@@RowdyYates They should use it in that "Stranger Things" show. That would solve the problem and it would get to the top of the charts!! Still, the first 4 minutes of the song are used in the opening sequence of a movie that people seem to either love or hate, "Mandy" (2018) by Panos Cosmatos.
@@fx93250 really that’s why it’s recognized it that movie was awesome I really wish more movies went out of there way to be different now that’s why I love movies like a clock work orange,they live and so on
One of the best finales in rock, when Wetton's crunching bass joins the mellotron at 11:24, it can't help but send shivers down the spine of any mortal.
I completely agree with this whole entire statement it sounds like I wrote it myself the song always got me in the ending and that last final moments of this song is this insanely excellent very intense
Genuinely wouldn’t mind if this part had lasted another 5 minutes. I feel like that minute is one of the best displays of contemporary music (in relative terms) ever. The whole song is!
favorite part: the ending bit when the saxophone brings the main theme back and the drums smack back in for the hard rock finale. as if theyre announcing this is final
Recently had an overnight flight. I was listening to this album and looking out the illuminator. The red lights flickered in tempo, and the sky was starless and bible black, just like the title. One of the most exciting experiences of my life.
My favorite song, probably. There is nothing as hauntingly beautiful and intense as this for me. I see it as an aural representation of King Crimson tearing apart their classic sound after giving one final performance- and they just happen to make it their best ever. Vocals and mellotron to rival Epitaph, Fripp’s signature guitar, Bruford’s masterful percussion, and a crescendo that beats out even The Talking Drum for me. The definition of the word “masterpiece”. This is where Crimson firmly cemented their roles as musical legends.
It's very sad to me seeing how much potential they had, but they still wasted their talent on some nonsensical avant-garde music. I like it when a song is a bit avant-garde, but not if there is a shit ton of dissonance, and the song doesn't make musical sense. When I look at Epitaph, In The Wake Of Poseidon, and this song, I think that if they made more songs in that style they would be regarded one of the best bands of the 20th century. But instead we got some tunes that don't follow a certain scale, weird song structures, weird time signature etc... I guess they were forced to make these songs because the band would fail commercially and they wouldn't get recognition.
@@ild4099 Idk, I can find something to appreciate with most of their material. I think you should check out Discipline if you haven’t already. It’s the perfect combination of avant-garde with fun, catchy pop sensibilities.
True, but I also find LTIA PT. 2 a fitting end to a masterpiece album. Admittedly, I vacillate between LTIA and Red as being my favorite depending upon the day of the week. It is kind of like asking a parent which of his/her children are their favorite? LOL
My teenaged self at the time viewed Starless as KC’s last message to us before the void and the void was VAST. When KC returned 7 years later (originally called Discipline upon their re-entry if I remember correctly) it was if they had been absent for 700 years and not just 7. I recognized nothing from their previous existence. It took me years to come to terms with the 80’s KC. In hindsight I can now see it as a progression of what was. I still say Starless is beauty, pathos and timeless all rolled into one.
When was KC ever "the same"? There were periods of slightly similar records for a while, but even this record has hardly anything to do with the Greg Lake era.
@@CrimsonTemplar666 LTIA, SABB and Red were essentially the same KC (minus David Cross and Jamie Muir on Red) but easily identifiable as KC. Discipline sounded nothing like anything that had come before, like comparing a Porsche to a Stone Age wheel.
The middle 13/4 section is such a sinister moment in Crimson's music, yet there's something oddly satisfying listening to Whetton's increasingly loud and brooding bassline, Bruford's manic drum/percussion interplay, and Fripp's guitar gradually "descent" into madness. I don't think words can perfectly describe this masterpiece of music, seriously..
I always read it as more a descent into desperation. As the song was coming to a close, the playing became more and more frantic, trying to get as much out of the song before it's over. Because this was it. The curtain call for King Crimson. The entire instrumental section feels to me like a band that doesn't want the song to end.
The intro was written by John Wetton and originally meant to be the title track for Starless and Bible Black, but Fripp and Bruford didn't like it so they replaced it with a different piece. Imagine if they scrapped it entirely instead of bringing it back for this album.
I always wondered why the lyric showed up here and not on that album. Similar to Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin not being on the album of that name. Glad both tracks survived tho. Goes without saying this is in a different league lol.
That is a chilling thought to consider if Starless never made it to vinyl and to our ears. I wonder how different the recorded version is from what Fripp and Bruford originally vetoed?
It was, for 7 years we just didn’t know it at the time, we thought it was forever. But those 7 years might as well been 7,000 years because what came after it sounded like nothing that had come before.
