I decided to launch a new series to imagine myself as a critic at the end of the 60s and start of the 70s, and to rectify certain reviews from Rolling Stone magazine and Creem. This not meant to be contrarian, but to offer a more balanced perspective. All the albums reviewed are indeed classic albums.
King
Crimson – In The Court Of The Crimson King (1969)
*****
Producer:
King Crimson
Musicians:
Robert Fripp, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald, Michael Giles, Peter Sinfield
Songs: 21st
Century Schizoid Man (including “Mirrors”), I Talk To The Wind, Epitaph (including
“March For No Reason” and “Tomorrow and Tomorrow”), Moonchild (Including “The
Dream” and “The Illusion”}, The Court Of The Crimson King (including “The
Return of the Fire Witch” and “The Dance Of The Puppets”)
Reviewed
By Matthew Anthony Allair
This feels
very important; the debut of the new band King Crimson has produced material
that may usher in the next decade. You had a sense of change at the start of
the year with the debut of Led Zeppelin, and word is out the next Zeppelin
album is moments away. Sure, people will argue that the summer release of the Crosby,
Stills and Nash album was a part of that new direction, but they are - for
all intensive purposes - a super group that reflected many established acts of
the decade. One can sense a new vanguard is on the way, I can’t say what the
next fresh act may be. Other acts that may set the future are Santana, Humble
Pie, and even a brash act like The Stooges.
There are
several unprecedented things with this band, one that they self-produced, the
other that they are self-contained and offer so many colors. Guitarist Robert
Fripp has a good foundation between Jazz, folk and classical statements.
Bassist and vocalist Greg Lake is very skillful as a player and there’s a
somberness to his vocal delivery. Multi-instrumentalist Ian McDondald expands
the sound well, and with drummer Michael Giles, you can hear he has a very
adept background with Jazz. Plus, there’s the thoughtful and dark lyrics of
Peter Sinfield. The end result is rather impressive for a debut act. Fripp had
been involved with another act that hadn’t gotten much attention, and the
others seemed to be a new find. There’s a juxtaposition with this album between
soft and loud, and there’s a richness of details, if you pay attention, this is
not easily digestible if you looking for something superfluous, this might lose
those type of listeners. But the rewards are great if you look for it.
The opening “Mirrors” sounds like a train whistle before the very loud and brash opening lines set in, “21st Century Schizoid Man” is a frightening, dark starter for the album, but it’s rather brilliant. The beginning line sounds like any heavy rock riff, but as it progresses, it becomes obvious Fripp and the team are really just using hard bop jazz riffs in a new setting, the opening section acts as a head for the fierce middle section. The track ends with someone nearly apocalyptic. The somber “I Talk To The Wind” shifts the mood, and McDonald offers either flutes or recorders in a tasteful fashion to enhance the acoustic pastoral setting. “Epitaph” broken into the sections ‘March For No Reason’ and ‘Tomorrow and Tomorrow’ McDonald’s String Mellotron is in heavy use as well as Piano for ‘March’, It’s a broken piece tonally as it shifts to ‘tomorrow’. McDonald’s use of Bass Clarinet, and Clarinet allows the band to be a self-contain unit that compared to an act like The Moody Blues was never allowed to utilize such independence due to their reliance on orchestras.
“Moonchild” is a rather simple, hymn like piece before it shifts into the introspective “The Dream”, some good free form interplay from the guitar and keyboard and Giles is pretty attentive to what is needed. This morphs into some found audio as “The Illusion” stretches things further. This is about as Avant Guard Jazz as one can find before the major key resolution. The closer, “In The Court Of The Crimson King” features a moody string mellotron, harpsicord, flute, and layered Greg Lake vocals, this has an epic scope that I don’t always hear. The flute transitions into “The Return Of The Fire Witch”, before the closing lyric edges into “The Dance Of The Puppets”, a pretty scathing critique towards careless leaders. A pipe organ playfully restates the idea before the full band resolves abruptly with a strange mechanical coda.
The impact
of this album will be hard to see for good or for ill for some time. But I
look forward to their next release.
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