King Crimson - C/D S/D

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (154 of them)

Listening to Discipline again for the first time in what must be five years (and with a bit of a buzz!). And I gotta say: "The Sheltering Sky" is still so wonderful and mournfully exotic -- I'm still taken back to being 15 and having no fucking idea whatsoever as to what Fripp was playing on this.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 16 February 2006 03:28 (eighteen years ago) link

Probably a Roland guitar synthesizer on that one...

― Joe (Joe), Thursday, 16 February 2006 03:48 (eighteen years ago) link

Oh, it def. was (and I know b/c I bought one). It just sounded so mysterious to my ears then.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 16 February 2006 04:39 (eighteen years ago) link

SO weird. I was at a thrift store with one of my prog-hatin' buddies this morning and I came across a copy of Earthbound. He'd never heard the live "...Schizoid Man" so I actually bought the damn record and we immediately went back to my house and listened to it. The look on his face was priceless when the sounds of Fushitsusha fronted by Tom Smith hit his ears. "This isn't anything like the King Crimson I'VE heard..." ha ha ha

I LOVE playing that record for people!

Next I'll try to throw on Rush's "Passage to Bangkok!"

OK, well maybe not...one step at a time

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Thursday, 16 February 2006 04:44 (eighteen years ago) link

I was raised on KC's Discipline album and it still remains my favourite and one of what I believe to be the best line ups. I was led to believe that KC were a session band with only Robert Fripp(an insane perfectionist!) and Peter Sinfield remaining as constant fixtures, like Frank Zappa & his Mothers of Invention. Thrakk interested me with the two drummer experimentation but still wasn't near what I revel in from their early work.

― McClintock, Thursday, 16 February 2006 11:19 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm old school... I still prefer the Fripp-Cross-Wetton-Bruford version, although the new-wavey Crim of the 80s still gets play, too. My first couple of exposures to the third incarnation were off-putting, so i've completley ignored them until a week or so ago, when someone pointed to the "ballad" from Thrakk. Not bad, but not enough to convince me to revisit them, either.

― Mitya (mitya), Thursday, 16 February 2006 13:32 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm kinda partial to Lizard, Islands, and the Wetton-years stuff. The new albums - in fact, everything after Discipline - fail to move me. It's good music but I don't feel "King Crimson!" about it.

The ISLANDS group was my 1st concert - They opened for Humble Pie at Alexandria Roller Rink in VA. My dad dropped me off! That's no brag, but it certainly marks me as: 1) Old, and 2) Weird.

― matty bobatty, Thursday, 16 February 2006 15:32 (eighteen years ago) link

I've met a surprising number of KC fans who love Islands, but I just can't get into it. My fave period has always been the Wetton/Cross/Bruford stuff. What am I not getting about Islands and Lizard?

― Dominique (dleone), Thursday, 16 February 2006 15:47 (eighteen years ago) link

Oh, wow. This could be a great topic, actually.

Lizard has this warped circus thing going on throughout, with a ton of third stream nonsense to boot. There's kind of a spanish feel there — if you've had trouble getting into it, Dom, I'd suggest checking out the track "Prince Rupert Awakes" w/ Jon Anderson singing. It's catchy and fun.

Islands has Boz's ridiculous sotto voce thing going on, but its main attribute is its lyricism — "Formentera Lady" and "Islands" are just beautiful chamber pieces. But if you really wanna dig it, Dom, I'd center in on "Sailor's Tale" which smokes.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 16 February 2006 15:59 (eighteen years ago) link

xpost

yes, do tell

― Mitya (mitya), Thursday, 16 February 2006 15:59 (eighteen years ago) link

s1sk-in now...

― Mitya (mitya), Thursday, 16 February 2006 16:00 (eighteen years ago) link

i used to dislike both of those records a lot but I've come around on Islands, I think it's very underrated, and the vocals are no worse than the vocals on any of the other albums. Formentera Lady and Sailors Tale are among the best KC songs ever.

Lizard is still ropey for me.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 16 February 2006 17:05 (eighteen years ago) link

OTM about Sailors Tale. As soon as I saw this thread, I knew I had to post about it.

