Ranking my 10 favourite KING CRIMSON albums
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- Опубликовано: 23 дек 2024
- Andy is a drummer, producer and educator. He has toured the world with rock legend Robert Plant and played on classic prog albums by Frost and IQ.
As a drum clinician he has played with Terry Bozzio, Kenny Aronoff, Thomas Lang, Marco Minneman and Mike Portnoy.
He also teaches drums privately and at Kidderminster College
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The problem with In the Court is Moonchild. The four first minutes are OK but after that you fall into an infinite boredom. Well, 8 minutes.
Exactly....
Adrian Belew fronted King Crimson is my favorite era, highly recommend Adrian Belew's solo albums like Side One, Two and Three. His first two are great too but the "Side" albums are quite an experience. He really shows his talent and it even feels like it meshes well with king crimson discography
I will check those out. I nearly put Twang Bar and Rhino in this list as an honourable mention. I love those albums
Completely agree.
Belew is a good bloke.
What a great list! Nice to find a fellow KC lover that doesn't rank the first four albums.
And golly did I share that 90s excitement for VROOM. I loved that EP so much. Thrak was a bit of a disappointment after that although I grew to love it too.
I'll never forget seeing KC in 1995 at Town Hall in NYC. I'd never believed I'd see them live and I was so excited I nearly exploded.
Great videos!
All the best stuff on Thrak was on VROOM so it was a disappointment
Thrak was a disappointment after the ep, the ep had better versions on it for me🙂
I first heard Discipline, Beat, and Three Of A Perfect Pair only a few months ago, and I haven't stopped listening to them since. They are brilliant.
I agree that Lark's Tongues is utterly brilliant-- for a long time I considered it MY favorite-- but eventually I relented and decided In the Court of the Crimson King is my favorite. "Moonchild" with the extended improv is in my top 5 KC songs of all time. And the solo portative organ segment (mellotron? calliope? ) during The Court of the King Crimson is one of my favorite keyboard moments in prog.
I used to go to the basement in a Fulham Palace Rd cafe, to see my mates rehearse with their band. Another band also rehearsed there and their kit was stored in the passage way.
I asked my mates who the other band was, and they said, their name is stencilled on some of the covers, so I went and looked and saw a Mellotron with King Crimson stencilled on the cover on top of it. I went back and said to my mates, they've got a Mellotron, so they'll never make it. A year later, I was spending my hard earned on their concerts and album.
Agree with the top three, but not sure on the order. I think it's a three way tie.
The power to believe, 2003, is an excellent album that should be on your list!
So pleased you’ve included Vrooom, Andy. I’m with you. When I saw KC had produced something new, after a massive hiatus and without fanfare, I was delighted - and playing the disc in no way disappointed.
Love it. I nearly agree with all your choices. I think Fracture may be my fav Crimson tune ever. Red however is pure genius, Bruford is amazing on One Red Nightmare. Glad to see Beat so high on your list.
I saw them at Manchester Poly in spring 81, when they were still calling themselves Discipline.
Supported by The Lounge Lizards.
Best concert I've ever been to, despite the hippys calling for Epitaph when there clearly wasn't a mellotron on stage.
They did Red, with Levin's Chapman Stick doing the cello part. Amazing.
Great list. It is certainly possible to come up with a different list, but not a better list.
3 versions of the Stones & KC. The 11 studio albums are the essentials through the Lake, Belew/Levin, Trey Gunn eras.
I am a devotee of the Discipline, Beat, Sleepless incarceration, but you have me expanding my horizons now. Lovely presentatio. I know personal experience plays intro opinions and critical analysis, but that’s all part of the fun!
Could swap the top five around, depending on the day of the week 😉 Crimson make my brain wiggly, great list, love it
Just watched some of your top ten lists and then this pops up on my side bar,you have a new subscriber just because of this video.
So I was 14years old,round a friends house when his older brother walks in and plonks a brand new album on the Grundig radiogram.
What's this?
I sat there entranced,never heard anything like it before and from that day onward my taste in music changed completely.
It was 1969,that album was Court Of The Crimson King.........And to this day is still my favourite album of all time.
Great video Andy.
Wunderbar talk Andy. I especially appreciate the inclusion of Fripp’s Exposure.
I find your taste in music mirror’s mine in an uncanny way. I have many friends who are also Prog / Jazz Fusion fans, but I have never heard anyone speak about this time in music that I agree with more than you.
