#666: King Crimson, of course

By the time I tripped-over King Crimson's massive, Xpensive English best-of THE YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO KING CRIMSON in Summer 1978, I'd already burned thru copies of their LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC and STARLESS AND BIBLE BLACK, & was still trying 2 figure out what all the fuss was about.
It just seemed like NOISE 2 me. Somehow I couldn't hear the ferociously driving guitars at the start of "The Great Deceiver," the slowly-building drama in "The Talking Drum." All I could hear was the electronic shrieking of "Larks' Tongues" & the lurid bump&grind of "Easy Money." & I wasn't impressed. I couldn't figure out how these guys' reputations could B so high.
YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE changed all that.
The cover grabbed me 1st -- the front depicting in sorta Tarot-card fashion a creature at a keyboard unrolling sheets of music down a mountainside. This painting, "The Landscape Player," indirectly inspired a 40-page piece of fiction from me about 10 years later....
The back cover showed an evilly grinning Moon. There was no indication of what kinda music was inside -- I assumed it was 1 of those obscure British various-artists collections. So I looked on the spine: KC? Must B a best-of. Well, whatthehell. The School Of Strange Music had taught me 2 take a chance on weird album covers....
At the time, this 2-record import album was the most $$$ I'd ever spent on 1 package -- around $13, a pretty good amount of $$$ 4 an album, back then. Took it home, put it on the player, & was slowly stunned by KC's range & control of mood.
The best-of opened with "Epitaph," a sorta heavier, doomier Moody Blues-like tune, with Greg Lake (later of ELP) on lead vocals. Heavily dramatic but easy 2 get in2, clearly some kinda forgotten classic.
Then came the delicate "Cadence and Cascade," which was the absolute flip-side of "Epitaph" -- light & pastel, kinda hazy, not heavy or violent at all. Then came "Ladies of the Road," which returned 2 the obvious bump&grind of "Easy Money," pretty dead-obvious 4 a bunch of arty intellectuals -- tho I could appreciate Mel Collins's raucous sax-freakout near the end.
Then came a demo -- Judy Dyble handling lead vocals onna version of "I Talk to the Wind" that coulda bn a hit. Sorta in the same neighborhood as Fairport Convention, tho lighter.
So far I'd been impressed by their range, heavy 2 light, with all bases in Btween covered. But then I put on Side 2. & was immediately pile-driven in2 the floor by the stunning 6-minute guitar riff "Red." No subtlety here, just blastin' heavy rock. This was much louder than mosta the stuff I usually listened 2.
They followed it with "Starless," also from the RED album. If I hadn't bn won-over yet, this 1 did it. After a long, moody opening, the band gangs up 4 an 8-minute coda that piles up the drama -- leader/guitarist Bob Fripp piling-on the single-note solos, drummer Bill Bruford slamming away at what sounded like massive, reverberating sheets of aluminum siding, Mel Collins & Ian McDonald joining in 4 screaming sax solos ... absolutely stunning, perfect music 4 plunging down a steep mountain road without brakes. 1 of the greatest, most devastating things I'd ever heard.
After that I was sold -- thru the bits & pieces on Side 3: The dramatic "Night Watch," the playful & silly "Cat Food" single, & the frustrated loveballad "Book of Saturday." Then over 2 Side 4 for the delicate "Moonchild" (the 1st 3 mins, sorta the "single version"), the delicate improv "Trio," & back 2 Heaviness 4 "The Court of the Crimson King" -- heavier than "Epitaph" & WAY spookier, if not as good.
I knew so little about KC then that I didn't realize summa their greatest stuff wasn't on the collection. Wasn't til later that I wondered why the screaming "21st Century Schizoid Man" & "Fracture" & "The Great Deceiver" weren't included. If Fripp'd dropped summa the lesser trax there woulda bn room....
2 lock it up, Fripp included a long booklet with a detailed history of the band straight out of his diary -- & including all the bad reviews KC'd ever had -- & there were LOTS of them. Great reading, kept me busy 4 DAYS....
After that, I worked my way backward & re-bought summa their older stuff. LARKS' TONGUES was OK but kinda trebly, badly mixed -- the live versions of those trax that came out on THE GREAT DECEIVER box set 20 years later were WAY better. STARLESS AND BIBLE BLACK had a great 1st side, but it took me years B4 I could even hear "Fracture" -- now I think it's 1 of their best ever.
I checked out the 1st album & finally heard "Schizoid," a scream of pain & terror like nothing else. But I was shocked how much wasted space was on that 1st album. & speaking of wasted space, if there was a great track anywhere on ISLANDS, I was never able 2 find it....
When KC reformed in 1980, I was listening. Bought DISCIPLINE the day it was released, & heard a mostly-new band carrying on a grand tradition with driving trax like the brilliant "Frame by Frame" -- especially that section in the middle where the guitars sound like a car skidding across the ice & crashing in2 a tree.... "Indiscipline" was stunning, 2 -- SO heavy. & the lyrics were hilarious! "Elephant Talk" had more great funny lyrics from guitarist Adrian Belew. "Matte Kudasai" was a pretty gtr-ballad, & "Thela Hun Ginjeet" was at least funny. But I kinda drifted away on Side 2, despite an OK successor 2 "Talking Drum," "The Sheltering Sky."
I was never able 2 get in2 BEAT -- still can't. But THREE OF A PERFECT PAIR has the GREAT "Sleepless," which has all the heaviness & humor you'd ever want from these guys. The title track's pretty great, & there's some nice loud, clanky stuff over on Side 2....
Tho I haven't heard all that much of their '90s stuff (bought VROOOM, & it about blew me outta the house -- somehow overlooked the delicate ballads like the Xcellent "One Time"), I saw KC in Seattle in 2003 ... & they were very professional & efficient -- still powerful. But I wanted 2 B run over & left 4 dead, I wanted 2 B absolutely flattened, & that didn't happen.
I bought their POWER TO BELIEVE CD anyway ... & thot it was professional & efficient. But not life-changing. "Level Five" was pretty stunning. But as I work my way back thru their '90s stuff I'm finding the trax that work best 4 me R the attempts at comedy -- like "Happy With What You Have to be Happy With" & "Prozakc Blues" & "The World is My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum."
Tho they may not B as life-changing as they were 4 me back in the day, KC R still my heroes. I don't know of anybody else from their generation who's still pounding out the loud, powerful, original material these days, trying 2 make each new album a life-changing Xperience. I've had my life changed at least 3 times by them. May the same thing happen 2 you....