Miler72 Some probably felt King Crimson hit a brick wall with In the Wake of Poseidon, considering it nothing more than a clone of its debut. That's a bit unfair, because you really can't imagine "Cat Food" and "The Devil's Triangle" having been already explored on its predecessor. True "Pictures of a City" has a "21st Century Schizoid Man" approach, "Cadence and Cascade" resembles "I Talk to the Wind", and the title track is similar to "Epitaph", but that's just side one. On Lizard, Greg Lake and Michael Giles were gong, in comes Andy McCulloch (who later played in Fields and Greenslade)and Gordon Haskell (who already provided vocals on "Cadence and Cascade"), plus a horn section, many members coming from Soft Machine. This is without a doubt the jazziest of the King Crimson albums. "Cirkus" shows that Gordon Haskell has his own voice distinct from Greg Lake. "Indoor Games" shows a less serious side, while "Happy Family" appears to address the breakup of the Beatles (you can even see the Beatles on the cover of the album). "Lady of the Dancing Water" is probably the weakest thing on the album, a pleasant ballad, but nothing much more. The title track is the only side-length piece Crimson ever done. Jon Anderson made a guest appearance (Yes apparently wanted Robert Fripp to replace Peter Banks in Yes, but Fripp declined because he probably knew where Yes was heading, and wouldn't be compatible with the band, and Yes was more democratic than Crimson). There are some bolero/big band jazz passages, and some really strange typical Crimson type parts with Mellotron and even Fripp's trademark sustained lead guitar at the end. It wasn't an easy listen. The rock critics were never kind to this album, even some fans thought they went off the tracks here. But I gave it a few listens, and the payoff was great. It's another great album worth having.

siLLy puPPy

L

While KING CRIMSON took the world by storm only a year previous in 1969 with their game changing debut, their follow up “In The Wake Of Poseidon” has always felt to me like a collection of B-sides from the leftover bin of tracks from the initial sessions that created them. With LIZARD, the second album of 1970 and third album overall, it feels like Robert Fripp and company took the whole project to a new level of complexity by not only keeping the previous elements that came before but also by upping the ante in pretty much every way. While not the only top class album to take complexity to new levels in the year 1970 (to my knowledge only Marsupalami, Soft Machine and Magma were contenders at this level), Robert Fripp steered his KING CRIMSON project into new grounds a mere fourteen months after the extraordinary “In The Court Of The Crimson King” was unleashed on an unsuspecting public and proved that he was a serious force to be reckoned with. LIZARD is a testament to a focused individual driven to evolve light years above the newly aroused competition nipping at his heals. LIZARD hasn’t always been a bonafide masterpiece in my world but i can happily say that i’ve reached a point of understanding where it all makes perfect sense.

I

Only two years into the band’s formation, Fripp was already seeing a rotating door policy of musicians who just couldn’t jive with his ambitious visions. In only a year since the debut that ignited the progressive rock powder keg, vocalist and bassist Greg Lake jumped ship to join Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Drummer Michael Giles and wind instrumentalist Ian McDonald would jump ship together to create a lighter version of KC called McDonald And Giles (but McDonald would reunite on “Red”) leaving Fripp as the only original member on LIZARD. The new KING CRIMSON circa last half of 1970 featured Fripp on guitar, Mellotron, synth, organs and other sundries, Mel Collins (Circus) on sax and flute, Andy McCulloch (Manfred Mann, Fields, Greenslade, Crazy World Of Arthur Brown) on drums and Gordon Haskell (Les Fleur de Lys), a long time school friend of Fripp who had contributed one vocal track previously on “Poseidon” and now took the role as lead vocalist on side one. Jon Anderson of Yes would join in for the long behemoth title track that encompassed the entire second half of the original LP release. Also on board were the phenomenal Keith Tippett who also played as a session keyboardists on “Poseidon” as well as other session musicians who added oboe, cornet, trombone and extra vocals.

Z

Everything about LIZARD is more ornate than anything before starting with the album art cover itself. The original LP release was graced by two sides of medieval art with one side spelling KING and the other CRIMSON. While the music doesn’t exactly lead to anything medieval per se save a few classical guitar workouts by Fripp, the album does display a sense of Renaissance in the music scene with its relentless fusion of classical, rock and jazz with the greatest emphasis on the latter. The jazz elements on here are off the hook with saxophone solos, jazzified song structures within the tracks and even segments of progressive big band interaction in full swing. Therefore if you don’t haven’t gotten an A in your jazz appreciation course you probably won’t enjoy this as much as the full-blown jazz fusionist lovers. Miles Davis appears to have been a major influence on this one since the very same year as the KC debut, Davis himself was adopting rock into the jazz world. A year later and following in the footsteps of other rock to jazz fusionists like Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Prevention, KING CRIMSON was gracefully taking it on to create equally complex and sophisticated music.

