The King Crimson studio album poll

Providence ruins the flow of an otherwise powerful album, and really is just 8 minutes of people banging stuff.

I wrote one of the worst sentences of all time above, but what I was trying to say was that I think Providence is a great song.

Starless - buying it from a bargin bin in John Menzies, Kirkcaldy sometime in 1975 changed my life.

I'm not sure it's an arguable point that Starless is the best of the Wetton-era records by them. Larks' Tongues is clearly a bit too studio-polished and just about every live recording of those tracks is better than the studio recordings. Red, while wonderful, lacks that sense of frenzied "anything-could-happen-here" improvisation Starless has.

Don't get me wrong: they're ALL good and on some days, I'd prefer the tight, power trio of Red to any of the others -- and clearly "Red" and "Starless" are among the greatest achievements ever associated with KC.

But if you're talking about record filled with high points, from songs ("Great Deceiver") to improvisations ("We'll Let You Know") to demonic instrumentals ("Fracture") to off-the-cuff lyricism ("Trio"), Starless and Bible Black can't be beat.

I wrote one of the worst sentences of all time above, but what I was trying to say was that I think Providence is a great song.

-- Bill Magill, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 23:45 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

On your word I just listened to it again, for the first time in probably 10 years. You're absolutely right.

Perhaps I was confusing it with that extended jamming chunk on side B of ItCoCK.

And now 'Starless' (the track on Red) is getting me all excited. Is there a thread for irregular time signatures? I want to talk about irregular time signatures.

"Starless" is great. As opposed to the album it was named after, which is the worst of their 70s albums.

search: pop songs with weird time signatures and metric shifts

Mmmm, sweet 15/8

TS: "Fracture" vs. "Starless"

Thanks chaki.

Starless & Bible Black spends too much time noodling to be an enduring listen. 50% of it is fantastic though.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

The top 4 are all awesome.

The top 5 are all awesome. Who voted for THRAK? Discuss.

Other than "The Court Of The Crimson King", none of the Top 4 are among their best.

They never got better than on their first four albums, before those wild improvisations became too prominent.

Red! Orright.

For once my favourite of something matches popular opinion.

Thrak >>> Construkction of light

I've never heard Red & now I guess I have to. Surprised "Discipline" didn't get more votes.

In the Wake of Poseidon so much better than
The ConstruKction of Light (2000) 3
THRAK (1995) 2
Three of a Perfect Pair (1984); 2
Lizard (December 1970) 1
The Power to Believe (2003) 1

I've listened to "Discipline" a lot recently. God freakin DAMN, Belew has a wonderful voice. Both spoken word and singing, Matte Kudasai esp but I have a strange love for "Indiscipline" where he's reading out that letter from his wife about the sculpture she hates. Cant put my finger on it, but it really intrigues me.

I actually find the vocals on discipline to be a real stumbling block! if it were instrumental, I would prob love it. I think that's why I listen to don caballero's american don so much - no vox to distract me from concentrating on cool guitar loops. even if belew just never did his spoken word thing... I think that I would like it much more!

I don't think crimson ever really had a great singer, tho. at times, wetton's vox kinda grate on me as well. :-/

I like wetton's and belew's vox in king crimson

I like wetton better than belew, but I just like the 70s records much more than the 80s ones. there are some very cool things going happening on those 80s records, for sure. fripp's playing, especially. but the vox/production on them just really turn me off! bummer.

Sad that Islands got no votes. It's close to my favorite Crimson album.

I don't think crimson ever really had a great singer, tho. at times, wetton's vox kinda grate on me as well. :-/

Very much agree with this. Wetton had a good voice but he regularly sounded like he couldn't hit certain high notes on some songs (One More Red Nightmare comes to mind) and had some trouble regulating his breath on others (The Great Deceiver). Lake was a good singer with an amazing voice, but I don't really think of him as King Crimson. Belew... just ugh. I guess my vote goes for Wetton. Most of the time his rough edges worked well in contrast to the rest of the band imo.

if it were instrumental, I would prob love it.

this is true for me of all crimson. never liked the vocals, in any era. but the music's usually so good that I can just tune them out.

>>Sad that Islands got no votes. It's close to my favorite Crimson album.

Debut or controversial Islands choice for me.

