RED

This album is a good effort on part of the Crimson trio. I do miss cross on violin though. He makes a brief guest appearance on providece, but to no real effect. Track one, red, is a distorted instrumental. It's a bit repetitive, but on purpose I would imagine. It builds tension. It's a good opener for the album. Also has some cool percusive clanking on part of bruford. Track two, fallen angel, may just be my favorite on the album, though starless is a close contender. Fallen angel has a good melody and is memorable. Also has some interesting trumpet work on it. The heavy chorus is good for listening too. It adds balance to the song. It's a really nice song with some good lyrics. One more red nightmare is a heavier tune that I personally like very much. Good lyrics, good music, good instrumental passages, it's just a good song period! Providence is a creepy instrumental with some starless and bible black-like jamming. Wierd and experimental, which is good. And finally, we have starless, the longest piece on the album. Starts off with a beautiful melody and has excellent singing by wetton. The song then goes into a long repetitive, slightly annoying, but appropriate middle section which leads to and builds up for the fast jazzy passage at the end. It then returns to the melody, with the sax playing it. Also, some nice mellotron is present here. I almost want to give it a 5, but for me it falls just shy of that. Probably because of the fact that they have become a trio and thus became a tad bit more straightforward with this one. Essential for crimson fans, 4/5.