in the court of the crimson king

mechanized hisses and low horns. silence. then the unmistakable blaring riff that lets you know you are back in 1969. and what a good place it is to be.

after seven years of putting it off i finally bought king crimson's first three albums. i've been a fan of robert fripp for years, knowing him through his work with brian eno and through his more recent solo efforts, but i didn't know his stuff with crimson at all. one day back yonder i was at a friend of a friends and they had a crimson lp kicking around. i put it on loud and was impressed and was forced by everyone else in the room to turn it off.

one look at the cover of an observation by king crimson and you know you're in for some heavy shit. there's a watercolour of a paranoid face with flared nostrils and mouth agape, giving a freaked out look to the side as though an imaginary someone is crawling up behind him. this looks even cooler on the original lp. that's my big gripe about cds - they don't allow much space for impressive cover art. with lps excellent cover art looks wicked, and really lame album covers are even funnier when they're larger. besides, the size of lps made them the size of a small work of art and allowed you to display them for enjoyment. kind of like that great sesame street album i had as a lad.

an observation by king crimson is a fantastic album, even beyond its cover art. throw this one on with headphones and you'll get a warm trip through what rock music was doing at that time.

the first track, "21st century schizoid man," is a classic in ye olde rock out sense of the word. powerful guitar licks with impressive stop-on-a-dime drum playing. as with all of the crimson lyrics, they aren't overly profound though they try to be. they are, however, sincerely strange, which may be the effect fripp was going for.

while the first song ends in chaos, the second song quickly begins with the low notes of a flute. "said the straight man to the late man, where have you been?" is what "i talk to the wind" asks. it is a peculiar mix of semi-surreal lyrics and lovely flute playing.

the remainder of the album mixes between long drones and fast rhythms. if i had to describe this album in a word it would be "heavy".

although they have been gloriously remastered or some such thing, my only irk about these cds is that you have to listen all the way through some of the epic songs to get to the sub-song that you like. on the record it would have been easy to drop in on your favourite bit, of course. maybe on a fancier cd player one can do this, i'm certainly no expert on these matters.

in the wake of poseidon

the nice thing about these re-releases is that they include reproductions of a bunch of press clippings in the linear notes. through the three albums i picked up i can follow the incredible shifts in band lineup and focus. it impresses me that crimson even survived these initial albums, and that they retain any coherency and consistency at all is a testament to fripp's abilities.

the opening to this album has a rock out beginning that reminds me of their first album, but it quickly takes a funkier turn. then a heavier turn (black sabbathy). then funkier again. the addition of the sax works well here. some jazzy moments. some moments that are almost surf. even though i sometimes think these guys just liked to wank and show off their considerable skills it is still fun to listen to.

on the second track we transition into some so-so acoustic and folksy track.

the title track of the album has a raging opening that is very cinematic, but it kind of dwindles into something not as interesting. notice i'm not very negative here? it's cos the album doesn't exactly suck. there are just some lulls. the fact that they continued so well after mike giles and ian mcdonald quit says a great deal.

my favourite song is "cat food." it has an odd beatles sound to it. like some of the aggressive stuff from the abbey road album.

"the devil's triangle" opens with a long, drawn-out intro that is kind of creepy but kind of cheesy. it's like a demented marching song that winds and turns into something that has a genuine edge to it. the music disappears and we are left standing alone in a wind tunnel.

part two of this song picks up the marching song from hell theme. with strange mellotron sounds, and a general sense of cacophony, the piece keeps building and disintegrating at the same time.

this is a weird album. more experimental and less focussed. enjoyable, but not my favourite.

lizard

when the electronics and the bard singing open the album you know you are in for something different. "cirkus" has a gritty medieval sound, if that makes any sense at all. epic rock, yeah!

"indoor games" has more of that funky sax playing. there's not a lot of albums i like the sax on, but here it is sufficiently cool and not filled with solos. the next couple of songs are interesting with overbearing lyrics (though they are worth a read).

things pick up with the title track. you don't expect "lizard" to be that cool when it starts, but the chorus is a mellow bit with a delightfully warm bass line that sticks in your head. it's the one track on this album that keeps me coming back, and probably my favourite moment from all three albums. after several minutes you think this song is going to noodle into the sunset. but no, there are still parts 23-189 yet to go. there are still several nice passages to come, including lovely flute and sax parts, and billion other good snippets. i'll stop describing the song now as i could go on for a week about the multitude of varied transitions and styles.

after this album's release yet another singer/bassist quit. i'll have to see how their later albums turned out one day.

all said, i'm impressed with what i've heard and still enjoy them after a dozen or so listens (though my favourite songs came to the forefront quickly). though both camps would probably spit on me for saying it, there is a lot in common with king crimson and radiohead. they both have great ambition and skill. i think if crimson hadn't suffered so many bloody band member shuffles they could have been even more focussed and successful.

one of these days i'll ramble about fripp's solo albums and works with eno. they are all impressive, and the two with eno (no pussyfooting and evening star) are absolutely essential.