King Crimson: Classic Or Dud

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.

Well, I knew that was Michael Brook's 'infinite guitar'. I don't know too much about the technical details of that innovation but it's basically designed to do what an Ebow does, to allow notes to sustain indefinitely, right? I find it more striking that Fripp was able to calculate feedback at specific locations to such a precise degree that he was able to do this with a regular guitar and amp.

Because Fripp is a genius and Brook is a problem solver. But yeah, it does what the EBow does, but electronically, vs. physically. It just makes it all the more striking when you hear either Fripp's Frippertronics stuff with Eno, or something like his solo on "St. Elmo's Fire."

Someone should mash up Fripp's 'St Elmo's Fire' solo and John Parr's 'Theme from St. Elmo's Fire'.

Fripp's diary is entertaining for the occasional mysteries and cliffhangers. What is/are the "non-industry dispute(s)"? I gather one of them was a family squabble regarding the settlement of the Willcox estate following the passing of Toyah's parents. And then there was the one about some J.G. Bennett follower making money off of his name in ways that Fripp and others found objectionable.

And then this, after weeks of inactivity:

Oh no! Oh no! Coming down into the Cellar last night, jet-lagged, the external HD with my working files fell off the computer. El crumpo! down the stairs. Oh no! Oh no!

Not much I could do with this in the early hours, dribbling and pitiful, so rising at 10.00 and straight over to Bredonborough Computers. They called shortly afterwards: not. Terror! Horror! Awfulness arising!

........

The call has just come in: the second HD data recovery expert has been unable to recover data from the HD, but he is optimistic. Next step: off to the top-line characters.

Is The Writing Project derailed yet again? Will we never learn the true depth of Sam Alder's evil? Tune in tomorrow, or next week, or next month!

That which passes should upload to the cloud.

Fripp's latest diary entry hints at the possibility of KC on iTunes.

I've owned these albums on vinyl, cassette, CD, remastered CD, boxed sets, fan club CD, re-remastered CD, 5.1 DVD, so it's a relief to learn that I might one day own them on MP3 as well.

http://www.dgmlive.com/diaries.htm?entry=24091

Crimson Mk. VIII is go, apparently, a 3-drummer lineup including Bill Rieflin.

excellent

thats crazy, I thought for sure that Fripp was done for good with this

Huh. So who the hell is in this? He says four Brits and three Americans, so ... Belew, Rieflin, Levin? No more Pat? Who would the other two drummers be, then? Gavin Harrison and ... ? The other drummer would have to be British, too. Which still leaves two Brits, Fripp and ... ?

I guess Rieflin is the only confirmed member besides Fripp, with Tony Levin more than likely. Via Fripp 9/5: "Into the Cellar for an important call to T Lev. According to Tony, the call made his day, week and year."

I dont know what the logistics of such a lineup would be, is the idea to have a King Crimson UK and a King Crimson US? And to what extent will Steven Wilson be involved?

I think the likely UMG settlement after 5+ years of fighting is the bigger news, really.

I don't think Wilson will be involved, I imagine. At least not until they remix the new album in 5.1 in 15 years. But then the question remains, who are the three American and four Brits? Levin is a go, and Rieflin is a go ... I can't imagine Crimson without Belew at this point, though such a thing could be refreshing. Wilson could conceivably be great as guitar number two, and I can't imagine he could say no to being in Crimson.