RED

Red stands as KING CRIMSON's third best album (behind ITCOTCK and Lizard) mainly on the stregth of it's brilliant second and third tracks. While Fallen Angel and One More Red Nightmare carry the album, with their spot of lyrical quality and delivery there of (these are 6 star tracks and among my prog favorites), the other tracks don't show any real drop off in quality and all carry the dark more serious mood of this album rather effectively. The opening track Red builds a strong foundation for the mood of the album with its rich deep sound, if I have one complaint about this track is that its a bit repetitive. I can't really get into the composition and musical layout in depth, as this isn't my strong suit, but all the technical perfection you'd expect from anything Robert Fripp touches is here, in abundence, and that's always a marvel to listen to. I almost consider Providence to be a piece of classical music with more modern instruments in use, at least untill late in the track when a very heavy jam is brought into play. It certainly isn't a song you would want to listen to late at night in a pitch black room, scary. Starless has some very underrated guitar work, along with killer wind sections, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Bruford's drumming (you all know its top notch but a mention is obligatory). Wetton's vocals fit the lyrical content exquisitely on Starless, as they do throughout the album, but this is a King Crimson album we are talking about and nobody was better adept at piecing together the jigsaw puzzle that is music (I hope that makes sense). You can't even see the lines! 4.75 stars rounding up to 5.