KING CRIMSON

I guess I'm the odd person out as I don't see this as being such a copy of In the Court of the Crimson King although there are some similarities. It feels more like a connecting thread to me, in a way. Kind of like how the 1980's albums share certain stylistic New Wave qualities. I do think one or two of the first musical ideas date back to the Giles, GIles & Fripp days but that was true with the first album as well. The earliest songwriting sessions for the album were written when the original line up was still together. In the early planning stages, the second album was also to include Ian McDonald's Birdman Suite on the second side. The original songs that were planned as the follow up ended up scattered between Poseidon and the McDonald & Giles album.

The core line up for this album, musician wise is: Robert Fripp, Michael Giles and Peter Giles being offset by former Circus member Mel Collins and jazz pianist Keith Tippett. Michael and Peter were brought in and paid as studio musicians. Keith Tippett was offered to join but declined. Different singers were auditioned including Brian Ferry and an artist to be soon known as Elton John. Greg Lake ended up retaining most of the vocals in exchange for a chunk of the band's PA equipment. The band's newest member, Gordon Haskell would sing lead on Cadence and Cascade. I've always really liked everything on this release and I think it's a very inspired album.

With the recent passing of Jamie Muir I felt inspired to write a review of what is one of my all time favorite albums and what I would have to say is my personal favorite King Crimson album.

Most of us probably know the back story of this album but I'll provide a brief summary anyway. In the summer of 1972 Bill Bruford decided to leave Yes and joined the rest of the latest iteration of King Crimson which also included Jamie Muir, John Wetton, David Cross and of course Robert Fripp. The previous incarnation had imploded after the Islands tour much like the lineup from the first album. Fripp was eager to explore darker music which was influenced by Bela Bartok and Igor Stravisky as well as music with a heavier edge such as what Jimi Hendrix was doing.

The album starts off with a thumb piano for "larks tongues in aspic part one" before a buzz saw sounding guitar is introduced giving the world an early taste of proto prog metal with a massive guitar riff that would make Tony Iommi and Ritchie Blackmore proud. The track is entirely instrumental and goes through various sections with each getting ostensibly more experimental until a lone violin is heard before a coda that contains unintelligible voices in the background. Next up is "book of saturday" which some might consider filler but to me is a very pleasant mellow track with clean and backwards guitar. After that we have "exiles" which also appeared on the USA live album. This is a rather pastoral sounding track that opens with what I always thought sounded like barnyard animals. I'm not really sure what thet sounds are (much like with other sounds on the album) but they fit in nicely. The track features a very fine vocal performance by John Wetton which showcases what a great singer he really was. "Exiles" also features some lovely acoustic guitar which harkens back to something you might hear on Lizard particularly "circus."

Side two opens up with Fripp's trademark distorted guitar again on "easy money" which features one of the best instrumental sections on the album complete with crazy background sounds. After the track ends we hear the sound of wind which introduces "the talking drum" which is a very rhythmic centric track focusing on the interplay between Wetton's bass and Bruford's drums with David Cross's violin and Fripp's guitar on top of them. At the end of the track we have what is probably the greatest segue in all of progressive rock (maybe rock in general too although "shooby doo" into "Candy O" by the Cars is up there also) when the screech sound finally gives way to Fripp's guitar for "larks tongues in aspic part two." To me this always sounded a bit like fusion mainly because of the violin. I don't know if Robert Fripp was listening to Mahavishnu Orchestra at the time but there are some similarities. The track ends with one of the longest and most climactic endings I think I've ever heard. It's almost as if the world is exploding and this is what it sounds like.

