King Crimson: Classic Or Dud

My sense is that Belew has never been fully resolved as to whether he is a solo artist or a Crimson guy.

In his book, Bruford identified this as a problem with the group.

...or with Belew in the group.

I like Belew a lot but I'll be perfectly frank: he was vitally important to the 80's incarnation (which I love) but I liked his input less and less after that. I think THRAK has great stuff on it but he's responsible for some of the worst things on the last two albums.

people who enjoyed Belew's tenure had many many years to enjoy it and see them live. People who didn't got a few years here without him. In all liklihood, Crimson as anyone knew it is now over for good. I'm sure there will be further offshoots in the future of different combinations of players (Belew, Mastoletto, Levin) that people will get to see and hear.

"Starless" from the final gig of the final tour, in Japan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laKt80x0E4k

And posted this morning, two minutes of isolated Bruford & Wetton from Asbury Park '74:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3nDJAru9_4

Listening to Pete Sinfield's Still. This is even more of a curio than the McDonald and Giles album, and it's no surprise he has never followed it up.
At first, I was put off by his singing, until I realized it's an unexpected bridge between the tweeness of Robin Gibb and the sarcasm of Howard Devoto (though not simultaneously). His attempts at country ("Will It Be You") and rock 'n' roll ("Wholefood Boogie") are attempts.
Still, I mean nonetheless, there are some very interesting dramatic ballad/production numbers here, this may be the best:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YcxrelCdpw

Did any ILXors see the KC documentary that premiered at SxSW? The "turn that fucking camera off" teaser trailer and what little I've read have me interested. The only review I've seen so far was at National Review, of all places.

Title track on Still is kinda funny - Greg Lake guests and his vocals are (obviously) so much better than Sinfields

Always loved the tune “Under the Sky” though the GG&F version is way better

reviews for the doc have been great across the board (I didn't see it yet, hope it gets distribution soon). I was disappointed to read initially that it's only 90 minutes long, and doesn't include many (any?) full song performances, but it's not like this last version of the band isn't well represented in that way.

I was disappointed to read initially that it's only 90 minutes long, and doesn't include many (any?) full song performances

I am the opposite of disappointed to learn this.

Yes, documentaries don't need to fill the role of clip compilations or concert movies.

I was wondering last night why Sinfield and McDonald, whose partnership predated Crimson, didn't continue to write together afterwards. They obviously esteemed each others' work enough to revisit it on their solo records ("Under the Sky" and "Birdman").

both of them were kind of semi-retired by that time; I actually thought Sinfield left the business entirely after Love Beach but apparently he collaborated on a #1 single by a pop band called Bucks Fizz? crazy that anyone would tab him at all for that kind of music.

https://filmmakermagazine.com/113724-toby-amies-king-crimson/#.Yjnpvy-cbUI

Just found this -- whets my appetite even more after a quick read.

Still poking my head into the later years of King Crimson and I picked up a CD copy of The Compact King Crimson the other day when I saw a copy at a local shop. What a weird little compilation! 8 of the 12 tracks are from the early 80's trilogy of albums (with a full 5 from Discipline alone!) and the remaining four are all from the debut. Just weird that nothing released between those albums is represented at all.

That's a great interview. Based on that I really want to see the movie, but I also think I'm gonna wait for the Blu-Ray and dive into as many extras as possible.

Sinfield wrote the lyrics for Celine Dion's "Think Twice"! Probably made him more money than his entire prog career, even with a sizeable publishing cut no doubt going to her management.

I happened across a 1978 interview with Wetton and Bruford which contained some fairly scathing commentary on Fripp:

Do you think that some of the bands you've worked with in the past have had a more conceptual outlook than UK? I'm thinking of Yes, Genesis and Crimson. I would imagine that Robert Fripp's ideas of what he's going into the studio to record are close to what he comes out with at the end of an album session.

JW: Robert? No, no way.

BB: No, you see there again there is this big misconception about him.

JW: He didn't go in with the concept of In the Court of the Crimson King. That was between Ian McDonald and Pete Sinfield.

BB: That had more to do with Foreigner than Fripp in many ways, because of McDonald. There was this conception that Robert did everything, which I have to scotch for you. There was something about his manner on stage which gave him a sort of autocratic feeling and I spend my life saying that he didn't necessarily do that much. He certainly didn't say a lot.

It was also a time when the axeman ruled generally in groups.

JW: Yes, the guitar was at a peak. He certainly didn't go into the studio with a concept. That's right out of the window, forget it.

I mean that does seem fairly obvious if you actually listen to how radically their sound changed from one album to the next. Fripp was arguably the least important guy on In the Court! When Wetton and Bruford joined the sound revolves around them. From the 80s on Belew did pretty much all the actual songwriting. Not a dig on Fripp but the dude doesn’t strike me as someone who could pull off a solo record without getting a lot of help (Frippertronic stuff aside)

ha, well yes see Exposure for proof of that theory

Although, to be fair, what "concept" there is to Exposure seems to be Fripp's entirely.

