RED

So this is the big King Crimson album of the 70's. The band was a trio at the time, but cleverly, they used guest musicians to complete their final masterpiece. OK, enough with the history class. Let's get to business!

Red starts with it's title track, the instrumental, powerful, and highly-influential-on-other-Prog-bands-to-come "Red". The riff is simply great, Fripp is doing his finest. Bruford and Wetton are also an excellent pair. You might complain about the length of the track, and yes, listening for the first time I felt the same thing. But as you listen more and more to it, you start to feel the song is no more lengthy.

Next song is titled "Fallen Angel". A good song. The small intro makes me feel like I'm in a Chinese restaurant. The rest of the song progresses with Wetton's great vocals on this one. We hear McDonald's sax on this one, and the combination of Wetton's excellent vocals and McDonald's powerful sax makes this song a treat.

"One More Red Nightmare" is a funny song. But don't get me wrong. It is also very beautiful. Bruford is doing some intense drumming on this one (Is he smashing his drumsticks on a piece of metal? or maybe a pan? It sounds brilliant and aggressive, anyway). and the lyrics makes me smile. As far as I know, the lyrics are about one of Wetton's nightmares. And they're just hilarious.

Next one is a live improvisation: "Providence" made at Providence, while on USA tour with David Cross still on board. despite all the negative reviews on this song made by other reviewers on this site, I like this song very much. IMHO, This, alongside the "Asbury Park" improvisation, are King Crimson's best improvisations. I strongly recommend the reader to listen to this track on headphones so he/she can hear every single detail.

Now, we reach the killer song, the final song: "Starless". King Crimson really scored with this one. Mellotron, Violin, Drums, Oboe, Sax, Guitar all perfectly fit in their right places. Wetton provides a sweet bassline and great vocals. Fripp changes between mellotron and Guitar in the middle, Bruford's every single beat is solid and on the right time, and McDonald and Cross join the show on the right time. The ending is just epic. By epic I mean EPIC. Don't miss this one.

Overall: This album is one of King Crimson and Prog Rock's finest creations, and with songs like "Red" and "Starless", it gaurantees itself an eternal place in prog rock history.