A

Just to give you a sense of how complex this album is, most of the lyrics are actually represented in the art work itself. For example, the “I” in CRIMSON is a caricature of The Beatles and is a direct reference to the track “Happy Family” which referred to the breakup of the band. The lyrics get even more detailed about certain aspects of the band. The artwork and lyrics go hand in hand to create a much larger story as does the music thus creating a never ending level of complexity that the listener can delve into as deeply as the listener wants. The downside to all this complexity including the hardcore jazz aspects is that it is a bit alienating for the uninitiated and non-adventurous listeners especially following much more digestible tracks like “20th Century Schizoid Man” that had put KING CRIMSON in the eyes and ears of a totally new generation of music lovers only a year prior. LIZARD perhaps had gone too far too fast for many fans, however this album is not without its instant gratification. There are melodies aplenty to be savored albeit with allusions to all kinds of obscurities in the mix, both lyrically and musically. The music literally has taken decades for fans to catch up with.

R

The album seems to be as divided musically as it is divided from the front and back side of the album cover. Side one sporting Haskill’s vocals is the jazzier of the two sides which focuses more on the jazz meets rock aspects fueled with dissonant yet melodic hooks and horn heavy segments with occasional avant meanderings, whilst side two is much more in the symphonic prog world with Jon Anderson displaying sublime vocals and a glimpse into his future solo career projects. It also has a propensity to delve into the world of free jazz and the avant-garde including warped time perception and utter detachment from the musical world altogether. While the two album sides are clearly delineated by style, they somehow form a cohesive mood and feel after many listens. The prog behemoth that constitutes the title track includes four segments with the third being subdivided into three subparts and successfully manages to create a frenzied prog workout that takes the listener on a true musical journey very much in accord with classical music symphonies, operas, concertos and sonatas. The transitions from one style to another are somewhat subtle as they never just jump into each other’s turf. The transitions are gradual like gentle sand dunes slowly changing the topography of a vast desert where mirages from a camel ride slowly merge into each other. It’s really hard to grasp upon just a listen or two how much was put into this one.

D

The simple truth is that LIZARD is one of the very first progressive rock albums that is like climbing Mt Everest. You need to acclimate yourself to comprehend its sheer intensity. For the uninitiated this is the equivalent of a sea level dweller accustomed to an ample air supply gasping for air in an oxygen depleted environment and thus will come across like an atmospheric hypoxia induced sleepless night at the base camp where only groggy faded memories of what occurred will semi-percolate into the consciousness. This is an album that is a true 10 on the progometer scale. A code red, 3rd degree progressive jazz/classical/rock behemoth of the ages. That means that it requires several stages of musical development to truly “get it.” You must not only have your rock and classical musical sensibilities in top shape but you will go nowhere until your jazz appreciation skills have been fine tuned and honed to the point that mutli-genre fusion is like second nature. A true work of art that was perhaps overly ambitious for its era but sophisticated enough to evoke a sheer sense of timelessness.

aglasshouse King Crimson: a pool of ever-changing talent rarely ceases to amaze. Most of the time I disagree with Mr. Fripp's ideas of the structure of his band, however I like to forget background information of something and just listen to the music sometimes. Red was one of these instances, and without thoughts of the details the music simply sounded better.

1974 was the year where metal was starting to spring up all over the place. Much credit was due to King Crimson for their early work to the creation of the genre, however by this time they seemed to be more of another hard prog band.While other bands like Scorpions, Sabbath, and Judas Priest all started experimenting with this newly founded genre, King Crimson continued to write elaborate compositions with much flare and musical brilliance. I will admit that I disliked much of their pre-Red content, but when this album came around everything changed. It was less about being art for arts sake and more about playing what they willed. Mind you, changes were still made and lineups were constantly fixed and re- ordered, so much chaos still happened there. The beauty about Red however is none of that translates to the music. In the recording studio, all was forgotten.

The title track is a wonderful opening, probably one of the more themed tracks as opposed to jamming, but it's utilization of ambiance and heavy guitar with no vocals bogging it down (one of the few songs where I feel like it would). 'Fallen Angel' translates to me more of a ballad, and marks one of the weaker points of the album. Fripp intended it to be more "emotional", but I found it to be rather weak in comparison to the rest of the album. One thing that never really changes is Wetton's amazing vocalizations which seem to fit into every musical circumstance. He is definitely a singer that brightened up any weak part the album has. 'One More Red Nightmare' is one of the aforementioned jams. Although the term 'jam' may not be exactly fitting, the song's length does lead to many tangents that the band members expound on briefly. Much like 'Red', this song has some fantastic riffing and great clear drumming from Bruford. Wetton's vocal skills are probably on peak at this point, along with his bass-work. Violins bring in the next track, 'Providence', most of which is much adventurous work of different instrumentations that come in at different parts. Slightly uncomfortable due to it's erratic nature; very reminiscent to Ummagumma-esque Floyd if you enjoy that sort of music. 'Starless' is a fantastic mix of everything you've heard prior in an orchestral style all in a clean twelve minutes. Shifting constantly, it never ceases to lose your attention and also does a great job closing shop.

