{"id":47755,"date":"2015-09-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/features\/deconstrukction\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T16:19:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T16:19:03","slug":"deconstrukction","status":"publish","type":"feature","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/features\/deconstrukction\/","title":{"rendered":"DeConstruKction"},"content":{"rendered":"

13. The ConstruKction Of Light<\/i> (2000)\"kingcrimson_light\"<\/b><\/p>\n

After the double trio format that produced the superb THRAK <\/i>split up, the remaining quartet forming King Crimson went on to do separate things in different incarnations, dubbed ProjeKcts. During the late \u201890s, a lot of live releases of these different projects were released, and in the middle of it all the quartet came back together for a new studio album in 2000 using the spirit of these ideas. The problem is, like free-form jazz, the ideas just weren’t that great, and the resulting album is meandering, mostly dull and free of the tension, fracture, and innovation that infuses the band’s other albums.<\/p>\n

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\"kingcrimson_lizard\"12. Lizard<\/i> (1970)<\/b><\/p>\n

All art-rock bands need to have their one sidelong epic (Yes, ever the practitioners of restraint, had six in four years), and Crimson’s was the title track from their third album. The problem is that the song starts off as prime British prog-rock, with Yes’ Jon Anderson singing vocals, but then devolves into jamming, noodling, and very little to keep the listener interested. The first side wasn’t much better, with several embarrassing songs that nobody sounds too invested in and that Robert Fripp seems to want to forget, based on compilations and live shows. Only \u201cCirkus\u201d offers something worthwhile with its warning-siren chorus.<\/p>\n

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11. Beat<\/i> (1982)\"kingcrimson_beat\"<\/b><\/p>\n

Following Discipline <\/i>would have been impossible, and Beat <\/i>is not up to the task. More New Wave-inspired than its predecessor, and about 1% more pop-oriented than any previous Crimson album, the songs here are fairly pedestrian, lacking the catchiness or innovation required to push them to the next level. That said, the unusual, polyrhythmic playing, myriad guitar tones and overall feeling of exploration is uniquely Crimson and keeping in tune with the album’s theme of the Beat generation. Opener \u201cNeal And Jack And Me\u201d is a solid Adrian Belew alt-pop tune, \u201cHeartbeat\u201d is the closest the band got to a straight pop song, \u201cSartori In Tangier\u201d is a fine instrumental, and \u201cWaiting Man\u201d features some world music influence. The other half suffers in comparison, and the overall effect results in an album not likely to get many spins.<\/p>\n

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\"kingcrimson_three\"10. Three Of A Perfect Pair<\/i> (1984)<\/b><\/p>\n

The third and final album of the band’s \u201880s output, this one is a touch better than Beat<\/i> thanks to the presence of the title track, the paranoid slap-bass-heavy \u201cSleepless,\u201d and the lovely, haunting \u201cNuages (That Which Passes, Passes Like Clouds).\u201d Two awful pop songs clog up the rest of the first side and the second side is given over to the usual Crimson instrumental jams, albeit with less structure and more clanking atmospherics; only \u201cLarks’ Tongues In Aspic, Pt. III\u201d achieves any sort of momentum, but it seems a lazy attempt to invoke a great album of old just to tie the band name to it. Still, while four songs of nine is hardly a great album, they are worth finding for those exploring the band.<\/p>\n

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9. Starless And Bible Black<\/i> (1974)\"kingcrimson_starless_150\"<\/b><\/p>\n

Sandwiched between two superb albums, Starless <\/i>is more difficult than either of those, easy to admire for its truly progressive nature but hard to love. Things start out with some actual songs, albeit the avant-garde British kind that only the dedicated love (\u201cThe Great Deceiver,\u201d \u201cLament,\u201d and \u201cThe Night Watch\u201d). Much of the rest of the music is instrumental, taken either from on-stage snippets (the pointless \u201cWe’ll Let You Know\u201d) or actual compositions that challenge the listener (the title track and \u201cFracture\u201d). It’s not an easy album by any means, but it has virtues for the patient, and King Crimson fans are by nature patient.<\/p>\n

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\"kingcrimson_thepower\"8. The Power To Believe<\/i> (2003)<\/b><\/p>\n

