IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING

Recently, I looked at a lot of reviews that decided to deem this album as a bit overrated and not truly the beginning of prog rock. Well, you could argue that The Nice kicked it all off, but... overrated? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! This album is absolutely incredible.

21st Century Schizoid Man starts things off, and it's one of the best songs in the entire prog rock genre. The booming sax and guitars, distorted vocals, absolutely crazy drum parts... this track is incredible, a seemless blend of rock, jazz, and classical.

I Talk To The Wind is next, a great soft piece with a wonderful melody, great woodwind section courtesy of Ian McDonald, and great Greg Lake vocals.

Next, we have the second big highlight, Epitaph. Lake absolutely shines on this one, with possibly the most powerful vocal delivery in the history of rock music and absolutely beautiful Mellotron tracks, once again courtesy of McDonald. It's chill-inducing all the way through, a masterful piece of music.

Moonchild is next, and it starts with a beautiful Mellotron driven section before devolving into an avant-garde sound collage that is sure to turn a lot of people off.... and it IS boring at first.... but do you think that I'm going to bash an album that gives us 35 minutes of the best music ever made just for including an experimental bit? Not at all. Just listen to it and let it grow on you for God's sake, the rest of the album is so damn perfect.

Wrapping things up is the beautiful, moving, exceptional title track. It's a Mellotron driven epic at heart, and it manages to be on par with the previous two highlights (which are the two BEST rock songs ever written up to that point, mind you). The vocal harmonies are gorgeous, the instrumentation is pure perfection, and the song is an all around masterpiece.

So..... three of the best songs ever written, padded by two solid progressive rock songs, all in one record. Nothing less than a five.

THIS IS A MASTERPIECE AND YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM. PERIOD. (Honestly, music fans in the 60s and 70s were spoiled, this was the big stuff back then and now we are subjected to garbage like Nickelback and gangster rap. Yyuck.)