RED

i love this. i saw the subject "red", and i thought "king crison!", and i was right. yep, i love this album.

Before making such a conclusion, I'd suggest hearing Larks' Tongues in Aspic if you haven't already.

You'll survive (especially when you hear where that music went, which is mostly straight to Japan). Yet, I have to admit I had similar thoughts when I first heard that period of King Crimson. I waited 6 weeks for the record store near me to get that, and it was worth it.

I'm more partial to Discipline myself, but Red definitely runs a very close second. It's got a really muscular and mostly stripped down sound which means that I find it very hard to lump that album in with the previous ones, which were definitely more prog. Also, the lyrics on Red, even at their diciest, are nowhere near as bad as before (or maybe after, too, if you can't stand Belew's wackiness).

(can we have a sub-thread topic please please please: worst KC lyric?) (i am prepared to offer LADIES OF THE ROAD, esp. as Anna Rose is still not back)

I will back up M/S's selecktion. "Ladies of the Road" is vie sexist horror that even thin lizzy would hav thought a bit much I suspeckt.

http://www.davemcnally.com/lyrics/KingCrimson/Islands/

(it's on there somewhere)

Peter Sinfields lyricks did seem to have this awful combination of portentiousness and pretentiousness a lot of the time, but OTOH, I think he could come up w/some good, er, imagistic (?) bits which I like.

Red is a wonderful rekkid, I think. It's my favourite Crimson album, certainly, tho' I think "Lark's Tongues in Aspic" has some better bits, Red is def. thee better album. My favourite bit is right at the end of "Starless" where thee noisy/brow-furrowing instrumental sect suddenly turns into ROCK. I remember the first time I heard it, in the company of this geddy lee obsessive bass player I used to know. He listened to John wetton's bass playing and offered this "What he's playing....it's SHIT!@# b-but...it's fcking brilliant!@#" He repeated this over and over again. He was pissed, but, in vino veritas, or something like that anyway.

Probably influenced by reading this thread yesterday, I dreamed last night that I was frantically and passionately playing air guitar to "Red," to the shock and amusement of several friends. Fer chrissake, people - air guitar (!!). LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!! :)

The _Red_-era has some fine, fine stuff. Ever notice how the riff from "One More Red Nightmare" starts dangerously close to "Smoke on the Water"?

Question: is there a good alternate version of "The Great Deceiver"? I think the _S&BB_ version *screams*, but the live version on the _TGD_ box set is not as hot. I have the feeling that there's a live version somewhere that'll blow me away (like the _Cirkus_ and the blazingly fast _Epitaph_ take of "Schizoid Man").

Speaking of the Great Deceiver, that box is fantastic -- perhaps the best slice of the band available (if it is still available).

You should check out the Live in Argentina version of the song "Red," which I think is better than the original recording. (It's included on the "Sometimes Guide Hides" compilation, which is where I heard it.)

When I next see my new boss Chris Bohn (ha!) I will ask him exactly what he meant by saying that John Wetton is the Charlton Heston of prog rock.

"Said the straight man to the late man/Where have you been?/I've been here and I've been there and.../I've been in between" ("I Talk To The Wind") is pretty hard to beat, no?

And when oh WHEN are TOTP2 going to show KC, with Keith Tippett on piano, doing "Cat Food" in 1970? Someone must have a copy somewhere!