RED

Red was the album that followed Starless and Bible Black, and the core of the group is still there - Fripp on guitars, Bruford on drums, and Wetton on bass and vocals. They also have guest appearances of former Crimson alumni - Collins and McDonald on saxophones, and Cross on violin. There are also appearances by Charig on coronet and Miller on oboe, who both had guested on Lizard. So what we have here is ovbiously a King Crimson family reunion, right? Wrong!

What we have is a band in its death throes. Fripp was tired of the way Crimson was heading and was preparing to end of the band (for the first time). Of course we know that this would be a lengthy hiatus, but at the time we thought they were gone.

The title track is probably the most covered track in the Crimson repitoire - for good reason. This song COOKS! Any cover version pales in comparison tothe original. One More Red Nightmare puts voice to the feelings of Crimson at the time. Providence is one of the band's best improvisations (recoreded in Providence, hence the title), and Starless could easily have fit into the themes from the previous album.

As with most people, this is my favorite iteration of the band, and I wish they would reunite, maybe even adding Cross back into the mix. But for a goodbye album, well...gosh, this is near perfect!