My favorite KC songs are: Sailors Tale, Sheltering Sky, Moonchild, Epitaph, Starless and Bible Black, Red, Easy Money, Teh Great Deciever, and Lark's Tongue in Aspic pts 1 & 2 (the guitar riffing that starts 5 minutes into part one floors me every time).

― josh in sf (stfu kthx), Thursday, 16 February 2006 17:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Fans of early KC (particulary first 2 albums) may enjoy the s/t one-off lp from a pair of ex-Crimsoners - Ian McDonald & Michael Giles, circa '71. I believe recently re-issued on CD. I just love Giles' drumming stylee.

― drewo (drewo), Thursday, 16 February 2006 18:44 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, Giles is a great drummer.

― Joe (Joe), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:18 (eighteen years ago) link

I used to love record. Kind of like a more lyrical Traffic.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:29 (eighteen years ago) link

love THAT record, that is...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:39 (eighteen years ago) link

I found that album in mom's old record collection in high school!

― Dominique (dleone), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:48 (eighteen years ago) link

(and I also remember hearing "In the Court of the Crimson King" on classic rock radio once - the DJ intro'd it by saying "all the old hippies may remember this". who knew KC was a proto-hipster band?)

― Dominique (dleone), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:49 (eighteen years ago) link

Listen to Moonchild or I Talk to the Wind again. Makes perfet sense to me.

― Mitya (mitya), Thursday, 16 February 2006 20:57 (eighteen years ago) link

Also worthy is the pre-KC home demo collection by Giles, Giles & Fripp "The Brondesbury Tapes". Over 20 shortish tracks, some forgettable, but also some great stuff including early versions (2) of "I Talk To The Wind" (one featuring vocalist Julie Dyble) and tracks that later morphed into parts of longer Crimson pieces.

― drewo (drewo), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:45 (eighteen years ago) link

two months pass...

Damnit, King Crimson is fucking awesome! Why didn't I know that before? Why didn't people tell me? I like Yes! I mean people DID tell me, because I like Yes, but I would usually smile and nod like "Yeah, ok whatever prog dude. I know you want me to be your little prog friend, but I'm not one of you." But maybe I am.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 03:29 (eighteen years ago) link

is yes more acceptable to like these days than KC? because it was the other way around for years. but I think KC did some damage to their tripster cred with the last few boring records.

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 04:59 (eighteen years ago) link

Accept No Substitutes!

http://www.nndb.com/people/970/000034868/bruford03.jpg

― timmy tannin (pompous), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 05:16 (eighteen years ago) link

is yes more acceptable to like these days than KC?

Well gee, fuck if I know which is more "acceptable." I guess I personally used to think Yes were more acceptable, but I got plenty of crap from people for even liking them.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 05:28 (eighteen years ago) link

Fuck acceptable. KC and Yes are both great for bong hits. The weed does not judge.

― James Slone (Freon Trotsky), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 05:59 (eighteen years ago) link

is yes more acceptable to like these days than KC?

I always assumed no, because I figured it's easier to own up to liking Crimson because they were a bit evil (same with Van Der Graaf Generator), whereas Yes never really "radiate" fuckoff scary vibes to the same extent.

― Lotta Continua (Damian), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 06:28 (eighteen years ago) link

Fuck acceptable. KC and Yes are both great for bong hits. The weed does not judge.

QED

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 23:35 (eighteen years ago) link

― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 23:58 (eighteen years ago) link

Crimso rules now and forever.

Search "the great deceiver" box disc 3

Destroy Prozakc Blues with extreme prejudice.

― Sparkle Motion's Rising Force, Wednesday, 10 May 2006 00:19 (eighteen years ago) link

I was a KC freak near the end of high school. Now they're a pleasure so guilty that I haven't put a record on in years, which I should probably rectify. I think I have some live albums around here somewhere (the 80s one esp.).

