The King Crimson studio album poll

i like court ok, but i've been told the same thing by other fans -- that it's not very representative of the other stuff ...

Discipline which has Adrian Belew from that THeads line up on second guitar and vocals. It's like Remain in Light x PROG INTRICACY!

this description is 100X OTM but is also being a little kind to Crimson by neglecting to point out to you the fact that Adrian Belew is one of the most annoying vocalists of all time (to me)

that said, it's still cool, but i've posted several times here that an all-instrumental mix of Discipline would be soooo awesome.

All talk. It's only talk!! His voice is an acquired taste, like all Crimson vocalists in fact.

There's tons of avant-rock out there which is akin to an instrumental Discipline...Orthrelm, Zs, Marnie Stern (who uses vocals more as another instrument/texture I think), and from earlier on, Univers Zero and Happy Family.

this description is 100X OTM but is also being a little kind to Crimson by neglecting to point out to you the fact that Adrian Belew is one of the most annoying vocalists of all time (to me)

that said, it's still cool, but i've posted several times here that an all-instrumental mix of Discipline would be soooo awesome.

http://svenjaplaas.ch/wp-content/uploads/otm_visitenkarten_2.jpg

Each to his own taste...I don't have a problem with Belew's vocals. (His lyrics are another matter.)

yeah in fairness king crimson wasn't exactly a showcase band for Super Awesome Vocalists (but still at least greg lake, who is a douche, is a douche in sort of a "standard"-ish prog way, belew is just grating to me)

there should probably be a Prog Douche picture thread

never a fan of elp but there's something about lake's vocals for king crimson....so dreamy lol. except when he's doing the heavily distorted schizoid/cat food thing, which is also cool

don't really have a problem with greg lake vox. like you say, pretty standard prog fare. I honestly can't even remember much about his vox offhand.

wetton can grate ("health food faggot") but is (mostly) easy enough to ignore. esp when KC get into long jams.

belew's vox are just too front-and-center for me. all the vocal ticks, studio effects, and the spoken word delivery. just find him really distracting and the david byrne comparisons I can't help but make don't really do him any favors. which is too bad because the music from this era is really cool!

not too familiar with the other eras.

so, I guess I admire KC vocalists who are easy to ignore.

tylerw, King Crimson is at it's best when you look at the individual tracks - not albums.
However, Red is pretty standout, get that one. And I would get Lizard before I ever get In The Wake
80s era - get discipline first
90s era and beyond - how about Construkction of Light first

Thrak > Constukction of Light, but only venture into the post-discipline stuff once you're certain you adore this band, of course.

But is this moot, when you can download an entire band's discography from google/torrents in minutes?

Plus, I've always seen 90s Crimson as a reiteration or summation of all they've done, KC comfort food if you will.

is there a career-spanning KC comp? does someone want to make me one? :D

Larks Tongues, S&BB, Red are easily best 3-in-a-rom Crims. The Belew albums really aren't bad (and Discipline is really good), but yeah, I think Fripp must have thought he'd stumbled on a real front man, because he seems to have given AB a lot of room in the band "mix". The funny thing is that one of the best things about the 80s (and 90s) band is AB's guitar playing. I really started appreciating his contributions when I saw them live circa Thrak-- AB is taking most of the "complicated" sounding stuff, and all of the solos. As a vocalist (and lyricist) he's pretty annoying on record, but live, he kind of glues everything together.

Also very tempting to think of KC w/Daryl Hall or David Byrne fronting.

x-post, also otm to think of KC as a tracks band, as opposed to albums. All albums contain skip-worthy tracks, tho just about all of them have classics too.

or peter hammill!

OK I've tried many times in the past but a KC comp is definitely something within my purview. I am setting to work forthwith...though I don't see it being less than 3 discs...

Shocked to see that, other than via the Children of Men soundtrack, there is no King Crimson on iTunes at all!

ha! I totally support Fripp being anal about itunes in that case

fuck itunes

Sparkle Motion, I'd love to hear the results of your KC mix attempt!

(also thought the use of KC in Children of Men was kinda awesome)

Well, uh, sometimes iTunes can be very useful for sampling shit before you buy. So, uh, fuck Fripp. It'll save me money.

(joeks btw)

well, you already bought this, right? http://www.amazon.com/Court-Crimson-King-Box-Set/dp/B002M3GPOI
$150!

I did! Except the used vinyl version that only contains the original album. That's all the KC I've been exposed to and I'm considering diving in.

yeah, that's pretty much where I'm at. It's funny because I feel like I have a ton of Robert Fripp (either his own stuff or guesting on other people's albums) ... but barely anything by his "main" band. not sure who else i could say that about.

I started trying to list essential songs of King Crimson but then I realized that a greatest hits is way too subjective. For instance, on Lark's Tongue in Aspic I think 'Book of Saturday' and 'Exiles' are great *especially exiles* but I care a lot less for 'Easy Money' and 'Talking Drum'. But I imagine many people who love most all the jammy King Crim stuff would include 'Easy Money' and 'Talking Drum' - and maybe even specific live version. 'Book of Saturday' is a turn off to people who don't like Wetton's voice I suppose. I like the complex singing melody on that song (and instrumentation) and I have no qualms with Wetton's voice. 'Exiles' is also a pretty, non-jammy Crimson tune. I think 'Exiles' is essential to a greatest hits cd but some might leave it off. All this subjectivity is making me say "go ahead and listen to everything King Crimson did starting with the albums we already mentioned". I realize that may be harder to do if you can't find a way to hear the songs before you buy them (assuming you are not a pirater).

