King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)

King Crimson might not have the most consistent album output, mainly because the band went through so many different lineup changes (with only guitarist Robert Fripp being the only member through it all) and different phases (fans of one phase of Crimson might not be the fan of another phase of the band).

1969’s In the Court of the Crimson King is the debut, with the original lineup of Fripp, Greg Lake (bass, vocals), Ian McDonald (sax, clarinet, Mellotron), Michael Giles (drums), and Pete Sinfield (lyrics). Lake would be, of course, the Lake of Emerson, Lake & Palmer (another one of the biggest and most important names of prog rock) and McDonald would later be a member of the multi-platinum selling AOR band Foreigner.

I remember back in 1989 when I was 16 years old hearing the song “The Court of the Crimson King” on the radio station. They had me fooled for the Moody Blues (but I noticed something different in the vocals that gave it away that this was not the Moody Blues). The reason for that, of course, was the Mellotron and similar vocal arrangement. But even then I knew it wasn’t the Moody Blues, because the vocalist sounded nothing like Justin Hayward, Ray Thomas, Mike Pinder, or John Lodge. Plus the music seemed to have a harder edge than what the Moody Blues came up with (I was also just becoming familiar with Emerson, Lake & Palmer at the time, little did I know at the time the guy doing to vocals to “The Court of the Crimson King” would be doing vocal duty for ELP). Once I found out it was King Crimson, I wanted to get the album that had that song, and it was In the Court of the Crimson King.

Well, the album starts off with “21st Century Schizoid Man” and is generally considered a Crimson classic. Here, instead of sounding like the Moody Blues, the band was more aggressive here, with saxophone and jamming. This is the style, I’m pretty certain had an influence to such bands as Van der Graaf Generator or the Italian prog band Osanna. The next song, “I Talk to the Wind” is a much more mellow and atmospheric number. Wind instruments (particularly the clarinet) dominates the piece. The song gives away to “Epitaph”, another highlight on the album. The Mellotron makes its appearance here. Classic stuff, to say the least.

Side two starts off very pleasantly with “Moonchild”, but after a couple of minutes, the song degenerates in to little else than noodling on vibes (this is the part of the album that really divides the fans). I actually find it pleasant, but some might find it boring (I found it boring the first times I heard it, but my opinion changed after a few listens). The final song is the already mentioned “The Court of the Crimson King”. This was what lead me to believe King Crimson was a Moody Blues soundalike when I was a teenager (until I actually heard their albums and found out that was not true). Regardless, this is a great album that gave birth to the prog rock scene of the 1970s. Classic album you should own.
– Robert Fripp: guitars
– Ian McDonald: Mellotron, sax, clarinet
– Greg Lake: vocals, bass
– Michael Giles: drums
– Pete Sinfield: lyrics