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 00:49 (eighteen years ago) link

Dominique is spot on: KC invented math-rock via "Lark's Tongue," "Red" and "Fracture."

plus, it seems that, since the vogue for early '80s post-punk goes on and on, folks that like Franz, Arctic Ms, Interpol and Bloc party would dig the '80s Crim… or maybe not, since them folks seem to be anti-virtuosity…

― veronica moser (veronica moser), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 11:34 (eighteen years ago) link

TS: Larks' Tongues vs. Heart of the Sunrise

It's a toughie

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 11:41 (eighteen years ago) link

xpost I was also thinking that Larks' Tongues would appeal to Deerhoof fans.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 11:42 (eighteen years ago) link

ten months pass...

They never toured the RED album did they? I discovered that after trying to find live boots of it!

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Friday, 23 March 2007 01:35 (seventeen years ago) link

No Chapman Stick, No Credibility.

― King Boy Pato, Friday, 23 March 2007 01:58 (seventeen years ago) link

(Not really, it's just a) I wanted to use that line and b) I really really like Discipline.)

― King Boy Pato, Friday, 23 March 2007 01:59 (seventeen years ago) link

Discipline is great.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Friday, 23 March 2007 02:02 (seventeen years ago) link

i think they split right after red was recorded, and before it was even released.

― akm, Friday, 23 March 2007 03:33 (seventeen years ago) link

I think Yes has a marginally higher profile because their biggest hits were a lot closer to pop than KC has ever been. However, I think if the average 21-year-old indie diehard heard "Red" live played by any random spiky indie rock band, KC would have the clear edge as far as the kind of music that actually "translates" now

They'd probably translate better to the math rock niche crowd but surely Yes's overall profile is more than marginally higher, given that they still play stadiums?

― Sundar, Friday, 23 March 2007 04:40 (seventeen years ago) link

Search anything from early on, destroy more the closer to get to the present age.

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 23 March 2007 09:36 (seventeen years ago) link

The more recent stuff is not bad actually. Not bad at all.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Friday, 23 March 2007 15:37 (seventeen years ago) link

it's not great though

― akm, Friday, 23 March 2007 16:53 (seventeen years ago) link

'Into The Frying Pan' is an excellent song

― unfished business, Friday, 23 March 2007 16:54 (seventeen years ago) link

Better than the "symphonic rock" that Geir likes.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Friday, 23 March 2007 16:54 (seventeen years ago) link

the last two albums sound really dated to me in ways that no other crimson albums do. they no longer sound visionary; they sound like they are trailing behind in areas where their followers already went. not that there aren't some good songs on them, they're just, on the whole, not very memorable albums. they need to work with an outside producer, I think, one who would push them to vary their compostions a little bit. think about how diverse those 80's albums are (even Thrak, for that matter); the last two records really don't have that kind of variety and it makes them a chore to listen to rather than a pleasure.

― akm, Friday, 23 March 2007 17:09 (seventeen years ago) link

The last two Crimson albums sound very self-conscious, especially ConstruKction of Light...very formulaic, very by-the-numbers, IMO. I suspect Bill Bruford realized very early on in the band's 90s reformation where they might be headed creatively and jumped ship for other waters.

I think part of what made Fripp's career (both solo and Crimson) so interesting was the constant flux and diverse group of musicians he collaborated with in the 70s and 80s. At this point, I think he's pretty much exhausted what could be accomplished in working with Belew and/or Levin and/or Gunn.

― Joe, Friday, 23 March 2007 17:25 (seventeen years ago) link

A vintage King Crimson tune ("In The Court of...) was used in the soundtrack to "Children of Men" to very nice effect. Kind of a jarring, but very cool moment in an amazing film. I guess the director, Cuaron, is kind of a prog-head? "Y Tu Mama Tambien" had some of that going on as well...

― tylerw, Friday, 23 March 2007 17:30 (seventeen years ago) link

oh yeah I saw that the other day. They use it for this whole extended 5-minute chunk as well!

― unfished business, Friday, 23 March 2007 17:31 (seventeen years ago) link

I like Greg Lake.

― marissa, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 00:59 (seventeen years ago) link

Skipping 54 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.