Probably the best prog rock song ever. That feeling of catharsis at the end is unmatched and I think I've never heard something as astonishing as this. Dogs or the Battlefield section of Tarkus are close contenders, but the build up and the finale of this one are just superb. I love it more and more with every listen.
My pick for best prog rock song is Awaken by Yes. Supper's Ready by Genesis probably second, then maybe Gates of Delirium, also by Yes. So many though. I'm just discovering this one. Jon Anderson and John Wetton were the best vocalists I've ever heard.
God himself was put into a juicer and synthesized into the final minute of this track. You can't tell me Wetton and Fripp didn't channel some kind of holy spirit making that masterpiece of music.
If someone says they don't like prog play them this. It's got everything, the epic length, the beauty, the pomposity and grandeur, the emotion, the instrumental power and ferocity. If they still don't like prog there's no hope for them.
This is not a beginner song.. You still gotta get through some Court Of The Crimson King songs to get hooked. Playing this cold to people doesn't work well.
My dad hated this song. He thought it was prententious bullshit. He never understood why I loved this stuff, even though he started it all by having a freaking big vinyl copy of Emerson, Lake, & Palmer's Tarkus on the shelf. I think he must've gotten it accidentally from Columbia House or something. Song starts pretty normally. About the time a normal radio tune would end, it starts doing... something else. There're only a few sparse sounds, but they're layered, all in different times, playing different lines. Tension builds. All the different lines keep coming in and out of synch because they're all built from each other, each having different pieces nipped away. No. They aren't built from each other by subtracting one thing or another like a synth would do to generate a tone. They're ALL built around an intangibile, ineffable Platonic ideal out there in the unexperienced universe and each of the smaller pieces we're feeling is only a limited, mortal glimpse of the REAL thing. We're guessing at what the outside world is like by staring at shadows cast on the walls. Tension builds. Moments of cacophony. Seems like random noise, but your ear keeps catching *something* every so often, like that little chirp of happiness inside your brain when you were younger, scanning the AM band, and a voice pops in out of nowhere, from the static, and fades back into the noise before you can stop the dial. Then, after seven minutes of building uncertainty, we get sinister, nameless terror. The metal soundtrack to Pandemonium. And at eight and a half minutes we sublimate all that stygian horror into this absolutely sexual jazz groove that just feels DIRTY, but the GOOD kind of dirty, you know? And that groove calls back to the original, normal-radio-music theme, only changed in a way that makes it poke fun at you for having enjoyed that vapid, commercial shit... And then, at ten minutes, the song just divebombs off a cliff and becomes something that the very best musicians in the world, playing at the very tops of their games, can only keep up with for a few moments before they have to fall away. And we're left back where we started, only we're not the same person that began the journey. We've Bilbo Bagginsed that shit and we are forced to realize that we can never come home again. No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man. It isn't pretentious because there's no pretense. It's a sermon. A philosophy course. An advanced degree in get-the-fuck-over-yourself. That's probably why dad hated it. Or maybe he just smoked so much he couldn't pay attention for that long. Who knows. I miss him.
Your dad was soooo cool! Alas he missed the boat on this one! ELP , absolutely awesome musicians but weak composers, could never come close to composing masterpieces like this!
i think the best compliment king crimson can receive, aside from the astonishing musicianship, is that they make a 12-minute song feel like 5 minutes. how do they do it-
I played this one time in my basement pretty loud My mother was upstairs cooking, she pretty much liked basic popular stuff from the forties and fifties, but when this song ended, she exclaimed "that was awesome!"
Cada vez que escucho la parte final donde Wetton destroza el bajo se me llenan los ojos de lagrimas. Esta cancion es un milagro, una experiencia increible. Agradezco a la vida que esto exista.
Simplemente no puedo expresar en palabras lo que es esta canción. Iba a hablar en inglés pero se me hace imposible. Esto es algo que tengo que describir en mi lenguaje. Esta canción tiene todo lo que puedo pedir de la música. En cierta forma, me gusta que no sea tan conocida, por que realmente se siente haber encontrado un tesoro, una joya, un milagro musical. Robert Fripp, te admiro muchísimo y siempre lo haré.
Exactamente lo mismo pienso cuando veo que las reproducciones y vistas para King Crimson son relativamente pocas, es un verdadero deleite y un tesoro descubrirlos y apreciarlos como nosotros, vaya que somos privilegiados
There is something about Crimson that is both ethereal and dark as unhinged madness. In between lies the beauty and it's apotheosis. It is as ... Ah screw it, awesome song.
