King Crimson is one of my favorite bands, i'm obssesed with pretty much all prog rock from the 70's (except Emerson, Lake and Palmer they suck) and King Crimson is absolute fantastic.
In the Court of the Crimson King: everyone knows this apocalyptic-melancholic masterpiece one of the highest points in music.
In the Wake of Poseidon: Some members quit King Crimson (Ian Mcdonald, Michael Giles and Greg Lake) but Giles and Lake accept to be in the album, so they only added Mel Collins (air instruments), Gordon Haskell (Vocals only in the third song) and Michael Giles brother Peter Giles (Bass), what if King Crimson rips off King Crimson then you have this, but i don't care this album is fantastic the beautiful 3 parts of peace are amazing, need a jazzy song? Pictures of a City is PERFECT, Cadence and Cascade is a beautiful melody so calm and delicious?, then In the Wake of Poseidon hits the Epitaph of this album this song is so aquatic, melancholic, strong, i can feel being in a lonely ISLAND, Michael Giles is one of the best drummers ever, need another jazzy song? Cat Food it is, The Devil's Triangle is a great song but i can get why some people dislike it (too much mellotron).
Lizard: And again members left the band (Michael Giles, Greg Lake and Peter Giles) replaced by Gordon Haskell (Bass and Vocals) and Andy McCulloch (Drums). This is for me the hardest King Crimson album because Happy Family and Indoor Games are everything but accesible songs (Chaotic prog rock with jazz elements) still great songs, now CirKus has to be one of my favorite Crimson songs the feeling of a nostalgic circus mixed with nightmares and a sweet guitar (Not your usual melodic guitar), Lady of the Dancing Water is an amazing soft ballad with a beautiful flute, and then finally comes LIZARD oh yeah a 23 minute journey, it starts with a tragic mellotron with Jon Anderson (YES singer) singing beautiful lyrics, then it changes from a tragic song to a chaotic song and then to a sad song and finally to a scary song, i don't want to talk about this song too much because it is an experience, Lizard great album.
Islands: Yet once again some members left the band (Gordon Haskell and Andy McCulloch) and were replaced by Boz Burrell (Bass and Lead vocals) and Ian Wallace (drums) Another european lonely island vibes album, this time less experimental and mostly direct, we start with Formentera Lady a beautiful soft song remembering love and good times great piano and flute in this song, Sailor's Tale is an instrumental with the feeling of adventure really good song, The Letters a really sad song and really soft until Boz Burrell screams desperately "Impaled on nails of Ice" a great moment, Ladies on the Road is a good song but not as good as the others (I love it though), Prelude is an instrumental song with a classical feeling i really like it, Islands the last song and a really great one is a combination of Formentera Lady and The Letters, Islands is the "weakest" of the classic King Crimson albums but still a fantastic album.
Now what ? (not a Deep Purple pun), Robert Fripp parted ways with the Islands members and the incredible (also the second member of the Original line-up that was still a member of King Crimson) Peter Sinfield (Because Fripp was tired of fantastic theme songs), Fripp recruited John Wetton (ex-family and a long time friend of the band), Jamie Muir (a really crazy guy who loves improvising and no i'm not talking about any Can member), Bill Bruford (the legendary Yes drummer) Bruford felt Yes already did all they can offer (Fortunately Tales from Topographic Oceans,Relayer and Going for the One prove him wrong), and violinist David Cross, forming a more jazz improvising band with lots of experimental sounds (god bless Miles Davis), and they released a trilogy of great albums.
Larks' Tongues in Aspic: Yes this album is really different, really jazzy, experimental and sometimes heavier than Sabbath, but that's great, the album starts with the instrumental Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part One) we have a lot of sound in this song and they are amazing what a brutal song nothing more to say, Exiles hits as an hybrid song of the new and the old King Crimson with a really melancholic vibe that reminds me a lot of In the Wake of Poseidon the guitars and violin in Exiles are so good the same with John Wetton vocals and Bill Bruford drums, Book of Saturday is a charming and beautiful ballad once again the guitar and violin get along really well and John Wetton vocals are great, Easy Money is a fucking sweet song the song that makes you feel like a king with a moccasin sneakers, Talking Drum (I love Bill Bruford) pretty much what the song is, Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part Two) holy mother this song fucking rocks nothing else to say, is that good. This album is a classic.
Starless and Bible Black: This album was recorded mostly live, with just a couple of studio songs, we see the most improvising King Crimson by far, an album like this is pretty difficult to describe so i'm just going to say that this album is chaotic, angry, energetic and really charming, some songs i can talk about are The Night Watch (not the one with Jon Snow) my favorite song in the album, the lyrics are great, and that part with the crying guitar jesus christ, Fracture this song is impossible to play in a guitar unless your name is Robert Fripp you know whats worse? There is a more difficult (holly mother) version of this song in the 2000 album The ConstruKction of Light called Frakctured. Great album a complete experience.
Red: Finally we reach the final King Crimson album in the 70's, and what an album, it is really dark and melancholic, David Cross burned out from the tour and was eject from the band after the summer tour in 1974 (Still you can see him in the awesome live performance of Starless in the french Melody Tv), we start with Red a really heavy instrumental song a classic from King Crimson, Fallen Angel is one of the most underrated King Crimson songs because it's awesome a sad song about the murder of a brother in New York city with a perfect performance by the band, One More Red Nightmare just leave the sad parts of Fallen Angel out and you have this fucking kick ass song, Providence is an instrumental song recorded live on june 30, 1974 at Palace Theatre, Providence, Rhode Island, Us this is an instrumental improv and a fantastic one, and finally we finish with one of the most (If not the most) beautiful song ever Starless, this song is a combination of classic and new King Crimson actually Ian Mcdonald (Original member of the band) is in this song (Mell Collins too), we start with a depressing guitar and John Wetton beautiful vocals, then the song evolves into madness and finishes with a combination of both. Red is one of the best albums ever.
I would love to talk about 80's King Crimson ( wich are awesome ) but i'm tired, all i can say for sure is that Discipline is as good as any of the 70's King Crimson albums thanks to the touring musician of the Talking Heads Adrian Belew, so check that album, Beat is a good album but thats it worth cheking, Three of a Perfect Pair is good, a lot more pop oriented with your experimental parts not as good as Discipline but still good, 90's King Crimson only released THRAK really different from the 80's album but pretty good again not as good as Discipline but i really like this one, and finally 00's King Crimson with The ConstruKction of Light this is for me the worst King Crimson album is so lifeless and technical it has some great songs like Larks' Tongues in Aspic: Part IV, the 2 parts of The ConstrKuction of Light, and the alternative version of Fracture now called FraKctured , The Power to Believe is the best King Crimson album since Discipline (wich is better haha) worth cheking out. Now what about ratings? I hate ratings but if i have no choice
In the Court of the Crimson King 10/10.
In the Wake of Poseidon 8/10.
Lizard 8.5/10.
islands 8/10.
Larks' Tongues in Aspic 10/10.
Starless and Bible Black 9/10.
Red 10/10.
Discipline 9.5/10.
Beat 6.5/10.
Three of a Perfect Pair 7/10.
THRAK 7.5/10.
The ConstruKction of Light 5/10.
The Power to Believe 8/10.
By the way there is some King Crimson in spotify, recently they added the Heroes EP and the Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind live album (Jesus christ Fripp why not just Radical Action) i think thats a huge step for the band maybe the studio albums next. They are coming to Mexico in July but it is too far away from my city and too expensive (just starting new job) i hope they come back next year.