IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING

Wow!! I clearly remember the first time I listened to "In the court of the Crimson King": I was sixteen years old and a friend of my dad borrowed me the album; I recognized the cover because my oldest cousin had it. I knew King Crimson only by name so when I got home and played the album it was an amazing discovery: I felt filled with the music that I knew was going to be part of the rest of my life. I don't know how many times I've heard this album since that day, but I do know that every time I listen to it I got amazed once again at the beautiful masterpiece it is.

First I want to talk a little about the band itself and then I'll talk about the album. King Crimson was originally formed by Peter Sinfield (lyrics), Michael Giles (drums), Greg Lake (bass, lead vocals, and acoustic guitar), Ian McDonald (saxophone, flute, vocals, and keyboards of all kinds), and Robert Fripp (lead guitar, leader of the band and the only member of this line-up playing in the band nowadays). The name of the band was proposed by Peter Sinfield and it was based on the main character of the song he wrote and closes the album. King Crimson debuted in Hyde Park as the opening act for a concert of The Rolling Stones. The band emerged from the ashes of Giles, Giles & Fripp, a premature project by the siblings Michael and Peter Giles, featuring Robert Fripp.

"In the court of the Crimson King" was well-received by musical critics, famous musicians of the era, and, obviously, the music fans. The album has become one of the most recognized Progressive Rock albums of all time, several people consider this the first Progressive Rock album ever released (I disagree with that) and the influence of the album in many Progressive Rock bands is undeniable. The songs of the album go from Jazz improvisations to sweet flute ballads, through dark and depressing lyrics and experimentation of all kinds.

1.- 21st century schizoid man (07:24): The opening song of the album is the most aggressive one: it's a very complex song that goes through acid rock, proto-metal, and free jazz with crazy sax, bass, and drums jamming through the 3 or 4 minutes middle part.

2.- I talk to the wind (06:05): The shortest song of the album is a beautiful ballad that makes a great contrast to the previous song. Ian McDonald switches the sax for the flute and gives a second voice creating a beautiful atmosphere with Greg Lake; Michael Giles changes the complex jazzy time signatures to a very relaxed arrangement of cymbals and slow drumming.

3.- Epitaph (08:47): My favorite song of the album and probably the most famous one. This piece is in a more dark and depressing mood, so it's kind of they take you from heaven to hell in just one change of songs. The mellotron gives this song a very obscure tone, but the match with the lyrics is just amazing.

4.- Moonchild (12:12): I've seen through several reviews that most people don't like this song because they find it boring for the instrumental section that takes more than half of the song; I must confess this is the song that I like the less in the album but even so I find it quite enjoyable. The first part is the sung part which is probably still in the mood of "Epitaph" and then they start to explore different sounds in an almost 10 minutes instrumental part, which is not very rock and roll but rather a Crimson version of The Beatles' "Revolution 9". I believe maybe this song needs more patience from the listeners, but it has some really interesting moments.

5.- In the court of the Crimson King (09:22): The last song of the album continues with the obscure mood of the last two songs but with more like a narrated song accompanied with beautiful mellotron sections and the voices of Lake (lead), McDonald and Giles (chorus), matching incredibly with the last opus. The song appears in one of my favorite movies of all time called "Children of men".

Everything in this album was revolutionary: totally unprecedented. This was an amazing start of a band that would change the history of music forever. Absolutely essential!!

SONG RATING: 21st century schizoid man, 5 I talk to the wind, 5 Epitaph, 5 Moonchild, 5 The court of the Crimson King, 5

AVERAGE: 5

PERCENTAGE: 100

ALBUM RATING: 5 stars

I ranked this album #12 on my TOP 100 favorite Progressive Rock albums of all time.

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