Red Prog After the first band’s implosion, ’s determination to keep the King alive meant its follow-up, , echoed their startling debut. Reminiscent of , this mellotron-drenched anthem – with ’s sonorous choir and Michael Giles’ thunderous drumming – is a somewhat overlooked classic. With their third album, , Fripp augmented a transitional line-up with top-drawer jazz players to create an epic, sprawling, chaotic clash of styles veering from sparse, cinematic moodiness to free-form skirmishing.
Scattered with pianist ’s splintered notes, a chillingly solemn Fripp solo guides the piece to a thrilling conclusion. Propelled by Ian Wallace’s jazz-inspired drumming, swirling Mellotron, Mel Collins’ furious sax and Boz Burrell’s galloping bass, Fripp’s solo, laid down on the last day of recording of their fourth album, , unleashes a metallic collision of lines and chords that sounds like nothing before it in the Crimson canon. King Crimson always had a soft spot for ballads and this is one of their best.
With lyrics inspired by Rembrandt’s painting of the same name, Fripp’s resplendent solo – recorded in a single first take – is a thing of beauty, but don’t miss ’s subtle, exquisite bass detail supporting it. The title track to Crimson’s is, paradoxically, a live recording. Complex and haunting, though fans believed this a meticulously composed piece, it’s entirely improvised.
’ atmospheric swathes of Mellotron provides a luminous backdrop as drummer and bassist Wetton shift the action from the nebulous into sharp focus. Hugely influential, Crimson’s seventh and final ‘70s studio album was touted by producer as the kind of sound Seattle’s grunge gurus should be aiming for. Wetton’s malevolent bass is every bit the equal to Fripp’s chordal shards, while Bruford’s controlled, clattering snare and cymbal ensures head-blitzing devastation.
Sign up below to get the latest from Prog, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox! Fripp’s fiendishly complex cross-picking moto perpetuo figure, knitted into grinding monster riffs and explosive jazz-rock break-outs, typifies Crimson’s ability to meld brute force and clinical precision to breathtakingly audacious degrees. The final barn-storming section, including Bill Bruford’s yelp of excitement as the finishing line comes into view, is hair-raising stuff. The title track of the – with Fripp, John Wetton, Bill Bruford, David Cross and free-jazz court jester Jamie Muir on percussion and all sorts – is replete with buzzsaw riffs, intricate timings, clattering metallics, earth-moving bass, bucolic idylls and disembodied voices, forming a startling platter for the discerning palate.
Recorded in the last days of their final tour of the ‘70s, even with tensions rife within the band, this remarkably powerful improvisation showcases the breathtaking musical telepathy they’d developed. After Bruford’s opening roll, Fripp shouts ‘F!’, as they blast off to explore a musical universe unique to King Crimson. Suffused with woebegone Mellotron, the melancholic ballad leads, via an ominous bass line, across the tightrope-walking one-note guitar solo to dive into a thunderous, majestic finale.
An undisputed classic, never mind the best ‘70s King Crimson song – this epic contains some of the finest moments in progressive music as a whole. Sid's feature articles and reviews have appeared in numerous publications including Prog, Classic Rock, Record Collector, Q, Mojo and Uncut. A full-time freelance writer with hundreds of sleevenotes and essays for both indie and major record labels to his credit, his book, In The Court Of King Crimson, an acclaimed biography of King Crimson, was substantially revised and expanded in 2019 to coincide with the band’s 50th Anniversary.
Alongside appearances on radio and TV, he has lectured on jazz and progressive music in the UK and Europe. A resident of Whitley Bay in north-east England, he spends far too much time posting photographs of LPs he's listening to on Twitter and Facebook. The best new rock songs you need to hear right now Watch Red Hot Chili Peppers perform Can't Stop in Los Angeles as part of Paris 2024 Olympic closing ceremony "If it had come out two years earlier, it would have captured the zeitgeist": Captain Beyond miss their moment on much-loved debut album.
