King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King

Officially "In the Court of the Crimson King - An Observation by King Crimson" EG Records 1969

Lineup

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Robert Fripp - Guitar
Ian McDonald - Reeds, Woodwinds, Vibes, Keyboards, Mellotron, Vocals
Greg Lake - Bass Guitar, Lead Vocals
Michael Giles - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Peter sinfield - Words and Illumination

Track Listing

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21st Century Schizoid Man
I Talk to the Wind
Epitaph
Moonchild
In the Court of the Crimson King

Prologue

Even those who know nothing of this album usually are familiar with Barry Godber's manically screaming cover art. If you open the booklet up you find even more disturbing painting to go along with the lyrics page.

Personally as a child I never went near this album because the cover always gave me nightmares. Apparently it does the same thing to my friends. This is the classic King Crimson album, the very first album, and is the only album of theirs that seems to have enjoyed any commercial success. It has been widely hailed as the "Soundtrack for the Apocalypse," which after a good listen seems fairly accurate.

1

After some time of silence, various electronic wind noises fade in and out, followed by the sudden shocking opening of 21st Century Schizoid Man. This song has been done over a million different ways by various lineups of Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and as I am told (cannot substantiate) some more modern bands in the alternative scene. This song is very well written, rich in sound, and the verse methodically plodding along with its decidedly morbid lyrics. Secondary section really kicks the tempo up in 12/8, great phrasing with the woodwind instruments especially. Gives way to Fripp's atonal guitar solo, which sounds more major than a major scale, I have no clue what he's acutally playing. Many screeching guitar noises overdubbed pull the solo to a close and back to everyone phrasing together. The following tutti section is wonderful, all instruments phrasing and playing in unison, with Giles adding buzzrolls in someplaces instead of 16th, 32nd combinations. Works great, and so does his fill bringing the band back into the 12/8 section. Throughout, Lake puts down some very interesting basslines full of large intervals, especially octaves. Back to the original section, last verse, and then for some reason the band plays two ending cadenzas, probably because they could.

2

I talk to the Wind is a great piece, very relaxed, with great clarinet work by McDonald. The vocal harmonies between McDonald and Giles are also wonderful (many augmented chords I think), and it's a shame Crimson never got to experiment more with this particular lineup. Flute work is also impeccable, with a great solo in the middle, and I really want to sit down and learn it some day. Toneless guitarwork by Fripp complements the song well, Fripp obviously understands how guitar fits in with the music, not how the music is about guitars. Great fills by Giles again. In the middle of this ballad Fripp does get another very short guitar solo, and whatever tone and engineering was on it I want. Unfortunately I have no clue what was done to get that particular sound. Song is mainly repetitive after this, as is any ballad. Very very good peice.

3

Rumble BOOM. Epitaph crossfades in with emotion drenched Mellotron and more of toneless smooth playing by Fripp. Lake's vocals are great, though sometimes I wonder if the bass frequencies were too high in the EQ mix. Acoustic guitar rakes are a great compliment, appregios just barely audible. This track more than the others earns the album its spot in the apocalypse, undoubtedly dealing with the issue of looming nuclear destruction. Lake's vocals continue to build upwards and upwards, good stuff. Mellotron build makes me feel like im having a heartattack or something, followed by nice appregios on guitar. Then we get the Bass Clarinets of Dread (hey that sounds like a cool band name). This playing is outstanding, incredible, and probably the only time you'll hear bass clarinets in rock music, ever. Makes me realize there's a whole lot more use for typical concert band instruments than playing Brahmes. Outro repetitive, great Mellotron horn tripplets. I forgot to mention timpani, great throughout, gives it a very heavy texture.

4

In sharp contrast Moonchild is a very quiet and conserved song, often described as an "erie love song." As with all tracks it keeps the general mood of the album. It feels very medieval, with the toneless tom drumming, cymbal hits on the bell portion give nice ringing tones. Short actual song that turns into a very long "improv" section. The start of this with vibes is nice and resonant, afterwards I find no point to any of it. This tracked started a long King Crimson tradition of what I like to call "wasted time." Seven minutes of tinkling on wine glasses and doing weird tricks with guitar pickups does not qualify as music. However, towards the end of this bit of nothing the band resolves into a nice mellow pentatonic groove, pastoral and bearing similarities to the much later gem on Starless and Bible Black "Trio." I feel if this song had gone directly from the vibraphone part to the ending grove it would have been much more effective.

5

The unique mix of Mellotrons and clavinet on In the Court of the Crimson King is so wonderful, and immediately distinctive. It has such an ancient feeling to it, so round and resonant, the engineering is simply masterful. If you're wondering the main chorus is Dmaj Cb5 C Bsus4 B. It just came to me one day while plinking around with my Yamaha keyboard. First bridge is awesome, drums are wonderful, and the ending creeping mellotron notes are great. Many verses to this song, all of them great. I hear an organ like instrument with the same grinding tone as the clavinet in the opening of Beatles - Because (from Abbey Road.) Flute solo and bass accompanyment are also perfection. Flute tone centers on F# (the 5th). Fripp complements well. The fake-out ending is wonderful and reminiscient of Moody Blues work of the time, with the harmonies and all. I have no clue how one can keep their concentration playing the correct syncopation on the calliope break. This is a true masterpiece of progressive-rock. Also, from this song the band finally decided to extract their name from, just in case you were wondering.

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On a side note I saw this piece performed live by one of Ringo Starr's All Star Bands. Live at the Concord Pavilion (Concord, CA) and Greg Lake closed his set with this song, it completely blew away this album version and this album version is a masterpiece.

Epilogue

This album is great, and also has Pete Sinfield at his most accesible lyrics if you will, after this he gets progressively more and more... out there. The reason why this album remains the crown of King Crimson's career to date seems to be the lineup of musicians. Unlike later lineups of Crimso, especially the 73-74 lineup, where each musician played off the other and traded of, this lineup was just one huge ... well orchestra, able to play precisely toghether rather than off of each other. Whether or not a person is a fan of King Crimson, or even of prog-rog, they need to listen to this album. I give it highest merit, it's bloody incredible