King Crimson: Classic Or Dud

Mark- Apparently Red is KC's favourite album ever. He also loved the raincoats, having written some brief notes for the reissue of their excellent debut. Even though nirvana sucked he had good taste (though I think that he only said that to piss off the metal fans that bought his music).

Agnes Moorehead, obviously. :)

Ladies of the Road and Formetera Ladies are the clunkers I refered to above btw. Though I think Sinfields worst lyrics are on Still.

Truly unfathomable, I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes. However, it explains much. There's a site where I help write reviews for prog rock albums, and we once received a snippy letter for dissing the Wake of Poseidon album (or at least, not being fanboy-ish enough towards it), and the person, opening up by claiming we had "less wit and culture than an ant" (yep) used much of the material found in the Wake of Poseidon chapter as their defense of the album and its depth. Maybe it was even The Keeper of the onyx-embolden'd-husking-jewelled-warthogs website himself! :)

Cue your golf swing.

Wow... Mind = blown.

Very cool! thx ned

"that's some really wild stuff"

In The Lounge of the Crimson King

More on Belew's fourth-rate David Byrne impersonation - "I repeat myself under stress, I repeat myself under stress." Geddit? Hilarious, eh? Anybody who finds that remotely amusing in any way should be avoided.

Dave Q really killed it on this thread, huh? I like lots of KC but I hardly ever find myself playing them. When I do, it's either Larks' Tongues or Beat.

I think Belew's a pretty terrible lyricist but that was kinda the point, right? The lyrics weren't supposed to stand out. It was all about the music at that point.

Met this guy tonight who said he'd done tarot card readings with Adrian Belew, back in '83 or so

the story just got weirder from there

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILSVAUjd5QI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Fripp speaks

excellent...wish it was longer

2009 Crimson, with Porcupine Tree drummer as second drummer, was awesome live.

so, who is buying the 13 CD, 1 DVD, 1 Blu-Ray of Larks' Tongue In Aspic?

http://www.dgmlive.com/news.htm?entry=3916

Just registered for DJM live site just so I could hear a sparse guide track for "Islands" the song. Boz sounds like he's singing into a cheap condenser mike, but otherwise it's quite lovely.

'Islands' is the worst album ever made by anybody.
― dave q, Friday, February 15, 2002 7:00 PM (10 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

NO.

its kind of weird to imagine that King Crimson only played a fixed amount of concerts when they were active. it feels like they're able to just create more and more live bootleg material at will, even if it was phyiscally impossible for them to have played that many dates.

So many of them are pretty dodgy quality though, aren't they?

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/lk/l/w/dd360157ea8e506661983ea7336800bc/4330188.gif

classic:

'released in three separate editions to satisfy the merely curious and the expectant collector'

so, who is buying the 13 CD, 1 DVD, 1 Blu-Ray of /Larks' Tongue In Aspic/?

http://www.dgmlive.com/news.htm?entry=3916

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWaz8xfFjuE

Guess Fripperlips is done for good?

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/king-crimson-robert-fripp-quits-music-business/

Hope he enjoys retirement!

He's been retired for a while, I believe. Couple of years? Also, for what it's worth, he was semi-retired for pretty much the second half of the '70s, too.

Yeah, this is not new news.

Wait, hold up:

A multi-disc deluxe edition of the 1973 Crimson classic ‘Larks’ Tongues in Aspic’ is set for release in October and will include 13 CD’s, a DVD and a Blu-Ray disc.

13 CDs!?!?!

Disc details at the bottom of this page: http://www.dgmlive.com/news.htm

So basically a bunch of live discs previously sold through the site. That's cool though. Band in the Muir era was neat.

Wasn't aware Kanye had sampled "Schizoid Man," which Fripp seems pissed he didn't get paid for. Wonder if he ever paid any royalties for quoting "Surrey With The Fringe On Top" in "Moonchild?"

I figured Fripp was done, but this is the first time I ever heard him say it (I know he said he wasn't going to tour anymore some 4-5 years ago), maybe I'm just not paying attention

Fripp got paid for Schizoid sample, but iirc only after going straight to Kanye and the two of them presenting a united front to the label. He was very careful never to criticize West, even though he could have for not clearing the sample ahead of time.

fripp did an album with mel collins and jakko jakwhatsit last year, so he hasn't been retired for 4 years. it was a bit disappointing, definitely not the new lease on KC I think they were hoping for.

Well it certainly wasnt the new lease on KC I was hoping for.

If the '72-74 lineup reunited I would buy a ticket in about 5 seconds flat. Anything beyond that, I don't really care.

Pretty sure Cross & Wetton are the only ones game for that.

I'd be up for another outing of any other combination that the last 2 though (the Jakko one or previous I mean).

Fripp has such a narrow comfort range anymore that I wouldn't see him live unless he personally invited me into his living room to hear him play. I don't need the grief while he tries to figure out whether he can midwife any music.

