Met Adrian Belew in a Mexican restaurant here in Nashville. Wonderful down to earth guy. Asked him if Fripp ever hangs at his place. Belew replied that he doesn't let him stay at his house cause he always rearranges the furniture.
When I met Adie, I asked him if he secretly wished he'd been a Beatle. Without missing a beat, he gushed "No, I wanted to be a Wilbury!". At the time he'd just released Young Lions which had "Not Alone Anymore" on it, so I knew he was serious :)
I met Adrian at the Sylvian/Fripp concert in 1993/4 in Chicago, which was an amazing show. That was before KC regrouped for Thrak in '95. I asked him if Crim would ever get together again, and he said that Fripp had invited him to discuss it after the show. That was pretty cool.
I was 14 years old when I begged my mom to buy me the Court of the Crimson King. I took it home and on the first song, 21st Century Schizoid Man, my mom came unglued.
Chuckie Drums I’m thirteen and for now I’ve listened to three of Crimson’s albums: Beat, In the Court of the Crimson King and Red(in this exact order). It’s an infinite metamorphosis of form. I’m amazed, I’m scared, I’m admired. I love it
_Red_ is an absolute masterpiece. Like a lot of their 1974 contemporaries (Eno, Bowie, Roxy Music, Can), it's adventurously ahead of its time but also resolutely _of_ its time. It's like a post-punk album made before punk!
Thank you Pete, Epitath is by far and no doubt the best KC has done. Greg (God bless his Soul, may he rest in Peace) wonderful, magic, classic, and unforgetable.
My one and only King Crimson story..... In the early 80's they were rehearsing in my home town, Champaign. I had a drum flight case listed for sale. Bill Bruford showed up at my door and bought the case!
Man, this one is pretty tough, as over the years, like you Pete, it essentially (and eventually) became a toss up between 4 albums for my top pick. Also, like you, those top 4 are almost interchangeable, depending on the day, or mood I'm in. But I pretty much have it nailed based on which albums I pull out the most often. Anyway, I love all the albums, but from least favorite to top favorite, here I go: 13. Thrak 12. The Power To Believe 11. The ConstruKction of Light 10. Three of a Perfect Pair 9. Islands 8. Beat 7. Discipline 6. Starless and Bible Black 5. In The Wake of Poseidon My top 4 (with notes): 4. In The Court of The Crimson King (The first KC album I ever bought. Blew my mind when I first heard it, and still does. I swore it would be my #1 favorite, forever. However, over the years, I realize that I don't find the urge to listen to this one *nearly* as much as the remaining three albums that rank above this one.) 3. Lizard (This album, with all it's flaws, and it does have them, somehow managed to sneak it's way to the upper echelon of my listening pleasure, after a few years of repeated listening, simply for it's magical, majestic, pandemonium-filled, circus-like (pun appropriate) atmosphere. No other album in their catalogue displays this particular ambience. This one only gets better with time.) 2. Red (A masterpiece. Devastating, heavy, searing, dark, gloomy and beautiful. Encapsulates everything the group did up to that point, and it closed out the classic period in succinct, punchy and razor-sharp fashion. Not much more I can really add.) 1. Larks' Tongues in Aspic (I can't even put this in words, but I'll try. KC bridged many different styles, from many different continents as well, on this one. I will say that both parts of the title track exhibit the NASTIEST amalgamation of scintillating metal, 20th century classical, African, funk, prog...whatever. The fact that Fripp would return to this theme on Three of a Perfect Pair, and later on TCoL says a lot. Book of Saturdays is gorgeous. Easy Money, etc. This has to be my #1. I even bought the LTiA T-shirt from the band's website a couple years ago. It's *so* friggin' cool, lol.) I wanted to leave notes on all 13 discs, but I figured it would have been *way* too long, as if this post isn't already long enough... I also wanted to say that Islands used to rank much higher. But, over the years, I've actually found it to be the weakest album, musically, from the '69-'74 period (notwithstanding the self-conscious attempt to have ITWoP, at least partially, mimic the style and layout of ITCotKC.) The ConstruKction of Light is my favorite of the last few they did. TPTB was probably a cleaner, more succinct version of it's predecessor, so I get why many favor that one a little more. I just love the messy, cluttered, slightly disorganized feel of TCoL a little more (for lack of better terminology.) Chronologically, Thrak was the very last album I bought from KC, which might, at least partially, explain why it ranks last. If anyone made it all the way to the bottom of this long post, it's greatly appreciated. I've been following this channel for some time, but this is the first time I've commented. Love these album ranking/song ranking videos, of all these amazing artists. Definitely gives us all a reason to talk about, and celebrate this stuff.