I think Robert Fripp and Frank Zappa are the only two who had the unstoppable creativity to navigate from the 1960’s music consumer and music industry to absolutely incredible music so many years after their groundbreaking early recordings.
I like how you mention that much of Starless is live. According to Bruford, in his autobiography, the record company wouldn't let them release a live album, so they went ahead and recorded their live improvs and took out all the audience noise.
Red is such a quality piece of work and i have really grown to appreciate The Power To Believe .. as the last, to date, studio album .. for any group to create with such quality and consistency is incredible
Dig Me......But Don't......Bury Me, i wanted that license plate frame ever since i heard that song.
I respect your opinion. No reason I shoukd get ‘fluffed’ because of it. I really love Beat. It’s a beautifully produced recording with great tunes. Belew brought a focus very much need by the group.
Yes indeed. Beat is brilliant.
What do you think of the more recent live albums that revisit the 69-74 era? I think they’re pretty great.
my favourite is the Absent Lovers live album- I can't get enough of the 80s band. Very interesting list!
I only have their albums up to Red so it was interesting to hear your opinions on the ones I haven't heard, thanks. The only other album I have is the one by Robert Fripp and David Sylvian. Only played a couple of times so I'm not sure about it yet.
Spot on! I would have Discipline at #1 but otherwise completely simpatico. AND! I noticed Exposure in the background immediately because it's been sitting next to my turntable for the last 6 months. Brilliant list, thank you.
Are you crazy, Andy? In the Court of the Crimson King is an all-time classic! You have to love it! ;)
Ha Ha...so is In a Silent Way George!!! I do like it, just not as much as the others. Even ones not on my list like Constukction I like more than that one...
See what you started George ? 😂😂
@@blamelouis lol. Right? Brazenly anti-establishment fellows
I was wondering if you'd chime in, lol. BTW, when you said you liked the first and last tracks, and not much at all in between... I thought: FINALLY someone got it right ;-)
@@wagstaff6135 Epitaph is good but I never listen to it. I Talk to the Wind and Moonchild are pretty much products of their time. There is sosmething groundbreaking on that album but nly really on Schizoid Man. Even the last track is just traversing areas covered by The Moody Blues perhaps. Yes the tunes are extended but other band had done this at that time.
That's also my list. Including Exposure.
Lark's Tongues in Aspic was also my first KC album.
Wow, incredible coincidence.
Fascinating just so great to see USA in there , something about that recording the Bruford/Wetton axis which Fripp dubbed ‘the flying brick wall ‘ . The version of LTIA pt 2 is thunderous
Yes it is....what a track!!!!
Was at that Asbury Park show ... terrible weather 🌧️🌧️🌧️🌬️🌬️🌬️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 inside
Yes 😊
What about Lizard? What are your thoughts on that?
I saw you on SOT and I really like your opinion and love listening to you talk music. I love music so much. My mother always said if I knew my school work like I know music I would be a lawyer or something. Anyway thanks for your knowledge
Awesome! Thank you!
Alot of my friends back in the Day.
Far as Prog .
It was YES, RUSH, TULL . FLOYD.
I gravitated toward KING CRIMSON
ZAPPA early GENESIS PETER GABRIEL ERA.
Crimson to me was Jazz influenced
Metal , Folk .
Fripp approach was like Zappa.
Multiple Lineups.
It keep things fresh.
Music comes first.
My Favorite Era is Wetton Bruford
Cross Muir .
But Disipline record is special.
RED , LARKS, BIBLE BLACK
And of course that first Lineup.
ITCOTCK was the first one that grabbed me many years ago.
It's a One off.
If you look at the whole body of work.
King Crimson is right up there.
Finally, someone got it right. Your list pretty much how I rank them.
Discipline is my second favourite Album of all time, just a little bit behind my number one, which is Moving Pictures by Rush. The 80s Crimson are my favourite incarnation of the band. I also bought Vroom on the day of its release. I agree with you about Fripp‘s Exposute album. To me Breathless seems to be the missing link between the tracks Red and Vroom. I saw the 90s double trio live a couple of times. Incredible!
