King Crimson - "THRAK" 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered 2019/1995 (Discipline Global Mobile)

I wrote about King Crimson's 1995 album "THRAK" a little awhile ago, concerning the CD release of this album. Listening to it again (and again) "THRAK" is King Crimson's best album. The sound of two guitars (or more overdubs), two basses, and two drummers, in other words, a double-trio setting makes the sound hard with moments of softness that is truly beautiful. "Coda: Marine 475 is like the greatest Yardbirds rave-up within under three-minutes. I have never been a mega-fan of Adrian Belew's writing, but here he shines as both writer and guitarist. "THRAK" is an accurate title to this work, because that is the overall sound of the album. 

The music is orchestral and very contained in the hands of Robert Fripp and company. Fripp is the Duke Ellington of this band, and he knows how to obtain a singular focus, while still showing each musician's character and trademark. Bill Bruford and Pat Mastelotto work brilliantly together to give loose almost chaotic rhythms to match the sweetness and mostly the harshness of the guitars. My favorite guitar albums are the first Television and Feelies albums, and "THRAK" is another excellent guitar record. 

King Crimson - "Islands" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 2014/1971 (Discipline Global Mobile)

"Islands" I feel is the forgotten King Crimson album, perhaps due that its mood is very different from the first three Crimson albums.  Also, it's an album that strikes me as an arranger's album.  It's more somber except for the sexual pull of "Ladies of the Road" which is horny and suggests a slight funk edge, but still in the King Crimson format.  

Side two does it for me because there is a beautiful string orchestration piece "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" that's exquisite.   Not a classical prog piece, or classic rock work, but an actual string orchestration of beautiful music.  Four minutes of pure bliss. "Islands" reminds me of a cousin to perhaps Robert Wyatt's "Rock Bottom." It's not absurd as Wyatt, but there is a dreamy jazz feel that reminds me of that album as well as some of Miles Davis's orchestrated works with Gil Evans.  There are reflections of the previous King Crimson album "Lizard" but more sophisticated if that's the proper word.  One of my favorite Crimson albums, because it flows from cut-to-cut. 

King Crimson - "Starless and Bible Black" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 2015/1974 (Discipline Global Mobile)

Listening to King Crimson in 2018 is connecting the dots between Roxy Music, King Crimson, and what-the-hell-is Prog Rock.  John Wetton played with Roxy Music as their (one of many) bassists and I also remember he toured with Bryan Ferry (In Your Mind) tour.  And of course, the Eno/Fripp matchup during the time of this album "Starless and Bible Black."  It's not that all the musicians are masters of their instruments (which they are, of course) but more of the fact that they are brilliant arrangements at work.  The textures between almost silence and thrash come in equal doses.  

"Fracture" at 11 minutes is a relationship that's taking place between percussion, violin, and Fripp's guitars.  At times it reminds me of a Looney Tunes soundtrack, or something off from the Beach Boys' "Smile," with respect to chimes looming in the front and back.  Wetton's bass is the foundation, and I want to add, like their next album, "Red," his playing is aggressive, but knows how to frame the song in such a manner as Thelonious Monk sketching out the melody.  At times, he sounds like a jet about to leave the airport.   As they are rocking, one of them yelps, which seems almost out of place in the sterile cold world of King Crimson.   

Just focusing on "Fracture" makes it sound that is it, but the whole album is remarkable.  The noise they make is big, grand, and at times, there are Chinese melodies that slips in the heaviness.  Michael Nyman Band also comes to mind as well, with the intensity of its speed, and again, at least in the early recordings by Nyman, a very aggressive electric bass, that sounds incredible with the strings/horns.    The four members of King Crimson, David Cross (violin), Bill Bruford (percussion), and of course Fripp and Wetton, I think were the best version of King Crimson.   Roughly this combo made three albums.   It's music that is grounded in 1974 because one senses that something else will come upon the world,  punk/No Wave.   And I think King Crimson was at the entrance waiting to open up to that world with welcoming arms.  Also one should note the beautiful cover by Tom Phillips, who has associations with the British experimental music world, as well as being a great artist. 

King Crimson - "In The Court of the Crimson King" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 1969/2010 (Discipline Global Mobile)

By its reputation, I should be naturally hating this album.  If not ground zero for prog-rock aesthetics, it's at the very least very close to that dangerous neighborhood.  As a 1960s popster with touches of French avant-garde Musique Concrete, and a feel for a great torch song here and there, logic would tell you that I should remain far away from "In The Court of the Crimson King." In fact, I never wanted to be in any court of any sort, especially one attached to King Crimson.  But alas, I'm a prejudiced soul!