Also, Fripp has never been the one insisting or even suggesting he’s the most important person in the band. Which, FWIW, neither Wetton nor Bruford accuse him of in that interview.

I thought this was awesome. Fripp apparently was offering recorded messages recently (quite a few artists seemed to do that during the pandemic, probably as a way of making up the income lost from not touring), and here's what he did for one guy:

My son is a huge fan of King Crimson and Robert Fripp. He and his wife recently had their first child, my first grandchild, and I decided to buy one of these personal greeting videos that have become quite popular. I sent a few bullet points for Robert to record a message for my son and his wife to welcome their daughter and about a week later got a two minute video from Robert and it was fantastic. He made the greeting very personal, he played his 1959 Les Paul and gave a little bit of the history of that guitar including what albums he had used it on.

He ended by playing Happy Birthday to our granddaughter in a bit of a King Crimsonesque style on the Les Paul. My son was ecstatic, as was I. Robert came across as a very genuine person who cares about his fans.

when I got into KC it seemed to be common knowledge that Fripp was a dick but I realize now that he's just strange.

his dickishness is a put on from everything I've heard from people who have worked with him.

except belew

true but from everything I've gleaned about this, belew is kind of wrong. dude wanted more money, others in the band to be paid as sidemen and wanted to be the front man. that wasn't in the cards going forward.

Full story too long to tell right now but about 7 years ago I spent about a week with him as we were both working on a musical endeavor involving Toyah.

He was absolutely one of the sweetest, kindest, funniest, and outright strangest dudes I've ever met. The week ended with us getting wasted on margaritas and him telling my girlfriend the history of the Fripp family in England dating back to 1500 AD or so. One of my fondest memories.

thats amazing!

Wow!

Debating about whether to see the documentary in a theater on Monday (part of a film festival), or just wait until it's on a streaming service. Tbh my main concern is that my wife won't enjoy herself (since she has never heard KC, a band with famously few female fans).

everything I've read about this doc is that it's enjoyable for anyone, aand given that there actually isn't a huge amount of performance in it, I would hope that would make it easier to watch. I've sensed that a fair amount of it is about Bill Reiflin.

I saw him do a small solo show back in the late 90s, and he did a Q&A after. He was very funny, like it was almost close to a stand-up comic performance, not at all what I would have expected, very dry and British, but very, very funny.

My wife got me a Fripp recorded video for Christmas 2019, it's lovely. They're still available.

King Crimson sure don't sound like they are getting ready to break up on 'Absent Lovers'. That is an amazing live record. I'd say one of the big expectations is just how good Tony Levin's vocals sound with Belew on the record. They definitely could pull off that drony harmony live on those tracks. Interesting thing on the vocal lines is that they are some types like the rhythm guitar of the track, holding down single root notes while the guitars do the spider web riffs around the chords. It is definitely one of KC's best recordings.

I'm really curious about all the late period live records as King Crimson is definitely one of the rock bands that has LOTS of live records completed and released. There has to be at least 10 since they got back together in the 90s, not counting those get the show after the show type CD truck recordings.

Get Radical Action… It’s amazing. A live album (3CD set) with all the crowd noise removed and serious reworkings of the material. Essential, I think.

At least one poster was interested in seeing the top ten lists included in Pete Tomsett's Fifty Shades of Crimson. I'm typed out now so I'll comment later:

King Crimson Tracks

Fracture
Lizard
Starless
Sartori in Tangier
The Court of the Crimson King
B’boom (live 1994)
The Sailor’s Tale (live 2014)
Red
The Night Watch
Walking On Air

Fripp solo or collaboration tracks

20th Century Dreaming (Sylvian/Fripp)
Sometimes God Hides
Breathless
I Advance Masked (Fripp/Summers)
The Stars Below (Fayman/Fripp)
Invocation (League of Crafty Guitarists)
Exposure
Heavenly Music Corporation (Fripp/Eno)
1989
North Meadow (Giles Giles & Fripp)

Other Crimson members’ solo or collaboration tracks

Hawaii (McDonald)
Exiles (Cross with Wetton)
C’est La Vie (Lake)
Hell’s Bells (Bruford)
Wings in the Sunset (McDonald/Giles)
Pelican Pie (Haskell)
Pretty Pink Rose (Belew)
In the Dead of Night (UK including Wetton and Bruford)
One of These Days I’ll Get an Early Night (Camel including Collins)
A Part and Yet Apart (Bruford’s Earthworks)

Appearances on other artists’ tracks

Baby’s on Fire (Eno with Fripp and Wetton)
St. Elmo’s Fire (Eno with Fripp)
The Great Curve (Talking Heads with Belew)
‘Heroes’ (David Bowie with Fripp)
Kingdom Come (Bowie with Fripp)
I Don’t Remember (Peter Gabriel with Fripp and Levin)
Listen Now (Phil Manzanera with Collins)
The Last Three Minutes II (Ten Seconds with Fripp)
Firth of Fifth live (Steve Hackett with Wetton and McDonald)
Nightmare (Anthony Phillips with Mike Giles)

good call on "I Advance Masked", possibly Fripp's best solo which is saying a lot

North Meadow for GGF, what a weird pick! Interesting lists tho.

