King Crimson: Classic Or Dud

He's got scores with bits and parts, not full arrangements. He writes down the bits to remember them and show them to the players -- which is normal, and a very different thing from handing out full complete arrangements. He liked to compose with pen and paper, other dudes use tape recorders. He never says he wrote out everybody's parts, and none of those players would have stayed if he had.

Eh, I think you're being as pedantic as I was being generalizing. The fact that he writes out any of his parts is impressive to me, but perfectly in line with his precise nature.

none of those players would have stayed if he had.

Though to be fair, stability and longevity has not been a KC hallmark!

Are the three early '80s records the longest he went with the same line-up?

You can't forget that Fripp comes from a supper club jazz kind of background, and non-specific charts are pretty normal for that world.

I wonder how imposing the King Crimson fake book is.

xp - it definitely was. Beat and Power to Believe are the only two KC albums with the same lineup as the previous one (and Beat is IIRC the only studio album without a title track)

I think the Fripp/Belew/Gunn/Mastelotto lineup might win out timewise, but just barely.

Yeah, if so, just barely. Never liked Gunn in the band ...

I still say the abandoned (final?) lineup with Gavin Harrison from Porcupine Tree was soooooooo awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtTUxPPGp-c

This is more indicative:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w0vxQ-ueCI

xp - it definitely was. Beat and Power to Believe are the only two KC albums with the same lineup as the previous one (and Beat is IIRC the only studio album without a title track)

― frogbs, Thursday, May 23, 2013 2:57 PM (32 minutes ago)

TOAPP has the same lineup as Beat

I was gonna say

Yeah, if so, just barely. Never liked Gunn in the band

I didn't either until I started really digging into the Projekcts. I appreciated him alot more afterward. What I have never cottoned to is Mastelotto.

Again, seeing him with Harrison made all the difference.

You know, I don't think I've ever had more reservations, exceptions, and conditions about music that I've loved so wholeheartedly than with KC. And nearly everyone I've ever encountered who's a diehard fan has expressed something similar. I think it must be inbuilt.

Was that the only show/stand that band ever did?

You know, I don't think I've ever had more reservations, exceptions, and conditions about music that I've loved so wholeheartedly than with KC. And nearly everyone I've ever encountered who's a diehard fan has expressed something similar. I think it must be inbuilt.

― "Turkey In The Straw" coming from someplace in the clouds (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, May 23, 2013 4:45 PM (54 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm. they are the worst best band.

great lyrics tho gotta give em that

xxxp - oh yeah, I knew that. originally I was going to say that the 80's band was the only consistent one but I had forgotten about the 00's band. pretty nuts that it took them that long to get any stability on that front. it's not like Yes where they'd replace one member per album or whatever either, the 1969-1974 KC was really four different bands and then the Discipline era was something else entirely.

hence why talking about this band can be difficult. in general when most people refer to "King Crimson" they think of the 73-74 band. I had a shirt with the back cover of Red and someone told me they loved Crimson back in the day but thought the cover was referring to Discipline...he said "they had a red one, a blue one, and a yellow one", completely unaware of their first run.

ha! I love that era but it really does feel like a different band to me

great lyrics tho gotta give em that

― Pasty, British & Shit (wins), Thursday, May 23, 2013 1:49 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I assumed he was being very dryly sarcastic

You never can tell where KC fans are going to come down

not trolling, no, just assuming that all other fans will know immediately that I'm not in earnest. I was trying to prove your point!

I love it
There are a few lyrics here and there that I like.

that '70s video is great, just watching bruford play starless & bible black. i had forgotten how much i've stolen from him.

Also love that he's playing a four-piece kit. Suck it, other prog drummers.

his kit sounds amazing too.

Clang!

One of my favorite bits on the Great Deceiver is right before one track somebody screams "EAT YOUR HEART OUT BILLY COBHAM"

Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word ...

http://electricflower.ucoz.com/_bl/0/95868.jpg

Because any excuse is a good excuse:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYBTBv_h4CQ

In an interview Cobham once said he practiced his press rolls on a quarter placed against a wall, his sticks keeping it stuck there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYBTBv_h4CQ

So that quote is the second time I've heard mention of "Blue" which obviously never came to fruition. Does anyone on this thread know more of that story? Did it become something else later?

intriguing, could you elaborate?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9c/MilesDavisKindofBlue.jpg/220px-MilesDavisKindofBlue.jpg

huh, not caring much for bowie ('low' mainly and the earlier singles) i never knew fripp played guitar on 'heroes'. i'm not very familiar with it but i would have thought fripp's distinctive sound would have been noticeable.

my mind is still totally blown by him appearing on mr & mrs. introduced as "toyah wilcox's husband, robert" and then just a quick mention about him being a renowned guitarist.

The guitar on "Heroes" sounds pretty Frippy to me? In his more ambient mode anyway. He's all over Scary Monsters too btw.

Tbh, I'm kind of blown away by rock guys who can write, remember, and play all their repertoire WITHOUT writing it down.

Yeah, Fripp's distinctive sound is pretty evident to me on "Heroes", you sure know it is him, but he plays a lot less notes than when he solos full-on (so yeah, closer to him in ambient mode, somewhere in between ...).

i've listened to a fair amount of his soundscape stuff, i guess i just associate his sound with a lot more presence instead of wafting around atmospherically.

that guitar doesn't waft around atmospherically. it's the sound that carries the entire melody

hey, i'm just telling you, it seems wafty to me.

It's not like the guitar synth Soundscapes stuff but that main distorted line could have fit on Evening Star imo.

The "Heroes" line is pretty Frippy to me, though not as jagged as his other stuff, like on the Eno records or Scary Monsters.

It's not an Ebow!: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Oct04/articles/classictracks.htm

Here is the dreadful video for the dreadful single edit of Sleepless: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0OPmVg7l-s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0OPmVg7l-s

Yeah, Fripp never used the E-Bow for his sound. Just loud, precise swells of guitar.

Incidentally, the humming guitar line on "With Or Without You" is also not an E-Bow.