It’s hard to believe it’s been 40 years – that’s four friggin’ decades, folks – since KING CRIMSON essentially invented progressive rock. In the Court of the Crimson King, the long-running band’s debut, arrived in 1969, the year the group coalesced (in January) and this lineup disbanded (in December). Given a new sonic overhaul, the album still sounds remarkably fresh. Though basically a similar blend of rock, jazz and classical that would become the standard for prog, the music feels different than that which came after it. The jazz improvisation has a more authentic drive (and skill level), while the classical influence is felt more than heard – no rocked-up lifts of classical melodies here. Nor are the songs simply ditties set up for solos – the band plays as a unit, not a gathering of virtuosos. The angry dissonance of “21st Century Schizoid Man,” the ghostly atmospherics of “Epitaph,” the melancholy beauty of “I Talk To the Wind,” the majestic dignity of the title track – all of them reflect both the burst of creativity and the unity of purpose which astonished musicians as respected as PETE TOWNSHEND and JIMI HENDRIX then and still commands attention today. Only “Moonchild” falls short of brilliance, devolving from lush balladry to ECM-style austere ambience to new age piffle over the course of its excessive length. While lyricist PETE SINFIELD drew from both fantasy imagery and the flower-power poetics prevalent in the acid age, his words lean strongly toward darkness and mystery, exploring the dark side of the psychedelic dream as much as the brighter. Driven by the eclectic rhythms of drummer MICHAEL GILES and bassist GREG LAKE, colored by the woodwinds and Mellotron of IAN MCDONALD and guitar of perpetual leader ROBERT FRIPP, beautifully sung with a minimum of pomposity by Lake, In the Court of the Crimson King still holds up as a landmark in the late 60s span of innovation and excellence.
The 40th anniversary edition comes packed with additional tracks on its DVD-A disk, mostly alternate takes, some of which will be of interest to more than just fanatics. The inclusion of the unedited, 12-minute version of “Moonchild” is a bit of a headscratcher – isn’t the album edit long enough? But the disk more than makes up for it with a gorgeous instrumental version of “I Talk To the Wind,” performed by McDonald on flute and Fripp on what sounds like a capoed 12-string guitar, and a snarling power trio run through “21st Century Schizoid Man,” also sans vocals. There is also a stereo mix of the album, the 2004 remaster, more alternate takes and a snippet of video from the group’s triumphant Hyde Park concert , opening for the ROLLING STONES.
From its dissimilar lineup to its darker, angrier sound (not to mention a change in lyricists to RICHARD PALMER-JAMES), Red, issued in 1974 just as Fripp put the Crimson name to rest for a few years, is a wholly different beast. With Fripp joined by drummer BILL BRUFORD (who’d left YES to join) and bassist/singer JOHN WETTON (who resembled Lake vocally, but was a ballsier player), Crimson rocked harder, experimented with dissonance and distortion more often, improvised more daringly. The knotty, gnashing melodies of the title track and its variation “One More Red Nightmare” trade the majesty of the group’s early years for slashing solos, clashing chords and vicious power. The improvised “Providence” heads straight into jazz territory – it would sound as at home on a contemporary MILES DAVIS album as it would here. “Fallen Angel” and the long-gestating “Starless,” prog anthems both, hew closest to the tradition established by the band in its earliest days, but even they veer off into unexpected directions – “Starless” is arguably the definitive statement from the first version of the band. Guest appearances by former members Ian McDonald and MEL COLLINS on saxophones and DAVID CROSS on violin and sessioneers ROBIN MILLER on oboe and MARC CHARIG on cornet (plus uncredited cello and double bass players) add to the cacophony rather than softening any blows, with McDonald fitting in especially well. As disparate from In the Court of the Crimson King as could be, but every bit as much a masterpiece, Red would ultimately be the more influential record, as its tentacles have reached beyond prog into the worlds of punk and metal – bands like TOOL, SYSTEM OF A DOWN and ROLLINS BAND owe much to it.
Though not as stuffed to the gills as the Crimson King disk, this version of Red also boasts some quality bonus material. Especially impressive are overdub-less trio versions of “Fallen Angel” and “Red,” which are no less powerful for being stripped down to their noisy essence. The new version of “Providence” is the unedited improv, originally released on the box set The Great Deceiver, which collected concert recordings from the period. Also from that set and included here is “A Voyage to the Centre of the Cosmos,” another lengthy improvisation that ranges from savage to sedate. Rounding out the DVD-A is a quartet of video performances, originally broadcast in France in 1974; it features the typically post-psychedelic editing found in so much European rock footage of the time, but the brief set is excellent.
This, of course, is not the first time Fripp has given his band’s back catalog the remaster/reissue treatment. Indeed, at least one prior round was given the subtitle “the definitive edition.” It begs the question: why again? Sure, it’s the 40th anniversary since Crimson’s inception, but still…do we really need new editions? STEVEN WILSON, leader of PORCUPINE TREE and a vocal proponent of 5.1 Surround Sound mixing techniques, thought so, and he collaborated with Fripp on a remix that, thanks to today’s technology, gives the music a sonic clarity that is closer to what the musicians actually heard than what ended up on the original record – even if you don’t have a 5.1 system, it’s still a sonic upgrade. (See the liner notes for the tech specs.) It’s a beautiful job, certainly superior to the mixes that have gone before (as good as they were), especially when heard on the proper equipment. If you’ve never sampled the delight that is King Crimson, these are the editions with which to start.
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