As this will evidently be Crimson’s final album, it’s not a bad way to end their recorded history, unless the 2014 triple-drum version of the band gets into the studio (fun fact: the lead singer now is a guy named Jakko). Shedding the indulgences of the ProjeKcts, the quartet used their entire history plus a newfound love of electronics to record this disc, to fine results. \u201cDangerous Curves\u201d is classic Crimson, a long, slow buildup with exciting, spooky passages that leads to a noisy denouement, while \u201cHappy With What You Have To Be Happy With\u201d skewers the modern rock on the radio at the time, proving that King Crimson, at last, found it sense of humor. The four parts of the title track give the album continuity and identity, while \u201cLevel Five\u201d and \u201cEyes Wide Open\u201d are thoroughly modern tracks from a band that started in 1969 as a true original.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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7. In The Wake Of Poseidon<\/i> (1970)\"kingcrimson_poseidon_200\"<\/b><\/p>\n

Because the debut worked so well, Crimson decided to replicate most of it for the follow-up, losing Greg Lake in the process to a new outfit called Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Poseidon <\/i>is nowhere near as good as its predecessor, but it’s still a fine slice of British prog-rock circa 1970, if you like Mellotrons and stupid lyrics and eight-minute songs about Greek mythology or cat food or urban decay. The clanking, horn-heavy, industrial \u201cPictures Of A City\u201d is bracing and in-your-face, a stark contrast to the lovely acoustic \u201cCadence And Cascade,\u201d the goofy but sorta catchy \u201cCat Food,\u201d and the long, slow, keyboard-slathered instrumental \u201cThe Devil’s Triangle,\u201d the first in a Crimson tradition of long buildups to noisy fadeouts. The title track is akin to the title track from the debut, all Mellotron and mood, but Lake’s singing in the final words of each verse is chilling as he reaches up to the high notes.<\/p>\n

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\"kingcrimson_islands\"6. Islands<\/i> (1971)<\/b><\/p>\n

This album is unfairly slagged by critics and deserves more love. The ever-rotating collective of band members now featured Boz Burrell singing and bassing (he would go on to Bad Company after this disc) instead of Greg Lake or Gordon Haskell, and it was clear the original idea that spawned King Crimson was starting to run dry after the abysmal Lizard<\/i>. But Islands <\/i>features several great passages in its six songs, notably the up-and-down bass runs of the frenetic \u201cSailor’s Tale,\u201d the absolutely lovely \u201cPrelude: Song Of The Gulls,\u201d the peaceful, stately title track that slowly builds in intensity before ending on a final mournful note, and the vocal harmonies (a big surprise) on the otherwise-decadent \u201cLadies Of The Road.\u201d It’s far from perfect, but it’s better than you have been told.<\/p>\n

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5. Red<\/i> (1974)\"kingcrimson_red_150\"<\/b><\/p>\n

The only album released as a power trio, Red <\/i>featured the lineup of Fripp, Bruford and Wetton and intermittent saxophone, cornet and oboe. Unlike the last two albums, Red <\/i>is remarkably clear-headed and bullshit-free (save for the interminable wankery of \u201cProvidence\u201d), and offers the powerful instrumental \u201cRed\u201d and the soaring, moving \u201cStarless,\u201d two of the band’s best songs from this era. \u201cOne More Red Nightmare\u201d is a solid prog-rocker and \u201cFallen Angel\u201d is a lesser but still decent tune in the same vein. The band fell apart after this for seven years, leaving Red <\/i>as the last will and testament to a fascinating era of the band and one of Crimson’s best albums.<\/p>\n

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\"kingcrimson_larks_150\"4. Larks’ Tongues In Aspic<\/i> (1973)<\/b><\/p>\n

Fripp knew a change was needed after Islands<\/i>, and he rounded up a new band, including a violin player, Bill Bruford from Yes and an unknown singer\/bassist named John Wetton, who would later go on to star in Asia. The resulting music is less jazz-oriented than before, pushing the limits of what progressive rock was (more than most, Crimson truly embodied the progressive term) and daring to experiment with song structures, sounds and atonal dissonance. \u201cBook Of Saturday\u201d and \u201cExiles\u201d are the most \u201cnormal\u201d songs here, and both are solid, and part one of the title track is a wild, weaving, difficult piece of music that demands patience and generally rewards it. However, it is the final two songs that warrant repeated listens. \u201cThe Talking Drum\u201d is the most effective use of Crimson’s patented slow buildup to strong release pattern \u2013 which in this case is shrieking \u2013 before part two of the title track comes in, all monster electro-power chords that alternate with slower violin-led passages. You have to be in the right mood for this one, but it’s worth it.<\/p>\n

