Saddleworth2
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It’s a ten from me.
The Album Review Club - End of Round #9 Break (page 1904)
- Thread starter RobMCFC
- Start date
Bill Walker
Well-Known Member
OK, here goes with my choice. I was going to choose my favourite Italian Prog band and their album Photos Of Ghosts but then I realised that it may not be on Spotify (I have Apple Music).....Im sure many Genesis/Yes fans wouldve loved it but I couldn't take the risk.........So....
I have chose one of my favourite UK mainstream Prog albums of the 70's (Yes back to the 70s) :)
Red by King Crimson
Studio Album, released in 1974
Songs / Tracks Listing
1. Red (6:17)
2. Fallen Angel (6:03)
3. One More Red Nightmare (7:10)
4. Providence (8:10) *
5. Starless (12:17)
Total Time 39:57
Now down to a "power" trio, Fripps band powers on still with one of the planets best drummers Bill Bruford (The drums on this are sensational). Less is more on "Red", where the trio of BRUFORD, FRIPP and WETTON execute lucid arrangements of top-shelf material. The colour red conjures up images of angst, aggression, anger. Looking at the back cover of this album and seeing a gauge where the needle is in the red,
A surrealistic & distorted atmosphere prevails along this album. (I wanted to emphasize that).
The cover obviously a nod to The Beatles album "With The Beatles", a band that Fripp has declared the sole reason he became a musician. (Sting said the same this week).
There's a lot of original ideas here... each track is different from an other. The title track "Red" delivers a straight progressive instrumental improvisation built around a recurrent theme lead by Fripp very personal guitar playing. The whole thing is angst ridden and powerful with awesome drums and Bass, yes its repetitive but on Headphones it can literally blow your socks off.
The second track "Fallen Angel" tells a story (Yes Prog lyrics can make sense) is a more melodic rock structured song, sustained by well found sax & guitar arrangements. "Tears of joy at the birth of a Brother, never alone from now on" I really like that line. 'Fallen Angel' combines the clever hard rock ordainment with beautiful acoustic guitar based sections for the verses: there is a notable contrast between the controlled textures played by the mellotron, oboe and lead guitar during the verses and the freer lines played by the cornet during the choruses, which establish a frontal counterpoint to Fripp's minimalistic riffs.
"One More Red Nightmare" is a close contender and another excellent piece. Again there is a perfect blend of the three main members and the additional saxophones & oboes. This song tries to expand that sound furthur and it works wonderfully. One of the most emotional parts on this song, and the whole album is when the distortion comes in at around the 2 minute mark.
"Providence" is near to contemporary and dodecaphonic (another one of those words :)) music could be the most progressive track on the album.....Leading too...
The Big One.....Starless.
Finally, "Starless" which closes the album.
Red has the ability to turn on and turn up and pull back on the power where necessary and no more so than on the standout 12 minute plus opus "Starless" which starts of with a layer of mellotron augmented with some sympathetic guitar before the mood turns and brutality returns. John Wetton's raw voice brings a realism to the music, Im surprised his Bass speakers didnt pop out he plays it so hard eventually, and though "Starless" is a song of epic proportions there is no large scenes of pomposity that graced and flooded earlier King Crimson songs, and certainly no medieval grace that tarnished others.
Everything is saturated and built with layers of intense gentleness and distortion which makes Wetton's bass sound quite menacing along side Fripp's guitar but rather than thrash out big loud riffs much of the material on Red is well composed and each section is coherent and tautly conceived, I think every second of this album was meticulously planed out by Fripp, the perfectionist genius.
Starless is a strong contender for my favourite Prog opus, along with Close To The Edge.
This album hasn't aged and is a good start for Crimson as is their first album In The Court Of The Crimson King. I sincerely hope those who dont know this album come to love it as much as I do.
Starless... How menacing is that Mellotron !! 12 minutes of incredible music.