I can’t choose either, it’s like trying to pick your favorite child. You’ve got to love the way Crimson just lets the tape run out at the end of “the Mincer” on Starless. Brilliant!
Like so many bands of that time, hearing them for the first time was so impactful that it's something that stays with you. So for me, the first one holds a special place because when it was released I never heard anything like it -- because there wasn't anything like it.
My favorite KC albums are Islands and In The Wake Of Poseidon. They are tied for my number 1 spot. I love all of their albums. They are very important to me
Wow!!! Feels like I'm. the only person in the 🌎 who Hasn't met Adrian Belew!! Thanks for the stories .love em!! He's doing the tour of the Remain in Light album at the moment ,I bet that's great!! 😁
Having been a Crimson fan from virtually the beginning and having seen the various iterations of the band, I can only say- thank god for Jakko Jacszyk (and his earlier 21st Century Schizoid Band with Crimson alumni). For years watching Crimson I knew I would never hear the vocals from those seminal first 7 LPs (Lake through Wetton) except for Schizoid Man. Now with Jakko on board, having sung these amazing songs with 21stCSB, we get to hear Fripp and the rest of the amazing current Crimsons play vocal-based cuts from Islands, Lizard, ITCOTKC, all the Wetton/Bruford years, etc. Though I loved much of the Belew era, I can't really imagine him singing "Starless" or "Epitaph." The best thing Fripp did was bring Jakko on board, so now I can hear the likes of "Cirkus" and "Islands" in concert.
My favorite lineup is the Wetton era. "Starless and Bible Black". Technically, not entirely a studio album. Much of it was recorded live with studio additions and audience noise removed.
Yea from the Night Watch live album recorded in Amsterdam. When I first heard that live album I couldn't believe how close those tracks were to the "originals" then I found out they were the originals
My final conclusion after 50 years is that the first album and Lizard are their most eclectic iconoclastic work and the most emotionally engaging and interesting !
‘Islands’ is a wonderful album. Like Pete, it’s grown on me over the years, and I find myself going back to it more and more these days. That said, Crimson never released anything less than great albums. Love ‘em all.
Thanks for mentioning Cat Food. Red is also my favorite King Crimson! Red is one of the best albums of the 1970s. I think it’s their most accessible recording.
The first KC album I ever heard was In The Court of the Crimson King...and, having been a Greg Lake (GL) fan prior to ever hearing it, I instantly fell in love with it. The title song, for example, contains some of the finest lyrical phrasing I've ever heard...and, of course, Greg Lake's great vocals give the lyrics even more poignancy. The next album I got to spend some time with was, indeed, In the Wake of Poseidon. Apart from the usual great vocals by GL, I love the "depth" that these guys established with their previous album. Some may think of it as In The Court... part two, but I really think that it has its own place among the great KC originals. If anyone has any thoughts on their favorite KC albums, I'd love to read all about it.
Great vid. As always. I remember my Dad playing “Epitaph” on acoustic when I was little. But it was Discipline that grabbed me and never let go. And I’ve been along for the ride ever since.
Great stuff. One of my favourite bands ever since I stumbled upon them in a second hand record store as a 15 year old back in 1974. I agree there isn't a bad effort amongst them. Love your shows, love the breadth of your taste. And ranking anyone's albums is always different for everyone. Keep up the good work. By the way I pretty much agree with the KC rankings. Picked up all the 40th reissues, blown away by the clean up job on Earthbound.
I’m not a great expert on King Crimson but in my opinion they are the band that truly defines progressive music as it was originally conceived and defined. Forward-looking, challenging, ever-evolving.
Court of the Crimson King was my favourite album by this great band. I think the reason is that album introduced me to their music. Like you Pete my favourite song is Epitaph. The musical arrangements are incredible, especially that mellotron, AMAZING!!!!. The brilliant Greg Lake....what a singer, to me the best in the rock world. I'm a bit bias there because ELP were and still are my favourite band. LOL. In all, a great album.