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3. In The Court Of The Crimson King<\/i> (1969)\"kingcrimson_inthecourt\"<\/b><\/p>\n

The debut still ranks as a beloved prog-rock touchstone, and there really wasn’t anything like it at the time. The proto-metal \u201c21st Century Schizoid Man\u201d announced the band in a major way, but the epic \u201cEpitaph\u201d is the true standout of the debut, with Greg Lake’s vocals and Fripp’s Mellotron interlocking in spooky, majestic ways. \u201cI Talk To The Wind\u201d and \u201cMoonchild\u201d are the more precious, twee halves of the other songs, while the title track bridges both approaches. With the cover art, the lyrics, the overwhelming sound and the lack of concession to anything commercial, King Crimson and this album immediately stood out from the pack, and in a year where experimentation ruled, KC instantly developed a cult following.<\/p>\n

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\"kingcrimson_thrak\"2. Thrak<\/i> (1995)<\/b><\/p>\n

After taking a decade off, Crimson added two members and formed a \u201cdouble trio,\u201d an experiment of two bands of three working apart and together, often in the same song. But rather than use this to write 12-minute free-form jazz noodlings or self-important inaccessible math rock, the band used its hard rock and pop leanings to create a truly great modern prog album. The skewed, avant-garde lines of Talking Heads are probably the closest comparison, but the guitar crunch of \u201cDinosaur\u201d is Crimson moving into the \u201990s, as is the mind-warping, spooky midsection of the song. \u201cPeople\u201d plays it somewhat straight until an extended instrumental fadeout, \u201cB\u2019boom\u201d makes the most of its two drummers with an onslaught and both the title track, \u201cVROOOM\u201d and \u201cCoda: Marine 475\u201d revisit the heady instrumental days of \u201cRed\u201d to superb results. \u201cWalking On Air\u201d is hands down the best ballad the band ever recorded, Belew reaching into his upper register to deliver a more moving song that Fripp had ever intended for this band, the jagged \u201cSex Sleep Eat Drink Dream\u201d is true avant noise-pop that only Belew could have pulled off at this point, and \u201cOne Time\u201d is a moving, world-beat-inspired ballad with an absolutely gorgeous midsection that sounds like sadness personified. With a mix of true emotion, hard rock crunch, unconventional but accessible songwriting and signature Crimson flairs and approaches, this is one of the band\u2019s finest hours, and it\u2019s a shame they abandoned this approach so quickly in favor of the ProjeKcts that would take up the rest of the decade.<\/p>\n

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1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Discipline<\/i><\/b> (1981)\"kingcrimson_discipline_150\"<\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

Absolutely the band\u2019s finest album, one of the best of the 1980s and an example of how Crimson would infuse their approach with current influences, rather than completely shift directions the way Yes and Genesis did or collapse the way ELP did. The band was reborn when Fripp and Adrian Belew started working together; fresh off touring with the Talking Heads and playing on David Bowie\u2019s Scary Monsters<\/i>, Belew brought a skewed pop sensibility and a flair for odd guitar noises that appealed to Fripp\u2019s nature, and together they created a sort of \u201cnew wave\u201d Crimson album. Discipline <\/i>lives up to its name and its cover art, seven songs full of knotty rhythms and complex, detailed playing that still manages to be catchy. Lyrics are at least paid attention to a little bit this time, if a tad repetitive or weird, but nobody listens to Crimson for the lyrics anyway. The gorgeous \u201cMatte Kudasai,\u201d the kinetic rocker \u201cFrame By Frame,\u201d the long, fractured, percussion-heavy instrumental \u201cThe Sheltering Sky,\u201d and the twin guitar attack of the title cut are true standouts in the band\u2019s catalog, while \u201cThela Hun Ginjeet\u201d presents a jagged slice of urban living, with Belew relating a story to Fripp while the guitar stabs in the background over top of an insistent five-note bass line and some challenging drum patterns. Only \u201cIndiscipline\u201d is kind of a weak link, but, like opener \u201cElephant Talk,\u201d it\u2019s more fun than this band has had in its whole career.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

King Crimson Albums Ranked Worst to Best<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":49748,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"tags":[],"feature_type":[11247],"class_list":["post-47755","feature","type-feature","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","feature_type-rankings"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature\/47755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/feature"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature\/47755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53194,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature\/47755\/revisions\/53194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47755"},{"taxonomy":"feature_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature_type?post=47755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}