again, to end the jam. One of the best instrumentals, I just love it.

"Starless", creme de la creme, the one single track telling the hole story of 70's crimson. The melody behind the ballad style vocal piece, appealing, amasing, yet so bible black. The Sax soloing, the guitar soloing on that first part, so perfect. Guitar riff, building up the mid section instrumental, on a odd meter bass layer. This section grows and grows, then a full band, supporting a very wild Jazzy Sax solo. Back to the opening theme, but now at a lot higher speed/voltage. Moment, need to vipe a tear from my eye. The song is over, and im sitting with the feeling that all other songs will now be a waist of my time. I did this before, I know i'll get past that, sooner or later.

If you have never heard 70's Crimson before, this is the last recording they did, still not a bad place to start, You might say "In The Court" beeing the first is more essential, yes it is !. "Red" though shows a diffrent Crimson, at a time where those idears formed on the "Court" was fully refined. Starless if not the best prog. track ever recorded, we are very close.