In the Court of the Crimson King

You know, I'm disappointed in this. I had Larks' Tongues In Aspic a few weeks ago, and everything I read was that it was a difficult album for "new fans" but I loved it. So I was really quite excited when this album popped up, as this is supposed to be their magnum opus. It's...fine? It's a lot slower than I thought, and it doesn't sound as unique as I thought it would be. It sounds more like a bridge between hippie 60s rock and what they would ultimately become. That's fine, and I *do* think that a bridge album of sorts justifies a spot on this list, but it just didn't connect with me the way I had hoped it would.

Masterpiece, even if it's not easy to hear at times. "Epitaph" is one of the greatest songs ever written.

Enjoyed that one.

Very good songs. Short album. Would listen multiple times.

For me, King Crimson are masters of atmosphere and mood, first and foremost because of their sensational timing and also because of their diverse repertoire of harmonic and melodic approaches. For me, these qualities actually come before their undoubtedly excellent rhythmic and polyrhythmic ideas, making King Crimson one of the very few bands that really come into their own in their quieter moments. That's why I could listen to the tracks “Epitaph” and “Moonchild” from this album all day long, while I find the other three tracks quite good. 40% absolute killer material, plus one of the most iconic covers—is that enough for five stars? In direct comparison to the same year's "Unhalfbricking" by Fairport Convention (that I reviewed yesterday): certainly yes!

A vast improvement on the previous KC offering we had

Ok, i can see how this is the start of heavy metal and progressive rock. I can see where bands like Yes and Coheed and Cambria come from. I did not need the expanded version Spotify gave me, as the extra tracks added nothing to the album. It stood just fine without them, like King Crimson intended. This isn't my style, but it wasn't bad.

My Rating: 3/5 Crimson Crowns.

I was raised as a Moody Blues fan since my mom was obsessed with them (im named after one of them afterall) - I swear "Epitaph" fits perfectly in "Days of Future Passed" and a lot of the rest of it sounds very Moodys too.

The Good: We are in the presence of royalty!
The Bad: We aren’t sure if the kingdom is worth visiting…
The Ugly: This rating having taken 1 month to write…

Yes, it was a month ago that this album presented itself, and seeing as I’ve started paying closer attention to Prog music lately, I thought that I should give this album a critical listen so that I could hand with the cool kids…

Thus, on the first spin, I was paying close attention and thinking that this wasn’t that bad at all…
On the second spin, I don’t recall what I was thinking as I wanted to experience the album while cleaning my office…

By the 5th spin I was starting to get confused…

Yesterday, partially thanks to a weird jazz album, I thought I would give King Crimson another go… so here’s my thoughts:
4 songs that comprise the album of 35 minutes… I wasn’t able to finish the first song, and by the first minute of the second song I decided to play Stevie Wonder’s Song’s in the Keys of Life…

For now, I know that I will have to listen to this several more times… which means that I need to give the damn album a 4*

Aha, another album cover I recognize from being in a lot of people's top albums. The first true prog album, is it? And yeah, I hate it. So that tracks. It does sound more modern than it is (70s perhaps), I'll give 'em that. I've heard '21st Century Schizoid Man' before (because of Kanye, no doubt) but never knew those were the lyrics. Because the vocals are not crisp and clean! But at least the lyrics are interesting, I guess. And there are some interesting bits of jazzy instrumentation. I see why people like it. I don't like it, but maybe hate is too strong. It's fine. It's whatever. It's a low 3.

Awesome album, 21st Century is a legendary song, I could listen to it over and over again, despite the lyrics being so minimal. I can understand why someone might not like it, and Moonchild kind of drags on, but otherwise it's so great. The drumming is very crisp on this as well.

I expected this to be weird and nerdy, but was surprised that it didn't go as far as I thought it would. At least not until side two.

The first track, "21st Century Schizoid Man", throws you right into the deep end with its distorted opening chorus, 'hard rock' guitars, and wailing woodwinds. The way they don't build it up makes it feel more like a reprise than a first listen, which is quite a way to start the first track of your first album. I've mentioned this on other records and my usual note is "it's like you're joining a conversation already in progress", but usually the band has put out a few records and has some expectation that the audience knows their sound. It moves pretty quickly from that chorus into jazz-style soloing without much segue. "21st Century Schizoid Man" feel like King Crimson's statement piece and it's no wonder it gets sampled pretty often (probably most notably on Kanye West's "Power").

