KING CRIMSON

ProjeKct Two Space Groove is the best King Crimson album because nobody knows it exists.

I was first introduced to this album by someone who was not really a fan of progressive rock at all. They were big into 80s and 90s alt rock dinosaurs like Dinosaur Jr., Butthole Surfers, and The Flaming Lips. But for whatever reason they had this album as part of their collection and held it in high regard.

So being something of an obsessive King Crimson fan and wanting to impress this other person I began listening to this album. This was nearly a decade ago now, and I'm still not sure what to think.

It does stand out as being one of the most unique albums in the King Crimson discography. Its really hard to find anything else in their catalog that even sounds kind of like this.

Basically this consists of three musicians with some new toys to play with. Trey Gunn with his recently acquired Warr Guitar, Adrain Belew and his V Drums (which had just arrived prior to recording), and Mr. Fribble with his ever expanding collection of effects units and pedals to run his guitar through. The latest and most advanced in late-90s musical instrument technology.

So the three Crimsos gather together and hit record, and these are they results.

Being an album that consists almost entirely of improv (with some vague compositional ideas scattered throughout) it can't really be judged on the same merits as a traditional written and composed album. It is spontaneous music-making by a group of musicians who are basically professionals at it. Probably the most intriguing thing about the music is it is sometimes hard to tell exactly who is playing what. Was that sound I just heard a V-Drum sample, a Frippertronic, or a Warr Guitar worked through some pedals? These sort of things can only be dissected on repeated listens, and even then there's always something new to discover.

The improvisations were always the most interesting part of a King Crimson show anyway, this album is one of the few occasions where the audience gets to experience a candid improv session in a private setting, without the pressures of a live audience and pesky flash photography.

This is what progressive rock is all about. Put on some big headphones, pick out a particular instrument, and listen to all the amazing things going on, the various intricacies and quirks of the musicianship. You know you're a prog! It's time to listen like one.

It was very soon after I had come across the classic '69-'74 output of King Crimson (in my late teens) that I also borrowed the album Three of a Perfect Pair, the third one in the trilogy of albums released in the early 80's. That band had very very little to do with the 70's prog legend. Even Adrian Belew' s clean, slightly Todd Rundgren -reminding vocals are miles away from either Greg Lake, John Wetton or anyone in between, but in a good balance with the new musical style. At that time I owned the vinyl double compilation "Young Person's Guide to King Crimson" and slowly increased my KC knowledge with the massive booklet and some further listenings, but I can say that KC never quite beceme one of my dearest prog bands (though I really admire their best works!). So I didn't have any disturbed feelings about the classic prog act turning into something completely else, even bordering pop. No, of course not 'pop' in the sense of chart hits. I mean a certain tightness and directness, despite some sort of complexity in the playing.

'Sleepless' was my favourite song in that album (that I quite soon forgot, more or less). It's fast and intensive and yet somehow airy and dreamy / nightmarish -- suitably, being a song about sleep and dreaming (or the lack of it). Few years ago I took 'Sleepless' into my KC compilation disc and the song hasn't lost its effectiveness. My other fave song of that era is the very airy 'Matte Kudesai' from Discipline (1981), otherwise I have no significant interest towards that phase.

'Nuages' is an interesting instrumental piece, deeply original art rock. I haven't heard it in more than 20 years but I can still remember it vaguely. Tony Levin's work on stick & bass is delicious. Back in '87 or so I came across Levin also in the music of Peter Gabriel and the Italian singer Alice.

King Crimson is probably my favorite rock band, even though "rock" could be a far too limiting term for what they do. I wouldn't give anything they produce anything less than 3 1/2 stars. "In The Wake Of Poseidon" gets 4 stars in my book. It's not their best album, but it's real close!

"In The Wake Of Poseidon" is often compared to "In The Court Of The Crimson King", to the detriment of "Poseidon" I strongly disagree. "Poseidon" shows strong infuences that "Court" does not. The title track probably comes closest in style to "Court". "PIctures of a City" shows a strong jazz influence that becomes stronger on later albums. The 3 sections of "Peace" almost sound liturgical. "Cadence & Cascade" is simple, beautiful, and unlike anything on "Court".

