IT'S THE KING CRIMSON EPICS POLL

As much as I love "Thela Hun Gingeet", it's gotta be ...Schizoid Man.

You know, I nearly left that out of the poll.

Wow. Very difficult. I went with "Starless" - you can't front on that shit.

I went with "Fracture" but this is damn near impossible. ALL Crimson is epic.

I went with Sailor's Tale, but I'll probably spend the next half hour listening to various songs and questioning that choice.

Starless

THRAK deserves a vote, and now it has one.

Bet it won't get two, though.

I have big love for Thrak (the whole album), and I rate it over any of their 80s work or anything they've done since. But the '69-'74 era just destroys.

eh? Where's Trio? as soon as I saw the thread title I knew thats what I'd vote for.

I suppose Jethro Tull epics are coming next...maybe Gentle Giant and Van Der Graf Generator soon to follow

Gentle Giant epics, heh.

Trio's only 5.5 minutes and imh doesn't really qualify as an epic. Drawing a line is the biggest problem with subjective polls like these.

just know that whatever we vote for, Robert Fripp still doesn't approve of us

Fripp approves of three things: 1. A series of dot points, covering arguments that probably overlap; 2. each of those dot points being broken down into (a) subpoints like this (b) and this (c) and this, and sometimes (i) going (ii) even (iii) further; and 3. using exubriciously long words in order to portevey the overlanguible impression that he is hypererudite and therefore knows what the fuck he's banging on about.

"We're not talking about Discipline tonight."

He goes on a lot about "using music" too. Good luck to him, but until music can fix my car it stays on the stereo.

Ah shit, now the document I'm writing is all coming out in Frippspeak. "You may wish to invoke the application by selecting the 'Login' option from the rightmost menu bar."

"I thought this was Columbia University"

Fortunately any intellectual argument with Fripp can be won by saying "whose wife went on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here?"

I feel like some huge structured improv is missing from this list. Or an improv that was later layered in the studio. I mean 'Starless and Bible Black' made the list.

these days, larks' tongue IV is geting a lot of spins. fripp's solo on that one is ludicrously good.

"Court Of The Crimson King". No doubt.

"Starless," y'all!

I feel like some huge structured improv is missing from this list. Or an improv that was later layered in the studio. I mean 'Starless and Bible Black' made the list.

-- CaptainLorax, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 19:08 (4 hours ago) Bookmark Link

That was a mistake, sorry.

I would have voted for "Exiles", but it's not on here (deserves to be).

starless

Exiles is a great tune.

Yes, it's pretty much between "21st Century" and "Starless". I voted for the former, because it is pretty damn flawless and very inventive (plus, it's maybe the only song where Peter Sinfield's lyrics were actually good :) ).

I still haven't voted yet BECAUSE I CAN'T. So much of this is so incredibly good.

Larks Tongues part 1=\m/ \m/

This is a tough one--Sailor's Tale & Fracture come close, but the winner on this list MUST be Larks Tongues' I.... the winner not on this list is "...Is There Life Out There?", the most massive improv on the Great Deceiver box.

Should be a separate poll for KC impros inc. most of Thrakattack.

These songs have a studio or live version 9:00 or longer. I tried to pick ones that could be considered epic. There's several versions of some of these songs but I'm referring to the longest versions. These songs aren't really improvs even though some of them have noodling.

69-74
Mars (9'42) - early incarnation of "The Devil's Triangle"
A Man, A City (12'21) - early incarnation of "Pictures of a City"
Travel Weary Capricorn (11'06)
Get Thy Bearings (18'10)
Groon (17'49)
The Creator has a Master Plan (15'26)
Trees (18'41)
...It is for you, but not for us (9:10)

80s
Indiscipline (live at Cap D'Agde - 12'31)

90s
Monster Jam (8'38)
Tony's Jam from the Nashville Rehearsals (12'59)

00s
The Deception Of The Thrush (11'10)
Virtuous Circle (10'00)
Zoom (22'03)

I don't have beef with this poll because I don't think these songs are as great as most of the others in the poll and most people haven't heard these songs anyways (and I don't know if all the ones I listed have that epic quality to them). Anyways, if you are a collector you should at least find versions of the 68-74 songs on this list because they are jamtastic to say the least.

by the way, my tag on slsk is Thrakk most the time. Maybe some of yall seen me around.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ok whoever just voted for 'the construkction of light' just voted for a song which contains the lines

"And what am I?
A speck of lint
On the penis of an alien"

which are the worst lines in the history of music. i hope you're proud.

The vocoder use on those later albums is pretty much unforgivable.

All the love for the Red album is interesting, in a good way.