They back off somewhat (but keep the woodwinds!) for "I Talk To The Wind". This feels like a much more approachable starting point for most people in 1969. It's pop and psych-rock, with a little bit of jazz - a far cry from the onslaught of sound in the first track.
"Epitaph" wraps up the first side of the record, and does well to combine the sounds we've already heard into a single (nearly 9 minute long) opus. The cinematic soundscape paints an expansive and optimistic picture for the bleak lyrics to trample over, if you let them. This is probably my standout track of the record, but I don't think you should go into it without warming up with the preceding songs.
Side two is where things feel firmly prog rock-y. "Moonchild" seems to borrow more from experimental jazz (think "Bitches Brew" era Miles Davis) than from anything in rock & roll. It's the album's least played track on Spotify and not hard to guess why. "The Court Of The Crimson King" is an appropriate title track for the record. It collects all the pieces into one track and gives us the classic 'renaissance fair rock' sound that defines early prog-rock for me.
In my review of David Bowie's "Heroes" I mentioned that David Fripp (the mastermind of King Crimson) was a collaborator, and it makes a lot of sense why they got along. I'm sure Bowie had heard this record, but I wish he and Fripp could have connected during the Ziggy Stardust era.

There are 5 tracks and I like 3 of them, and maybe an extra half point for overall concept, brings me to a 3.5/5

I have listened to the In The Court Of The Crimson King before, and as more of a Floyd fan, I expected to give this a 4/5 during the relisten. However, this album is so good that I don't think I can give it anything less than 5/5. I remembered it being good, but it's actually just great.

My god this us long winded. Save for the time i spent trying to work out what had sampled the opening track there is nothing remotely positive of the first track.

I talk to the wind is just dull. Epitaph is the usual overlong prog guff.
Moonchild features that other albums like this, a tune that at times sounds like the engineer has just recorded the instruments being set up and tested possibly by toddlers.

The Court of King Crimson brings down the curtain in a suitably overblown fashion and hopefully signals the end of my listening to their work

The review is solely based on the original tracklisting, not the expanded version on Amazon Music.

21st Century Schizoid Man (Including "Mirrors") I liked the beginning of, hated the middle of, and was indifferent to the end of. Trimming that down, well chopping it in half, would have made a song I'd enjoy.

I Talk To The Wind I just found long and fairly uninteresting.

Epitaph (including March for No Reason and Tomorrow and Tomorrow) had the vocals so low, both in general and in the mix, at times that I had to turn up the overall volume to try and hear him. I was surprised to read Brett Gurewitz's Epitaph Records label (home of most of my favourite bands from the 90s, and one of my current favourites, Roe Kapara) and was named after this track. It was ok, but too long.

Moonchild (including The Dream and The Illusion) is over 12 minutes long and makes me want to scream with frustration. Not sure if that was what they were going for. IT IS SO LONG AND MEANDERING! Even they don't seem to see the point in it, as they first played it live 48 years after releasing it. I cannot imagine how boring a live experience this song would be.

The Court of the Crimson King was marginally shorter, so at least there's that. There's actually some small parts I like in this track, but not enough to make me enjoy the whole.

There are parts of this album that I didn't hate, but I disliked Moonchild so much, it's sullied the whole LP for me. Once again, I do not understand the attraction in 95% of Prog Rock.

1/5 (it would have got 2 had Moonchild been banished)

Another King Crimson album, another instant love from me.

Headphones on for this one. Gotta soak up the experience.

This is pretty familiar to me as I had the cassette tape of it in college days. Excellent musicianship, and I see some of the ideas here being used by other prog bands later (there's a section in Moon child that influences Genesis circa Lamb Lies Down IMO)

*The jazz stuff was cool but the overall album was a little too all over the place. Very atmospheric but not consistent enough with a theme for me to give it more than a 3.

Like if Yes sang about death and wizards or whatever the shit it was about