IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING

Why am I only giving this 4 stars? I have no strong feelings over whether this was the start of Prog Rock or not. But you must remember that back in the late 60s, rock as such did not really exist, it was still rock and roll. Progressive Rock was the name given to all music of the type that was to be later known as rock and, later, as heavy rock, so it included all manner of bands from Deep Purple and Black Sabbath to Alice Cooper and Wishbone Ash, with bands like The Sweet, and T Rex, even Slade, on the borderline. I bought this LP (yes, I'm that old) while still at school over 30 years ago. At the time I wasn't into the pretentious meanderings of 21st Century Schizoid Man or Moonchild and usually lifted the needle onto the next track. Having recorded my album onto minidisk I can now do this much easier, but as I have got older I now appreciate 21st Century... - still find Moonchild difficult though. 21st Century did at least get played in the "Progressive Discotheques" of those halcyon days, though no- one knew quite what to do during the middle bit. I'm not sure how you can describe I Talk To The Trees and Epitath as Prog tracks, though they are excellent tracks in their own right. Moonchild is not really either - its constant use in "Heartbeat" on the telly proves that! But what gets me is that hardly any-one has actually said anything real about the title track. This is just mindblowing, the one track that I have played and played over the years; the track that sits on the tape compilation of Pink Floyd's Relics (guess which 2 tracks aren't on the tape), Led Zep 2, a few Cream tracks and Green Manalishi by Fleetwood Mac. It starts off as it means to go on, heavy and atmospheric. All the instruments gel together, the singing included. The sound is spot on, just listen to the clear sweetness of the cymbals as The Dance Of The Puppets begins. The ending is climatic, until those cymbals start and you realise that it isn't the end at all. But then, the only disappointment on the track, the real ending. A discordant row, especially given the superb false ending. I don't know what the CD is like, whether the cover has the inner sleeve picture as well as the outer or not, if the sound is better or worse than the vinyl album. But get a copy if you like this sort of music. It is worth it for the title track alone.