As a final verdict, Red is undeniably wonderful. Wouldn't exactly call it a masterpiece due to some of the weaker aspects but it still shines wonderfully with what it does well and I applaud Crimson for being able to accomplish it. I think a healthy 4-4.5 stars is fitting.

EntertheLemming A Scarcity of Standing Room

One of the great consolations afforded by the Crim's vast eclectic output is that even at their most willfully impenetrable, piously abstruse or drippily soporific, they are seldom predictable and at the very least their abject chaff is some of the most harvestable chaff available. Discipline Global Mobile's ever growing silos of repatriated bootlegs and official live recordings are testimony to our voracious appetite for what can be some extremely indigestible fodder. Kudos are therefore due to 'this Fripp' winning a seemingly losing battle against the institutionalised exploitation of musicians and their lack of protection from copyright piracy that he has waged for nigh on 40 years. By his own account, Bob has described this as a dispiriting and ruinously expensive fight against the legal obfuscation of his previous management and the complicity of a judiciary swayed by precedents set by industry practices that have never been sufficiently challenged or subjected to any form of rigorous scrutiny. Similar to those exorcists who have expelled demons and prevailed, all will testify that every victory is accompanied by the death of yet another little portion of their human soul. Bob Fripp has never done 'safe', his courtiers are never allowed to 'tread water' and despite his measured urbane mildness and inscrutable candor his sworn enemies have always been mediocrity and conservatism.

Why then has he granted royal assent to the release of 41 minutes of the most anodyne and tame Crimson to have hit the shelves since erm...In the Wake of Poseidon? (another pale imitation of a former glory in their discography)

There's a danger here in falling into the trap of judging this record by what it does NOT contain i.e. as if it were a clumsily truncated souvenir of a much lengthier statement of intent that featured performances of Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part I, The Light of Day and the title track from A Scarcity of Miracles, VROOM, Level Five, Pictures of a City and what is becoming the increasingly revisionary encore 21st Century Schizoid Man

I'm at a loss as to the reasons for such zealous editing unless there were fidelity issues with the available recordings, but that being the case, wouldn't they have been able to reassemble the entire performance from other shows on the itinerary? Either way, it's a very 'white bread' choice of material that gazes longingly in the rear view mirror while straying perilously close to stalling in the middle of the road. Second guessing the Frippmeister is invariably futile but I suspect that what has been dubbed the 'Seven-Headed Beast of Crim' will prove to be about as feral as Mr & Mrs Fripp's agoraphobic pet white rabbit 'Willyfred'

First of all, new boy Jakko Jakszyk is a demonstrably fine guitarist and decent singer who cut his teeth in the '21st Century Schizoid Band' but if you wanted fresh young blood to forge the way ahead consistent with a progressive mandate, would you recruit from a Crimson tribute band? (that's like asking a historian to read your palm) His voice is hopelessly unsuited to the otherwise excellent One More Red Nightmare where he's about as convincing as a chunky beggar who commutes to work. On the up-side, his vocals and guitar on Starless are excellent and merely serve to confirm that perhaps his tonsilry is more comfortable within the ballad realm.

What's always struck me as rather indefensible is the rough ride that the outgoing Adrian Belew was routinely shown by large swathes of the Crimson fanbase. What other member of a 1st Division Prog band was still perceived as the 'new boy' 20 years after the fact? For me, his vocal, guitar and compositional abilities dwarf those of Jakszyk but I seriously doubt that the jury will still be out on the latter 20 years hence. Maybe Uncle Bob just wanted a lower profile front-man?

Similarly, one of the conclusions begging to be drawn from this line-up (inferred or otherwise) is provided by the flute and sax contributions of Mel Collins who featured originally on four of the numbers included here. Notwithstanding Mel's impeccable credentials and unswerving good taste, at 67 years old, this seasoned session luvvy is never gonna be charged with Lese-majeste. Check out his solos however on Construktion of Light which shed some unprecedented erm..light on that rather unjustly neglected new millennium Crim issue.