Apart from being a flawless masterpiece, i have to say this song is the epitome of studio recording. I love KC's live performances but when it comes to starless, the studio version is the undisputed best
Agreed, There's several songs from artists of which I prefer the studio version. There are some elements that just can't be translated into a live setting. We're lucky to live in a time that recorded music is available. Certain songs are impractical or impossible to replicate for live performance, imagine just how much great music we'd miss out on otherwise.
11:18 It was, it is and it always will be my favorite moment in the history of music. Of everything I have heard this reprise/comeback it's the one that makes me feel more. A perfect close to a perfect song.
The end of an era, and one of their greatest and representarive song. One of a kind masterpiece, blooming beauty inside the disgrace. Too much to say, timeless art.
Starless was the last hurrah of King Crimson's original run. Even if this of course didn't end up being their last album, this is still an awesome note to go out on.
1974-75, the King Crimson got disbanded right at the peak of their popularity, a ballsy decision which paid off. Prog rock had just reached its zenith and it was the right time to move on. Rock reached its perfection in 1974 and Sir Fripp grasped that. He is such a smart artist. Other mortals would continue to write prog rock music maybe without getting that the heyday of prog rock had gone after 1974. Call me crazy but for example the Genesis declined right after the album 'and the lamb lies down on Broadway', if only they had split up in 1974-1975, it would have been better. And then Robert Fripp came back in the 80s with a great style and he still continues to surprise us with his talent. Thank you Mr Fripp.
Robert Fripp’s guitar effects, mellotron, flute, bass, percussion, piano, violin, voice, saxophone, etc. King Crimson came from this mix. In the context of British pop, where the Beatles ended, they started. Their music concepts, their lyricism, their sheer power, abstract art forms, minimalism, and studio work! Miles Davis albums of the same time are more rhythmically minimalist, while King Crimson stays with a typical British touch, conceptual, neo-classical sometimes, Free-Jazz also in some moments. In terms of diversity of musical forms and concepts, King Crimson stands alone above all the stars. God bless them!
Much has been written about this haunting and sad piece and I agree with most if not all of it, but here’s what I want to say about this piece... I love David’s opening keyboard, holding long notes, while Bill plays delicately on his drums. I love Robert’s guitar, the way it comes in, almost crying, weeping. I love the way Bill ‘taps’ at the cymbals as he keeps a soft beat. I love John’s haunting voice, as he sings slow and long, showing the sadness and emptiness of his soul. I love how Mel’s sax sounds, as it comes in during this phase. It sounds like he’s improvising, playing soft melodic runs, just kinda playing around the melody. 3:20 I love how Robert comes back in. Is he playing a mellotron or is that just how his guitar sounds? I don’t know. I love how the lyrics last word is the first word in the next line. Well, not the first, but you’ll see. 4:30 I love how it just stops with just John’s bass, playing a few notes. I love how Robert then comes in with one note, played over and over. Just one note. Then he changes to another note and keeps playing that note over and over. David’s violin plays soft screeching sounds behind it, and over it. Bill taps his cymbals again and then hits some wood blocks, or something, creating a wonderfully chilling sound. Robert keeps building up his one note, rising to another, but still playing one note, over and over, in a time signature that I still can’t figure out. I think it’s 13/8, but I’m not sure. John’s bass grows louder. Robert’s one note goes higher and a little louder. Bill keeps hitting those wood blocks, while also hitting his drums intermittently. The build keeps going, rising, ascending. The intensity increases, as Robert’s one note keeps rising. Bill is all over his cymbals. John keeps pounding out those notes on his bass. 7:55 Now Robert’s one note is repeated faster, as though it’s screaming at you, while Bill’s drumming becomes more intense. More cymbals. How long is this buildup going to go on? 8:50 A sudden change. Now Fripp seems to be calling out something on his guitar, or maybe it’s a warning to get back. Everything starts to kind of sound disjointed as John and Robert go back and forth in a rhythmic pattern. 9:12 Mel’s sax comes back in, loud and screaming, chords crunching, Bill’s drums are more intense now. Mel’s sax goes freeform and just wails. John’s rhythm is faster now. It’s pure jazz now. 10:07 it goes quiet again, as Mel’s sax plays the melody while Bill taps those cymbals. 10:26 Bill signals the change and Mel’s sax sets it up and then Robert screeches his guitar. Now the pace is out of control. Chaos is all around. John sounds like he can barely keep up that crazy rhythm he keeps playing. Bill starts going nuts on his drums. I’m sure David’s violin is screeching too, but it’s hard to distinguish between David’s violin and Robert’s guitar now. 11:20 it all comes back around. Now John pounds his bass. Oh, David is hitting chords on his keyboard. I missed that. I’m listening as I type these words. It ends in a fade out as the last note is played. My soul weeps.