So here‘s my top 10 studio albums:
1. Discipline
2. Lark‘s Tounges in Aspic
3. Red
4. Beat
5. Three of a Perfect Pair
6. Vroom
7. Thrak
8. The Construction of Light
9. The Power to Believe
10. Starless and Bible Black
I thought I was going out on a limb with some of these comments but people are agreeing. And glad you are a fellow Vroom fan...that was a big deal to me when that came out
of the 3 80's KC records - Discipline gets most of the love - and its one of my favs also - I do like its follow-up 'Beat' quite a bit also - mainly for the one track 'Sartori in Tangier' - which IMO is the single best thing the 80's KC line-up did.
@@billyz5088 It's their most catchiest song!
Larks is my favorite as well. Beyond metal... brilliant characterization.
My first exposure to KC was, inevitably ITCOTCK but it was part of a Polydor 'Doubleback' lp release with Larks Tongues. I ended up playing Larks Tongues far more often. I love Larks Tongues. I agree with your sentiments with regards to the rest of the earlier albums (Poseidon and Lizard) but I have a soft spot for Islands. I need to listen more critically to understand why. I agree that Red and Starless are superb. Discipline was a shock to me when it came out and is just a fantastic album. Beautiful melodies such as Frame By Frame and Mate Kudasai mixed with raucous elephant bellowing. I was blindsided. The intricate guitar interplay is superb and The Sheltering Sky has to be my favourite KC track. It's utterly sublime.
It's always interesting how different someone else's list can be, especially if it's presented in a genial manner like this.
I used to think I was a fan but I only have four now: Lizard, USA, Islands and Red.
Yep, saw the preview of Larks end of 1972 in the Zoom Club. Astonishing stuff with Muir on percussion and even Cross on flute.
Indeed, they seemed to be influenced by Mahavishnu Orchestra, which I saw earlier that year.
Following from your intro - and your guitarist video - how did any of these not get on your DoD selection?
The Sylvian and Fripp album "Damage" is a serious favorite of mine. "God's Monkey" on that album has my absolute favorite Fripp guitar solo on it. "A Scarcity of Miracles" is (to me) perhaps the most front-to-back listenable thing Fripp has ever done. "Waiting Man" from "Beat" is probably my all-time favorite Crimson song.
Hi Andy
Thanks for your list of favourite KC albums. I would have placed Court of the Crimson King in my Top 5, but otherwise I agree with your list. I don’t have any of their live albums so will definitely get USA album.
I saw the 90s KC. Unbelievable concert. I feel Steven Wilson's remix of Lizard is fantastic...and it influenced The Raven That Refused to Sing.
I only ever saw them once, and as luck would have it, they were at the time promoting their latest album, namely "Larks Tongues in Aspic".
I seem to remember them having not 1 but 2 Mellotrons on the stage. One was for Robert Fripp's use, when not playing the guitar. I don't remember who used the other. At the time we considered this cutting edge of course.
Jamie Muir was the amazing percussionist to join Bill Bruford in the rhythm section.
Frankly, they were the performers I homed in on. So that was 50 years ago give or take and I still rate "Larks" to this day, along with Beat and Red as my personal Crimson favourites. 👍🏻
correct about 2 Mellotrons; the other one was played by David Cross, when not playing violin (or the electric piano that sat atop his 'Tron.) Fripp also had his painted black -- so, black guitar, black keyboard, black guitar -- and Cross's was white, as was his suit. I sense a theme here... ;)
Brave man doing a Top Ten of KC! I think, to a large extent, it depends on when you 'entered' the Crimson world. I was in my early teens when 'Court' appeared and still feeling a bit lost after the break-up of the Fabs and it offered me hope, of a sort. I duly bought 'Poseidon', 'Lizard' (with Jon Anderson! just when I discovered the Yes Album) and Islands and then drifted away a bit. I recently bought those early ones again on CD with nice packaging. It was 'Discipline' that blew my mind, really - I was listening to Steve Reich, Gamelan stuff, Police (incl the Summers/Fripp collabs) and then suddenly a whole new KC turned up again out of the blue . . . amazing! I signed up for one of the first Guitar Craft courses in 1985 and got to spend a week with him and a dozen or so other guitarists in Charleston, Virginia - an absolute treat, Robert is a gentleman and a scholar! Love his solo Frippertronics stuff, the collabs with Sylvian and great to see him having so much fun with Toyah and their Sunday hi-jinx.
