In the Court of the Crimson King

OK, you know the deal. One of the head honchos of the prog sphere right here, for a host of very good reasons. The instrumentation are clean and well thought of, song structures and songwriting are poignant, inspiring with just the right amount of complex to not make a fool of itself.

What I love most about this album is how captivating it is. Almost every time I listen to it, I leave what I'm doing and just stand there life a 50yo dad with my hands on my hips and think, "Damn." And that's honestly amazing, because I've never had that kind of experience with any album I've listened to.

Not going to go into each song, but I will highlight the band member's contributions. Lake's vocals perfectly fit the medieval aesthetic, the sound of the drums are crisp and sharp, and the whole thing is gelled up by Fripp's "chess game" guitar work. Can't praise it enough. Interesting and captivating all throughout

One of the ways you can determine the worth of an album is by how well it has stood since its release, and even though the tides of the musical world have vastly changed since its inception in 1969, In The Court of the Crimson King has always been well above the water. That alone should put it above half of the albums ever created.

Now that I read this, these paragraphs have no sense and connection to each other, but fuck it, I'm too drunk to do a revision. It's a good album, check it out.

Amazing accomplishment for its time, but it's not really my cup of tea. Much of it sounds like the song or two on a Led Zeppelin album I would skip 9 times out of 10.

Excellent album is excellent. Not a dull track on it.

So this one is easy to rate.

So:
5/5

This must have blown some minds back in the day, man.

Classic prog rock is long. A bit too long for me.

I respect this record but I don't necessarily enjoy it.

When I first listened to it: I better understand prog-rock; quite improvised, orchestrated, long-winding musical passages.

This listen: Long songs just really aren't my thing.

I like listening to it. but this requires further listening.

Day 54

Oh yeah I'm Fripping it I'm Fripping it good, mmm that's some good prog

Fav track: Epitaph

An absolute classic. While they would go on to do more intresting things, KCs first album is an absolute staple and has some killer moments.

Otro álbum muy hypeado. No sé nada antes de escucharlo, solo que dicen que es muy bueno.

Me gustó bastante. Muy interesante lo que plantea liricamente. Honestamente es un pensamiento muy adelantado a la época en la que fue hecho y su sonido también.

5/5. This is the album often credited as being the big bang of all progressive rock, and what an album to launch a genre with as this thing is basically perfect (and somehow not even the bands best record IMO, I’m more of a Red (1974) kinda guy.)

The whole thing starts off on an amazing foot with “21st Century Schizoid man” which begins with a massive lumbering instrumental with vocals drenched in these strange, crunchy effects. But then it transitions into an insane section where the band trades solos and have back-and-forths with each other. The following “I talk to the wind” calms things down with some beautiful lead vocals and great flute soloing which leads into “Epitaph” which is probably the most emotional song on the record.

The moment this album likely loses some people is “Moonchild” with its meandering noodling, but I personally love it, there’s a sense of spontaneity to it that just plays super well in my opinion. And it also serves in a way as the calm before the storm of the epic closer “Court of the Crimson King” which has one of the most triumphant choruses in all of Prog rock and some great instrumental sections.

This album is one of the best debuts all the time, King Crimson doesn’t feel like a band finding their sound at all here, they feel completely formed and it shows in the tight five song tracklist that doesn’t waste any time. Easily one of the best albums of the 1960’s.

I have never listened to this, but I should have.
I absolutely loved it.

I don’t think I have much to say that hasn’t already been said about this album. In the Court of the Crimson King is an astounding debut album and 21st Century Schizoid Man is one of the strongest album openers. I was absolutely obsessed with this album in high school, but I haven’t given it a listen in some time now. It was great to revisit it today.

Objectively this is probably a 5/5 album based on its historical importance and musical impact, and it is a phenomenal album, it’s just not quite my preference any more, so I’m feeling a strong 4/5.

Too Jazzy

Original and “best” prof concept LP, still a prof concept LP though

not to be a band kid but ohhhhh i’ve been waiting for this one
21st century man is a masterpiece, HUGE face melting sound that just kicks your ass for seven minutes. “mirrors”, the instrumental jazz departure in the middle is definitely my favorite part of the record. it’s fine that the rest of the album (up until the last track) doesn’t hit the same because how are you supposed to follow that up? they should have flipped the tracklist around tbh
i talk to the wind is good but it should be like 2 minutes shorter. fuckin love the flute soloing but it didn’t need to be doubled twice
epitaph is a dark haunting journey, i love how they just put 2 more songs inside of one song. the “march for no reason” bit in the middle absolutely blows me away it feels like the sound just cracks wide open with the mellotron strings and clarinets. more woodwinds!
i think moonchild is fun. i really thought the noodling in the middle was stupid and bad at first and i didn’t get it but after reading that they basically just threw it together to meet the runtime they needed for the album endears it to me for some reason. it’s like they finished the song and forgot to stop the tape
the court of the crimson king is another banger. i love some spooky ren fair shit. i love how this album makes me feel like a powerful wizard in exile from a dark evil kingdom. 5 stars thank you