"Cat Food" is probably my least favorite track. It's a little goofy, but it's still King Crimson. My favorites are the title track and "Pictures of a City." Greg Lake is the best vocalist in KC history IMO. "PIctures of a City" shows Greg at his best. This album demonstrates the restless experimentation and development that is one of KIng Crimson's most attractive qualities. Rather than being just a continuation of "Couirt", "In the Wake of Poseidon" is an excellent album in its own right.

"Islands" was my second King Crimson album. Being a mere teenager I felt both terrified and confused when I put it on. The music was nothing like I had expected, being a huge fan of their debut. The cover of "Islands" is and was stunning in it's simplicity, yet the music seemed disconnected and everywhere. The only thing I truly enjoyed was the singer screaming "Impaled on nails of ice...". Being a fan of Sabbath I thought it to be kind of cool lyrics. I put the album on hold, discarding it everytime I talked of Crimson, even wondering why anyone would be so stupid as to buy the bloody thing at all. Years later I came crawling back, with my head hanging from shame and publically announcing my arrogant ignorance of the yesteryears.

Actually, "Islands" is on of my favorite Crimson albums. I find it to be both inspired and a progression from the previous efforts. One thing I have to admit is that I am really only a fan of Crimson's first four or five albums, due to it's dreamy, fairytale atmospheres. The remaining albums I dig, but not to that extent as with the first, say, five efforts. "Islands" is as far as I'm concerned the last gasp of the debut and the sound of the first phase of the band. The fairytale dreaminess is still there but the music is somewhat edgier, harder and different than before. I am not saying that previous albums lacked the hard rock influence, because I don't. It was always evident, still it comes to the fore in a different way on "Islands", though in a more disjointed fashion.

Apart from "Ladies of the road" (which is good but really nothing more) the tracks are really enthralling and captivating. The british prog sound is there, along with the dreamy textures and spaciuos atmosphere. The music captivates my imagination and flows like a river through my body, producing pictures and emotions like all the best of Crimson's music. It is magical in places. The crown jewels of the album is "Prelude: Song of the gulls" and "Islands". These two tracks (really one massive piece) ranks among the best Crimson ever made. They are pure magic. The music is so relaxing it is ridiciolous and without ever becoming a kind of noodling new age-nonsense which goes nowhere. Brilliance!

"Islands" is a great album and one of Crimson's best, maybe only surpassed by the debut and "In the wake of Poseidon".

Peter Sinfield is a misogynist ?

With Gordon Haskell and Andy McCullogh gone, the consistant trio has to find two more members. They are Boz Burrell (future Bad Company ? bassist) and Ian Wallace. This results in an non- organized mish-mash that if it wasn't for the two last tracks, I would've forgotten this album.

Formentera Lady is a song that goes nowhere, including very dissonant strings and winds. A song that tries to be beautiful, but fails miserably. It is the same thing for ten minutes.

Sailor's Tale is better, including excellent drumming from the new guy. An excellent polyrythymic structure. But ends badly.

The Letters starts very softly, but in the middle of the song, is cacophonic, and in the end has the same chord progression than in the beginning. Progressive.

Ladies of The Road is as bad as the first song. It is KC's attempt at being popular that dosen't work. So, King Crimson isn't a pop band.

Prelude: Song of the Gulls is beautiful. Finally a track on this album that is great and not cacophonic. Excellent melody, excellent background. Perfect.

Islands is very beautiful. It is unlike anything in the King Crimson discography. Excellent new age music.

After this album, not only the rythym section is gone, but Mel Collins and Peter Sinefield are also gone so Robert Fripp has to answer this difficult question: Is King Crimson dead ? **To Be Continued** My Grade: B-

It's possible there has never been another band on the face of the planet that has gone through as many changes musically and with personnel as King Crimson. An astounding wealth of talent has passed through this band since their beginnings ca. 1968.