What a challenge to try and rank KC's works, so huge and different to each other they are! You did it perfectly, and as you say, "might change in a couple of days"... Thank you for sharing your love for them !
Great list, I was fortunate enough to see king crimson last september at NYC and fripp was a very nice, he even allowed to take a photo along with a Q&A. I was fortunate to meet him and the rest of the crew along with a photo.
FINALLY got the see these guys in Atlanta a few months ago. Killer show! Gotta agree with you. I think the early Greg Lake/John Wetton era albums are my favorites.
My sons (age 15 & 18 at the time)and I were at that show in September 2019 at the Cobb Energy Center before the scamdemic hit. All three of us are huge King Crimson fans and it was an amazing show. Check out Fripp’s youtube channel. It might actually be his wife’s but you see Fripp as you never imagined him. He actually dances and laughs
Great job PEte. My first listenings was in the 80, with Discipline, Beat and Three. Contemporanean like the Biritish New wave. I listened the League of the gentlement album and FRipp’s Exposure. I was young and that is the beat I was need. When I come inside in the old stuff, I was older and It seems a diferent band, like Genesis, ELP or Yes. King Crimson and the parallel staff is an universe of amazing music. Epitaph and Starless are my favourite songs.
This is my top 5: 1) Red. "Starless" is my favourite song of all time. John Wetton was such an incredible singer and bassist. 2) In the Court. I discovered "21st Century Schizoid Man" on a sampler "Nice Enough to Eat" and just had to get this album. 3) In The Wake. I was looking to buy "Court' but could only find this. My 1st Crimson album. "The Devil's Triangle" is their take on "Mars" from "The Planets Suite" by Holst. 4) Lizard. "Cirkus", "Indoor Games" and "Happy Family" are great tracks. The mellotron in "Cirkus" is massive. 5) Lark's Tongues. The arpeggio guitar on "Part 2" is amazing, only bettered by Fripp's "Breathless". After these, I was less into KC and more into Zeuhl, so although all the KC albums are great, I know the others less well.
Man!! i am a metalhead....but you got me into prog rock........im a Huge Jethro Tull and King Crimson now...also Gentle Giant. it was for me that i was missing something in my life, i found it...thanks man
King Crimson is such a magical sound that its like it draws me in and hypnotizes me like a moth to the flame or something like that. Larks Tounges is consistently my fav. but yes those top 4 are interchangeable on any given day. Great show Pete!!😉👍
Came into KC late-early 80's Discipline. I didn't like it at first, but friend who introduced me to them was all agog to them after catching SNL live Elephant Talk, kept me listening to them. So, after a few more listens fell in love with the album! And, a big fan of Yes's Bill Bruford yrs helped a lot. Beat came out a yr or so later, & got to turn my friend onto. Three of a Perfect Pair was grand-though noticed from Beat a more commercial feel-was still super. ~ Heard some songs from earlier albums that blew me away: Starless & Bible Black for one. ~ My story anyway for what its worth. ☺
Great comments there, Pete, on how we all have our own favourites and not-so-favourites but it's all great, we're all music lovers and it's all very passionate to hear and debate these fantastic records after 40-50 years.
Nice video! Ranking Crimson is hard as hell. I salute you for taking it on. We have the same top 4, but I would put them in opposite order, I think. We have the same least favorite, at least today. I know I would rank 3 Of A Perfect Pair lower and Thrak and Discipline higher but other than that I'm sure I would do it differently every time. Thank you. This was fun to watch.
I feel your pain Pete !! I have been eagerly waiting for this ranking. I love the Wetton years as well such a brilliant set of albums.So my favorites are2- Larks tongues in aspic, 2- Red, 3- In the court of the crimson Kong 4- Starless and Bible Black 5- Discipline.Islands is s sleeper album that grows on you.Thanks Pete.
This was wonderful. Larks Tongues was always my #1, with, surprisingly!, Islands at #2. Then Lizard and Red rounding out the top 4. Truly enjoyed your approach. Thank you.
Incredible list! I could not have done it better myself and I think that KC fans out there will agree wholeheartedly with your picks. Great Job! thanks.
Would like to see a show, if you haven't already done so, on top album by bands that only released 1 album. and the band ended.Thanks,Pete,for your show. I'm a regular watcher.
