IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING

To review an album like this one, is very hard to do, so much have allready been said, and so many allready know everything there is to know. ITCOTCK is the definition of Prog. rock incarnated. Lets start with the cover, stunning, a cover that any death metal act would die to have on the debut. Scary like hell, colorfull in nuances of red and blue, perfectly descriping the terror of the title track. And what an opener ! "21st Century Schizoid Man" is the most powerfull and agressive track on the album, and on any later KC album too, with a constant duel between sax and guitar, combined with the distorted vocals, the tight bas/drumming rythm section, makes it very heavy, a masterpiece that would still be groundbreaking, even if it was realeased today.

After this breathtaker, the album changes dramaticly, into the sweetest ballad, "I Talk to the Wind" Wonderful melodic vocals, wonderfull Flute solo's, Another Masterpiece and compleetly contrasting the first one. Notably the drumming is still very much part of what makes this take that special.

Now to the side 1 closer, Epitaph, my favorite track, and the track that to me defines the birth of Symphonic prog. , the heavy use of melotron and woodwind, gives the track a deepness and almost classical music feel, even though both Guitars, Bass, and drumming shows a clear rock tradition. Prog rock at its best.

Side 2 opens with the epic 12 min.+ Moonchild, often described as the weekpoint of the album, Not mainly because of the song, that takes up the first 2-3 min, but due to the following allmost 10 minutes of improvisation, without much melody. I dont hate this piece as much as others tend to do, its an integrated part of the album, and its defining prog. as a genre of experimentation. Hard to imagine the album without it, after all those years, isnt it ?

The closing track is the legendary title song, more than nine minutes of symphonic prog at its best, The melotron again very dominant, and this time a very strong use of choral vocals, everytime the verse hits the word "king", combined with a strong flute solo in the mid section, gives the distinctSymphonic feel to the track. Again a masterpiece, that has defined to many, what prog. rock should be, and what King Crimson was at the time, they gave birth to prog. rock.

Even though lyrics dosent mean much to me, in this case Peter Sinfields words are perfectly matching the moods on every track, storytelling not just songs. Depressing but sweet. The album, is the one most people would say defines prog. rock and King Crimson at its best, even though many hardcore crimson fans, tends to like the wetton period as much as the debut. Couldent find an album that deserves those 5 stars more than this one.