To sum it all up, this is one of the wildest albums I heard when I was still new to progressive rock. I'm sure there are weirder albums out there but this and relayer by Yes were very wild sounding to my ears when I first heard them in the mid 1980s and this one in particular still doesn't sound much like other stuff I heard (with few exceptions including the two King Crimson albums that came right after it). If you are brand new to progressive rock you might want to get your feet wet with In The Court of the Crimson King first but you should definitely hear this one soon after. If it doesn't blow your mind then quite simply nothing in the progressive rock genre will. One of my top five albums of all time and absolutely essential for any prog fan but espcially those who are ok with more adventurous material.

RIP Jamie Muir.

The fourth King Crimson studio album was released in 1971 and is the last of the first (and earliest) distinct period for the band - 'Islands' is the art-rock-meets-improvisation with a jazzy swagger album that has polarized progressive rock fans for decades. This is the last album to feature lyricist Peter Sinfield as well as the only album to feature the line-up of Robert Fripp, Mel Collins, Boz Burrell and Ian Wallace. 'Islands' sees the band trying not to identify itself with any well-defined musical niche but also still searching for that recognizable identity following the release of the avant-garde 'Lizard' and the slightly derivative 'In the Wake of Poseidon'. In this sense, this album might be considered transitional, still romantically informed and intuited by classical music yet looking forward to and anticipating an exploration of music in free form, freed from the conventional notions of rock music and its tropes and structures.

With just six songs on the tracklist, 'Islands' remains as dense and exploratory as all preceding King Crimson albums, with Fripp directing an often disjointed but charming and melancholic version of the band, capturing that early 70s ingenuity that we often wind in the more eclectic corners of the genre. We have the floating sax on 'Formentera Lady', the 10-minute opener, counterbalancing the jazz-driven guitars, a gently avant-garde composition, somehow restrained but in a very intelligent way. 'Sailor's Tale' is a threatening instrumental prone to an early-Crimson emanation, with its swift jazz versing and generally solid improvisation, often criticized without proper justification as aimless. Fripp sounds fractured but quite confident here. 'The Letters' is the final track on Side A - distinctly Crimson in its bleak poetry. 'Ladies of the Road' is equal amounts cynical, sexist and ironic and might as well be the odd one out, with Collins impressing, nevertheless. The classical influences of the band are celebrated on 'Song of the Gulls', while the title track is a dreamy, melancholic piece that could be seen as the compositional precursor to post-rock, with its ambient, gradual unfolding. This entire album is quite important, and unfortunately very underrated, too - one of the peculiar but daring parts of the King Crimson discography.

I am a Korean who likes progressive rock.

첫 후기입니다.

프로그레시브 록의 좋은 음반 기준이 무엇인지 깊이 고민했어요. 첫 번째는 음반의 수록된 곡들이 하나로 곡으로 이어져 있는지, 두 번째는 이어져 있지 않다면 서로 잘 어울리는지, 세 번째는 무엇보다 듣기에 얼마나 좋은지, 네 번째는 어떤 구성이며, 컨셉이 무엇인지, 마지막 다섯 번째는 프로그레시브 록인지 (주관적인 기준일 뿐입니다.)

이 음반은 수록된 곡들이 하나의 곡으로 이어져 있지 않고 그렇다고 서로 어울리지도 않은 느낌을 개인적으로 받았습니다. 하지만, 무엇보다 수록된 모든 곡이 듣기에 좋았고 구성을 굉장히 잘 만들었어요. 특히나 첫 번째 트랙, In the Court of the Crimson King은 록과 재즈를 절묘하게 잘 배합한 것 같아 처음 들었을 때 사실 놀랐습니다. 사실 이 정도로만 배합해도 좋아요. 후에 음반을 들어보면 재즈가 록을 집어삼킨 느낌이 들었습니다. King Crimson을 소개하기에 가장 좋은 시도였어요. 이어지는 서정적인 두 번째 트랙, I Talk to the Wind을 지나 세 번째 트랙, Epitaph로 분위기가 절정에 이르렀죠. 왜 이 음반이 명반인지, 프로그레시브 록이 무엇인지, 입문하기에 좋은 '필수' 음반이었습니다. 감사합니다.

