IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING

Usually every band has a peak, a point which the best material is produced from the band, and, sadly, it's not repeated again. What amazes me is that for King Crimson, the peak was the point where they started to make music at the first place! The climax and the beginning of King Crimson share the same point, and that point, is called masterpiece.

The album starts with a legendary opening track: the brilliant, aggressive, and instrumentally genius "21st century schizoid man" . after listening to almost everything the Crims have made during their long music making history,(excluding live improvs) I can say that this track is their finest. Greg Lakes powerful singing, Fripps wonderful guitar riff and solo, and McDonalds insane sax solo are just more than perfect. Also, the underrated Giles is doing just more than fine, the created beat is insane. It's worthy to check live versions too, with sax replaced by flutes or guitar, and it's just enjoyable.

Things become mellow and sweet with the next track, "I talk to the wind". Heavily recommended to listen after listening the previous track. Flutes are nothing less than great and Greg Lakes voice really fits to this song.

"Epitaph" enters with a drum roll, and a good one, because then you find yourself in a "confusing", beautiful piece with Lake singing an even more beautiful words. This one is one of the greatest pieces of the Crims, so just turn up the volume and enjoy the chaos.

"Moonchild" is a long, experimental track, I usually like experimental tracks but this one is just dull, seems like it's going nowhere. But if you are a very serious experimental fan, you can try this one. After all, its not that bad... and it can't have a serious effect on this experience. Keep in mind, if you press the skip button for this track, you wont loose something considerable...

And finally, here we are with the ending track: the medieval-themed "In the court of the Crimson King". Verses are hauntingly beautiful, and instruments are doing their finest, small instrumental parts "Return of the fire witch" and "Dance of the puppets" are a real treat, the flute and mellotron are just making the perfect pair. And I just can't tell you how fine is Lake doing on this one.

An overall, I can say that the music is good, the artists are creative, and the sound quality is pretty well for a starting band in the 60's. This album can be a music-life changing event if you're into Prog Rock, so don't miss it. Of course, "Moonchild" is a negative point for this album, but the other 4 are so fine that a single track can't change my rating: 5/5