King Crimson "Red"

cstack3 wrote: HackettFan wrote: Just read the article. I agree with Fripp. Fripp considered a moment of genius when he came up with the LTIA line up. Perhaps he felt a sense of loss when that line up began evaporating with the loss of Muir and then Cross? Anyway, I always felt first a loss of intricacy and texture after LTIA. Then it seems like there is a loss of improvisation and quirkiness in Red (except for Providence, great piece there). Cross had complained about trying to compete with the wall of sound from Wetton and Bruford. Maybe Fripp felt sympathetic. I don't know, just throwing all that out there. Since when does a Prog fan give a hoot about what Kurt Cobain thought. I met Fripp when he toured US record stores on his "Drive to 1981" tour, and he spoke about why he decided to break King Crimson up.  Someone in the crowd asked him about it, and he told us that he was rattled by the sight of police armed with machine guns at a gig in Italy, and he felt that society was beginning to spiral out of control.  He was also emphatic that the "old" ways of doing things, including rock bands and record companies, were passe, and that the "small, mobile, highly intelligent unit" would prevail.   Given the events in Paris this week, we have to pause and wonder....

Indeed. 'Dinosaurs' he referred to them as. He certainly followed the small independent mobile intelligent unit approach. In his solo and collaborative work to follow. I remember an interview in which Fripp criticized the business model of trying to hit it big. He pointed out that an independent self-produced album selling a modest 100,000 copies could amount to a small fortune. Of course he was a little premature in his prediction. There were plenty of arena acts throughout the 80s, including the reformed Crimson.




Edited by HackettFan - November 15 2015 at 19:09

Red is the best King Crimson album.

Fallen Angel is very emotional too.  IMO more so than Exiles because the former is more focused.  Of course it's just my opinion and it's very difficult to have a discussion about emotional resonance, lol. 

Just read the article. I agree with Fripp. Fripp considered a moment of genius when he came up with the LTIA line up. Perhaps he felt a sense of loss when that line up began evaporating with the loss of Muir and then Cross? Anyway, I always felt first a loss of intricacy and texture after LTIA. Then it seems like there is a loss of improvisation and quirkiness in Red (except for Providence, great piece there). Cross had complained about trying to compete with the wall of sound from Wetton and Bruford. Maybe Fripp felt sympathetic. I don't know, just throwing all that out there. Since when does a Prog fan give a hoot about what Kurt Cobain thought.

Kati wrote: Oh awwww I love Starless so much and that song alone carries the whole album, Red is a great album.

Posiedon all the way. Red and Larks are a bit hit and miss for me. Wetton bores me a bit

cstack3 wrote: verslibre wrote: It's funny that Fripp held Crimson back, and then went and collaborated with none other than Daryl Hall, who was in the beginning stages of the mega-stardom he'd achieve as half of Hall & Oates. This is some of what Bob said in the article: “I think John Wetton felt the group was poised for — I have to use the words ‘big time,'” McDonald said in Romano’s book. “He felt the group was, for the first time, on the verge of being widely known.”  But the iconoclastic Fripp, in that talk with Best, admitted that he’d wasn’t envisioning any such thing. “I never let King Crimson fall into the success trap,” he said. “Several times, we went very close to having a gigantic commercial success. I have always instinctively tried to avoid this success.” Read More: 41 Years Ago: King Crimson Implode With 'Red''s Arrival | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/king-crimson-red/?trackback=tsmclip

This brought to mind a quote from Frank Herbert's Dune: "And always, he fought the temptation to choose a clear, safe course, warning 'That path leads ever down into stagnation' "

LTIA is bolder but Red has more emotional resonance.  For that reason, I lean towards Red.  All the experimentation on LTIA/SABB crystallised into the finest set of SONGS on a KC album since ITCOTCK.

I do prefer Starless and Bible Black over Larks' Tongues In Aspic  and Red.

Thanks!  I run hot & cold on the LP "Red"....

Edited by cstack3 - November 13 2015 at 22:22