In the Court of the Crimson King
| In the Court of the Crimson King | ||||
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| King Crimson's studio album | ||||
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Publication |
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admission |
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Island Records Atlantic Records |
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Title (number) |
5 |
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running time |
43:45 |
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Studio (s) |
Wessex Sound Studios, London |
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In the Court of the Crimson King is the debut album by the British rock band King Crimson and is considered to be the style-defining feature of the later progressive rock of the 1970s. The music on the album, which was released on October 10, 1969 by Island Records and Atlantic Records , differed significantly from the mainstream music of the time. It is characterized by frequent Mellotron use , long and virtuoso instrumental parts, rhythmic and harmonic complexity and surreal texts.
Emergence
King Crimson formed a band between November 1968 and January 1969. The first band rehearsal took place on January 13, 1969 in the basement of the Fulham Palace Café in London . At the end of January, David Enthoven and John Gaydon decided to work as managers for the band and brought Moody Blues producer Tony Clarke of the Decca record company to agree to record an album with King Crimson.
The pieces on the album were created during band rehearsals and were played live several times before its release. I Talk to the Wind was taken over by Robert Fripps and Michael Giles ' predecessor band Giles, Giles & Fripp . Most of the band members were involved in the creation of the other songs. On May 1, 1969, the band visited the Morgan Studios in London, where work on the debut album was supposed to take place, to get an idea, but the recordings could not begin due to numerous concert engagements until June.
On June 12, the recording sessions began with 21st Century Schizoid Man . The backing tracks were created that day, and McDonald recorded his solo the next day. On June 14th they worked on I Talk to the Wind , the next few days on Epitaph . But the sessions were canceled on June 19th. The band was unhappy with the direction Tony Clarke was going to go.
After a three week hiatus, one last attempt was made with Clarke and resumed on July 7th. For four days the band focused on Epitaph . But the sessions were broken off again: Tony Clarke had tried to give King Crimson the "moody blues sound", which had previously proven to be very successful. But the band wanted to develop their own sound. She then separated from Clarke and Decca. Enthoven and Gaydon subsequently had to finance the band themselves, but were soon able to sign a contract with Island Records . Then the work in the Wessex Studios was resumed.
From July 21st, the eponymous The Court of the Crimson King was completed. In the days that followed, the mellotron and singing were recorded. On July 29th, the band took on I Talk to the Wind , a day later they turned to Epitaph . 21st Century Schizoid Man was recorded from August 1st to 4th, 1969. Work on it was completed with Fripps and McDonalds' solos. On August 31st, the backing tracks for Moonchild were recorded. Due to the lack of song material, it was decided to expand the short ballad with improvisation (an important part of King Crimson concerts at that time anyway). The recordings were completed at the end of August.
Other tracks that King Crimson played live at the time were not released on the album, including Mars (from Gustav Holst's suite The Planets , later released as The Devil's Triangle on the follow-up album In the Wake of Poseidon ) and Get thy Bearings (cover version of a Donovan song) because they didn't want covers on their debut album. The pieces Travel Weary Capricorn (Fripp, Lake, McDonald, Giles, Sinfield) and Drop In (Fripp, Lake, McDonald, Giles) from this period can only be heard on live albums to this day.
occupation
- Robert Fripp (guitar, mellotron )
- Ian McDonald (flute, saxophone, keyboards, vibraphone )
- Greg Lake (bass, vocals)
- Michael Giles (drums)
- Peter Sinfield (lyrics)
Track list
Side one:
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21st Century Schizoid Man (Fripp / McDonald / Lake / Giles / Sinfield) - 7:20
- (including mirrors )
- I Talk to the Wind (McDonald / Sinfield) - 6:05
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Epitaph (Fripp / McDonald / Lake / Giles / Sinfield) - 8:47
- (including March for No Reason and Tomorrow and Tomorrow )
Side two:
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Moonchild (Fripp / McDonald / Lake / Giles / Sinfield) - 12:11
- (including The Dream and The Illusion )
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The Court of the Crimson King (McDonald / Sinfield) - 9:22
- (including The Return of the Fire Witch and The Dance of the Puppets )
The total running time of the album is 43:45 minutes. The other subtitles of the five pieces have no meaning. The musicians decided to do it when they heard that they would get more money if the album included more pieces.
40th Anniversary Edition
- In 2009, as part of the 40th Anniversary Series, a box with an audio CD and a DVD-Audio was released . The audio CD contains the tracks in a revised stereo mix and the five bonus tracks Moonchild (full version) , I Talk To The Wind (duo version) , I Talk To The Wind (alternate mix) , Epitaph (backing track) and Wind Session . The audio DVD contains all the tracks on the audio CD in high-resolution stereo format MLP Lossless Stereo (24/96) or PCM Stereo 2.0 and in multi-channel format DTS 5.1 or MLP Lossless 5.1 Surround. The DVD also contains a mix of the 2004 album and a version called "The Alternative Album". Steven Wilson is responsible for all stereo and multichannel rework .
music
21st Century Schizoid Man
21st Century Schizoid Man moves between hard rock and jazz . At first, an electric guitar riff ( ), distorted guitar sounds and aggressive, also distorted vocals dominate. Later the song goes into rapid unison runs ( ), which are borrowed from bebop . The style changes, the rhythmic breaks (in large parts change 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 12/8 and 6/8 bars) and the enormous dynamics of the piece were exceptional at this time.