-- Dan Peterson, Monday, October 22, 2007 9:53 PM (8 months ago) Bookmark Link

I almost chose it - it really is a beautiful record - but I've played the debut 10x more, so went with that. Don't currently own "Islands" and I need to rectify that.

beat deserved a vote. that was the first crimson album I ever bought. sometimes it's still my favorite of the three 80's albums too. i credit it for leading me into a lot of literature (which, uh, became cliched and hackneyed by the time I was in college but it was cool when I was just starting high school)

islands is also underrated and gets the shaft. it's far better than the last two albums (even the last three)

boz burrell was their best singer. earthbound!

belew's got a good voice but his intonation on the 80s albums makes me think of a 3rd rate david byrne impersonator.

1. Boz was their best singer?!

2. I am quite surprised the SBB placed third. I much prefer Larks' Tongues and have never managed to "get" anything on SBB, except maybe Great Deceiver for that crazy riff. And Discipline is a really solid album, even though I can never listen to it anymore (I usually pull out Beat if I want 80s Crim).

I hope I voted for Discipline in this poll. I think I did.

Spent a ton on time googling King Crimson info yesterday. Had no idea Islands drummer Ian Wallace had lived in Nashville, that he was such an in-demand session and touring guy in the post KC years, or that he passed away last year (as did Boz Burrell the year before.)

Has anyone heard the Crimson Jazz Trio CD Wallace did?

boz doesn't sound radically different or worse than lake or wetton to me. in fact he sounds a bit like a cross between the two. the worst was gordon haskell, he just hams it up too much on lizard

I was one of the few who liked Boz. Wetton's voice was overproduced as hell-good, but aided by the overuse of studio equipment!

that mcdonald & giles record is pretty good

Earthbound was the crappiest quality live album.

Belew can be a great singer (he's just has a weird singing voice). I enjoy singing Neal, Jack, and Me. And if you heard Side Three, one of his newest albums, check out the track called Men in Helicopters.

But more than anything I want to hear a new King Crimson album that sounds different than the past album and projekcts stuff. They play electric guitars, they should be able to change the sound so it's not the same guitar sound on every album (like a new synth sound the guitar makes). Belew's guitar sounds the same as the guitar from Discipline and Fripp's soundscapes always sound the same. One of the problems I find with their latest releases is that it's too mechanical. Math rock + soundscapes. It's like they remade the track 'discipline' a 1000 times. 'Dangerous Curves' was kinda organic but it was just one of their build up songs like 'The Talking Drum' which is cooler in my opinion. They really need a new sound.

I do enjoy Fripp's soundscapes occasionally. I own 'The Gates of Paradise' which seems like the epitome of his soundscapes and everything since then is essentially the same (mind you I haven't heard every single thing).

I honestly think his heart's in Guitar Craft now, teaching rather than playing. I wonder if he has any KC 40th Anniversary surprises up his sleeve for next year or if the new 2-drummer lineup is it.

Any good live gigs been released by fripp on his own label recently?

Great big King Crimson & related display in the Glasgow Union Street Fopp at the moment, loads of stuff for £5. I'm going to heading along to splurge this week, using this poll's results as part of my buying guide.

you cant go wrong with starting with the top 4.

Not sure what they have, but we shall see what tomorrow's lunch break brings! Hurrah.

The only one I have is Larks' Tongues In Aspic which I've been listening to tonight and really enjoying, so fingers crossed for some worthwhile goodies tomorrow.

Are the 'Collectable King Crimson' sets (which are £7 each) worth getting? Or the two '21st Century Guide To...' box sets, which are £25 a piece?

Getting all of the top 5 votegetters would give you an interesting overview. ha, xpost

justice

these are probably on clearance because yet another round of reissues are coming out next month (surround sound remixes with bonus tracks)... presumably the last versions of these out for at least a couple of years.

Yes, I believe there a fancy CD+DVD remasters coming in September. I'm not up on DVD technology, so the CDs for a fiver sounds good to me, even if they are supposedly out of date within a month.

I cant actually remember if i have discipline on cd. Let me know if that one is there Krakow.

I actually want them to release (if they haven't yet) a live disc from the most recent quintet line-up tour, sort of best-of the Belew era, with the Porcupine Tree drummer tearing it up. At least the best I've heard the band since the double-trio, and probably better (minus lame Trey Gunn).

I've been cherry-picking trax from poseiden, islands, & lizard lately. oh man "formentera lady"