King Crimson is the embodiment of progressive rock.
The other heavy hitters of the 70s are faded relics. Yes turned pop and then tried to turn progressive again. Genesis turned pop and broke up. Emerson,
But Crimson has kept it fresh and relevant. They changed with the times, they always explored new rhythms and songwriting and they did everything on their own terms. Although the group had little commercial success after 1969, and certainly remained too serious and odd to be anything but a cult act, those who know and love rock music point to Crimson as one of the most interesting bands to grace the scene.
That is why the Daily Vault has selected King Crimson as our April Artist of the Month.
Most people remember Crimson from the debut In The Court Of The Crimson King, 40 minutes of dense, moody Mellotron-led rock. The linchpin of that and all successive albums was Robert Fripp, a guitar virtuoso who could switch from Spanish plucking to ear-shredding power chords on a dime. He has been the only constant member since the band formed in 1969. Successive albums followed a similar blueprint until Crimson disbanded in 1972. A year later, it reformed with John Wetton and Bill Bruford; they, along with David Cross and Fripp, recorded what many fans consider the band’s best disc, Larks’ Tongues In Aspic. This version of the band fell apart in 1974.
In 1981, Fripp reformed Crimson with Adrian Belew (who had been working with the Talking Heads), and Belew has remained in the band since. This lineup brought about another classic, Discipline, and later the single “Sleepless” in 1984. The band parted ways but came back a decade later to record the excellent THRAK and then embark on the ProjecKcts, and subsequent albums have been much more metallic in nature.
The beauty of Crimson is in the unpredictability and the complexity. Beautiful keyboard passages give way to screaming guitar, which give way to plain pop songs. The lyrics are often inscrutable because the music is the focus, and although the band can be indulgent, often the reward is worth the time invested.
The Daily Vault’s King Crimson retrospective starts Thursday, April 5 and will continue every weekday through Friday, April 27. Over that three weeks plus, we’ll cover the band’s entire studio catalog, plus the occasional surprise. Many of these reviews will appear on the site for the first time.
Founded in January 1997, the Daily Vault has featured over 4,700 reviews of over 2,300 artists covering almost the entire musical spectrum, written by a volunteer review staff from around the world. Previous Artist Of The Month retrospectives have spotlighted the work of artists from Tori Amos to Frank Zappa, including
