King Crimson

Here is a link to a cool article about the band:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Crimson

Thanks man. King Crimson has been a favorite of mine ever since I heard their first LP (which I still have). Not everybody's cup of tea fer sure though. As a fellow fan, I have to mention one of my favorite moments; in late 2001 I went to see Ringo Starr's All Starr Band at the San Diego State University Amphitheatre and got to see Greg Lake perform "the Court of the Crimson King" live and with a band that maybe weren't the original members but no less accomplished musicians.

THIS IS SO FUCKING WEIRD!!!!!!!

Last night when I was stumbling around YouTube.com I found a short video exerpt of King Crimson performing '21st Century Schizoid Man' in Hyde Park, London 1969. I think they may have been opening for the Stones in that first gig after Brian Jones had died. Anyway, I went to about three different record stores today in the East Village looking for the first King Crimson CD. I finally found it and played it this afternoon AND when I got home tonight literally minutes before I saw this thread, I put it on again, In fact I am listening to '21st Century Schizoid Man' RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!!!!! This is SO WEIRD!!! I put on the CD and then logged onto TC and saw this thread. I should play the lottery tomorrow.

'CAT'S FOOT IRON CLAW
NUERO-SUERGON SCREAMS FOR MORE'

Crazy man!!! REally F*ckng crazy!!!!!

Best "rock" concert I ever saw.

I have this one memory of doing some... stuff... and seeing King Crimson in conjunction with a Salvador Dali display.

So as we get through the concert, this sonic blanket unfolds over the audience and the lights come from the stage to the back center where we were at. Then at the climax of the show I see my brother with lighter raised, standing alone with the backdrops of band and lights. They were incredible and musical while stretching the genre as far as it could go. Fripp is insane, truly. Adrian is a lot of fun. Bruford, and there was another drummer - uhhhhh, I'll think of it one day... it was just fantastic.

What a band.

Honestly though, I got close to the same vibe when we were watching Waitiki playing the Mai Kai last year.
I wonder if King Crimson ever experimented with exotica? Privately of course, certainly not on disc that I've heard.

I don't know that KC ever experimented with exotica, but defintely with world music in their later new-wave incarnation.

Suprisingly, the court of the crimson king is one that I don't currently own (I have heard it many time though) but I need to go get it soon. The album cover alone is so iconic, and the music is very good if you like Mellotrons!

My favorite album from these guys has to be Starless and Bible black. One album I can't find is "USA", the first live album they ever did. It has the early/mid 70's ensemble with John Wetton, and they cover two songs from the first album, including 21st century schizoid man. The whole band is distorted, except the drums and violin, so the album is very noisy and you can see how they might have been an influence on some industrial bands and so forth.

I have always liked the mystic elements to thier sound, and thier early stuff is especially satisfying, and I hate to admit it, obviously Beatles influenced. Mostly on the album "lizard". But, in my opinion a lot of the prog rock bands seemed to copy each other. Pink Floyd has some stuff that Crimson fans would probably like a lot.

The later day KC though is somewhat dissapointing. I just got "the power to believe" and it seems to me they are still stuck in the same mode they started around "thrak". Of all the newer albums probably "construktion of light" is the most satisfyting, as they sound influenced from thier own later 70's period.

Fripp is an original and interesting guitarist. I like the stuff he has collaborated on other artists work. If anyone didn't recognize him, he's the one playing the buzzsaw guitar on David Bowie's "fashion"!!

But, in my opinion a lot of the prog rock bands seemed to copy each other.

I hear alot of Moody Blues-esque melodies and general Moodys sounds on the 'Court of the
Crimson King' album. I don't think of the Moody Blues as 'Prog' exactly, but I guess they do have Prog qualities when you really think about it. I'm not up on my Moodys history or the exact dates of their record releases, so I'm not sure who influenced who. Was it Crimson to Moodys or the other way around? I'd like to think Crimson was first. Just for the record, the Moodys never struck me as a band with any kind of amazing credibility, although 'Tuesday Afternoon' is one of my fave 60s pop tunes as well as that song they do about Timothy Leary called 'Legend of the Mind'. I like Fripp's use of the Mellotron on 'The Court of..." album. Another band from that era, though not Prog,that used alot of Mellotron were The Zombies on the album 'Odyssey and Oracle'.

I you like PROG then i recommend getting hold of Prog Is Not a Four Letter Word: Compiled By Andy Votel top prog.

I like something different about all their incarnations. My favorite lineup is probably Larks Tongues in Aspic, a unit with lots to prove producing one of the most sublimely dynamic and textured KC efforts ever, thanks in great part to to violinist David Cross and percussionist Jamie Muir. Without their valuable subtleties further efforts would leave the trio in an increasingly manic and muscular spiral until this lineups beautiful and exhausting final statement on Red, Starless, "...sundown, dazzling days..." This power trio is a Cream fan's worst nightmare. Far more similar to inventive fusion-era Miles Davis than numbingly predictable Claptonianisms.