In my opinion this is where you start in prog rock. I remember running into the record store to get this album. the first track is powerful and unforgettable. when you first think prog you think of Pink Floyd but I think of this album, this album is iconic even the cover work by Barry Godber does this album justice with the cover catching you this deserves all the credit for it being the first "real" prog album. This album I believe started everything. Robert Fripp does excellent guitar on this album. And also I have to mention its not only the debut for king crimson its also the debut for Greg Lakes vocal career giving him the platform to perform for Elp and others. Great album nonetheless

"Earthbound" is a live album release by UK progressive rock act King Crimson. The album was released through Island Records in June 1972. It bridges the gap between King Crimson´s fourth- and fifth full-length studio albums "Islands" (December 1971) and "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" (March 1973). Recorded through a mixer directly to cassette tape "Earthbound" is a relatively lo-fi recording, and is sometimes described as a bootleg sounding live recording. The band wisely realised that, and upon release offered the album at a budget price. The reasoning being that it didn´t cost them much to record, so the fans shouldn´t have to pay much to listen to it.

Personally I´ve heard bootlegs which sound both better and much worse than "Earthbound", but it´s arguably not a particularly well sounding release. Opening with a loud, heavy, and noisy version of "21st Century Schizoid Man" King Crimson are on to a messy and untight start. "Peoria" is a 7:30 minutes long blues rock jam, which sounds almost nothing like what you´d expect King Crimson to sound. "Sailor's Tale" appears on a shorter version than the studio version found on "Islands" and it sounds uninspired and muddy. "Earthbound" is a blues jazzy improvised jam and again sounds nothing like you´d expect King Crimson to sound. Scat vocals and all from Boz Burrell.

The closing track is a 15:30 minutes long version of "Groon". A track which first appeared on the B-side to the "Cat Food" single in 1970. It´s an improvised jazz jam track...needless to say it again sounds nothing like what you´d expect King Crimson to sound like, and upon conclusion "Earthbound" isn´t a good quality live release from King Crimson. Not only is the recording quality sub par, but the band perform music here which isn´t at all in line with their studio output. Had I gone to see King Crimson on this tour I would have been extremely disappointed. A 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

It's only talk. This sums up King Crimson in the 1980's. Fripp decided to reconstitute the group in the era of the new wave. He had just performed with the League of Gentlemen which was successful but not completely satisfying to his artistic soul. KC is the soul of his mantle. He formed the band and shaped it for more than a decade when this record was released. It was a break with the past in this format. It was guitar music that was more subliminal and repetitive. Adrain was the essential element in this group as he had the ideas and motifs which shaped the music and led to a trilogy of albums during this era. King Crimson has never actually been disbanded, as they always tend to regroup after a hiatus. With the modern day we have the band BEAT which is a cover band and has two original members. They are now commercial as evidenced by their ticket prices.

No One Beats Those Sheltering Skies

The long tour for Discipline hasn't ended yet, but the band finds time to pause and finish recording Beat. Beat is a collection of previously rejected songs from the Discipline sessions, along with a few new compositions, including the standout track "Heartbeat," a song by Adrian Belew that deserves a record of its own.

King Crimson continues their Discipline tour, now incorporating Beat as part of an all-in-one experience. In 1982, the band?Fripp, Belew, Bruford, and Levin?sounds better than ever, especially during the summer leg of their European tour in Fréjus on the French Côte d'Azur. On those warm summer days, with the fresh coastal winds, King Crimson delivered a memorable concert.

Sheltering Skies Live 1982

This live record captures one of those cool evenings on the French coast, where the band sounded both relaxed and at their peak. From the opening track, "Thela Hun Ginjeet," to the final track, "The Sheltering Sky," they evoke the unique atmosphere of a French summer night. The band seemed comfortable and confident, and the audience's enthusiastic reaction to each song underscored the special energy of the evening.