I can actually say that before I started pirating music I bought every King Crimson studio album except In The Wake of Poseidon and maybe a couple eps from the 90's era on. So Fripp has no reason to hate me (I think)

BTW, here's a pretty wacky Fripp song if you haven't heard it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCADnoAHli8

yeah, that's pretty much where I'm at. It's funny because I feel like I have a ton of Robert Fripp (either his own stuff or guesting on other people's albums) ... but barely anything by his "main" band. not sure who else i could say that about.

Yep, pretty much my position exactly.

My first KC album was a compilation, the 2LP Young Person's Guide to King Crimson. It was a great starting point to the extent that it whetted my appetite for more and eventually I succumbed and got them all. Plus, it had a great booklet with loads of diary entries, contemporary reviews and sarky Fripp comments on them. Well worth picking up if you can find it. Failing that the most recent 2CD comp The Condensed 21st Century Guide to King Crimson does the job.

I used to have Young Person's Guide. It's a pretty eccentric collection; many abridged versions, the "Cat Food"/"Groon" single, alternate "Talk to the Wind" with Judy Dyble singing, and no "Schizoid Man"?!?!

Each album seems to me so much its own entity, the calm bits balancing the bombast, that it's hard to extract highlights.

The Frame by Frame box did it for me (which I found at the public library back then). It still holds up as a pretty good representation, plus the booklet was massive, including a gatefold diagram of every band that every member of the pre-80s Crim was ever in, and how they were related.

Subjectivity is clouding my judgement in my rapidly expanding compilation (currently at 4 discs worth)... I just hope I can finish it before everyone loses interest or I get lost in Bible Blackness.

yeah, the frame by frame box set was the only way I ever got into In The Wake of Poseidon - because of the live tracks on disc 4. somehow I own this because I never gave it back to my friend before he moved

I look forward to criticizing your compilation (you don't have this! blah blah blah)

alternate "Talk to the Wind" with Judy Dyble singing

!!! I did not know this and now I have to find this 2LP.

It's really Giles, Giles and Fripp, so predates the debut KC LP. It's, I think, the same version on that GG&F Brondesbury Tapes collection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1aPE9CdQX0

Ah, while we're at it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN1TX0Eobig

Didn't Frame by Frame also feature a wierd version of Lady of the Dancing water with Belew singing?

i think it was cadence and cascade - gordon haskell's vocals were replaced, i think he and fripp have a long-standing feud over money

Oh that's right. I barely remember as I was just getting into them at the time and couldn't really tell why it mattered to begin with. The perverse thing is that Fripp considers Belew his favorite of all of KC's vocalists... a position I'd like to try and talk him out of.

is it possible to have a King Crimson thread/revive without complaints about vocalists? lol

In my comp research I've been revisiting Lizard, specifically mp3s of the new stereo remaster from late last year. It's pretty amazing, much more layered and nuanced than I remember it. I've always thought it was a really dense sounding record, but this version has so much space that it puts all that musical information in a context I never heard before. Of course, my previous copy was an Editions EG cassette that I bought out of a cutout bin at Sam Goody nearly 20 years ago.

Anyway, I think Lizard is probably better than either of the albums surrounding it.

I don't own any surroundsound hardware, but yeah, from everything I've read Lizard is a state-of-the-art remaster done right. Want to hear.

And I wish they would do this to Islands. It's actually my second most listened to KC (had that and the debut for YEARS before filling in the gaps with Poseidon and Lizard), and I really do love it.

He worked on stereo mixes of Poseidon and Islands early this month.

http://www.dgmlive.com/diaries.htm?artist=&show=&member=3&entry=16492

Diary entries for the 6th-8th.

Surround mix for Poseidon, but just stereo remaster of Islands? (If I'm reading that correctly...)

Backing up a day to the 5th --

Our intended work this week is to mix / re-mix Poseidon in 5.1 & stereo, and re-mix Islands & Larks’ in stereo; both of the latter have already been mixed in 5.1. Poseidon has the disadvantage that we have not been able to find the original pre-bounce tracks. So, we can’t access the original individual mellotron parts. The main mellotron parts on Poseidon – the song is mixed together with acoustic guitar on a stereo pair; drums & bass are also on a stereo pair. Devil’s Triangle is missing lots of its constituent parts. Nevertheless, we have been able to significantly improve Peace, Pictures of a City, Cadence, Cat Food & Groon

Awesome, thanks. As I said, I'm a surroundsound Luddite, but this interests me!

Fripp's been talking about surround mixes since Thrak came out. It's cool that it's finally happening. I only wish I had a setup that could accomodate.

I now humbly present for your wonderment and ridicule, Volume One of SOMETIMES GOD DIES, A Subjective Inquiry into the Peculiar Nature of the Music of King Crimson, and Any Appeal Attendant Thereto.

V1 is titled "Get Thy Bearings" and covers material from the first 4 albums. Any and all are welcome to webmail me for more info until hosting can be arranged or I get the go-ahead to post the link here.

BTW, I have decided to title each Volume (there will be 4) after a song that does not appear on the comp.

Suffice to say I have completely geeked out on this since getting the notion to do it.

sounds great!

as for hosting... how about mediafire or a site like that?