I think you did a good job ranking these albums and enjoyed watching you go through one of my favorite categories. I would personally put Lizard/Islands higher but everyone has different tastes and reasons for what and how things effect them in regards to music or anything.
I had to click on this one as soon as I saw it.I'm glad I'm one of those people that's just smart enough that their music isn't beyond my level of comprehension.I would be missing out on so much.
I need to start listening to more King Crimson. I've only ever listened to their debut, *In The Court Of The Crimson King.* Other than that amazing album, and the pair of songs they did on the ABC L.A.-based 1979-82 sketch show "Fridays" - including "Elephant Talk" - I don't know anything else by them. So, thanks for this show, Pete!! 👍🏻
Starless is my favorite song. I remember showing that song to Aaron Lewis of StainD back in high school 86 - 87 time period and he thought that I was weird enjoying that song's second half. He thought differently when I showed him One More Red Nightmare.
I grew up with In the Court of the Crimson King. I agree with everything you said about Epitaph. So powerful and emotional. Gets me every time. I'm ashamed to say the only other I've got is Starless and Bible Black. I'm going to put that right, now... Thank you for the inspiration
My favorite album by King Crimson is In the Court of the Crimson King..I was 13 when I first heard it when it came out in 1969..It was given to me as a present..I remember when I first heard it, I really couldn't understand what was going on.. I had never heard anything like it..But after a few listens I was hooked..Love everything about the album including the over the top cover..Years later I turned my son onto it and he loved it as well..Playing the album in the car one day as we drove around in upstate NY around West Kill area just really digging it..Great job Pete really enjoy your rankings..Looking forward to the Jethro Tull rankings..
Thank you Pete. I’m going to agree with you on the top four and your choices for the best songs. Epitaph is my favorite song and I get tears as well. Have you heard the vox version? Just Greg’s voice alone is very moving.
I agree TCOL is a great album and a lot more listenable than a lot of the earlier ones. Personally I can't stand Wetton's vocals, they always sound really amateur to me.
@@trembling3674 And you are welcome to have that opinion. I like Belew's singing, but I do prefer the 80's onwards to the 70's stuff - I did see 'Islands' and 'Lark's Tongues' tours and no doubt it was a great band with Wetton.
Here is my top 10 list. 1. Larks Tongue in Aspect 2. In the Wake of Poseidon 3. Red 4. In the Court of the Crimson King 5. Starless and Bible Black 6. Three of a Perfect Pair 7. Thrank 8. Beat 9. Discipline 10. Islands
Epitaph , my favourite KC track also, it brings me to tears each time, as it reminds me of someone very close to me who passed away a long time ago. Thank you for your list, this is essentially probably where I would've ranked them too.
In all seriousness I would say the USA had the best country/southern rock/swamp rock genre bands: Creedence, Allman Bros, ZZ Top, Lynyrd Sknyrd. And I prefer and really like the US psychedelic rock bands- Velvet Underground, Grateful Dead, The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane. Grunge was also largely an American thing while the UK had Britpop. But yeah- blues rock, hard rock, prog rock, punk, metal, new wave- we Brits killed it!
Nice list! For me the 69-74 era is where it’s at, I love all of those albums equally. I love the whole contrast of dark and brooding to melancholic and tranquil. The overarching jazz influence on those records do it for me too. I never got the whole Poseidon is too similar to In the Court complaint, there’s nothing like Cat Food or Devil’s Triangle on In the Court. I never thought Cadence was a cheap version of I Talk to the Wind either, other than that there’s a flute. Agreed about Epitaph as well, I’ve been brought to tears many times especially the last 2 minutes. Robert Fripp is a huge influence on my playing, I love that he disregarded everything that was happening around him at the time. Instead of coming from a blues/pentatonic based background (nothing wrong with that of course) he drew from avant garde jazz and classical, that really connected with me. Peace.
Hi Pete a great show and great band.I had some of their albums on LP . Till now I did not replace on CD ! Don't ask why because I am not sure. Maybe I forgot how good they are
This was just a fantastic ranking. Every single time you do these, it's almost as if you are channeling me. My suggestion would be a Nektar ranking, although that would consist of only about 4-5 albums, lol. Weirdly, for me, Down To Earth slightly edges out Remember The Future, followed by Recycled.
