The King Crimson studio album poll

No no yr right

Oh, I think I'll be able to see them in Boston in November now. This is the best news!

I really like how the words work with the music in "21st Century Schizoid Man" and "Fallen Angel" btw.

Petra Haden thing is cool.

had a dream last night that I saw KC live (maybe because they just announced a Milwaukee date?) - it was 7 dudes rocking out on a 40 foot long stage, with a bassist way off to the right doing Eddie Van Halen moves (despite his bass not being plugged in), and Fripp sitting on a chair with his back to the stage and his face three inches away from the kick drum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krsai3plmKw

(EVH, Levin, Hammer and Jerry Marotta, pretty close!)

So I've only sporadically poked into their catalog as I've been spurred on by coming across CDs in the wilds. Up to now my KC collection has been limited to ITCOTCK, Poseidon, Lark's Tongue and Red in terms of main studio albums. I've also got a handful of live releases (USA, The Nightwatch, Marquee '69, KCCC 24 Guildford - like I said, grabbing what I come across). Outside of that I've been surviving with those excellent ilxor mixes - but I've felt a desire for a deep dive creeping up.

Left unimpressed with what I'd heard of the '80s stuff, I'd never bothered beyond that. But I came across a really cheap copy of The Power to Believe and I'm surprised by how much I like it! Of course I already have a tolerance for progressive metal, so that probably helps, but this was better than the reputation led me to believe.

Do Lizard next!

THRAK is a pretty good one too. there are plenty of good 21st Century live sets, I like Heavy ConstruKction a lot (even if the studio album wasn't so hot) and of course all the recent live albums are incredible, though you really only need one of them

as for the 80s stuff...you may want to pick up Absent Lovers, its like the 80s albums on steroids. idk if there are any overdubs on it or if the band really was just that good. it's insane, maybe one of the best live albums ever.

I was trying to decide between Lizard and Starless next.

Forgot to mention that I do have two of the more recent live sets (Radical Action, Live at the Orpheum), both of which I enjoyed.

I'm so delighted those mixes are still in play. I've always meant to make more volumes of live stuff...

Those mixes are great. I have everything by KC but I still sometimes put them on.

KC has been the most sustaining music of my life up to this point. A buddy at work wanted to get into them and it got me into reliving everything I loved about them all over again.

I have all the albums up through Red, the Epitaph box (four CDs of radio sessions and liveage from 1969), and three recent live sets: Radical Action, Meltdown (live in Mexico City) and the Audio Diary, which is five CDs, one each from 2014-2018. I'm pretty astonished how much of a fan of this band I've become, really only in the last five years or so. I was always much more into Yes and ELP, but at some point a switch flipped and they just started to make sense to me. I really like how radically they've been transforming their material live in recent years.

I think KC's innate heaviness has served them well. They never (well, rarely) were cheesy or corny or too D&D the way a lot of prog bands could be.

They never (well, rarely) were cheesy or corny

This bit of corniness is kind of endearing to me.

Said the straight man to the late man
Where have you been
I've been here and I've been there
And I've been in between
I talk to the wind
My words are all carried away
I talk to the wind
The wind does not hear
The wind cannot hear...

And the song is pretty.

Glad to see a bit of Lizard love. It's not their best album, but the whole last track / suite is one of my favourites by them and I especially like the Bolero. My guess is that Fripp is a big Ravel fan in general

I still prefer In The Wake Of Poseidon to ITCOTCK - listened to that yesterday and enjoyed the whole thing

Do you ever fantasise about hearing Easy Money on a massive reggae rig, or is that just me. Followed by a dubbed to fuckery version of course. What a groove. It's just not possible to get this loud enough at home.

An older hippie friend of mine said his dream was to hear Easy Star Allstars cover the whole of Larks Tongues in a dub-reggae style

Gonnna give Islands a listen now for the first time.

hmmm... the Lizard / Islands era is maybe the least appreciated KC period, but I like the jazziness of Formentera Lady. Little bit of a Can-esque vibe going on too.

I was a "fuck everything they did before Larks" person for many years, heard Lizard in like 93 and strongly disliked it, but finally bought Lizard and Islands two years ago. "Sailors Tale" is a major major achievement, but I'm afraid I still think the rest of Islands is pretty lousy, particularly "ladies of the road." Lizard is so maximalistically misbegotten that its kinda fun…

Of the bands I'd call my "favorites," King Crimson probably have the most songs I wish were instrumentals.