Their extraordinarily diverse sounds throughout the years makes it impossible to say which album is the "best". It is truly an apples and oranges comparison.

Personally, I prefer this era. Starless and Bible Black was good. Larks' Tongues in Aspic was utterly fantastic in its eccentricity, but Red is by and far their most incredible accomplishment. Hard, dark, and eerie, Red captures a mood that was probably quite appropriate considering the band disintegrated in the summer of 1974.

This album doesn't display quite the bizarre behavior from Larks' Tonuges (think Larks' Tonuges Part 1), although Providence meanders a bit and could probably have been tightened up. However, with Crimson you get what you get, and what you get is pretty damned good, even (or perhaps *especially*) when they were improvising.

The instrumental Red has been more or less a concert standard for them since they got back together in 1981, and with good cause. Fallen Angel is beautifully dark, and One More Red Nightmare's frantic pace draws you in, making you want to listen over and over again.

I suppose part of the magic of this album may be the release these guys must have felt when their soundscape opened up after the departure of previous members. Three-piece outfits with such talented musicians generally tend to overachieve. Sometimes that's good and sometimes it's bad. In Red's case, though, you just can't deny the brilliance of Bill Bruford's drum prowess, John Wetton's pounding bass and incredible "rock" voice. I won't even bother to try to describe Fripp's presence. If you know Crimson and Fripp, I don't have to explain. If you don't, there's no way to describe it. You must listen.

This is a must have for any prog music fan.

This is a difficult album to review, being a mixture of almost bland sweetness at times, combined with avante garde noodling. My view is the opposite of the usual critique of this work, I hear side one as being much the stronger of the two, with side two falling into shapeless self indulgence.

The album starts well with the impressive Cirkus, the sinister lyrics are well combined with dark instrumental passages between the verses. Indoor Games is much less memorable but Happy Family with each nursery rhyme lyrics and dark atmosphere is under rated. Side closer Lady of the Dancing Water is pleasant but unremarkable. All in all side one is a success, although not KC at the top of their game. Side two starts where side one tailed off, the blandly pleasant "Price Rupert Awakes" (any song which has Rupert has the name of the hero is always going to be skating on thin ice). Although insipid, this is the highlight of side two. This merges into a section called bolero. Any hope that this might be a dark and mysterious journey over an insistent rhythm a la "the devil's triangle" is quickly disappointed. A flute melody, the sort of thing which would appear as the theme tune to a safe Sunday night TV programme begins this, but it sound descends into dissonant jazz noodling with Tippett's harsh piano being the worst culprit. However any musical ideas are abandoned altogether in the forgettable "battle of glass tears" section, a massive 10 minutes long and devoid of melodic interest. One is grateful for the slight return of Cirkus at the end.

I've always been a fan of KC's live albums. Before this one, I had listened to some other live albums from the 70's and the 80's line-up, but this record is made by the double trio line-up. (The same line-up which made Thrak). I didn't know how they would manage to perform old KC's hits like "Lark's Tongues in Aspic pt.2" or "21st Century Schizoid Man". But, interestingly, they have pulled off a good live album.

On first hearing, one would pass "Introductory Sounscapes" which is of course a nice track, but I prefer hearing at the ending not in the beginning. The Thrak songs have minor changes, and don't make such a difference to the studio version except the crowd cheering. 80's songs from " Discipline" era have some changes, "Indiscipline" is made a bit longer than the usual, and we have other songs like "Three of a Perfect Pair" and "Matte Kudasai" which are played very good. Actually, I like this versions of "Indiscipline" and "Matte Kudasai" more than the studio version. There is another interesting track, titled "Prism". It's a double-drum solo, and it's a really nice one, too. Made me feel like I'm in a tropical forest with wild cannibals chasing me! Fast and beautiful, this is one of the best drum solos I've ever heard. There's also an improvisation on disc one, titled "Improv I". This one is guitar heavy, no drums at all. Looks like Fripp and Belew were showing off their skills on improvising.( I think Levin or Gunn didn't play anything on this one). Not my favorite Improv, but not bad at all. 70's songs are good. The performance of "Lark's Tongues in Aspic pt.2" is just great. Simply one of the best live versions recorded; Wonderful ending. "Red" is also great. Fripp and Belew always play this one amazingly. The oldest song on the set list..."21st Century Schizoid Man" was not exactly what I expected. This song is one of my all-time favorite songs, I was expecting something stronger than this from the double-trio. Belew's vocals are funny on this one. The "Mirrors" section is performed good(not great) but for me, it lacks energy a bit.

