King Crimson

[ManchesterBeth]

in my teens i was so into crimson it was embarrassing.
Starless and Bible Black was my addiction, but at one point i owned all their albums up to Red.

Red is great.

 

[ManchesterBeth]

Nope don't really get them as they seem a bit too avaunt-guard although the musicianship is ace in the rhy section department I find a lot of their music to be over indulgent and inaccessible on the whole. I like Red though but a lot of it is pomp and boring. Bill Bruford is a great drummer and the bass player has quite a good voice but I'm not over keen on the production of the vocals on that album though the sound from Fripp's Les Paul Custom is unquestionably sublime.

Wonder what you'd think of Henry Cow! not that i will ever find out.

 

[ManchesterBeth]

discipline has more in common with the more groovy end of krautrock and post punk than the earlier stuff tbh. you should get it though - tis brilliant. i've heard the later stuff is still good too, although i've yet to check it out.

S'good for what it is, would just rather listen to 23 skidoo or early ACR though. i dunno it just kinda all melts into the same kinda mushy stereotypical 80s sound after red to me.

 

[ManchesterBeth]

that title track is great, the one that does those sorta gamelan rhythms.

 

[The39thStep]

The Adrian Below period has its critics but it produced some cracking stuff

 

[The39thStep]

You want King Crimson to do Jazz ?

A Sailors Tale

 

[The39thStep]

The marvellous Crimson Jazz Trio

 

[The39thStep]

A-capella version

 

[The39thStep]

Keith Tippet on piano

 

[cozmikbrew]

Ive tried to like most of King Crimsons lps but this is the only one i own or can listen to for any amount of time

 

[killer b]

Ive tried to like most of King Crimsons lps but this is the only one i own or can listen to for any amount of time

Beat has a lot of material similar to (and as good as) the songs on Discipline, along with some really gross 80s cocaine-rock numbers. Worth getting for the good tracks IMO.

 

[The39thStep]

Sublime

 

[bmd]

I used to love King Crimson. Pretty sure it's because it intersected with an interest in hallucinogenic drugs.

 

[killer b]

Nah, they're great (when they are great - I don't love it all) when you aren't into acid.

 

[The39thStep]

Fantastic

 

[lefteri]

 

[killer b]

A mate's girlfriend has done a series of face/body paint things based on this - genuinely disconcerting

 

[The39thStep]

 

[The39thStep]

 

[Knotted]

Only recenlty listened to Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair. They're two albums I never got round to buying and King Fripp has been very protective about preventing his work getting streamed until recently. Beat's a difficult listen for me but in a way that I think it might be really underrated. Three of a Perfect Pair is more familiar territory though.

Things I really like about King Crimson

1) In the face of prog rock excess Fripp insisted on a less is more philosophy
2) They integrated non rock avant garde musicians Keith Tippet and Jamie Muir into their sound quite seemlessly.
3) Willingness to improvise live especially in the Wetton/Cross period
4) Fripp's sense of upfront dissonant harmony/melody
5) The polyrhythms especially in the Belew/Levin period
6) Adrian Belew's guitar sonic impressions
7) Levin and Gunn's Chapman Stick/Warr Guitar

The only real turn off is the bombast which sort of got worse with the 90's onwards formations. My favourite moments are some of the quieter ones like the Bolero off Lizard, the "Trio" improv, Muir's intro to Larks Tongues pt1.

 

[two sheds]

8) Bruford was God

 

[Knotted]

I like the song Walking on Air. It's a bit of fluff off the Thrak album and I remember at the time it wasn't well received by fans. But that deep bass tone... I guess it's one for the audiophiles.

 

[petee]

8) Bruford was God

still is, there are youtubes of him giving clinics.

 

[two sheds]

Indeed, I did notice that but then thought he's not with King Crimson any more (I don't think).

 

[Knotted]

I really like this piece of old footage with Muir (and Bruford for that matter) generally percussing away underneath this rock freakout and then both joining on double drums and then the all the whistles and horns. Ending with Cross/Fripp mournful tones. It's perfect mayhem. It's a bit better than what they did on the album IMO, which actually feels a bit contained in comparison.

This is what Jamie Muir was up to prior to King Crimson. It's one of Derek Bailey's free improv collaborations. It takes a brave and flexible rock band to integrate that into their sound.

 

[glitch hiker]

I think the Night's Watch beats out Starless for balladry. Beautiful solo by Mr Fripp.

 

[The39thStep]

 

[The39thStep]

only an extract but this is from another world

 

[killer b]

Did you see Fripp released an album with The Grid (Dave Ball from Soft Cell & Richard Norris) last month? Pretty nice stuff.

 

[The39thStep]

Looking forward to this