IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING

Yes of course, like everyone else I had this album in my collection when I was 15, if only for the spectacular sleeve. An astonishing start by any measure. But now it makes me wince. Sorry to say but it sounds very dated. Listening 50 years on, It seems to be a logical extension of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper sound. The excessive drumrolls, naive composition and singing... all are firmly based in the sixties. Compare that to the fresh new bands coming to the fore at that time: Yes, Led Zep, (and slightly later, but no less revolutionary) Roxy Music and you can but conclude that professor Robert was not able at that point to clearly see the future. Or perhaps he was not able to gather the best of the bunch together at that point, like "Robert Who?". Of course he did catch up some years later with "Red" and again much later with "Discipline". Two albums which were, according to to my humble opinion the groundlayers of modern math rock. The album art is fantastic of course, a classic. But other bands were already playing on another level at that time (although no yet completely loose of the rambling and untight sixties sound, but they at least got heir act together mucho fast). For more mature listeners I would recommend Red, Discipline and Thrack.