In The Court of The Crimson King is 51 Today!!!

I'm not too educated on production aspects...what do you mean by 'reverb-less' and was that commonly done back then and now?

I remember a few years ago(maybe 3-5 years ago by now)talking to a guy at a bar environment where a band was playing. Yes was playing somewhere locally and the guy who was probably at least mid 50's at the time maybe late fifties so now maybe early 60's said he was thinking of seeing them or something. The important thing is he was well aware of who they were. I then mentioned something about King Crimson and the guy apparently never even heard of them. Not even just never heard them but never heard of them. I can understand some younger people who maybe aren't much into music(let alone prog)but come on this guy is of the age where if he knows Yes(and is maybe a fan)should at least have heard of King Crimson. I tried to explain to him(Bill Bruford the original Yes drummer was a member etc.) but he didn't seem interested. At the time I was dumbfounded. I have met and talked to people who were not big prog fans and not even prog fans at all really who at least heard of King Crimson. The guy imo was either just not much into music or living under a rock. That might sound snobby of me but that's how I feel. Then again I sort of initially heard of them by accident(my cousin liked them)but I grew up(as in teenage years)in the 80's not 70's. 

Also, I remember when I worked in a record department(this was 1994 so more like cds)a guy was looking through Genesis cds and seemed to like their trespass album. I then pointed him towards "in the court of the crimson king" telling him he should definitely check it out only to receive a blank stare. I sometimes I guess I just don't get it. It's like the old expression you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him(or her) drink.

These days "court" seems to be just about all over the place if you look for music recommendations and especially prog recommendations online. It's even in many non prog best of albums lists. I honestly don't see how most people won't eventually come across that red faced guy at some point unless they pay almost zero attention to music online. It has more ratings than any other prog album on rate your music for one thing(except maybe dark side and WYWH) and more ratings than any Yes record on allmusic. Also, it pops up when you search for not just prog albums online on google but also classic rock albums. Even close to the edge doesn't show up for that(you have to narrow it down more such as putting in 70's or prog). Interestingly though it was absent in the latest rolling stone top 500 list where as ctte did make it(at number 445).

Well, probably just a classic rock guy. I have talked to people a little older than me(though not necessarily originally from my area)who only knew "owner of a lonely heart" by Yes. Some people just get locked into what they already know and are into which is often from their youth which is often what their friends were into which explains why a lot of people my age aren't into Yes(and were never big fans). If their friends weren't into Yes or King Crimson or whoever they might not be very familiar with them(or in the case of KC not even heard of them). Some people live a very sheltered life. I guess for me the perplexing part is I live in the Philadelphia area which has a reputation of being a big prog town. This is the city where Yes had over 120,000 people in 1976 and UK had 50,000 in 1979. So based on that it makes it all the more odd. Maybe the guy wasn't from Philadelphia originally. I should have asked him if he heard of UK or even Frank Zappa or maybe even the Sex Pistols or the Velvet Underground. Hey they weren't played on the radio either. Lol. Frank maybe a little. Not sure.

As for the music itself I think most of it is very good. My only real problem is after maybe the three minute mark on moonchild. It starts to go into this meandering noodling. I know to some it makes sense but to me it's good to zone out to and not much else. I'm probably more tolerant of it now than I used to be but to be honest I much prefer the devil's triangle from the follow up album. The title track to "court" doesn't impress me as much as it used to either although I still like it. I just find it too repetitive. Maybe extend "I talk to the wind" or add a short instrumental piece and make the title track shorter by half. Oh well. As it is it's still a classic. There's no denying that.

 

I know Steve!  I couldn't believe how totally different the drums sounded on "in The Wake" compared to the debut.  It's like they went so far to the other extreme as to be weird in an opposite way

It has been said that Neil Peart was a fan and claimed Giles influenced him.