{"id":22535,"date":"2022-03-09T05:30:18","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T10:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22535"},"modified":"2022-02-16T12:41:39","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T17:41:39","slug":"march-through-time-king-crimson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/09\/march-through-time-king-crimson\/","title":{"rendered":"March Through Time: King Crimson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-22536\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_crim.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_crim.jpg 1417w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_crim-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_crim-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_crim-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_crim-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>I first discovered King Crimson in my freshman year of college. They had just reunited in their four-man configuration (Fripp, Belew, Bruford and Levin), and I found them thanks to my interest in Belew, who had been a Zappa sideman. I liked <i>Discipline<\/i> a lot.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, around that time a friend in my dorm hall spent hours seated on his bed studying, and while he did he absentmindedly peeled the paint off of the concrete wall. Doing that revealed a hand-pained image of a horror-stricken face, the image from In the Court of the Crimson King. That led me to check out King Crimson\u2019s 1969 debut; I subsequently followed down a rabbit hole from which I\u2019ve yet to emerge. I\u2019ve <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/20\/king-crimsons-brutal-finesse-part-one\/\">interviewed quite a few current and former members<\/a>, and seen the group twice onstage. I\u2019m a serious fan, and \u2013 unlike most men \u2013 I can claim my wife as a fellow Crim fan.<\/p>\n<p>The one consistent quality of all King Crimson releases (besides Robert Fripp, of course) is that \u2013 with the rare exception \u2013 they don\u2019t repeat themselves. Nearly every album sounds unlike the ones before or after it. That can make it tough sledding for new fans. But the effort is rewarded.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i><b>In the Court of the Crimson King<\/b><\/i><b> (1969)<\/b> \u2013 The majestic debut, arguably the birth of progressive rock. Unlikely to ever be equaled. <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2009\/12\/16\/album-review-king-crimson-in-the-court-of-the-crimson-king-40th-anniversary-series\/\">Here&#8217;s my more detailed analysis<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>In the Wake of Poseidon<\/b><\/i><b> (1970)<\/b> \u2013 The band promptly fell apart, and Fripp soldiered on with almost completely different personnel. Weirdly \u2013 and flying in the face of what I\u2019ve asserted in the introduction above \u2013 Poseidon is in nearly every way a carbon copy of <i>Court<\/i>. As such it comes in for criticism. But considered on its own merits, it\u2019s quite nearly the equal of its predecessor. The overlooked album in the catalog.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Lizard<\/b><\/i><b> (1970)<\/b> \u2013 A strange one. The participation of Keith Tippett makes for an even more intriguing release, as does the guest vocal of Jon Anderson(!) <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2010\/02\/17\/album-review-king-crimson-lizard-40th-anniversary-series\/\">More about <em>Lizard<\/em> here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Islands<\/b><\/i><b> (1971)<\/b> \u2013 Again, a different lineup. This one is denser, less immediate and vastly less commercial. It also produced some of the group\u2019s most enduring material. Go figure. <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/01\/28\/album-review-king-crimson-islands-40th-anniversary-edition\/\">I dig deeper here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Earthbound<\/b><\/i><b> (1972)<\/b> \u2013 A bootleg-quality live recording documenting the Islands-era lineup. If you can get past the shoddy sound \u2013 and if you can find it \u2013 still worthwhile.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Larks&#8217; Tongues in Aspic<\/b><\/i><b> (1973)<\/b> \u2013 Perhaps the group\u2019s most \u201cserious\u201d album of the decade, with a mien approaching classical.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Starless and Bible Black<\/b><\/i><b> (1974)<\/b> \u2013 Sonically of a pair with <i>Larks<\/i>, but darker. John Wetton\u2019s presence takes things to a heavier place.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Red<\/b><\/i><b> (1974)<\/b> \u2013 One of the greatest albums ever created, <i>Red<\/i> established progressive metal. Achingly beautiful in parts, and it should have pointed the way toward the future. Instead, Crim broke up\u2026 again. <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2009\/12\/14\/album-review-king-crimson-red-40th-anniversary-series\/\">Read more about <em>Red<\/em> here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>USA<\/b><\/i><b> (1975)<\/b> \u2013 A live document of the <i>Red<\/i>-era band, focusing on recent material. A gem.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Discipline<\/b><\/i><b> (1981)<\/b> Six years in the rock era could feel like a lifetime, and even though this lineup featured two musicians form the previous Crimson (Fripp and Bruford), it sounded like nothing else we\u2019d heard. A desert island disc. Don\u2019t miss the underappreciated instro, \u201cThe Sheltering Sky.\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2013\/02\/18\/album-review-king-crimson-discipline-40th-anniversary-series-edition\/\">Further discussion about <em>Discipline<\/em> here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Beat<\/b><\/i><b> (1982)<\/b> \u2013 A bit of a hipster vibe informed this one; not as groundbreaking as its predecessor \u2013 how could it be? \u2013 but still very, very good.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Three of a Perfect Pair<\/b><\/i><b> (1984)<\/b> \u2013 The third in a trilogy, this one seems to be missing a certain spark. Flawlesly executed but a bit short on visceral emotional content; a bit cerebral, even by Crim standards. The band broke up <i>again<\/i>.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Thrak<\/b><\/i><b> (1995)<\/b> \u2013 With a new, even more aggressive sound, this Crimson is darker, more musically malevolent, and fully back into art-rock territory. But Belew brings songs, too. <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/03\/31\/one-more-time-king-crimsons-thrak-at-25\/\">More about <em>Thrak<\/em> here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>The Construkction of Light<\/b><\/i><b> (2000)<\/b> Darker still, more ambitious still.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>The Power to Believe<\/b><\/i><b> (2003) <\/b>\u2013 To date, the final studio offering form King Crimson. And likely to remain that way. By this point the group\u2019s focus seemed to be squarely on live performance and improvisation; that has been the best way to experience them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And seeing as the most recent tour is widely assumed to be their last, for those who want more, there are nearly 50 live sets available from the King Crimson Collectors&#8217; Club, plus other assorted live sets, boxed sets, expanded reissues and so forth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I first discovered King Crimson in my freshman year of college. They had just reunited in their four-man configuration (Fripp, Belew, Bruford and Levin), and I found them thanks to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,65],"tags":[1250],"class_list":["post-22535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-review","tag-king-crimson","cat-27-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22537,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22535\/revisions\/22537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}