King Crimson closed that European night with a beautiful performance, capturing the essence of their prime in the eighties.

THRAKATTAK

'80s Aftermath After recording Three of a Perfect Pair, King Crimson disbanded once again (their previous disbandment was in 1974). This break was ultimately for the good of the band, as each member needed time to explore their own skills and musical tastes, gaining insights that could enrich any potential future reunion. However, there was no set date or schedule for this.

Robert Fripp felt stagnant with the '80s King Crimson experiments. In fact, their last effort, Three of a Perfect Pair, felt more like a stagnant continuation than a groundbreaking creation. Discipline was the standout, while the rest were good but not great?and he knew it. Although he felt out of sync, he admitted that his guitar playing sounded, in his own words, "old and out of fashion."

The rest of the band also faced a crossroads, uncertain about approaching the end of the '80s without King Crimson. But in the end, everything flowed as it was meant to.

Adrian Belew benefited the most from this hiatus, as he was at his creative peak, producing acclaimed records and engaging in several projects. Fans and critics alike hailed him as the heir to the new King Crimson sound, though some critics blamed him for the band's more commercial direction.

Bill Bruford reconnected with his former Yes bandmates, forming Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe from 1988 to 1991. This collaboration culminated in The Union Tour, a major world tour with Yes.

Tony Levin stayed busy, collaborating with Peter Gabriel on the highly successful So (1986) and later recording Us (1992). From 1987 to 1993, he toured almost continuously with Gabriel's band.

The New Guys

Pat Mastelotto's band, Mr. Mister, split in 1990. Three years later, he began a long musical partnership with King Crimson's guitar genius, Robert Fripp, performing live with Fripp and David Sylvian in 1994.

Trey Gunn first worked with Fripp on Toyah's 1991 record, though they had originally met at a Warr guitar show in the late '80s. Fripp wanted to work with him, and the Toyah record provided the opportunity. Gunn later joined the California Guitar Trio.

At that point, there was no indication of a new King Crimson project. The timing wasn't right, and in 1992, the idea of a reunion seemed far from reality.

Inner Revolution

Inner Revolution, Adrian Belew's sixth solo album, was released in 1992. The album is a collection of 1960s-inspired pop songs. Alongside his signature guitar, Belew played bass guitar, drums, and occasional keyboards. This record marked Belew's transition from experimental sounds to a more mainstream approach, leaning closer to The Beatles' 1966 sound than to King Crimson.

After hearing Inner Revolution, Robert Fripp felt that a reunion of King Crimson's '80s lineup would be challenging. Each member was engaged in projects that diverged significantly from the King Crimson sound. Belew, Fripp's most prominent "alumnus," was gaining recognition with his solo work.

Jean the Birdman

Fripp embarked on a new project beyond the California Guitar Trio, collaborating with David Sylvian on The First Day. For this project, Fripp brought in Trey Gunn on Warr guitar. Working with Sylvian and the band was revitalizing for Fripp, leading him to wonder, "What if I reformed King Crimson with Sylvian and this lineup?" However, Sylvian, a wise musician and a great person, declined, saying that this was not meant to be King Crimson's new direction.

Despite this, Jean the Birdman, one of the great hits ever written by Fripp was from the Fripp-Sylvian sessions. Fripp later recruited two musicians from his time with Sylvian?Pat Mastelotto drums and Trey Gunn bass?to join future projects.

VROOOM VROOOM

At the end of 1994, Robert Fripp and the "new guys," Mastelotto and Gunn, jammed in a studio. The band sounded great, and it was time to let go of their shyness and use the King Crimson name again. News of their jamming made it into the papers, and soon, everything started moving. They were joined by Adrian Belew in Woodstock, New York. Their work was a fusion of the Red era, the alternative scene ruling the music market, Belew's solo work, and Fripp's collaboration with Sylvian, blended with their '80s sound. This unique style would become known as THRAK.