The introductory riff to 21st Century Schizoid Man comes from Greg Lake , the addition of the chromatic sequence of notes F, F # and G by Ian McDonald , the riff at the beginning of the instrumental middle part goes back to an idea by Fripp, and Michael Giles is responsible for the unison part . The text was written by Peter Sinfield . The bebop- like phrase at the beginning of the instrumental middle section comes from Ian McDonald's days in a British Army big band . He had originally written it as part of a piece called Three Score and Four for the band, but it was never played. McDonalds' solo above 12/8 time breaks off abruptly because this sound track of the 8-track system was subsequently required for Robert Fripp's guitar.
I talk to the wind
I Talk to the Wind acts as an idyllic interlude between the frenetic 21st Century Schizoid Man and the anthemic conclusion of the first page of the album, Epitaph . It is the only piece on In the Court of the Crimson King that is not entirely in a minor key. McDonalds' flute solo on I Talk to the Wind was cut from two different recordings. The cut is at 5:23 min. to listen.
epitaph
The hymn epitaph is dominated by the minor chords of the mellotron . Dark visions of the future predominate in the text, which are determined by the loss of old truths and moral guidance of current knowledge. The hopelessness is underlined by the eighteen-fold repetition of a VI-V progression in E minor in the final part Tomorrow and Tomorrow .
Epitaph grew gradually from the winter of 1968/69 through contributions from various band members. The melody is probably from Lake, Tomorrow and Tomorrow goes back to a band rehearsal on May 27, 1969. It was not until June 6th, when McDonald recorded the scores for Epitaph and Cadence and Cascade , that the final version of the piece appeared.
Moonchild
The ballad Moonchild is based on simple, pure triads , common chord progressions and cadences . In the piece, the minor seventh chord is in the foreground. Most of the over 12-minute piece is occupied by a long improvisation, with which Fripp is now so dissatisfied that he has repeatedly said that the song should have been cut in half. For the Frame by Frame box set (1991) he removed the improvised part.
Moonchild was created in February in the basement of the Fulham Palace Café. The melody goes back to a collaboration between Fripp and McDonald. The dull drum sound was achieved by Michael Giles covering his instruments with towels. At 9:50 min. Fripp incorporated a short passage from the Oklahoma! piece Surrey with a Fringe on Top .
The Court of the Crimson King
The Court of the Crimson King is also based on simple, pure triads , common chord progressions and cadences . The text came from a completely different piece written by Peter Sinfield in 1968. McDonald had been working on a new melody for the lyrics since February 4th. A short phrase in McDonalds' flute solo at 5:11 min. goes back to Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade (beginning of the second movement).
Album cover
The album cover shows a contorted, screaming face with wide open eyes and mouth in close-up. A friendlier face and two hands, whose gestures seem to depict a lively conversation, can be seen on the inside of the flip cover. The watercolors were painted by Barry Godber, a friend of Peter Sinfield's days at Chelsea Art College. He died of a heart attack at the age of 24 a year after the album was released.
reception
| source | rating |
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| Allmusic |
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| All about jazz |
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| Laut.de |
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| Music Express |
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Along with early albums by The Nice , Procol Harum and The Moody Blues , In the Court of the Crimson King has often been referred to as the first progressive rock album. Many bands took their bearings from this album, including Genesis , who pinned the cover on the wall in their rehearsal room.
21st Century Schizoid Man is King Crimsons' best-known piece to this day. In 2003, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair told The Guardian newspaper that it was his favorite song. The American rapper Kanye West used a sample from 21st Century Schizoid Man for his song Power in 2010 .
The music magazine eclipsed chose the album in 2nd place in its list of the 150 most important prog albums. In June 2015, the renowned trade journal Rolling Stone chose the debut album as number 2 of the 50 best progressive rock albums of all time .
Pitchfork Media selected In the Court of the Crimson King at # 56 of the 200 best albums of the 1960s.
The album was included in the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die .
literature
- Andrew Keeling: Musical guide to In the court of the Crimson King by King Crimson . Cambridge 2009. ISBN 0-9562977-0-6 .
- Peter Sinfield : Under the sky. A collection of lyrics and poems. London 1973. ISBN 0-85115-034-9 .
- Sid Smith: In the Court of King Crimson. London 2001. ISBN 1-900924-26-9 .
- Eric Tamm: Robert Fripp. From King Crimson to Guitar Craft. Boston / London 1991. ISBN 0-571-12912-9 .
Web links
- Reviews of In the Court of the Crimson King on the baby blue pages
- In the Court of the Crimson King at Allmusic (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ In the Wake of Poseidon on Allmusic
- ↑ Review by Bruce Eder on allmusic.com (accessed September 24, 2017)
- ↑ Review by John Kelman (40th Anniversary Edition) ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on allaboutjazz.com (accessed September 24, 2017)
- ↑ Review by Sven Kabelitz on laut.de (accessed September 24, 2017)
- ↑ Review by Wolfgang Bauduin, in: Musikexpress 12/1979, issue 287, p. 57.
- ^ Annals of 1969. In: Babyblauen Seiten .
- ^ In the Court of the Crimson King In: Progrography .
- ↑ Rock on, Tony. In: guardian.co.uk. The Guardian , accessed May 7, 2009 .
- ↑ eclipsed No. 144, p. 39.
- ^ Dan Epstein: 50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time - King Crimson, 'In the Court of the Crimson King'. In: Rolling Stone . Wenner Media, June 17, 2015, accessed on September 7, 2015 .
- ↑ The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s on pitchfork.com, accessed September 24, 2017