Mentioned it before, but the last King Crimson tour I saw - Levin, Belew, Fripp, Mastelotto and the drummer from Porcupine Tree - really was awesome. There was a Fripp-less Crimson that toured with Dream Theater a couple of months ago. Believe it was basically Belew and his all-kid band, plus Levin and Mastelotto.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wpTOxb1nFw

Three Drum/House of Crimsun

the very sound of which no-one has ever heard before. A sound driven by the three drummers

Ok lol

Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five BladesDrummers

I really want the next iteration to be one drummer, one bas and five Chapman sticks.

People tend to forget about the ProjeKCts, which was all manner of combos. I saw one with Belew on drums the whole set! I know there are a few recordings out there of the tour:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69mHMg9JKaQ

I don't think this has ever been posted here; Doc Severinsen (trumpeter and Tonight Show bandleader) doing a big-band version of "The Court of the Crimson King" in 1970:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBkTHskJcX0

I might like this better than the original, and that artwork belongs on one of 70s/literal album cover threads.

Also, it's fun to sing the lyrics to the Gilligan's Island theme to this melody.

Not sure I really get the point of these Elemental mixes. Lizard, already a "pinch of salt" experience, has had all the brightness of every instrument turned up and hard panned for maximum cringe. Maybe good for nerds who want to hear every, um, element in isolation, but about as atmospheric as strip lighting

yeah they are simply curiosities, i'm surprised they are putting these out as standalones but I guess they kind of already released the 100th deluxe editions of these records. So far they're all worth at least one listen but by no means do they work on their own.

they're not really stems though aren't they? I thought the idea was they were just using alternate takes of every instrument, it's an interesting concept but yea might be a little more interesting if every note these dudes ever recorded wasn't released in some form anyway

would be funny if they did release the stems though. make your own remixes! see how long they can stay online before we find them!

they aren't stems, they are full remixes but explicitly they are very 'open' remixes (ie: in many cases the drums have been removed or scaled way down)

Didn't notice that they released a live Beat album, gotta listen to that.

Aaaaand ... the live album absolutely shreds, it is so good!!!

Belew’s voice is in remarkable shape

Man would love to see these guys just once

its pretty wild how he sounds pretty much exactly the same as he did in the 80s, I know there are a lot of singers whose voices have aged well but his hasnt aged at all. I'm also stunned by how good Tony Levin still is

yeah it's a really good document of the tour; mastered a little hot but the performances were pretty scorching so it kind of fits.

Man would love to see these guys just once

huh Belew/Harrison Remain in Light tour just announced for Australia, next year - which I feel makes a BEAT tour very unlikely, Tony Levin is 79!! how much longer does he wanna do this stuff

having said that it looks like they play Thela Hun Ginjeet as part of these shows so I will take that at least

just one Beat gig in London, or anywhere UK is all I ask....

they're scared Fripp would turn up and force them to do 8 hours of rehearsal/soundcheck before they could go on

There were rumors of Europe and Asia in 2026, but I can only imagine the number of moving parts. Still, I don't see why they wouldn't do it if they could, they all seem to get along and by all accounts the tour seemed pretty successful. I'd be a little surprised if they didn't tour North American again, too, but yeah, no one is getting younger.

yea I think even they were surprised by how successful the tour was

Hadn’t heard about these elemental mixes, listened to Lizard last night. Hadn’t played the original in years, I have worn vinyl left behind by an old roommate. It’s my least favorite of the first four, so many of the parts I was hearing were unfamiliar to me. Maybe if I was more well versed in the original I’d understand the point of this. But “Happy Family” as an instrumental? Nah.

I find it pretty interesting, like seeing a band live and they whip out a new arrangement of a familiar tune

one thing I dug about this one is you can really hear Fripp's playing which on the album itself was mostly buried. there are some really great parts on it. especially on "Indoor Games". lots of crazy synth bits too. I can't actually remember what made the album.

Steven Wilson's remix of Lizard is the best version to my ears, imo one of the best remix/remaster jobs ever in terms of how much it really improves on the original. SW really leans into the chaos of that album which is odd because his own work is so controlled and sterile to my ears. He talked about how there are bits which weren't on the original, recordings even Fripp didn't know about, all of which got constructed into this new mix...hearing the "Elemental" mixes you get a sense of what's out there.

that said idk if I'd want to listen to this more than once - I mean yeah, its cool to hear them groove a bit on "Happy Family", but what is it really without that absolutely nightmarish vocal??

here's some stuff I didn't know existed: Al Stewart with Fripp and the Giles brothers. There are four of five songs from a BBC session:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQu3pKpNOTA

I find it pretty interesting, like seeing a band live and they whip out a new arrangement of a familiar tune

This is why I like a lot of the recent string of live albums with the large band.

“Lady of the Dancing Water” is so quiet that it sneaks past you at the end of Lizard side two and you don’t realize how beautiful it is.

Been digging the BEAT concert album, though it's a bit more restrained than the amazing Cirkus versions.

just one Beat gig in London, or anywhere UK is all I ask....

― my opinionation (Hamildan), Monday, 10 November 2025 13:38 (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

Beat Europe tour 2026 announced.

https://beat-tour.com/

"I talk to the Wind" after "21st century.." is a choice

These guys seem like they've got it pretty well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK8dIac7rYA

That's cool. It's funny that he brought up cellos a few times, because as I understand it Fripp's preferred New Standard Tuning is the same as a cello's tuning.