There are three drummers on this album but scant evidence to justify their inclusion. (Does Robert harbor designs to eventually have his entire touring band seated in the manner of a Rock orchestra?) For those sad hirsute plankton in our midst, you are advised that Pat Mastelotto is mixed on the left, Gavin Harrison on the right and Bill Rieflin in the centre. The only track where a twelve limbed percussion critter is audibly present is on Construktion of Light where they do weave an attractive composite rhythm apportioned across the stereo spectrum.

The inclusion of Sailors Tale is a treat as I think it a vastly undervalued track in the Crim's output. Levin's visceral and guttural bass adds an even more pressing urgency to the propulsive groove and Bob conspires to replicate his sublime thrashing detuned strumming 'solo' (albeit in shortened form). The Letters is every bit as as overwrought and unwittingly comedic as that of the studio original. Sinfield's cod Gothic approximation of Lord Byron selling fish from a big frilly shirt has not aged well in the interim.

Unfortunately what new material is on display offers very little clues as to what the future holds for King Crimson: Banshee Legs Bell Hassle and Walk On, Monk Morph Chamber Music are but two wispy and perishable ambient scooby snacks the likes of which we have heard countless times before. I went to see the Crimson ProjeKCt (sic) last year in Brisbane, Australia which boasted a paltry TWO drummers and have to report that the entire ensemble of Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelloto, Julie Slick, Tobias Ralph and Markus Reuter in their various permutations, provided more evidence of progressive intent and innovation that anything on Live at the Orpheum The foregoing is not sufficient cause for abdication just yet, but with every passing year, Toyah Willcox is starting to approach the mantle of a post-Punk Wallis Simpson.

You have to wonder who this release is aimed at as I fear there is too little novelty to stir the hard-nose Crimhead from his lair which leaves the tenuous 'Crimson virgin' demographic. If you belong to the latter then you are getting a well played and well recorded bite sized selection of no-brainer material culled from the years 1971 to 2000. From that perspective this album starts to make sense and might come to resemble USA from 1975 which perhaps served as a little appetiser for the considerably more expansive (and expensive) the Great Deceiver box set. We can but wait to see what type of main course will follow the aperitif represented by Live at the Orpheum

Robert Fripp is 68 years old and as far as being dragged through the digestive tract of a music industry's irritable bowel goes, has paid his dues several time over. If he wishes to see out his time as a performer by playing an unimpeachable back catalogue with his mates to critical and audience acclaim, who am I do deny him this thoroughly merited succour?

Just don't expect me to ask you to read my palm Bob.

siLLy puPPy Poseidon is well known as having full domain of the oceans and is known as "God Of The Sea," however he is also referred to as "Earth-Shaker" because he was thought of being the cause of earthquakes as well, so I guess the title of this album refers to the aftermath of the band after the sudden success of KC's debut album and following tours which were too much for Ian McDonald and Michael Giles who soon parted ways followed by Greg Lake being seduced by Keith Emerson to form ELP. That left Robert Fripp and Peter Sinfield as the only original members after it was decided that it was pretty much Fripp's musical vision in the first place. The former members did agree to sit in as studio musicians only.

What a change from the debut. This album seems to me like a collection of leftovers and outtakes. The very first full song "Pictures Of A City" is obviously nothing more than a reworking of "21st Century Schizoid Man." One of the better pieces on the album is "The Devil's Triangle" which was inspired by Gustav Holt's "Mars: Bringer Of War" from "The Planets Suite." An ok album but too obvious that it is a half-assed reworking of the debut. Given the band's tumultuous history it's somewhat understandable and would be a mere blip in the parade of outstanding releases to come. Despite its inferiority to “In The Court....” I still find this a worthy occasional listen.

Sean Trane This DVD will please many of the third Crimson phase fans combines two tours: the Beat tour and the Three Of A Perfect pair. Oddly enough, they are presented in a non- chronological order, but this is a very minor point. One of the things I was particularly uneasy about was Bruford's use of electronic percussions and drums and we get a load of those "things" and like all technology novelty, the risk is that it ages poorly and sadly here, it is the case. Another point I had not appreciated is the stage presence of Adrian Belew, which is clearly copied from David Byrne from his collaborations with The Talking Heads - I love the T Heads, but Belew's stage antics are too derivative and ill fitted for Crimson. There are a few tracks present twice and most notably the boring Mate Kusadai.

Strictly on the visual front, Crimson was clearly making efforts to look hip and appeal to a more new-wave-ish public. Those were the days! But I never said that they were good, either!

Among the bonuses, are a video clip and a few titbits, but sadly still missing is that mini- concert footage filmed for the Discipline release and them playing four tracks in front of a red curtain. I may be severe with my rating of this DVD but I am not a real fan of that era.