The vocoder use on those later albums is pretty much unforgivable.

Better the vocorder than Belew's actual singing.

I can live with these results. I voted Starless.

I spun Starless at my Dj night last night. Gave me a new respect for that track.

The album version of Starless sucks. Seriously, the sax aint no good on it.

The improv - The Rich Tapestry of Life (29:49) - '72 is quite good

Which collector's club obscurity am I going to have to torrent for that one?

1972 - 10 - 17 the beat club, bremem kccc03

One More Red Nightmare 0

huh?

Well, the lyrics are kinda silly, even for Crimson.

lyrix are overrated

agreed

I want to correct myself here

The album version of Starless sucks. Seriously, the sax aint no good on it. ― (2 years ago) CaptainLorax

These songs have a studio or live version 9:00 or longer. I tried to pick ones that could be considered epic. there's several versions of some of these songs but I'm referring to the longest versions. These songs aren't really improvs even though some of them have noodling. - (1 year ago) CaptainLorax

"the devil's triangle" is fucking awesome / was robbed in this poll

Starless is basically the greatest fucking thing ever made right up until that fucken saxophone kicks back in (at 9:11). It's still good after that, but the build-up into that alarm-tone guitar deserves a far, far greater payoff. What a build-up, though - just incredible music

Weirdly, my favourite song of all time, Moon In June, employs a similar-feeling break to that at 9:11 of this song, but manages to make it revelatory - it just doesn't fit here imo

KC has some real good epics. It's been posted before, but this is a killer take on "In the Court of the Crimson King". The spanish trumpet on it would make this seem like a tune Gil Evans could have done a killer version or place in a Spaghetti Western or Dirty Harry soundtrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX-aPJ6AB4w

Starless is basically the greatest fucking thing ever made /right up until/ that fucken saxophone kicks back in (at 9:11). It's still good after that, but the build-up into that alarm-tone guitar deserves a far, far greater payoff. What a build-up, though - just incredible music.

That live clip floating around of "Starless" on French TV features a pretty gnarly violin solo, still think I prefer the sax from the album version though. Pays me off just fine. Pretty cool that Mel Collins is back in the band, but the inclusion of Jakko feels kind of "Cruise to the Edge" to me, I dunno, desperately hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

starlu
ssssssssaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNDD

Only one vote for Fracture? what the fuck people

I don't actually consider "Red" an epic -- just a really good KC song. "Starless and Bible Black" either, just a long improv.

peak moment of all KC for me: when the fast section of Starless stops, Fripp restates the slow melody from the opening of the song-- and Wetton's picked bass just comes roaring in on that one repeated note like a fucking land whale

do do deeeeeeee
do do do do do deeee

do do do
BROMMMM BROMMMM BROMMMM BROM BROM BROM BROM

sorry it's not Fripp but the sax that Wetton is responding to. 11:27. Are you fucking kidding me with that bass.

It's funny that the climax of the prog-est tune ever is just hammering on a single note. Adam Clayton could play it.

Weston is such a brute on these records, it's incredibly beneficial

Wetton

being a nerd with much free time in college allowed me to transcribe this song. It may have caused me to hate the middle section for a time too

http://dominiqueleone.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/IMG_3982.jpg

fucking land whale

otm

I really love the Unthanks version of "Starless"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTEqXH9dB2g

Definitely Fracture.

Send good thoughts to Wetton -- he's pretty poorly.

would still edit out 9:11-10:28 of the song, cut straight from the wonky alarm bit back to the faster screaming guitars. we don't need a sax solo

you have no idea what you need

i need perfection

god plays the soprano saxophone, my friend

under certain circumstances, for sure, but there are times when one might prefer to hear a guitarist and a bassist devouring one another

The soprano saxophone is the worst instrument on Earth.

Unless it's in the hands of Evan Parker.

or Lora Logic

Send good thoughts to Wetton -- he's pretty poorly.

Cancer.

or lol coxhill

Are you fucking kidding me with that bass

Otm

is "One More Red Nightmare" possibly the most danceable King Crimson tune?

the weird clapping sound kinda drives it

The verses and chorus are in 4/4, but the clapping part is in some form of triple time, so I guess the dancers could start waltzing then?

eh? Where's Trio? as soon as I saw the thread title I knew thats what I'd vote for.

― Sandy Blair, Tuesday, November 27, 2007 12:09 AM bookmarkflaglink

agree with it not being an epic as it's too short, but holy wow, what a beautiful piece of music.

Cirkus AND Larks 1 got played live last night, of course the night I'm not there. and they're two songs in a rotation that they've been swapping out