I discovered this in like middle school, and I don't think I *fully* understood it, but I *did* enjoy it. The best of King Crimson is pretty much the best of capital P "Prog". And this is pretty soundly one of King Crimson's best. I think what sticks out to me is that this is both, basically proto metal, while also being so regal. For all the surprisingly heavy moments, there is so much richness here in the form of classical and jazz influence. Honestly, I will say, I don't know if this is a 5 for me, just because this is like one of the most acclaimed albums ever, and so I feel that I'm allowed to dock it a little for a couple moments I'm not *fully* sold on. But there are a few *perfect* songs here. 21st Century Schizoid Man is kind of *the* proto metal song for me. The riff is actually *heavy*, the lyrics are dark and vivid and they make you clench your teeth a little, and the solo section uses it's jazz influence to harness a really particular kind of chaos that is really cool. The song just hits like a ton of bricks, it's some of the coolest shit pre-1970, full stop. Epitaph is the other song here that is like completely perfect. It's so epic and rich and immense. It's prog in execution and spirit, totally devoid of the genre's annoyances, there's nothing to get between the listener and Epitaph's rich tapestry of sorrow, complete with some of the most emotive vocals in all of prog. As far as the other songs go, they *are* all good, but in different capacities. To start, I think I Talk To The Wind is the least interesting song here, or at least the most straightforward for sure. The flute forward arrangement is pretty cool, and uniquely sparse, but I also think that it's easily the song with the least interesting melodies and general writing ideas. Although it is pleasant, and has it's fair share of little flourishes. In The Court Of The Crimson King is the only track where some occasional prog goofiness pops up. But it manages to coexist with several of the album's greatest passages, so it's more just that the band occasionally fails to stick a landing here or there. Lastly, let us discuss Moonchild. The beginning of Moonchild is the most gorgeous music on the album, and one of the prettiest melodies of all time. "Then why is it most people's least favorite song here?" You may ask. Well, it's because the song dissolves into ambient soloing after just 2.5ish of it's 12 minute runtime. And then the ambient soloing dissolves into honest to fucking God ambient free jazz, in which King Crimson completely give up things like, meter, key, time, and conventional composition. We will talk about my relationship with this decision in a sec, but first, I would like to mention that this section is why I'm skeptical of so many very online music fans putting this album as one of their favorites ever, because I just don't think *that* many people are actually willing to put up with nearly 7 minutes of this, just on principle. That being said, I actually do kind of like this section, but it took some *work*. I'd advise you listen to it at least once, it's a really twinkly section, largely just guitar and xylophone and drum set, like ripples on a pond. It actually *is* pretty gorgeous in it's own right, but you have to be *very* patient. I think the problem is that if we got quite a bit more of the first 3 minutes, this would be a song I like more, *but* it would be much less interesting. The existence of Moonchild as it is is pretty damn bold, and I must respect it. It does set forth the idea that King Crimson are in it for the love of the game too. Bands who are in it for the money don't add 8 minutes of increasingly abstract improv to the tail end of their best melody, maybe ever. Anyways, as I said, I am learning to like it too. I actually *do* enjoy some free jazz (shout out to Ornette Coleman), though I usually gravitate to the side of the genre that's a little more chaotic than this. Whereas King Crimson basically give the listener the audio equivalent of watching turtles from a bridge. It's not a bad time, and is actually pretty serene, it just may be hard to convince someone that you're not insane for being into it. Anyways, I have my qualms, but this *is* a masterpiece. Rich and powerful, and often beautiful. You have to work harder than some people would convince you, but this really *does* need to be on a list like this. I don't know if I have yet more to find in this album by the way. I definitely have more to find in Moonchild, but would that get it to a 5? I really don't know, maybe we'll see.

Prog out with my hog out fr fr

Really good apart from the instrumental on Moonchild, which really tested one's patience rather. Other than that, really interesting music which was always going somewhere new

Is dit album nu één grote chaos, of zit het heel vernuftig in elkaar? Dat ik mij dit afvraag toont dat het een interessant geheel is. Het album is één grote beleving, met invloeden uit uiteenlopende muzikale hoeken en met uiteenlopende emoties. De eerste samenstelling is hiervoor een prima introductie. Het uiteenlopende en wat chaotische karakter neemt natuurlijk ook mee dat niet alles voor iedereen even prettig is. Zo vind ik I talk to the wind nogal saai. En heeft de vierde samenstelling me te veel piepjes. Soms is ook dit album teveel 'Kunst, omdat het moet'. Maar net als bij Dagmar, gaat dat niet ten koste van de muziek. Of ik dit album in zijn geheel nog eens zal luisteren, weet ik niet zo goed. Het is met deze muziek lastig te testen. Dit luister je niet twee maal zo snel achter elkaar. Maar ik verwacht de samenstellingen 1 en 5 in elk geval nog wel een los te luisteren en dat is samen toch een flink deel van het album.

Nope. Still don’t like it.

I’m at a festival in the grounds of a medeaval castle. Spent the morning wandering through the gardens pretending that I’m in the Courr of the Crimson King.

Like the bombast of the opener and the title track. In between it’s pleasantly ambient