Totally get it...I'd have all Bruford albums in my top 5 as well...but Starless & Bible Black would have been my #1. I love that record. Wore the cassette out...to the point it was unlistenable
I recently saw a rumour (probably?) that Robert Fripp was asked to join Yes to replace Peter Banks! Not sure if it would have worked, but wow, imagine how it would have sounded…….
Cool list.
Red was my favorite album for years now it's The Power to believe followed by The Construkction of Light and Thrak , also I like A Scarcity of Miracles from the latest lineup.
can't wait for their new documentary.
I hope I can see it early enough to do a review...
No real quibbles here, but I would flip Red and Larks' Tongues in Aspic. For whatever reason, I bought Red before getting Larks' and Starless and Bible Black. Discipline was a shocker for me when I first heard it. I needed 4 or 5 listens before it started to click with me. I bought Security by Peter Gabriel within a week or two of getting Discipline. So for me, the two albums are linked. Having Tony Levin on both albums may be a factor in that.
R.I.P Ian McDonald - original member of King Crimson. Just a side note - Greg Lake and Gary Moore used to do good live versions of tunes from Court Of Crimson King album.
That Thrak sound came after touring with Tool 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Actually it’s the other way round. Thrak was released in 1995. King Crimson and Tool toured together in 2001.
I completely agree with your list and am glad you put Lark's Tongues above Discipline (even though the reality is that they're equally great - it's a slightly different multi-verse where that order would be reversed). The only difference in my list is that I'd put both USA and Beat ahead of Starless and Bible Black. I wore my vinyl copy of USA out when I was in high school and it remains one of my favorite records. SaBB still doesn't wow me as much as the others though - maybe because I discovered it later.
Ironically enough the 69-74 era crimson is my favorite and I completely agree about court haha! For me, it’s easily the weakest album of this period. However, we can’t deny it’s significance and influence on prog. I really dig the whole free jazz and the stravinsky/bartok influenced sound they had on the first four or so albums. I love the contrast between wild freak out avant garde and the mellower pretty crimson ballads. I think this era of the band really had a great balance of technique, emotion, and dynamics. You touched on this topic in another video and I couldn’t agree more with that! That’s one of the things I love about jazz and prog is the balance of mind blowing technique and emotion/philosophy. If I had to a favorite pre larks tongues album its Poseidon or Lizard for me. Although I only really love cirkus and lady of the dancing water and side 1. The first three albums imo have some of Fripps most interesting and underrated acoustic playing, particularly Poseidon and Cirkus. It’s cool to hear all of his crazy whole tone/diminished licks being played on acoustic. Think it really fit that whole sound of the band early on. Great channel man absolutely subscribed, been looking for a channel that dives deep into the jazzier fusion side of prog! Funnily enough Fripp and Mclaughlin always were similar to me in a way, with their whole approach. Both approached guitar playing from a whole different perspective than anyone else at the time. I would add Holdsworth and Steve Howe too. No pentatonic scales haha although John definitely had a bluesy vibe to his playing and that’s what single handedly got me into jazz.
Would be great to do a video on all the classic era guitarists who did not just play pentatonic blues licks. Those four would definitely be in there. Steve Hackett, Phil Manzera, Pete Townsend, come to mind too
Concur with your KC/Mahavishnu comment. Big KC fan here but the thought of selling off Lizard brings me to tears.
Very nice list, love seeing in it USA, un unbelievable live álbum, so disruptive. Asbury park maybe the definition of controlled chaos.....And i believe you have a point by saying that Larks Tongues in aspic is more a Journey than an album. Perhaps an one way journey . Thats the way it really feels, even after so many years.
Top 10 for me
1. Best tracks from The Great Deceiver Live Box Set
2. Larks Tongue in Aspics
3. Red
4. Starless and B Black
5. The Court of the Crimson King
6. Lizard
7. Islands
8. In the Wake of Poseidon
9.Discipline
10. Beat
Crimson fan since the 70s but I'm not quite as into their heavy atonal side after LTIA. This is maybe a more conventional list:
Discipline
Larks' Tongues in Aspic
Thrak
In the Wake of Poseidon
In the Court of the Crimson King
Red
Lizard - Bolero is one of Crimson's best IMO
The Power to Believe
Starless and Bible Black
Ladies Of The Road, live 1971-1972
I would have put Exposure in there too.
