King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King

In The Court of the Crimson King is wonderful album and there are many more great King Crimson records to enjoy - I'd suggest the Young Person's Guide To King Crimson. I think I have the recording you have been enjoying (?) and it does do this record justice.  

Pretentious - well yes most of the best music is, but rubbish it is most certainly is not.

Of course music is subjective and you'll not find me listening to Frank Sinatra, Des O'Connor or any of that crooner stuff, nor will you find me playing Dire Straits or New Order, but I honestly thought everyman and his kangaroo liked Crimso. I'd much sooner listen to ITCOTCK than TDSOTM. 

The lyrics from Pete Sinfield are superb and only his work on Brain Salad Surgery surpasses it. The songs just flow and I can't help, but sing a long. 

All the best, Guy

I saw them in Montreal in the early seventies, and it blew half of my mind. The Naim DAC took care of the other half.

Jan

All this stuff belongs in the music room, stop stuffing up streaming audio with it.

Guy / Jan,

I knew I might light a touch paper - and it is obviously popular with a lot of people.

Gary,

Arguable. I'll happily live with the moderator's decision.

I am hoping that OTHER people will analyse/criticise their HiDef files - so I can buy some more files.

Problem is that the music section is just about the music. We all know that there are a lot of files out there masquerading as HiDef.

M

Hi Tog,

£12 on DVD-A.

I ALMOST bought it, but think I'll pop over to Spotify and have a listen first.

M

Red sounds nothing like ITCOTCK so liking or not liking one is not an indicator that you'll like or not like the other if you follow what I mean.

I think both records are beyond reproach, but I'm a Crimso fan - always have been and always will be. 

The 45th Anniversary edition of Red was released in 2009 (well it would be as the original was 74) and has the requisite remastered CD with bonus tracks and a DVD-A. It is superb and nearly as good as the original vinyl, which is very hard to obtain these days.  The 5.1 surround sound mix on DVD-Audio was created by Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree (never understood their appeal, but SW's great in the studio) in collaboration with Fripp.

I paid £13 for mine, so Mr Underhill has unearth a veritable bargain. 

After the first two elpees, Crimso became a collection of musicians directed by Robert Fripp. Fripp continually tries to push the boundaries. I'm told Thrack is just about the most difficult thing to play on guitar that has been recorded by a rock band; not that that in itself makes it enjoyable. 

Fripp's work changes all the time between folk, heavy metal, free form jazz, neo-classical and ambient with probably some other genres thrown in. 

Fripp will always want any Crimso re-release to sound as good as it can plus he does not put out sets at inflated prices unlike some of my other favourite bands (ELP's bootleg series is a stupid price and the SQ is diabolical even for tapes re-mastered from a bootleg). 

So bringing it back to streaming audio, you can buy and rip Crimso hi-res with confidence (of course assuming you like the music in the first place). 

OK Chaps,

The one thing I can't resist is enthusiasm - and I'm too busy to go and listen at the moment, bought.

All the DVD-A are on Amazon at about £12.

M

Red arrived couple of days ago, ripped and on the server .....and?

Over the last week or so I have listened to the 'In the Court of the Crimson King', the alternative version, a fair few times, and enjoy the music, as this does not have much in the way of lyrics!

My first impressions of Red are that: The album does not sound as well recorded; the lyrics are either non-existent, or less distracting; the album sounds far more experimental, e.g. Providence.

M

ITCOTCK was the first album that I ever bought. It still gets regular playing and always hits the spot, for me anyway.

I first saw KC on their Larks Tongues tour with Jamie Muir on percussion and Bill Bruford on drums. One of the best gigs I have ever seen.

IMHO after Red was just about the point where they began to loose their magic for me.

They broke up after Red. 

A different band was formed 7 years later, in 1981, if that's what you're referring to ....

I thought the new band had great discipline,

you might even say they were right on the Beat.

In fact three of a perfect pair.