IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING

Is "In The Court Of The Crimson King" an essential album? To progressive rock music in itself I'm sure it was! But is it essential to have it stored on your CD-shelf? Well, actually I don't really think so. It's probably just a nice complementation of your progressive rock music collection.

As I really like "newer" progressive rock bands like ARENA, BLACKFIELD, IQ, MARILLION, PENDRAGON, PORCUPINE TREE, RADIOHEAD, RIVERSIDE and SYLVAN, I decided to go all the way back to their "progressive roots" to find out what KING CRIMSON was all about. I started with their supposedly best album: In The Court.

I did not dare burning my hands on this one for a long time, because it is supposed to be so good! I had the same problem submitting a review on ELP's Brain Salad Surgery. Another highly praised album, that I particular don't really like. Sorry guys!

Well, about the album, what can I really add? I must say the first two tracks start quite promising and track three "EPITAPH" sung by Greg Lake is simply beautiful! This track is definitely the highlight of this album! But right after this comes the big problem of this album called MOONCHILD. The first two minutes start quite promising again, but after that. Boy oh boy, some experimental jamming session that lasts over 10 minutes! Why did those guys deteriorate this album like this? Maybe because 33 minutes is a bit short for a progressive rock album? So at least now the album lasts almost 45 minutes which was considered to be "standard" for an LP? I would have liked the album a lot more if this track simply would have been deleted! I would not give one single star for this track: 0 stars for MOONCHILD!For this track alone I would never consider this album a masterpiece. IMHO each track from a 5 track album should be a highlight in that case!

The last track "The Court Of The Crimson King" is actually the 2nd best track on this album, just after EPITAPH. Nice one, but unfortunately most of the time I have already fallen asleep during MOONCHILD.

All and all 1 firm star for each track, except for MOONCHILD. As a matter of fact; for MOONCHILD I subtract half a star. 3.5 stars total: good, but non-essential.