In the Court of the Crimson King

Me gusta mucho y he estado dudando mucho rato, pero creo que no quiero ponerle un 5. Pero vaya maravilla de disco, merece su fama.

There is a time in my life, when this would’ve gotten an easy five stars. It is still a great album, certainly notable and influential, great album cover, challenging and memorable. But I think I have become somewhat disillusioned by the sheen of progressive rock, and some of the things that I once loved about this album— like the extended instrumental noodling on “Moonchild,”—feel too self indulgent now.

But the journey of this album is tremendous. “21st Century Schizoid Man” is so heavy. I love the use of Mellotron on this album (I’m a sucker for that sound). I think what’s keeping me from giving it a full 5/5 is how self-serious and humorless it is. I also feel like if we’re talking about early prog albums, this list egregiously omits “Days of Future Past” by The Moody Blues, so I’m pouring one star out for that album.

Some pretty incredible stuff on here. And some pretty tasty noodles, too.

Reddit’s favorite album. Just listened to this a few months ago as I gave it yet another chance. I think it’s always going to be good, not great for me. Epitaph and ITCOTCK are my two standouts.

In The Court Of The Crimson King is a pretty good and interesting album. The album contained quite a bit of unique elements going beyond just rock with elements like jazz and classical which i really appreciated. I felt that the singing also fit the album quite perfectly. This album might not be for everyone with the long length of the songs and the progressive and experimental elements but it still had enough interesting elements to keep me engaged.
Best Song: 21st Century Schizoid Man
Worst Song: I Talk To The Wind

I imagine one doesn't get into the Crimson King's court without an audition in which the moorings of your mind are thoroughly examined. Do you question war, religion; do you have equal love for pastoral flutes and jazz-rock? Have you committed William Faulkner's Nobel prize acceptance speech to memory?* Welcome. I hear bits of this album strung far and wide across prog rock's 70s heyday, from its smooth, streamlined full-bodied sound to its minimalist experimental textures.

*(an excerpt) "Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only the question: When will I be blown up? ... It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last dingdong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking."

54 Years Old and a classic in the symphonic and prog (hard)rock.
Of course Moonchild is always a small stain on this otherwise magnificent album, but lets just be happy that it allows us to rejoice when the first notes of In The Court Of The Crimson King fade in.
4,5*

Et af de der covers man har altid set og som har sat sig fast. Tror faktisk kun at jeg havde hørt The Court Of The Crimson King før.

Pladen er fed progressiv. Jazz i første nummer, men altid med rockede undertoner.

The album artwork always put me off. In recent years I couldn't help but think was Robert Fripp's reaction to Toyah Willcox on their YouTube videos.

As for the album itself, it's strangely hypnotic, an almost calm before a storm.

It's Christmas. I genuinely don't care about this awful album. So it spawned a whole lot of dad rock classics? Don't care. I don't like them either.

I feel like this is an album Bob Belcher would really be into. LOL

I'm a fan of prog, but never really dived into older progressive rock beyond rush. This was pretty interesting overall. I might have to give it another try just because I know progressive stuff tends to need a few listens to click. On first go though, I'll have to give this a 3.5/5

One prog album to rule them all, one to find them, one to bring them all and in the light unite them.

If you’re not having goosebumps at the beginning of “Epitaph” are you actually alive?

Well just looking at this creepy face, I remember the title track being one of my favourites in all of prog. Now does the rest of the album hold up

Update: it holds up

One thing I didn’t remember from my last listen (sometime in the last decade) was all the jazz influence (see: the wall of noise at the end of “21st Century Schizoid Man”). The amount of freeform noodling is pretty high but they get a pass considering how strong the compositions can be.
Crimson King takes full advantage of my soft spot for musical indulgence.
5 stars

September 19 2023

Prog wankery

I can get the historical importance of this album, and King Crimson was responsible (thanks to the 1001 list) for my discoveries on experimentalism and progressive rock. On the other hand, as expected for their first release (still starting to mix up stuff with the most basic rock lines), this album is a bit repetitive and not so easy to listen to. The song "The Court Of The Crimson King" is truly amazing, but the rest of the album could be much better, as their own proved in their later releases.

One of the first prog rock albums and one of the best. Definitely has a schizophrenic quality, vacillating between heavy and delicate throughout the record. The opening track is worth the price of entry alone. Such a big sound.

Radiohead before Radiohead, Floyd before they made up their mind.

Song for song, it's got like a 2.5 for 5 hit rate for me ("21st Century Schizoid Man" & "Epitaph" are great, title song kinda depends on my mood), also historically this album was almost singularly responsible for inventing prog rock as a genre (compliment), even if I enjoy its successors more

One of the true prog rock masterpieces, brilliant album.