Overall: This live album is a good one. If you are a KC fan(like me) and you like the double trio line up, this double live album is a good choice. 7.5/10

So this is the big King Crimson album of the 70's. The band was a trio at the time, but cleverly, they used guest musicians to complete their final masterpiece. OK, enough with the history class. Let's get to business!

Red starts with it's title track, the instrumental, powerful, and highly-influential-on-other-Prog-bands-to-come "Red". The riff is simply great, Fripp is doing his finest. Bruford and Wetton are also an excellent pair. You might complain about the length of the track, and yes, listening for the first time I felt the same thing. But as you listen more and more to it, you start to feel the song is no more lengthy.

Next song is titled "Fallen Angel". A good song. The small intro makes me feel like I'm in a Chinese restaurant. The rest of the song progresses with Wetton's great vocals on this one. We hear McDonald's sax on this one, and the combination of Wetton's excellent vocals and McDonald's powerful sax makes this song a treat.

"One More Red Nightmare" is a funny song. But don't get me wrong. It is also very beautiful. Bruford is doing some intense drumming on this one (Is he smashing his drumsticks on a piece of metal? or maybe a pan? It sounds brilliant and aggressive, anyway). and the lyrics makes me smile. As far as I know, the lyrics are about one of Wetton's nightmares. And they're just hilarious.

Next one is a live improvisation: "Providence" made at Providence, while on USA tour with David Cross still on board. despite all the negative reviews on this song made by other reviewers on this site, I like this song very much. IMHO, This, alongside the "Asbury Park" improvisation, are King Crimson's best improvisations. I strongly recommend the reader to listen to this track on headphones so he/she can hear every single detail.

Now, we reach the killer song, the final song: "Starless". King Crimson really scored with this one. Mellotron, Violin, Drums, Oboe, Sax, Guitar all perfectly fit in their right places. Wetton provides a sweet bassline and great vocals. Fripp changes between mellotron and Guitar in the middle, Bruford's every single beat is solid and on the right time, and McDonald and Cross join the show on the right time. The ending is just epic. By epic I mean EPIC. Don't miss this one.

Overall: This album is one of King Crimson and Prog Rock's finest creations, and with songs like "Red" and "Starless", it gaurantees itself an eternal place in prog rock history.

I hate Kurt Cobain, but knowing he worshipped Red is at least something I can identify with. This is the best King Crimson ever made and it's all the more inspiring to know they were on the edge of the cliff and that Robert Fripp withdrew his opinion shortly after having his head blow off by J. G. Bennett: it sounds like it and it doesn't.

What I find the (to use those dreadful superlatives) most unbelievable about this period of KC and which separates it from all others is the role live improv played in the music birth, out of the five cuts, three were informed by live improvs ("Red" - Felt Forum '74, I believe; "Fallen Angel" - late '72; "One More Red Nightmare" - Toronto '74) and one is recorded live ("Providence" - Providence '74), not only that, but the improvs themselves were darker and more intense than they were previously and would be afterwards.

Red is one of those albums which something new is discovered after every listen and all of the elements inside it contribute to the lasting effect it produces. It is as beautiful as it is nihilistic and sombre, and why it cannot be overrated ever, it is one of those albums which is as good as it is claimed to be, and this one is excellent!