I have chose one of my favourite UK mainstream Prog albums of the 70's (Yes back to the 70s) :)
Red by King Crimson
Studio Album, released in 1974
Songs / Tracks Listing
1. Red (6:17)
2. Fallen Angel (6:03)
3. One More Red Nightmare (7:10)
4. Providence (8:10) *
5. Starless (12:17)
Total Time 39:57
Now down to a "power" trio, Fripps band powers on still with one of the planets best drummers Bill Bruford (The drums on this are sensational). Less is more on "Red", where the trio of BRUFORD, FRIPP and WETTON execute lucid arrangements of top-shelf material. The colour red conjures up images of angst, aggression, anger. Looking at the back cover of this album and seeing a gauge where the needle is in the red,
A surrealistic & distorted atmosphere prevails along this album. (I wanted to emphasize that).
The cover obviously a nod to The Beatles album "With The Beatles", a band that Fripp has declared the sole reason he became a musician. (Sting said the same this week).
There's a lot of original ideas here... each track is different from an other. The title track "Red" delivers a straight progressive instrumental improvisation built around a recurrent theme lead by Fripp very personal guitar playing. The whole thing is angst ridden and powerful with awesome drums and Bass, yes its repetitive but on Headphones it can literally blow your socks off.
The second track "Fallen Angel" tells a story (Yes Prog lyrics can make sense) is a more melodic rock structured song, sustained by well found sax & guitar arrangements. "Tears of joy at the birth of a Brother, never alone from now on" I really like that line. 'Fallen Angel' combines the clever hard rock ordainment with beautiful acoustic guitar based sections for the verses: there is a notable contrast between the controlled textures played by the mellotron, oboe and lead guitar during the verses and the freer lines played by the cornet during the choruses, which establish a frontal counterpoint to Fripp's minimalistic riffs.
"One More Red Nightmare" is a close contender and another excellent piece. Again there is a perfect blend of the three main members and the additional saxophones & oboes. This song tries to expand that sound furthur and it works wonderfully. One of the most emotional parts on this song, and the whole album is when the distortion comes in at around the 2 minute mark.
"Providence" is near to contemporary and dodecaphonic (another one of those words :)) music could be the most progressive track on the album.....Leading too...
The Big One.....Starless.
Finally, "Starless" which closes the album.
Red has the ability to turn on and turn up and pull back on the power where necessary and no more so than on the standout 12 minute plus opus "Starless" which starts of with a layer of mellotron augmented with some sympathetic guitar before the mood turns and brutality returns. John Wetton's raw voice brings a realism to the music, Im surprised his Bass speakers didnt pop out he plays it so hard eventually, and though "Starless" is a song of epic proportions there is no large scenes of pomposity that graced and flooded earlier King Crimson songs, and certainly no medieval grace that tarnished others.
Everything is saturated and built with layers of intense gentleness and distortion which makes Wetton's bass sound quite menacing along side Fripp's guitar but rather than thrash out big loud riffs much of the material on Red is well composed and each section is coherent and tautly conceived, I think every second of this album was meticulously planed out by Fripp, the perfectionist genius.
Starless is a strong contender for my favourite Prog opus, along with Close To The Edge.
This album hasn't aged and is a good start for Crimson as is their first album In The Court Of The Crimson King. I sincerely hope those who dont know this album come to love it as much as I do.
Starless... How menacing is that Mellotron !! 12 minutes of incredible music.
Last edited:
Marklr
Well-Known Member
Nice one, Bill. I've been wanting to listen to more King Crimson at some point, so now I've got a good reason. And more Mellotron! Two weeks of Mellotron...how good does life get? I find Fripp fascinating too...and so does Toyah.
Looking forward to this, mate.
journolud
Well-Known Member
My favourite Crimson. Awesome album. Further comments that I hope do it justice to follow
urban genie
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Nowt wrong with a bit of jazz/classical/rock fusion in your collection and to produce what is agreat musically and lyric album when they were in the beginings of spliting up makes it even more fascinating
A solid 8/10
A solid 8/10
Last edited:
mancity2012_eamo
Well-Known Member
Rag.
Bill Walker
Well-Known Member
Saddleworth2
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RobMCFC
Well-Known Member
Cheers Bill. I think I've only ever listened to the odd isolated King Crimson track as part of a playlist listening group on another forum. I've certainly never listened to a full album, so I'm looking forward to this.