King Crimson albums

Red is awesome.  There are some good songs on Discipline too.  But Wetton and Bruford are as integral to KC as Fripp, IMO.  Which is probably why are prefer the albums with those guys on.

THRaKaTTaK  is IMO one of the darkest albums of King Crimson...

Wormboy wrote: Arsillus wrote: Is Thrak worth picking up? I've heard some material off of it and it doesn't half-bad. The whole double-trio idea wounds pretty wicked cool to me. I have all of KC's albums, and this one is a favourite I disaggre.  See my above post.  An interesting idea that comes across as pretty lame in execution.  And when they aren't playing double-trio, the sounds is muddied by too many musicians. Let's face it, except for cool double drummer solos, do most bands benefit by having two drummers?  Err, no. I think that Allmann Brothers Band is great with their two drummers! Plus, they made Tony Levin a plain bass player.  What a crime! Yes!

  RED

Listen to some of their earlier stuff, Poisedon, Lizard

Then move on to their more experimental work, Lark's Tongue In Aspic, Islands and Red , all superb

Of the KC albums I've heard (Red, Larks' Tongues, Islands, and ITCOTCK), Red and Larks' Tongues are easily the best two.

There are basically three  "King Crimsons" and IMO each has its signature album.  The first era is "psychadelic/progressive" and COTCK is a good representative .  This is my least favorite Crimson,as I've never been a big psychadelic fan, but there are fun spots and COTCK represents some good ones.


The second era is a heavier, jazzier Crim, and this is the time where Bruford comes into his own, plus there's very different bass playing, a a charming array of horn/violin/etc players.   This is probably Fripp's most melodic  period, and the music was very popular with  the free jazz/fusion fans of the time, along with progheads.  I would argue that the best album of this era is "Red," which many people consider to  be a seminal album in all rock music (for example, apparently Nirvana was influenced by Red.)  Starless is also a phenomenal album.  My only criticism of this period is that  Wetton, while  a fine bassist that meshed well with the other musicians, is over-extending himself vocally.  The man just isn't made to be a lead singer, and you can hear him straining.  But IMO that is the only limitation of this period.

The final period represents a serious departure, and was kicked off by "Discipline."  This is the lineup with arguably the best overall musicianship, as not only does the incredible bassist/stick player Tony Levin join them, but Adrian Belew brings a guitar style that is as good as Fripp's but quite different.  The synergy of this group, in my mind, represents the most original music of the 80s.  Discipline is the hallmark album, and a must for any Crim fan.  Belew's vocals are IMO the only weak link in this period.  He has a fine voice, but for some reason the tone bothers me somewhat.  Also, while he brings some really cool lyrical innovations that are unique, he also bombs some (I'm guessing that most people will focus on "heartbeat")

Thrak is more or less an extension of the Discipline era.  I think it suffers from too many musicians, and the sound is just muddied.  IMO 4 virtuosos was the maximum for any any band.  You're gooing to add two more?  Bad idea.  Either nobody gets to strut their stuff adequately, or they DO strut their stuff and there is way too much going on.  Just doesn't work.  But there is some fun stuff here.

Larks' Tongues and Red.

I've search everywhere for Starless and Bible Black,

especially that title track....if anyone has it it would be greatly appreciated

Is Thrak worth picking up? I've heard some material off of it and it doesn't half-bad. The whole double-trio idea wounds pretty wicked cool to me.