RED

Much of this seems to be centered around Fripp's darker, heavier guitar tone, which, along with Bruford's usual pristine drumming and Wetton's ridiculous bass distortion, serves as much of the foundation of this album. The title track is an absolute beast, which more or less completely ditches the improvisational aspects of Larks' Tongues and especially Starless and Bible Black, instead opting for 3 or 4 calculated, cruching riffs that will make you feel like your face is getting sandblasted off. And the spooky "middle 8" is a perfect contrast in atmosphere - that guitar wafting in and out of the strings might just give you chills. I've heard that this song in particular is definitely one of the cornerstones for modern day "grunge," but I'll be damned if grunge ever produced any music as good as this.

As tough an act as the title track is to follow, Fallen Angel not only does it well, it manages to be not one iota less awesome. The "ballad" of this album, Wetton gives probably his best vocal performance in Crimson - the lyrics are really good for once, and his coarse, husky voice fits the bill perfectly. The overriding feeling of darkness and tragedy makes itself felt, but in a much more emotionally resonant form than most other Crimson work.

One More Red Nightmare is where the album comes down into the realm of mortality, but that hardly prevents it from being great - Wetton gives another effective vocal performance here, and Bruford's inventive drumming (is he drumming on sheet metal during some parts?) ensure it's a fun listen, even if the funky, jazzy saxophone breaks last a little too long for my tastes. Providence is the obvious low point of the album, a live improvisation that wanders a bit too much for my tastes, but it picks up into a cool atonal jam towards the end, so it's nothing I disrespect.

The last couple of songs may not have been immortal greats like the first two, but the closer here, Starless, is what pushes this album over the top - it's probably my single favorite rock piece of all time, bar none. It starts out as absolutely gorgeous balladeering, with Wetton again giving a wonderful performance, and sports some of the most beautiful, breathtaking mellotron and saxophone work I've ever heard. Just listen to that melancholy mellotron melody start out beautifully subdued, then suddenly go up to that quivering note at about the 1:20 mark, and try and tell me it's not the most beautiful thing you've ever heard. Crimson isn't going to go out with a 12-minute ballad though (especially not this incarnation, and not this album), and so they go out with two of the greatest musical passages of all time - first, a 4-minute crescendo built on Fripp's strident 2-note guitar line, which is stunning in its simultaneous simplicity and complexity (it's in 13/8...13/8!) But unlike, say, The Talking Drum, it reaches the breaking point and then peaks for a whole minute, absolutely crushing anything in its path. And then there's the free-form outro, which sports brilliant musical passage after passage - dig that sax improv! Listen to thath ridiculous uptempo 13/8 two-note jam that holds together and completely blitzes the listener! And then the last, indescribable minute - an unreal saxophone reprise of the opning mellotron line, but I'd just be wasting my breath (fingers?)

This review is probably far too long anyways, because trying to describe Red while doing it any sense of justice is a futile effort. It's been my favorite album in my cd collection from the day I got it, and a year or two later, it still holds up as such (I'm only 16, so I haven't been listening to this kind of music all that long.) Get it, and wonder how you ever lived without it.

Share this KING CRIMSON review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to
• Report this review (#43495)
• Buy KING CRIMSON music online with PA partners
• Show all KING CRIMSON MP3/Stream
• Go to KING CRIMSON page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Red page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for KING CRIMSON related discussions