IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING

Back in the early 8o's i started my Crimson collection,and was totally impressed by all of their albums,some more progressive than other's,but then it came time to listen to the much praised In the court.I read comments about In the court by Pete Townsend,and thought this has got to be it,save the best to last,to complete my Crimson Collection. Well my first impression was the sound,this sounds so very old,and its not progressive music,it did nothing for me,much of it like Moonchild was meandering and aimless just a jam,totally incoherent.21st century schitziod man,is a great track which is heavly influenced by the music of Hendrix and The Who,unfortunatley much of the rest is mediocre.The one thing In the Court did for me was appreciate the Crimson albums that followed,and also learn never to believe all that is written about reviews of rock albums,especially when they are they are called masterpieces.Its intersting to note that Hendrix called ZZtop guitarist billy gibbons,the next great rock guitarist,so Pete Townsends comments of In the Court could be seen in the same light. Rarely do rock acts or even the great classical composes,of symphony or opera,produce their best on debut,ie Beethoven 1st,Wagners early opera's.King Crimson's In the court is no exception either,it's just interesting but also very dated,unlike many other recordings of different genre's from this period of the 60's,In the Court has not aged well,definately for collector's only.