I'm going to go pretty close to your list. I never quite connected to the 90s KC so the 1973-1984 period, as you rank them is exactly spot on for me. Thank-you for placing Starless & Bible Black at 4th.
As you say, this is a "favourite's" list. TCOTCK is arguably their most important album just because of it's context in 1969 but that doesn't require it to be a "favourite" given how much amazing music they have done over the years.
Fantastic list. Starless and Bible Black is probably my favorite. Although I love the 80's and 90's bands. I've never heard USA, I'll check it out.
1 - Islands 2 - Lizard 3 - Red 4 - In The Court of Crimson King 5 - Lark's Tongues in The Aspic 6 - Starless & Bible Black 7 - In The Wake of Poseidon 8 - Discipline 9 - Thrak 10 - Three of a Perfect Pair 11 - Beat 12 - A Sense of Occasion 13 - The Construction of Light
12 - The Power to Believe...
Ok, I'm not going to be popular here...
I happened to stumble upon King Crimson only because I was a huge fan of Bruford and I jumped on "Discipline" because he was on it. I don't know if or when I would have discovered KC or Adrian Belew if it werent' for this. Having said that, "Discipline" is easily one of the most important records released in that decade.
From there, I dug all the records up to Level Five. I really enjoy Construcktion of Light and have come to appreciate Pat Mastelotto's drumming (did I read somewhere that he re-recorded his electronic drum parts with acoustic?) I've only dabbled in the pre-Discipline records. Maybe I'll revisit some of the ones mentioned today.
Oh yeah - love Vroom
hi Andy, certified Crimsoholic here and of course I've bought all of their albums. Agree with your choices for the most part, in terms of what I listen to most. Also -- what with your being a fan of Thrakattak and Starless and Bible Black and their brand of improvisation, I wonder how much of the ProjeKcts you've checked out? Some of that stuff is quite brilliant, and it actually kind of picks up (stylistically as well as chronologically) where Thrakattak left off.
Great list. can't get it down to 10 but if I had to 1. Red 2. USA 3. Lark's Tongues 4. Starless 5. In The Court 6.Power to Believe 7. Discipline 8. Beat 9. Lizard 10. Zoom I agree they were the heaviest of all bands, only Yes came close on a couple of albums (Close to the Edge and Relayer) and Peter Hammill on a few songs (In The Black Room, Forsaken Gardens, A Louse Is Not a Home are probably the heaviest songs I have ever heard). None of the metal bands were heavy to my ears.
For me, it's hard to rank the top five exactly, but they would be Red, Discipline, Starless and Bible Black, Larks' Tongues in Aspic, and Three of a Perfect Pair (again, not necessarily in that order); then 6. Beat, 7. In the Wake of Poseidon, 8. In the Court of the Crimson King, 9. Lizard, and 10. Islands.
KC is One of my favorite prog bands, definitely top 2, Either them or Yes
King Crimson is the best band in the world, it surpasses the notion of band, it's more like an umbrella they have a certain way of doing things, it's not always for the best but still every Ablum Got something special, it's not a band you can form or reforme, it's philosophy and a spirit.
My pedestrian ears still want the debut in the Number 1 spot. Thumbs up anyway, though. (And they (=Robert Fripp) added the Vrooom EP to the 2019 vinyl edition of "Thrak".)
If you like 80s Crimson check out Fripp‘s 1981 album The League of Gentlemen. It sounds like it's the demos to 80s Crimson.
Yes I had that many years ago. It's fantastic
There is also an official live bootleg of The League of Gentlemen. It came out at the end of the 90s and is called Thrang Thrang Gozinbulx.
Great video. Thanks
Had a problem with the 80s crimson - maybe because the 70s was so important to me. Will have to give 80s another listen as while I don’t like Belew - his songs are beautiful - I can sing so many of those songs.
Would give more love to Lizard and Island.
Larks was so influential on me. So great number one.
Also a shout out to Tom Phillip’s design for S&Bb - gorgeous.
What about Nightwatch - the concert starless arose from?
If you like the Starless and bible black, you have to like also The Nightwatch double live cd. I miss it in your best 10.
There's Starless stuff played live in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. I think it's better than the USA album.
Huge fan...interesting take for me, as i'm clearly not as into jazz fusion, and i guess i lost my faith in live albums a long time ago, except for Grateful Dead...i suppose i should re-investigate....