Meanwhile, the other members, Levin and Bruford, waited at Peter Gabriel's studio in London. Soon, the complete King Crimson lineup continued rehearsals in London with the "double trio" setup?two guitars, two basses, and two drums.

A sudden and precise impact moved from intention to direction and commitment, in service of an aim. Known as THRAK.

THRAK may not be a masterpiece, but it's the most "King Crimson" record in history. All the band's principles are present: innovation, heaviness, prog, avant-garde, pop, jazz, evolution, and a touch of madness. This is King Crimson's greatest incarnation?six musicians playing and experimenting. The record may not be flawless, but the live performances were astonishing, showcasing a level of artistry that few bands can even attempt.

THRAK sounds more like a Beatles record than an alternative one, but it includes those elements too. To put it simply, THRAK mixes all these styles. If you think there are elements of Soundgarden, Tool, Tears For Fears, or heavy industrial, you're right?you can find something for everyone. It's a great record but also a difficult one; everything is here, all that you want to listen to, all that you want to think about. This period of the band was extremely bold, so good and so King Crimson. This was a great period for the band, and I truly enjoyed it.

The De'Construkction Of King Crimson

With longtime members Bill Bruford and Tony Levin gone, King Crimson's sound took a shift. Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Pat Mastelotto, and Trey Gunn tried to bring back their 1980s vibe, but without Bruford and Levin, the music often feels overly technical. Belew's usually energetic vocals seem muted here, which adds to the album's disconnected feel.

The Construkction of Light by King Crimson showcases the band's impressive skill, but it can come across as cold and mechanical, making it harder to connect with. While the intricate guitar work, solos, and intense drumming highlight the musicians' technical abilities, the album's lack of warmth often leaves listeners feeling distanced.

The album opens with "ProzaKc Blues," a heavy, bluesy track with gritty vocals that make it stand out. Its slick riff and loose vibe give it a strong groove, making it one of the more approachable songs on the record. Next is the title track, "The Construkction of Light (Parts 1 & 2)," featuring the band's signature interlocking guitar style, where Belew and Fripp trade intricate notes. Although technically impressive, it can feel cold and detached, more focused on precision than connection.

Then, "Into the Frying Pan" offers a mix of relaxed verses and heavier riffs. Belew's vocals here add some warmth, allowing the music to loosen up a bit. This track gives listeners a moment to enjoy the energy instead of just technicality, briefly capturing a balance the album often lacks. However, this doesn't last long. "FraKctured," a dense, nine-minute track inspired by "Fracture" from Starless and Bible Black, quickly shifts back into overly technical territory. Despite its complexity, it feels exhausting and emotionally distant, emphasizing the album's main flaw: a focus on technicality over feeling.

"The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum" brings some humor, with playful lyrics and odd wordplay from Belew, creating a lighter, more experimental tone. Still, it may feel disjointed to some listeners. Then comes "Larks' Tongues in Aspic ? Part IV," an intense instrumental piece with interlocking guitars and complex rhythms reminiscent of previous "Larks'" tracks. However, it can feel repetitive and lacks the depth of earlier installments.

"Coda: I Have a Dream" changes the tone with darker lyrics from Belew addressing world crises, offering a rare reflective moment. Yet, this introspective shift can feel out of place compared to the album's complex, instrumental focus. Finally, the album closes with "Heaven and Earth," blending calm ambiance with powerful middle sections before gently fading out. This track's mix of atmosphere and intensity hints at what the album could have achieved if it focused more on emotion.

Overall, The Construkction of Light doesn't tarnish King Crimson's legacy, but it stands as one of their more challenging works?impressive yet distant. While tracks like "ProzaKc Blues," "Into the Frying Pan," and "Heaven and Earth" show the band's potential for balance, much of the album prioritizes technical skill over emotional depth, despite that this is a King Crimson record listening as it entirely is a tiring exercise and can leave you exhausted.