King Crimson- In the Court of the Crimson King

It is a rare occurrence that an album sounds so fresh, so revolutionary, 40 years after it is released. To do so it must posses something revolutionary, something spectacular. In the Court of the Crimson King manges to accomplish this seemingly without effort. When they evolved out of the trio Giles, Giles, and Fripp in 1969, a new chapter in rock music began. Robert Fripp (guitar), Greg Lake (bass/vocals), Michael Giles (Drums), Ian MacDonald (Woodwinds), and Peter Sinfeild (In-band lyricist) created this album at the tail end of psychedelia, and took the progressive tendencies of that genre to make a focused and fully progressive album for the first time.

While no longer all that ambitious by '69, the tracks here all last between 6 and 12 minutes. The album begins with the incredible "21st Century Schizoid Man", King Crimson's signature. This song is immensely heavy for 1969. The vocals are caustically distorted into a raspy electronic wail, and to go along is an instantly memorable riff and a general zaniness. Despite this aggression, "Schizoid" actually manages to be somewhat catchy. Look out for the wild sax from MacDonald and the stop-start section for more creativity gone amok. Next up is "I Talk to the Wind", a much more placid number. The vocals this time are more relaxed and natural, whereas instead of aggressive sax and electric guitar, we have tranquil flute and acoustics. It all works to set a very "open mountain air" tone, and the melody is genius. "Epitaph"then plays. This song, simply put, is one of man's greatest musical achievements ever. The lyrics are absolutely phenomenal:

The wall on which the prophets wrote/Is cracking at the seams.
Upon the instruments of death/The sunlight brightly gleams.
When every man is torn apart/With nightmares and with dreams,
Will no one lay the laurel wreath/As silence drowns the screams.

Sinfeild took his time on this one. The instruments only increase the effectiveness of the piece, by creating and eerie medieval mood. I adore the troubadour-like guitars mixing in with the horror-film soundtrack noises from the rest.

Side two contains "Moonchild", which is another highly ethereal, highly distorted lullaby of a song. It has two and a half minutes of a children's tale, followed by nine and a half minutes of minimalism with "elven" noises. This lull of a song works together with the final track, "The Court of the Crimson King", by easing the listener along to let the opening chord menace even more. To wrap up, we have the true epic. In 9 minutes, it goes through fantasy verses, social commentary, and philosophy, all while the instruments create a thrilling mood similar to "Epitaph." Truly inventive stuff at the time, as no one had put all the parts together without sounding pretentious until then.

Is it really possible not to understate the influence of this album? It hit number 5 on the UK charts, which is an accomplishment in itself. The symphonic tendencies of "Epitaph"and "The Court of the Crimson King" would find an outlet with many prog converts like Yes and Genesis as well as new bands like ELP and Camel. Meanwhile, the hard edge of "Schizoid Man" parallels some Krautrock to come, as well as the RIO movement. The free-from of "Moonchild" would help that sub genre as well as prog electronic and jazz-prog come to the fore, and "I to the Wind" shows it's influence in the prog-folk realm. Not to mention the perfectly fitting cover art, which was one of the first of it's kind.

It would be almost heresy for a prog blog not to give In the Court of the Crimson King a Grade of A+. This one's essential, everyone should hear this before they die.