If you dug USA I'm sure you can pic up a used copy of the Great Deceiver box set which is nothing but disc after disc of remarkable Wetton era live Crim.

Lots of Crimmy fun here: http://www.elephant-talk.com/main.shtml

As far as PROGXOTICA hybrids, I'm crazy about Clouseaux and recently Kooche turned me on to Friends Of Dean Martinez who's latest album Lost Horizon is splendid.

[ Edited by: hodadhank 2006-05-14 18:47 ]

On 2006-05-13 17:19, donhonyc wrote:

But, in my opinion a lot of the prog rock bands seemed to copy each other.

I hear alot of Moody Blues-esque melodies and general Moodys sounds on the 'Court of the
Crimson King' album. I don't think of the Moody Blues as 'Prog' exactly, but I guess they do have Prog qualities when you really think about it. I'm not up on my Moodys history or the exact dates of their record releases, so I'm not sure who influenced who. Was it Crimson to Moodys or the other way around? I'd like to think Crimson was first. Just for the record, the Moodys never struck me as a band with any kind of amazing credibility, although 'Tuesday Afternoon' is one of my fave 60s pop tunes as well as that song they do about Timothy Leary called 'Legend of the Mind'. I like Fripp's use of the Mellotron on 'The Court of..." album. Another band from that era, though not Prog,that used alot of Mellotron were The Zombies on the album 'Odyssey and Oracle'.

I think the Court of the crimson king could easily have been a Moody Blues album, with the exception of 1 0r 2 songs. It's probably the mellotron that makes me see a resemblence. Funny how that particular instrument was not really used by any other genre except prog rock and art rock. it just has that old, creepy sound that instantly sounds vintage. I personally like the sound, but see little use for it in anything modern.

Pat Moraz was the keyboardist for the Moody Blues, and he also played with YES, so there is a tie-in right there.

I am going to have to check out the Zombies. They sound interesting. One other band that used the mellotron on early albums was Tangerine Dream. of course there is always led zep's "rain song", probably the most famous use of this instrument!

I am going to have to check out the Zombies.

Just to reiterate, if you don't know already, The Zombies are not Prog and I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't throw them in that category so proceed with caution if you are expecting a Prog band. The Zombies are (and you may know this already) most well known for their 1960s hits "Tell her No","She's Not There" and "Time of the Season". The latter was part of the 'Odyssey and Oracle' album that I mentioned in my other post which was recorded in 1967. It was one of the first to use Mellotron because, as the story goes, the band didn't have a budget to hire a string section for the recording. The album apparently was only released in the US in 1968 because Al Kooper had campaigned for it to be. "Time of the Season" wasn't a chart hit until 1969, AFTER the band had already broken up. The keyboardist in that band, Rod Argent had gone on to form the early 70s band "Argent" that had that major hit around '72 or '73, "Hold You're Head Up". Actually a pretty cool song and a Top 10 hit. You'll never hear a song like that in the Top 10 these days, that's fer sure.

True, Argent had a quirky #1 hit with that song, and although not really prog rock, like Styx, it has some similar elements. I don't know why, but it reminds me of the song "lunatic fringe" by red Ryder.

The Zombies seem like a traditional 60's group, from what I read about them, but every once in a while I find myself liking some of those types of groups. Anyway, I like collecting seminal albums. I want to check them out for the mellotron plus I like that song "she's not there".

Have you heard April Wine's version of 21st century schizoid man?

April Wine? nooooooooo...another fine rock band from our neighbors up north.
I got Odyssey & Oracle from my libriry and it is REALLY GOOD...the songs are really musically genius & it is of that time; sort of chamber psychedelic. Nice harmonies--now I see where Zumpano snagged their sound from

The Zombies seem like a traditional 60's group, from what I read about them, but every once in a while I find myself liking some of those types of groups. Anyway, I like collecting seminal albums. I want to check them out for the mellotron plus I like that song "she's not there".

Have you heard April Wine's version of 21st century schizoid man?

Be advised..."She's Not There" is not on the 'Odyssey & Oracle' album, in fact 'O&O' is way more musically sophisticated than any of the singles The Zombies had in the mid-60s.

April Wine did '21st Century Schizoid Man'? No comment...

Saw Zombies perform with Love at 4th & B in San Diego. Love was spectacular but Zombies were ruly atrocious. We suffered through a half dozen poorly executed songs and split immediatly after God-awful version of Time of the Season. Interesting how some bands age well and others do not. On this night I took special issue with Argent's unsympathetic synthesizer palette and a little too much fumbling notes with one hand while waving at the crowd with the other. Would have been more enthusiasm if instruments were played by actual zombies. He could take a page from Arthur Lee's book, if the original members aren't up to snuff, replace them with musicans at the very least equal to the task of faithfully performing legendary compositions.

[ Edited by: hodadhank 2006-05-17 09:41 ]