IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING

By the time this album came out in 1969, The Moody Blues had already been putting out several albums of creative, colorful, mellotron-based prog. music. Just listen to "Days of Future Passed" (1967) and "In Search of the Lost Chord" (1968) and you can find much of the early influences for "In the Court of the Crimson King". The title track "The Court of the Crimson King" especially is very heavy on the Moody Blues sound (lots of mellotron, reflective vocals, acoustic guitar, flute, early prog drums - sort of jazzy).

It's not surprising that ITCOTCK borrows a lot from the Moody Blues. Members of both bands were good friends and hung around each other. While King Crimson was just getting off the ground, the Moodies were already a well-established band, and were obviously very influencial. Surreal cover art was also already in full swing by the time ITCOTCK came out, although KC's certainly stood out with that twisted maniacal face.

Of course, the members of King Crimson put their own touch on the style of music. Fripp added harshness and dissonance, and lyricist Pete Sinfield added his own weird imagery.

This is still a classic though!

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