Court Of The Crimson King - Your First Listening

I bought and first heard this album a few years ago; by then I already knew prog was my favourite genre. I think I can still remember what I thought about it at first.
- 21st Century Schizoid Man. I really rather disliked this song, it seemed rather dissonant and the sax was really annoying.
- I talk to the Wind. I found this song really boring, nothing particularly interesting.
- Epitaph. Wow, a really beautiful song, very impressive singing and very emotional all along. An instant winner.
- Moonchild. I don't remember about the initial part, I gues I found it somewhat boring (but not as much as I talk to the Wind), however, the long instrumental part was too much. Too long and too boring.
- The Court of the Crimson King. I had already heard this one from the Asia live album "Fantasia". I did like this song (and of course, this version was easily better than the Asia version). Similar to Epitaph, but I still liked Epitaph more.

Now, it is common knowledge that prog often needs several listens to grasp all the music, and I always need to hear an album many many times. So, now what I think of this album:

- 21st Century Schizoid Man. Well, as a matter of fact my favourite version of this song is a live version from the Wetton-Cross line-up, and I really love it; because of that version I have come to apreciate the original one very much too, though I don't like it as much as the live one.
- I talk to the wind. It's still not my favourite from the album, but it's very nice and I don't have the urge to skip it when I hear it.
- Epitaph. Still my favourite song from the album, and one of my favourite prog songs. And it still has one of my favourite vocal performances in prog too.
- Moonchild. I like the initial vocal part very much, but the loooong isntrumental section is still too much for me, and I don't think that will change with time.
- The court of the Crimson King. Still a very beautiful song, still a bit behind Epitaph for me.

And in the end, considering that the sum of the parts is better than any individual song, I would say that this is a 5 star album. The only 5 star album King Crimson released as far as my taste is concerned.

Back then, rock music didn't have as many labels as it does today. It was pretty much all lumped under Rock and Roll. So much innovation was going on that you couldn't sort the debris because the dust hadn't settled. But the King Crimson debut album was something we all knew was special. That shocking cover (at the time it was anyway), those haunting lyrics, the crystal clear vocals,  the force of those Mellotrons front and center; gave us all pause as The Beatles fell apart to wonder if this would be the new direction of music. They really tested the waters for bands like Genesis and Yes; Tull did an about-face, and Emerson Lake and Palmer was born. The water was fine and soon the pool was crowded. Eventually, someone took a wiz and everyone bailed. 

Edited by Ronnie Pilgrim - September 04 2011 at 12:22

I first heard "I Talked To The Wind" before I even really knew what progressive rock was.  In those days I was just mainly into the psychedelic rock of the time.  I absolutely loved the song and looked up the band at a record store and the guy let me play the album.  All I heard was the explosive beginning with "Cat's Food! Iron Claw!  Neurosurgeons Scream For More!" and I was hooked.  Though admittedly I wasn't as blown back by Epitaph and Moonchild at first and often skipped to the last nine-and-a-half minute epic, since it reminded me of a dark Moody Blues sound.  It wasn't until Yes that I really got into progressive rock (I found them through the song Astral Traveller, a rockin' psychedelic proto-prog number.)

It was one among the first wave of albums I listened to from my older brothers and cousins, maybe around 1972 when I was 6 or so. So I have it pretty hardwired in my brain. They used to skip Moonchild and start playing side 2 directly from the title song, so I only got to know and like Moonchild quite later on when I myself started to get stoned for listening to music, Moonchild was great when stoned.

awaken77 wrote: I listened KC 1st album quite ago I was immediately impressed by first track , I also enjoyed melodic and relaxing "Talk to the wind", but the rest of the alum I didn't found very interesting, rather disappointing.  and the final track, while being sort of the "epic", is kind of repetitive and monotonous (a precursor to future "Zeuhl" thing? :-)   ) I appreciate singificance of the Court for influence to all prog rock, it has elements of most future prog genres ( sympho prog, prog metal, RIO, zeuhl, etc) but it never was my favorite KC album. My favs are Larks Tongues in Aspic and Red

It's actually possible that I discovered this album on here, but I think that's not the case. I'm pretty sure I knew about it before hand. It's possible that I found about it through an interview with someone in band, maybe Tool, maybe Opeth, etc. That seemed to be how I'd discover bands around that time. But I really liked it. I wasn't even into prog at the time that I heard it, but this was the best thing I had heard that could be labeled as such. And then eventually the more I listened to it the more I grew to love it until it was my favorite prog album to exist! It was one of the very first records I ever bought, also, when starting my record collection. I still have that old record (the original one with the hard cover) framed in my room, even though I bought the new 180 gram pressing of it. If I had to guess a year that I heard it, I'd say maybe 2007? I doubt 2006. 

Edited by Jake Kobrin - September 02 2011 at 00:32

I bought it at HMV. First listen was in the car with my great-grandparents. They hates 21st Century Schizoid Man with a passion.  But when I Talk to the Wind came on they were like "Ohh this is nice." Anyways, I loved the whole album instantly.

Triceratopsoil wrote: my first listen started out like "wtf this is really quiet OW MY EARDRUMS"

I was well into adulthood when I first heard Court. Loved "21st" and the title track (still do), was struck by the contrast between "21st" and "Wind" (still am), didn't care much for "Epitaph" and "Moonchild" (still don't).  Not my favorite album of theirs, but it did start the wheels turning.

It was about 2 years ago, I think.

I was really impressed with 4 of the 5 tracks (yep, you guessed it! The one I was so-so on was Moonchild.)

I'm between 3 stars and 4 stars with it...closer to 4, though, but only slightly.