Music Banter - View Single Post - Frippin' Out: Trollheart's First-time Exploration of King Crimson's Music

Trollheart · 03-01-2023, 06:35 PM

Frippin' Out: Trollheart's First-time Exploration of King Crimson's Music

Having given many of you reason to sharpen your blades and look up the easiest ways to dispose of a body with my whining "I don't get seventies Yes" thread, I came across this from a few years back and thought I'd prod you a little further. I only ended up doing a few albums, so I'll repost those and then I'll carry on from there. Prepare to be annoyed!

Note: I originally used my colour coding on those reviews so I'll continue to do so. For those who are unaware, forgot or don't care, these are the keys:

Blue = Fantastic, perfect, wonderful, top class etc
Green = Excellent but not quite perfect; still really really good
Brown = Okay; certainly has a lot going for it but a few flaws or things I don't like or that could be better
Grey = Meh. Nuff said.
Red = Bad. Don't like this at all.

In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)

So this is where it all starts, huh? Well, I actually did eventually listen to this album, when it came up on the list for my History of Prog journal, and was very very impressed. But I haven't listened to it since, so though this won't be the first time I'm listening to it, it will be slightly new to me. I see they're already being mavericks at this point. They have multi-part suites, but unlike Genesis for instance who would use numbers to differentiate the parts a few years later, or indeed the Moody Blues, who just broke up the tracks, to say nothing of others (whose name at present escapes me) who used letters, King Crimson take a leaf out of fellow proggers Van der Graaf Generator's book, and simply call the track by its main name, noting that it “includes” other songs, such as with “Epitaph (including March For No Reason and Tomorrow and Tomorrow)". Of course, I'm only going by Wiki and I don't know if this is how the track listing is shown on the actual albums, as mine aren't physical copies.

Only five tracks, but the album still clocks in at a relatively impressive 44 minutes. So let's break this puppy down, shall we?

1. 21st Century Schizoid Man (Including Mirrors): Heavy, powerful start to the album, with what sound like almost Beefheartian vocals. Sure, others copied these, but at this time I doubt anyone else was emulating the bold Captain. Maybe it's a vocoder? Not sure. Anyway, it's quite heavily psychedelic with a lot of jazzy elements thrown in, and you can already hear a band that's tighter than me at the pub. Serious skills here..

2. I Talk to the Wind: A lovely change into a soft, lush ballad. Really relaxing and just gorgeous. Lake's vocals are very soothing here, in contrast to the slightly manic tone of the opener.

3. Epitaph (Including March For No Reason and Tomorrow and Tomorrow): Hmm. Seems to be another ballad, with some fantastic orchestral stuff in there and guitar that pulls at your heart at times. Sublime.

4. Moonchild (including The Dream and the Illusion): The real epic here, coming in at just over twelve minutes, part of which (I assume the aforementioned “The Dream”) is sort of atmospheric, ambient instrumental music which really gets very quiet, though you can hear a lot of strange little sounds. Xylophone? Maybe a vibraphone? Touches on the piano. Susurrating percussion, all very almost surreal.

5. In the Court of the Crimson King (Including The Return of the Fire Witch and The Dance of the Puppets): I'm sure there's little I can say about this that hasn't already been said. The powerful vocals on the chorus, the sort of medieval atmosphere created, the flutes, the extended instrumental ... pure magic.