3:20 it's the guitar, probably it was made to stay within a certain distance from the amp, to feedback just the right amount to sound like it had infinite sustain
David was absent in this recording. The band only retained his pianet companion to Wetton's bass during the dark 13/8 interlude... and from a live recording.
Thanks for this little walkthrough, it brought up a few details I hadn't noticed in the song before. That's one of the traits of great music that allows it to transcend through the decades, no matter how many times you've heard it. Years down the line there are still interesting facts you can find out or notice something for the first time that had been there all along. Refreshes it and kinda makes you fall in love all over again with the song.
There’s so much good about this track. That ungodly legato guitar, the most innovative drumming in rock - both incredibly delicate and incredibly intense, and that expressive vocal
The musical embodiment of entropy it’s self. Things that once gave us joy slowly fade to grey. The people we love die as their legacies wither away into obscurity. The crescendo of life cascades into a spiraling vortex of chaos and never ending cycles of death and rebirth. Everything and nothing all at once. The sands of time ever marching forward grain, by grain.
Fallen Angel is more replayable. I don’t listen to Starless often either. But when I do, it is a transcendent experience. Starless is like champagne. You only open it on special occasions.
My all time favorite song. I will never forget the first time I heard the whole thing. It is a sonic journey unlike any other. It’s haunting, deeply melancholic, atmospheric, hypnotic, entrancing, heavy, fierce, chaotic, beautiful, and it has the best ending in rock history.
This is a complex piece for beginners or for the recently discovered *King Crimson* listeners//aficionados; it's filled with unprecedented surprises. The OVERTURE, right from the start, it's like the beginning of a long night, BUT it wasn't going to be just another ordinary night. NO, this time, our protagonist is in for a ride. I want to say that this song is like a certain LEIT-MOTIV and prose, too, especially with the refrain *BIBLE BLACK* . The narrative, along with the distinguished John Wetton's voice; the mellotron, simulating the fall of the evening in total darkness, the insignificant emptiness that will bring to life on this authentic night, with a starless sky, to set up a canvas for a very subjective interpretation. Our anxious character, accompanied by an uncertain doubt of what awaits him through this unfathomable evening and how to forget Robert Fripp's lead guitar, manifesting a quiet breeze, whisper-like and voracious mystery, gives an essential element to interpret. Even though the execution of distinctive percussions and drums and well cued by Bill Bruford, it starts (in my opinion) around minute 09:08, revealing personality and a radical shift all of a sudden. But, most importantly, to realize the outbreak around minute 04:30, the epiphany of our character's anxiety, engulfed by darkness. Diving into a deep obscured Tempo and Tone by Wetton bass and accompanied by Fripp's guitar too, even though it sounds like syncopate notes, making their way up in a chromatic way. I sense a kind of ostinato, pounding, surrounded by agony, fear.... and then.... IT EXPLODES! EVERYTHING! just at minute 09:08 ....pandemonium unleashes the euphoria of our protagonist, with his role to play in this diabolical BUT entertaining piece. It's simply.... breathtaking. Bruford is suddenly possessed by a progressive rhythm on drums, ludic nature, and even jazz-like ...on acid. It is precisely the same with that empowered sax, its Ludacris, to describe pure chaos and torment, genuine poetry (I would say). There's a reason why *KING CRIMSON* , they are the forefathers of Progressive Rock. Such orchestration can only be compared to the eccentricity of _John Cage_ , the dissonance of _Arnold Schönberg_ , and the combination of sound like a particular game of _Karlheinz Stockhausen_ ; proves mastership in such Eras.
Starless, Epitaph, Lizard, Islands, Larks’ Tongues In Aspic Part I. These are just a few of the legendary songs king crimson contains in their discography.
i'm sure this isn't a particularly original opinion, but this is such a wonderful cap on 70s king crimson! wetton's vocals with the same sharp cadence and precision as greg lake's, collins' sax slipping in and out of the song with unparalleled grace, the melody evoking both feelings of beauty and horror, especially of note is fripp's incredible guitar work in the middle; a hypnotic stringing of notes, seemingly so orderly, but try and tap your fingers in the rhythm of them and 9/10 chance you'll be offbeat... a simple and incredible demonstration of the avant garde masterworks that king crimson so seamlessly produces... their debut, lizard, and red are my favorites from them for sure, and from what i've heard 80s crimson is its own breed of awesome. in short, hell fucking yeah
I only heard this the first time watching the film Mandy. I have heard Epitaph and Larks Tongues before and I had never paid much attention to their other works. I massively regret this now and have begun exploring for the first time King Crimson and I love it!