Some fifty years now and my Crimson list always moves around, it's just one of those great Prog bands with so many changes and sounds that move me differently over the years, and I must of not listened to Lizard & Islands for years then just saw the KC 50th tour in concert and they played a bunch of these older songs, it brought me back to these older records again. Always the Bruford/Wetton rea being my favorite !! For now .... 1, Starless and Bible Black (Love this mostly Live album !) 2, Red 3, In the Court of the Crimson King 4, Lizard 5, Larks' Tongues in Aspic 6, In the Wake of Poseidon ( Title track's Mellotron & Drums !!) 7, The Great Deceiver Box ( I know it's Live but I Love it !!) 8, Islands 9, Discipline 10, The Power to Believe
My list would be very different to yours but I really appreciate you taking the time to express your tastes this way. Today I'll ride this train and say (and it'll most likely be different tomorrow) 1. The Power to Believe - I'm only 25 and got into Crimson universe about 6 years ago. Started on the classics but had only heard this in recent times. Had heard a lot of modern prog before this, came out the same year as some of my favourite albums and it just goes to show how much of a "How to write a modern Prog-rock album" it is. Plus Trey Gunn, enough said. 2. Red - A classic, so raw and grim. As dark as it is emotionally driven and a great example of the diversity of the band regardless of the lineup. The chemistry I feel was the best on this album, the direction of each individual track is phenomenal. Probably my favourite thing on the late Watton resume'. 3. In the Court - Great production for its time, almost nothing can be said about that hasn't been said before. To me it has always served as a more classically driven version of Red with that influence from Lake that we can go on to hear in the later EL+P material. 4. Discipline - So different from any era. Crimson going almost New Wave-y with some of the experimentation on the drums that carried from the 70's with some of Levin's tones and ideas giving just an entirely new life for other Crimson albums to come. 5. Thrak - It flows just so perfectly and contains all my favourites from Crimson history in one delightful package. The title track is just insane and reminds me of some of the improv tracks from the 70's with a monstrous riff to glue it all together. So there's my 2 cents...
13. THRAK 12. The ConstruKction of Light 11. The Power to Believe 10. Beat 9. Starless and Bible Black 8. In the Wake of Poseidon 7. Three of a Perfect Pair 6. Discipline 5. Lizard 4. Red 3. Islands 2. Larks’ Tongues in Aspic 1. In the Court of the Crimson King
Besides being late to the ranking, I'm also late to adding King Crimson to my music collection. I'd always heard of them. I just never found the time to listen to them. Listening to Pete, I started an EXPLORE list. Finally getting around the King Crimson this morning, I chose to first listen to In the Courts... OMG!!! I ran right to iTunes and purchased the album. I'm looking forward to more five-starred reviews from Pete and more King Crimson music.
Even though i wasn't born at the time King Crimson made it's debut, i have always had a lot of respect for them as a band and for always changing with the times even though i would still say that the 69 - 74 era was their greatest creative period. Whenever you have a conversation about some of the greatest bands, you have to start with King Crimson as they played a big part in the prog rock genre and have made some of the greatest music of all time. Court Of The Crimson King and Red are absolute masterpieces that really captured them at the peak of their creativity. The 70s lineup of Robert Fripp, John Wetton, David Cross and Bill Bruford is my all time favourite incarnation as they were a tight unit and had such a monster sound.
Bill Bruford's book of drum transcriptions has some great commentary in it about how he went about trying to make complicated music sound catchy and straight-forward. Frame By Frame is in some weird time signature, but he used a 4/4 hi-hat pattern to fool people. Good video again!
I love your ranking. My own is impossible... changes every time I think about it. I would probably have Discipline and Larks' Tongues switching back and forth in 1 and 2.... but really I find myself listening to live stuff. (I know this list is only ranking studio records, so I'm just going off on a bit of a tangent, here) The 4CD "Great Deceiver" for Larks Tongues era, and the 2CD "Absent Lovers" for the 80s quartet.... and while I didn't care for Thrak too much the live ThrakAttack I loved in that "double trio" era. This band did group improv in a way that existed in some jazz, but without doing it in a jazz tradition -- absolutely unique, and you get a sniff of that on some of the live stuff.
Court of the Crimson King will always be my #1. Many great memories hanging out with friends listening to Crimson, Black Sabbath, Dio era Rainbow, Uriah Heeps greatest hits and Pink Floyd. Good times!
