Since King Crimson\u2019s 2025 \u201celemental\u201d remix of Lizard <\/i>was such a disaster, I wanted to go back to the prior year to check out the similar approach taken on Red<\/i>, done to commemorate that album\u2019s 50th anniversary and the second in this elemental series. <\/p>\n
The conceit of these remixes is to strip away some of the instrumental sections, add or highlight others that weren\u2019t a big part of the original mix, and offer an alternate idea of what the album could have sounded like (at least to producer David Singleton, who helms this projeKct). This wouldn\u2019t work with all genres, of course, but doing it with intricate progressive rock is a neat idea for deconstruKction and very much in line with Robert Fripp\u2019s overall ethos.<\/p>\n
One runs the risk of fan backlash though due to the devotion to the original Red<\/i>, the final album of the band\u2019s second lineup and repeatedly a Top 3 contender for best KC effort (it was more popular stateside originally). But the ferocious instrumental title track that opens the album allays these fears; it sounds almost identical to the original. \u201cFallen Angel\u201d also hews fairly close to its final mix, with the biggest change being the removal of the percussion from the initial two minutes and pushing the saxophone and oboe (or cornet? Not sure which) to the forefront, plus giving the song a proper ending. <\/p>\n
\u201cOne More Red Nightmare\u201d is also quite good, following the template of \u201cAngel\u201d by turning up some of the background instruments that were drowned out in the heavy original mix, so there are multiple solos going on at once. It\u2019s chaos, and in the spirit of Red<\/i>. So far, so good, halfway done.<\/p>\n
Since \u201cProvidence\u201d was a live improvisational piece, Singleton opts to remove it from the tracklist and replace it with some of Bill Bruford\u2019s percussion overdubs. In the context of the song they make sense, but isolated it\u2019s just some dude randomly hitting cymbals at random times, and it\u2019s an utter waste of time. <\/p>\n
And then, the grand opus \u201cStarless,\u201d which opens with\u2026 a 90-second oboe solo, just what we all wanted, before getting to the piece proper, which sounds like the original, but again pushes the woodwinds and horns to the front as equal instruments. The rest of the song is just fine, though, at least to my ears. <\/p>\n
Other hardcore fans (the only KC fans there are, really) may take umbrage with the changes, and that\u2019s fine. This elemental mix version isn\u2019t meant to be an update on the album, but rather a different way to hear it and appreciate all that went into the songwriting, even if the final versions buried some of the collaborators\u2019 efforts back in 1974. It probably won\u2019t take anyone\u2019s place over the original, but it\u2019s a neat way to experience a prog-rock classic differently from time to time. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":35475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5758],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-47371","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-king-crimson","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=47371"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=47371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}