I used to quite like Ladies of The Road as a quirky Lennon-esque piece when I was younger.

Juno selling KC vinyl for around £16-£17. Very tempting. I definitely want Poseidon, but deliberating between Red, Larks Tongues and Lizard. Red is song-for-song their strongest but I know it reasonably well despite the opening three songs being among my faves. Larks Tongues on the other hand is less known to me but always impresses

Have we ever done a KC poll?

Lizard almost has a "so bad its good" sorta vibe to it in places. it's such a crazy mess and you can definitely hear the tension in the band, it's almost incredible that it came out at all. if you get it you should try and find Steven Wilson's recent remaster, not only does it sound better but it also incorporates parts that weren't in the original

Have we ever done a KC poll?

dude this is it

Poll closes at the end of your natural life

as for the 80s stuff...you may want to pick up Absent Lovers, its like the 80s albums on steroids. idk if there are any overdubs on it or if the band really was just that good. it's insane, maybe one of the best live albums ever.

This has been my line forever, it's wild how good it sounds compared to the studio versions (and how good the playing is). Like one of the very few examples where the live album is the definitive document (maybe I'll start a thread!).

haha I meant a tracks poll. might be difficult with all the live versions etc

Speaking of definitive documents, that was The Great Deceiver set for me.

As far as I'm concerned it has the best versions of all the cuts off of Starless, the great (and rare) Wetton-sung Cat Food, and all the LTIA IIs I could ever want.

Listened to 'Absent Lovers' yesterday... my God!

If the world needed a heavy-metal version of The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads, this is it

https://townsquare.media/site/366/files/2020/03/316bcf3bbe6ef17215e556e780f8918b.jpg?w=630&q=75
US tour in June!

Robert Fripp got the cranky old person memo that touring all the time is a lot more lucrative than not touring and grousing from the sidelines.

looks like no west coast dates tho :(

haven't seen them since chicago five or more years ago now! last west coast gigs they skipped portland for some reason. hey guys, soft machine played here last year! on the same date as the crazy world of arthur brown! clearly there's a market, right?

They're playing Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, which is a great venue (I saw Kamasi Washington there), but it's a co-headlining show with Dweezil Zappa's covering-Dad's-music thing - ugh.

The Zappa band is not Dweezil's band. The Zappa Family Trust has their own thing out there.

Please note The Zappa Band touring unit is: Ray White (lead vocals, guitar), Mike Keneally (guitar, keys, vocals), Scott Thunes (bassist) and Robert Martin (keyboards, sax, vocals). Also joining are ZPZ alums Jamie Kime (guitar) and ZAPPA archivist Joe “Vaultmeister” Travers (drums, vocals). The band will be performing a mix of Zappa classics along with new and rare Zappa compositions. Described as “the ultimate Zappa alumni band in partnership the Zappa Trust” this tour will not be appearing with the hologram of Frank Zappa.

Getting their revenge by sacking the hologram

I heard the hologram was fired for just chain smoking and making snide, derisive, cynical, sarcastic comments and fart jokes.

The Zappa band is not Dweezil's band. The Zappa Family Trust has their own thing out there.

Wow, that's actually worse.

not really, it's players from Zappas band playing music they used to play.

that said I'm bummed about this because it's a co-headlining tour I think, which means shorter KC sets, also, I'm not really a Zappa fan at all. but it's all moot since they aren't coming to the west coast this time anyway

Hoping that 2021 gets another full tour with Bill Rieflin back.

i highly recommend the two (I think) records Rieflin did with Fripp and Gunn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62Ixbtg9GqQ

the Zappa set might be kinda fun to see but this is coming nowhere near me so

still bummed I had to miss the new KC in Milwaukee on account of it being my son's birthday. if he ever gets into the band I'll be sure to let him know at every opportunity

i missed Roger Waters' Wall tour to see my then-5 year old in a play in which he had exactly one line. Now that he's almost 14 and into Pink Floyd I remind him constantly that he caused me to miss this.

fear not, Roger will tour the wall until he dies

I know i say this every hundred posts or so, but all I really want from Crim at this point is Larks part 6 written and performed by this iteration.