Result: Well as expected I loved it, but then that's hardly the revelation I'm looking for, since as I already said, I've heard this once before. Only gets better with the second listen though. I am a little surprised (pleasantly) by how laid back most of it is. Hopefully the rest of the discography can keep up this extremely high bar. Oh, and this is the first time I've really heard drumming I can say is something special. One other thing that really hits me about this album is how really advanced it must have been for its time. When you consider what Genesis and Yes were doing around this time, well, this knocks both into a cocked hat. Like I said, magic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OvW...J1i7UKj0aGfy0U

03-01-2023, 06:35 PM	#1 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Frippin' Out: Trollheart's First-time Exploration of King Crimson's Music Frippin' Out: Trollheart's First-time Exploration of King Crimson's Music Having given many of you reason to sharpen your blades and look up the easiest ways to dispose of a body with my whining "I don't get seventies Yes" thread, I came across this from a few years back and thought I'd prod you a little further. I only ended up doing a few albums, so I'll repost those and then I'll carry on from there. Prepare to be annoyed! Note: I originally used my colour coding on those reviews so I'll continue to do so. For those who are unaware, forgot or don't care, these are the keys: Blue = Fantastic, perfect, wonderful, top class etc Green = Excellent but not quite perfect; still really really good Brown = Okay; certainly has a lot going for it but a few flaws or things I don't like or that could be better Grey = Meh. Nuff said. Red = Bad. Don't like this at all. In the Court of the Crimson King (1969) So this is where it all starts, huh? Well, I actually did eventually listen to this album, when it came up on the list for my History of Prog journal, and was very very impressed. But I haven't listened to it since, so though this won't be the first time I'm listening to it, it will be slightly new to me. I see they're already being mavericks at this point. They have multi-part suites, but unlike Genesis for instance who would use numbers to differentiate the parts a few years later, or indeed the Moody Blues, who just broke up the tracks, to say nothing of others (whose name at present escapes me) who used letters, King Crimson take a leaf out of fellow proggers Van der Graaf Generator's book, and simply call the track by its main name, noting that it “includes” other songs, such as with “Epitaph (including March For No Reason and Tomorrow and Tomorrow)". Of course, I'm only going by Wiki and I don't know if this is how the track listing is shown on the actual albums, as mine aren't physical copies. Only five tracks, but the album still clocks in at a relatively impressive 44 minutes. So let's break this puppy down, shall we? 1. 21st Century Schizoid Man (Including Mirrors): Heavy, powerful start to the album, with what sound like almost Beefheartian vocals. Sure, others copied these, but at this time I doubt anyone else was emulating the bold Captain. Maybe it's a vocoder? Not sure. Anyway, it's quite heavily psychedelic with a lot of jazzy elements thrown in, and you can already hear a band that's tighter than me at the pub. Serious skills here.. 2. I Talk to the Wind: A lovely change into a soft, lush ballad. Really relaxing and just gorgeous. Lake's vocals are very soothing here, in contrast to the slightly manic tone of the opener. 3. Epitaph (Including March For No Reason and Tomorrow and Tomorrow): Hmm. Seems to be another ballad, with some fantastic orchestral stuff in there and guitar that pulls at your heart at times. Sublime. 4. Moonchild (including The Dream and the Illusion): The real epic here, coming in at just over twelve minutes, part of which (I assume the aforementioned “The Dream”) is sort of atmospheric, ambient instrumental music which really gets very quiet, though you can hear a lot of strange little sounds. Xylophone? Maybe a vibraphone? Touches on the piano. Susurrating percussion, all very almost surreal. 5. In the Court of the Crimson King (Including The Return of the Fire Witch and The Dance of the Puppets): I'm sure there's little I can say about this that hasn't already been said. The powerful vocals on the chorus, the sort of medieval atmosphere created, the flutes, the extended instrumental ... pure magic. Result: Well as expected I loved it, but then that's hardly the revelation I'm looking for, since as I already said, I've heard this once before. Only gets better with the second listen though. I am a little surprised (pleasantly) by how laid back most of it is. Hopefully the rest of the discography can keep up this extremely high bar. Oh, and this is the first time I've really heard drumming I can say is something special. One other thing that really hits me about this album is how really advanced it must have been for its time. When you consider what Genesis and Yes were doing around this time, well, this knocks both into a cocked hat. Like I said, magic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OvW...J1i7UKj0aGfy0U __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 04-10-2023 at 12:03 PM.