I had never seen this video, but it's a great document of how the various pieces fit together, at least at this stage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1Eavhxlqd8

Two of the tracks from that show made it to the DVD in the Beat reissue. According to the book, Belew and Fripp were at each others' throats just weeks before this, over the mixing of the album.

Live in Mexico City (99) recorded 96
the ProjeKcts (99) recorded 97-99
Heavy Construcktion (00) recorded 00
Vroom Vroom (01) recorded 95-96
Elektric Live in Japan (03) recorded 03
Live at the Orpheum (15) recorded 14
Live in Toronto (16) recorded 15
Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of the Monkey Mind (16) recorded 15
Live in Chicago (17) recorded 17
Live in Vienna (18) recorded 16
Meltdown: Live in Mexico City (18) recorded 16
Audio Diary 2014-2018
Music is our Friend: Live in Washington and Albany 2021

That's quite a bit and there have been a few more archive releases.

all of the post 2014 albums have something to recommend them, though I guess on the whole either Radical Action or Meltdown are the best of the bunch. There are some terrifyingly good performances on Music is our Friend too.

Meltdown is good, but I really like dipping in and out of Audio Diary (it's a 5CD set!). Haven't heard Music Is Our Friend. Hate the title too much.

agree that was a dumb name for the last tour. that said the version of Schizoid Man on it is on fire, one of a few places where it sounds very evident they were aware this was the last outing.

"20th Century Dreaming” - I'm at least as big a Sylvian fan as I am of Crimson, and this is probably the track that best combines their approaches from heavy prog to ambient. This (or something else from The First Day) is Fripp's best "song-oriented" music since 1981.

Here's what I'd personally include in each of Tomsett's categories:

King Crimson Tracks:
- “In the Wake of Poseidon” or the “Devil’s Triangle” suite

Fripp solo or collaboration tracks:
the Exposure version of "Here Comes the Flood”

Other Crimson members’ solo or collaboration tracks:
- “A House of Hopes and Dreams” by Peter Sinfield (also featuring Lake and Collins)

Appearances on other artists’ tracks:
- Bruford on “Real and Defined Androgens” by Annette Peacock
- Fripp on “Wave” by David Sylvian
- Fripp on “Hammond Song” by the Roches

I saw one of the ProjKCt shows in Cincy @ Bogarts. It was a trio and Belew was playing drums. He might have done something on guitar at one point in duo with Fripp in the gig.

Belew and The Bears used to play in Bloomington back in the late 80s/early 90s a bunch but I never went to check them out. I'm guessing being that close to Cincy, those were live shows they could make happen.

Anyone going to the "speaking" tour with Fripp and KC's manager? It's like a pricey Q&A (Fripp is NOT playing his guitar, not even to answer a musical question) in smaller venues. I'll probably skip it (a Labor Day sale still pegs back-of-the-room tickets at $60 at one venue) but I wouldn't mind seeing a free livestream.

Yeah, I was planning to go, but not at that price, and not in this economy. I am, however, excited to finally see the documentary whenever it finally gets a proper DVD or Blu-Ray release

You’d think that buzz would have led to a distribution or theatrical-release deal, but not so, as Fripp tells RS. “In terms of presentation, we’ve done everything good advice would tell us to do — to go to respected film festivals and have it be well received. Then the next assumption is distribution, and the obvious culprits would seem to be Netflix or Disney or Amazon. But there has been no significant interest from that area. There’s been some interest, but it’s been pitiful.”

Lol at Disney. But clearly this boils down to money.

glad to have a ticket to see the film for its single screening in Sydney next month!

Anyone going to the "speaking" tour with Fripp and KC's manager? It's like a pricey Q&A (Fripp is NOT playing his guitar, not even to answer a musical question) in smaller venues. I'll probably skip it (a Labor Day sale still pegs back-of-the-room tickets at $60 at one venue) but I wouldn't mind seeing a free livestream.

I bought pricey tickets to this when a friend texted me about him "playing" while I was stumbling home drunk one night. Then I realized it was a Q&A. So yes, I'll be going.