I have been curious about this album for decades now.  As mentioned in another commentary on King Crimson, I admired Robert Fripp as a guitarist and his work with David Bowie, Eno, among others.   Still, is it possible for me to ever love or like a song called "I Talk to the Wind?"  Or worse yet, "Moonchild?"  The odds were even against this ever ending up in my home or on my turntable.  But under a weak moment, and perhaps the effect of wine, I purchased this album, due to curiosity, but also the fact that it's almost impossible to hear this album in its entirety online.  That I find is admirable.   If I want to hear it properly, I'm going to have to get the credit card out, and deal with the fallout if that's the case may be.   I did, and I kind of love "In The Court of the Crimson King."

To be honest, at the height of the FM radio years I loved to hear the song "In the Court of the Crimson King."  I'm a total sucker for the grand over-the-top melody, and when one adds a mellotron to the mix, it's a guilty pleasure.  Still, listening to the entire album, and looking at the credits, I was shocked that Fripp didn't write or co-write the actual "In the Court..." song!  Also, the big ballad "I Talk to the Wind" was written by its' multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald and lyricist Peter Sinfield, who produced the first and great Roxy Music album.  It is actually through Roxy that I started to change my mind about Crimson, in that I realized that they shared similar roots and characters.  Still, the big masterpiece by King Crimson and Fripp had nothing to do with it, on a songwriting level is a shock to me. 

As an album, "In the Court..." is extremely well-paced, and the band knows something about avoiding excess, and still manage to bring out different sides of the band/work.  Side one starts off with the killer riff of "21st Century Schizoid Man" and leads perfectly to "I Talk to the Wind," and then the final cut on that side "Epitaph" (must they always have pretentious titles). This is a perfect example of economy, pace, and seducing the listener to their world.  Greg Lake is a good singer, and anyone who can sing those lyrics by Sinfield, alone, is a magnificent effort. 

Side two of the album, compared to the first, is more interesting. "Moonchild" is free-form playful music that leads up to the swelling and majestically structured "In the Court of the Crimson King."   The other surprising aspect of this album is that I always have the sound of the mellotron was attached to Fripp, but according to the credits on the record, it's McDonald who plays the instrument.  King Crimson is always a band that collaborates with all the musicians, in all forms of Crimson.  Fripp is the mainstay, but one can't underestimate the contributions from the other members of the band.  If there is another active music force on this group/album, it's for sure McDonald.  Lake comes through on his own, and the drumming of Michael Giles is solid. 

In conclusion, I'm now buying all the early King Crimson albums, for the purpose to explore whatever my taste is or was.  It is something that I can't imagine I would have done in the past, but still, there were signs of this to come. My best friend in the 1970s was very much into King Crimson and a mega-Eno fan.  He liked Fripp/Crimson first, which led him to Roxy/Eno world. That always stayed on my mind, even after all these years.

King Crimson - "Red" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 1974/2013 (Discipline Global Mobile)

I've avoided King Crimson ever since their first album. I admired and loved the Eno/Fripp albums as well as Robert Fripp's contributions to David Bowie's "Heroes" album, yet when it came to King Crimson, I felt like that was the Jets hangout, when I was clearly a member of The Sharks.  It wasn't until a few hours ago that under either a condition of boredom or being adventurism (or both) that I went to Amoeba and purchased "Red."

I played the album once so far, and I love it.  What surprised me, and it shouldn't have, is the connection between Roxy Music and King Crimson.   I know that Bryan Ferry was once going to audition to be their lead singer, and of course the Eno/Fripp connection as well.  But listening to "Red" reminds me of some of the longer instrumental passages of the first two Roxy albums.  It's more in that line than say garden-variety prog rock.  Fripp is exceptional of course, but John Wetton's bass playing is incredible.  A very aggressive heavy sound from that instrument that reminds me a bit of John Entwhistle or traces of a punk aesthetic concerning the noise of the bass.  Michael Nyman in his orchestra had a heavy electric bass player as well, that also stands out in such a manner. 

"Red" is a classic album, in that there are no wasted moments and all five songs are equally placed in a position that makes the album seem more like a novella than a big novel.  The beauty or strength of King Crimson and on this album is the textural playing by all musicians.  There is a riff orientation that goes through here, but also a gentle melody here and there that gives the material tension.  Fripp broke up the band right after recording "Red," I think due to the issues of the band being tied down to its prog-rock image, as well as Fripp being curious to explore the world of New York City's punk/post-punk/ no wave scene.  He didn't need to break up this band. It would have been at home in lower Manhattan.