Song:In The Court Of The Crimson King
Album:In The Court Of The Crimson King
Of course King Crimson were pioneers of progressive rock. The problem is the band went through so many versions that it can be difficult to tell what is worth listening to. In The Court Of The Crimson King is probably their best known album and their debut. So it's a good place to start. King Crimson began in 1967 as Giles, Giles and Fripp. Brothers Michael (drums) and Peter (bass) Giles advertised for an organist who could sing. Robert Fripp couldn't sing but he can certainly play organ. They released an unsuccessful album and decided to expand the band. They brought in keyboard and sax player Ian McDonald. And he brought Peter Sinfield with him. Though Sinfield did play piano, he was mainly a lyricist and he wrote most of King Crimson's early songs with Fripp. Fripp wanted to go in a more jazz direction. So Peter Giles was replaced by Greg Lake. And that was the band that recorded In The Court Of The Crimson King. The band tried to work with producers. But they ended up writing and producing the album themselves. Sinfield said that King Crimson was deliberately uncommercial. They didn't want any hit singles. They wanted the music to be complicated. Despite that, the album was certified Gold. There were problems with the finished version of the album. But the original masters were found in 2003. So this CD version is remastered and sounds like it is supposed to. As I said, King Crimson went through many changes. The big one at this point was Greg Lake left to join Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Then McDonald and Giles left. Giles and Lake remained to record the 1970 album In The Wake Of Poseidon. Then they left. Fripp brought in pianist Keith Tippett. But he didn't want to be in a band. Mel Collins replaced McDonald. And Gordon Haskell was the new singer. Fripp still leads a version of King Crimson. It's his vision. It doesn't seem to matter much who the other musicians are. I may look at other versions of them. But I wanted to begin here. Here's King Crimson performing In The Court Of the Crimson King.
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