In The Court Of The Crimson King

[Davey]

Wow! Hadn't listened to any early King Crimson in ages, but was jammin out in the car today and they were playing a block of KC on the radio, and man they had it all together back then, didn't they? Great singer, majestic and powerful songs, dynamic production, it was like a clean slate back then. Freedom to do anything! What a time. Who was most responsible for their early sound? Was it all Fripp's vision? I don't know when I first bought this LP (probably sometime early to mid 70s), but after getting home today I had to pull it out and give it a spin. Not much of a vinyl setup at the current digs so I don't spin much, but it's still always a blast to whip out some old slab like this that hasn't seen any groove gouging in years and hear what comes out. Not a great sounding LP in the version I have, but still pretty cool. So what do the latest CD remasters sound like? I know Fripp and his company have seemingly been remastering these things over and over. Do they get any better? What's your favorite of the early years? I never got into Red back in the day, maybe that's the one I need to check out the most? Didn't really pick them up seriously again until the Belew years in the 80s.

[3-LockBox]

Wow! Hadn't listened to any early King Crimson in ages, but was jammin out in the car today and they were playing a block of KC on the radio, and man they had it all together back then, didn't they? Great singer, majestic and powerful songs, dynamic production, it was like a clean slate back then. Freedom to do anything! What a time. Who was most responsible for their early sound? Was it all Fripp's vision? I don't know when I first bought this LP (probably sometime early to mid 70s), but after getting home today I had to pull it out and give it a spin. Not much of a vinyl setup at the current digs so I don't spin much, but it's still always a blast to whip out some old slab like this that hasn't seen any groove gouging in years and hear what comes out. Not a great sounding LP in the version I have, but still pretty cool. So what do the latest CD remasters sound like? I know Fripp and his company have seemingly been remastering these things over and over. Do they get any better? What's your favorite of the early years? I never got into Red back in the day, maybe that's the one I need to check out the most? Didn't really pick them up seriously again until the Belew years in the 80s.

Is this a trick?!?

I never really got into early Krim myself, but all three RED era albums sound great remastered (I have the HDCD vesrions though I don't have an HDCD player). I actually made what I think is a killer comp of those three albums but you may want to buy all three anyway, since you own EVERYTHING!

[MasterCylinder]

I like early KC much more than the later releases.
The first LP is very good -- and to answer your question, Yes, I do think Fripp had some presence in the sound of that release but no more than Ian MacDonald ( if you have ever seen the DVD of Hacketts "Tokyo Tapes", you will agree ) and less than he had in every other release.

As far as sonics of remasters, I happen to own a Japanese mini-LP Gold remaster of "In the Court of......" that sounds magnificent........very well done.

My favorite discs from KC are from the Bruford/Wetton era:
Larks Tongue in Aspic
Starless and Bible Black
Red

I also have all three of those discs in the mini-LP remastered form - all wonderful.

[Hyfi]

I like early KC much more than the later releases.
The first LP is very good -- and to answer your question, Yes, I do think Fripp had some presence in the sound of that release but no more than Ian MacDonald ( if you have ever seen the DVD of Hacketts "Tokyo Tapes", you will agree ) and less than he had in every other release.

As far as sonics of remasters, I happen to own a Japanese mini-LP Gold remaster of "In the Court of......" that sounds magnificent........very well done.

My favorite discs from KC are from the Bruford/Wetton era:
Larks Tongue in Aspic
Starless and Bible Black
Red

I also have all three of those discs in the mini-LP remastered form - all wonderful.


I have a Court disk remastered in Holland. It is done up just like the original album but the size of a cd. Original artwork and words on the inside. Sound is great. Although a few of the tunes are spacey, Greg Lake's vocals are awesome as usual. He sings with lots of emotion. "I Talk To The Wind" and "Epitath" are my favs from this original release.

I also like Beat and Discipline along with the live one, Absent Lovers. Larks Toungue is hard to get wrapped up in since it would seem you need drugs to get it.

All in all, with many member changes, KC has stood the test of time.

Hyfi

[MasterCylinder]

"Larks Toungue is hard to get wrapped up in since it would seem you need drugs to get it."

LOL !

LTIA was released in 1973...................So, whats yer point dude ?

[Troy]

I'm a much bigger fan of the 80s KC with Belew and Levin so I don't really have much to offer you in the way of insight, Davey.

BUT

What Bay Area radio station plays bocks of King Crimson?

