IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING

In te late 60's, music was changing: some rock music players tried to end up with the "traditional" song form. For example, the Moody Blues incorparated orchestral elements on "Days of future past", Procol Harum was mixing symphonic music, blues energy and Dylan like's poetry on "In Held Twas In I", Pink Floyd was exploring experimental music with a spacy feeling on "Ummagumma", Zappa was on the road of jazz rock with the incredible "Hot Rats", Keith Emerson with the Nice was already his neo classical virtuosity on "Five Bridges"... But prog wasn't really born. Something was missing...

And King Crimson (KC for short), a totally unknown band, brought it. KC was composed of two ex-"Giles, Giles, Fripp" members: Robert Fripp, the majestic guitaist whose style made of heavy riffs and emotional solos influenced Genesis's Steve Hackett, Henry Cow's Fred Frirth and Focus's Jan Akkermann; and Mike Giles, a really talented drummer who influenced Yes's Bill Bruford ("I learned drums, while I was listening ITCOTCK" he claimed), VDGG's Guy Evans and Ange's Gérard Jolsch. This two virtusos were joined by a magic trio: Greg Lake, an handsome singer and a great bassist, Ian McDonald an inventive multi instrumentist playing mellotron, saxophone, flute, percussions and organ, and Peter Sinfield an inspired and visionnar songwriter.

This was, in fact, the perfect band to record "In The Court of the Crimson King"!

If there were a prog anthem, I think "21st Century Schizoid Man", the mythic ITCOTCK's opener, would be this one. The song begins after few seconds of engine sounds, with a great riff played on both guitar and sax, and a strong rythm section. Then, comes the tortured Lake's vocals singing lyrics about an appolyptic future (and even present: "Innocents raped with napalm fire"). After this, comes an impressive jazz section, with a dynamic bass lines, impressive drums work, the first mythic Fripp's guitar solo, followed by an amazing sax by McDonald. There's a collection of complex riffs too. Then, the main sax-guitar riff comes back, Lake's sings a last verse with its robot-like voice and the song ends in totally free way.

It's very surprising, to hear a flute after this killer end. In fact, "21st Century Schizoid Man" is the most violent track of the album. The other songs are far more quite. "I Talk To The Wind" is a dreamy song which anticipates what Genesis, Yes and Camel would do a little later. It includes a beautiful flute and guitar work, soft vocals by Lake and some mellotron chords.

The following song became a classic too. "Epitaph" begins in a symphonic way with mellotron and a melodic guitar. Then comes the vocals part which starts with a low voice by Lake becoming powerful as the instruments arrive. The lyrics written by Sinfield are really beautiful and if there is someone who doesn't know these, he should immediatelly look for them. The central part includes a reprise from the beginning theme and an impressive use of mellotron which sounds like an orchestra! After the poignant chorus, the song ends with once again a beautifull mellotron and good drums work.

"Moonchild" is the longest track which could divided into two parts. The first one is a pastoral song including lovely Lake's vocals, mellotron (!!!) and melodic guitars. The second is an instrumental part which sounds like an improvisation. It's mainly dominated by McDonald's marimba, Fripp's guitar and Giles's drums. Some KC fans think it's too long and unusefull. I personally think it is not the most accessible part of the album, but it's interesting. The final track "In The Court of the Crimson King" is another highlight. The mellotron theme mixed with powerfull drums and accoustic guitars is just killing each time I hear it. The Lake's vocals are mystic and the chorus is mindblowing. In the middle of all this surrealistic work, there is an organ section as a last goodbye to the 60's. As the music fades out, we think the album is over. But keyboards came back before the drums introduce a final part in which all the instruments heard on the album are played. Gorgeous!

So, I think you understood all the musicians are superb on ITCOTK and Sinfield deserves too some recognation. BuT, beyond the great music, we could be grateful because many generations of musicians were influenced by ITCOTK. Lots of bands, as Yes, Genesis, Camel, VDGG, ELP, PFM, Focus, Banco Del Muttuo Soccorso, Le Orme, Ange, Atoll, Eloy, Pulsar, IQ, Marillion, Peter Gabriel, Anglagard, Anekdoten, The Flower Kings, Dream Theater, Spock's Beard, Discipline, White Willow, Porcupine Tree, Phideaux, The Tangent, Beardfish, Big Big Train and many others, followed the way of prog music. So, only for this as did Pink Floyd with "The Dark Side of the Moon" and The Beatles with "Sergent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", they deserve a great recognation.

But unfortunately, the balance between the musicians broke very quickly. Giles and McDonald left the band to create a collaboration album. They were followed by Lake who joined Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer to form ELP. So Fripp and Sinfield were alone to continue the adventure. They succeeded as they (and latter only Fripp) realesed important albums as "Lizard", "Lark's Tongues In Aspic" and "Red".

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