RED

I am usually very spare in giving 5 stars to an album. In fact, I used to believe that there would be only one album in my collection (which is not all that expansive) that deserves my highest possible rating, a 10/10. I've since changed this policy, and I would so love to give Red what is basically a perfect score of 10/10, but alas, it is not flawless.

The title track/instrumental starts off the album in grand fashion, with a catchy melody and classic Crimson tension and dissonance. The song goes through a sort of "swing," alternating between a crunchy guitar riff and beautiful, sweeping strumming. The middle section is frightful, ominous and fits the song perfectly. All in all, this is one of if not the best tracks King Crimson ever recorded.

"Fallen Angel" is a desperate balled of sorts, with a sublime melody through the verse graciously enhanced by one of the woodwind instruments (i'm not an expert in that area.) Tension quickly builds and boils over into the chorus with some excellent, truly emotional singing from Wetton.

"One Red Nightmare" is, no matter how bad this may sound, a song that could hold it's own on a rock radio playlist if were a tad shorter. This is not a complaint though, rather a compliment. I like to able to remember riffs and good drum beats from the songs I listen to (humming them during work makes it a little more bearable ;) and this song is great for just that. I'd be a bit more satisfied with the song if it were shorter, for the extended woodwind solos can be a bit irritating. But otherwise, "Nightmare" is a solid tune.

And now we come to the reason why this album did not get a 10/10. "Providence" is just plain annoying. The introductory violin bit is nice, but it all melts into a meandering mess of out-of-place instrumentation, kind of like parts 2 and 3 of "Sysyphus" on Pink Floyd's Ummagumma. But what good I can say about "Providence" is that it does have that classic Crimson tension, which saves it from being abysmal. If only there were a evocative and truly inspiring end to the jam to relieve us of the tension, i would be far more forgiving with this "song."

But we arrive at "Starless" and all is redeemed! This song is so sad and so emotionional that words really cannot express it. Let me just say that you should buy Red if only to own the album that this song originally appeared on. The violin really, really fits the song so well, and only enhances the emotion to a level I have never heard before. Then the tension sets in. Slowly, more and more instruments add to a simple yet disturbing one-line guitar riff courtosy of Fripp, all of which comes to a head in the ending jam. Before it is all over, the violin melody chimes in again, reminding us that if we haven't felt some kind of emotion by the end of this song, then we are devoid of any human qualities.

I still haven't decided if Red is better than In The Court of the Crimson King. Each have their faults, but ultimately, there are so many redeeming values in each one that you can ignore the missteps completely.

The Gist: Buy this album. If you don't like it at least a little bit, then there is absolutely no hope for you at all.

Good day.

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