[Davey]

What Bay Area radio station plays blocks of King Crimson?
Yeah, I know, I was surprised too. I think it was probably KFOG since there isn't much but crap on the dial around here and I only have maybe three rock stations even preset. Some kind of special holiday show I guess where their listeners had requested artist blocks. Reminiscent of the old days of radio when we were young, or at least when I was young ;)

Forgot that I have a copy of A Young Person's Guide to King Crimson on vinyl too and that has stuff from the whole early period so I'll have to play it soon and give it a more serious listen. I don't remember ever listening that much to it back in the day (and in fact the records look almost unplayed) but it's a beautiful gatefold double LP. Comes with a full size 20 page book of liner notes that chronicles the band from 1968 to 1975, kind of a diary, ending with the November 15 entry: NME. Teazers: "Young Person's Guide To King Crimson", first ever Crimson double album (yawn)--. :) They didn't get much respect back in those early [almost] punk days! Might've been a little outside of where I was musically in the late 70s. The tracklist looks pretty cool though. Coulda been that I was disappointed in the sound of it since many greatest hits type things often suffered bad sound in the vinyl days, although I listened to some pretty crappy sounding stuff back then (and today too for that matter :)). Can't remember.

[Dave_G]

I can't handle the real old Crim music, too noisy for me...

I'm shocked that Davey is into Crim!

Dave

[Davey]

I'm shocked that Davey is into Crim!Well, I think most people around here are probably at least into that Discipline-era KC. It's just solid, occasionally spastic, but mostly beautifully realized and timeless rock music that borrowed from a ton of new wave bands, but also influenced a ton of bands that followed. When a bunch of us did our 80s comps around here, one of the real standouts on mine was the beautiful "Frame By Frame" from Discipline. Also one of the best shows I ever saw was KC in the early to mid 80s in Berkeley at the Greek Theater, which as the name implies is an Athens-inspired outdoor amphitheater on the UC-Berkeley campus. Man, they were hot. Belew was really working it as the ringleader, bouncing from guitar to drums to whatever, all the time belting out the vocals. Cool show.

But yeah, the early stuff is much more progressive, and lyrically they were a bit overblown at times, but in kind of loveable bombastic way. I like Belew's style more, but some of that early wordplay is fun. There haven't been many prog bands that have made a socio-political statement like the opening of that first LP ...

Blood rack barbed wire
Polititians' funeral pyre
Innocents raped with napalm fire
Twenty first century schizoid man.

;)

[MasterCylinder]

If you ever get a good remaster of RED, and are alone on a long drive on a cold, dark night........be sure and crank up the volume and listen to STARLESS :


Sundown dazzling day
Gold through my eyes
But my eyes turned within
Only see
Starless and bible black

Old friend charity
Cruel twisted smile
And the smile signals emptiness
For me
Starless and bible black

Ice blue silver sky
Fades into grey
To a grey hope that oh yearns to be
Starless and bible black



Wetton does an amazing vocal job on this tune and MacDonald guests in for a cool sax solo.......this tune also represents the last recording for the Bruford/Wetton era.

[Davey]

As far as sonics of remasters, I happen to own a Japanese mini-LP Gold remaster of "In the Court of......" that sounds magnificent........very well done.
Thanks for the feedback. Supposedly the original master tape was finally located and used for the most recent jewel case edition of In The Court Of The Crimson King so I guess it's the one to have for sonics, but probably not a startling difference if it already sounds so good. I've also read that the 30th anniversary albums are the same in either the mini-LP versions or the jewel cases, Japanese/USA/EU, at least the digital mastering is the same. Different packages. Those JPN mini-LP packages are much more valuable though.

[MasterCylinder]

" Those JPN mini-LP packages are much more valuable though"


Yes, well......judging from the price I paid, they certainly think so.

[Dave_G]

To me, the old school Crim was experimental stuff with an occasional good riff or toon thrown in, which is cool, but not for me. I don't like "jams" or stuff like that...

But when Belew joined and they played "songs", then for my tastes, they got a lot "better". Discipline is probably my favorite album, w/Beat next and then Three...Pair.

I have almost their entire catalog, Holland pressing remasters, etc..., (no vinyl), and still the real old stuff just gets too noisy and annoying for my tinnitus messed up ears. Those screeching guitar noises RF generates hurts my ears.

But I still respect the band and Mr. Fripp and all their weird ****.

Dave