King Crimson
Red

Release Date: 1974 | Tracklist

“Red� is the seventh studio album of King Crimson and was released in 1974. The line up on the album is Robert Fripp, John Wetton and Bill Bruford. The album had also the collaboration of David Cross, Ian McDonald, Mel Collins, Mark Charing, Robin Miller and Richard Palmer-James on the lyrics.


King Crimson was founded in 1969 by guitarist Fripp and drummer Michael Giles. The sound of the group incorporated several influences, ranging from jazz, classical, experimental, psychedelic, heavy metal, new wave, hard rock, folk and electronic. Even someone once said that sometimes, the group makes a kind of an intelligent heavy metal sound.

All in all, 1973 was a very special year for progressive rock in which many bands achieved their definite breakthrough and others reached their top. Some of the best prog albums belong to that year like “Selling England By The Pound�, “The Dark Side Of The Moon� and “In A Glass House�, only to mention three of the greatest. The year after, 1974, was a bit different. Although some bands continued to deliver some of their best albums, like “Mirage�, “Relayer� and “Crime Of The Century�, also to mention three of the greatest, but some cracks in the scenery of progressive rock became visible. Some bands explored their musical boundaries beyond imagination but others lost one or more important band members. 1974 saw Rick Wakeman leaving Yes, Peter Gabriel leaving Genesis and King Crimson coming to an end.

The latter King Crimson line up delivered one of their finest works, “Red�, just before falling apart. After five years of some of the most astonishing experimental music, from their stunning debut in 1969, onwards along several lines up changes, King Crimson died with a sudden death. The pivotal father figure of the band, guitarist Robert Fripp decided to call it a day. In reality, King Crimson never was a truly group, but a continuous creative musical process. A continuous creative musical process made by one of the most brilliant, complex and refined progressive minds ever, Robert Fripp.

A lot happened prior to this decision. At the end of 1972 Yes’ drummer Bill Bruford was asked to join a new version of King Crimson, after the first line up had lost its spirit. In two years, the new King Crimson quintet developed very rapidly, as a result of which three albums were made, many concerts were played and two members, percussionist Jamie Muir and violinist David Cross left the group. Although Cross had a part in the creation of “Red�, the album was officially released by the trio Fripp, Bruford and Wetton, as the album cover can clearly shows. “Red� proved to be King Crimson’s last studio album from the 70’s and seems to be many people’s favourite of the band mid 70’s period.

The title track opens the album, and is as typical for this version of King Crimson as it can get, consisting of a simple but yet powerful and heavy riff that carries the track all the way through. “Fallen Angel� is a strong vocal track with the mellotron mixed very far back in the sound on the verse, while the chorus is a far heavier and more electric thing. “One More Red Nightmare� is another prime example of how Fripp could use a very simple riff to create a really powerful and enjoyable progressive rock track. The album also features a piece in form of nine pointless minutes of random sounds and noise in “Providence�. However, you’ll soon forget about that, as it’s followed by the perhaps greatest King Crimson’s song ever, “Starless�. Not to be confused with the title track of their previous album “Starless And Bible Black�. This twelve minute masterpiece is probably the definitive King Crimson’s song as it manages to feature absolutely every side of the band’s sound and personality. It starts as a slow and wonderful mellotron drenched ballad with a beautiful main theme. It then goes into a disharmonic instrumental part that gradually becomes more intense and noisy before it’s relieved by a powerful jam where Wetton really shows how he’s good for at the bass. But the real climax doesn’t appear before the very end, where the track returns to the opening theme of the song, but now played really loud and heavy by the whole band. Incredible, majestic and powerful and it alone makes the album worth having.


Conclusion: Let’s face it. King Crimson’s “Red� is one of the most important albums in the history of progressive rock music. To Q magazine, “Red� is one of the fifty heaviest albums of all time. It’s very common consider “Red� as one of the most influential albums in the progressive metal style. King Crimson can also be considered as one of the pioneers of that genre. This is one of the best albums ever made and if you like your music to be bold, daring, groundbreaking, exciting and pushing boundaries then you can’t get anything better than “Red�. This album is worth buying for “Red� and “Starless� alone. This was the last of three albums from the band with this line up and represents a truly landmark for prog, one of the best albums by one of the best bands with three of the best artists. When we were confronted with the death of John Wetton, what can we do better than listen to this masterpiece? RIP John, we’ll miss you for sure.


Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)

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