11. Construcktion of Light
10. Power to Believe
9. Discipline
8. Thrak
7. Lark's Tongue in Aspic
6. In the Wake of Poseidon
5. Red
4. Lizard
3. Starless and Bible Black
2. Islands
1. In the Court of the Crimson King
Starless and Bible Black is my no.1
almost aligned, I'm 100% for the 80's band and have almost no interest on the 70's period (apart from some of "Red") AND after the 80's...but I love the band and how it operates. Also, RF's "Exposure" is a true, true, true masterpiece.
If Exposure was a KC album it may well be near the top spot....
To each their own. Epitaph and the title track along with Schizoid Man are a triple threat that is hard to be beat. But Red is my favorite.
Wooooow. Epitaph is my favourite song and ITCOCK my favourite album 😂😂😂
I might have to put Thrakattack higher; I love (LOVE) The Gread Deceiver 4 disk set more than you do. But I "grew up" with USA and wouldn't want it replaced, either. I have a conundrum about what to do with the magnificent live "Absent Lovers" vs. the three 80s records, though I'm in complete agreement that Discipline > Beat > Three of Perfect Pair... As far as the contours of which period is preferred over others, where they got less interesting again, observations about some specific members... I'm in agreement with you pretty closely!
The Great Deceiver is fantastic but sprawling. I haven't got Absent Lovers but many have mentioned it so I need to check it out I think....
"In the court of the crimson king" is one of the most important rock albums but the original mix always sounded pathetic to me, the Steven Wilson remix sounds great and it is also my least favorite Crimson album. Huge fan of the band especially of their 80s and 90s albums. Red is my absolute favorite. It's jazzy, heavy, and "Providence" and "A journey to the center of cosmos" go straight in some free and Avant jazz territory. Fripp's body of work is enough for a Ph.D. thesis. Great video as always. Looking forward to the Steve Vai video Sir.
Thanks Rohit....I'm glad you agree about Court :)
Curiosa selección, y respetable, aunque nunca puede estar fuera de los cinco primeros "In The Court...".
Por otro lado, creo que se valoran muy poco en general "Lizard" y "Islands", especialmente el hecho de que todo lo compone Fripp; sobre todo esa maravilla que son la dos primeras partes de la suite Lizard: Prince Rupert Awakes y Bolero.
"Lizard" is nutty cool.
They're all cool... even "Islands."
"Exposer" is fantastic as well as the punk, poppy first "League of Gentlemen."
Fripp produced the first couple of the Roches albums
and a Daryl Hall stand alone.
Check 'em out kids... they move to a smooth groove.
Peace on earth.
Well, this is my favorite band ever. I was actually a collector of records and bootlegs. (In the early internet era). My favorite era is the 72-74. I'd argue that live they were the best band ever -- only Mahavishnu would touch them. (Indicentally, Bruford and Wetton were huge fans of Herbie Hancock's band). In fact, if a genie asked me for three wishes, one of them would be being in Amsterdam at the Concertgebouw, 11/23/73. The best live gig ever and source of a lot of the Starless and BB album.
Anyway, the 69-70 band would be a close second. Mike Giles was such an original drummer. (And because of this, I was surprised that you didn't enjoy ITCOTCK or ITWOP albums that much). The 71-72 era, close third.
Finally, I know they aren't "albums", but following from my argument above, my favorite recordings from KC are "The night watch" (Live at Amsterdam, 1973) and "The Great Deceiver" box set (Live 1973-1974). Absolute madness. The best ever.
Yea, live they were great.
I've got a bootleg from the early seventies recorded in Atlanta, GA.
It is stunning.
Peace on earth.
Great coverage of King Crimson and awesome rankings. They're one of the most important and iconic bands ever in the progressive rock genre who have made some of the most legendary music ever
1. USA
2. Red
3. In The Court Of The Crimson King
4. Larks Tongues In Aspic
5. Starless And Bible Black
6. In The Wake Of Poseidon
7. Thrak
8. The Construkction of Light
9. The Power To Believe
10. Beat
Construkction nearly made my list....Power I'm not so familiar with
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Power To Believe is a very dark and heavy King Crimson, highly recommended, it's really good
Interesting to hear your take on their albums, If I was to pick an order it would be discipline, beat, Red, Three of a perfect pair and Thrak, although if I included live albums Absent Lovers is fantastic, a real edge to the performances. I think that actually I am a fan of tracks from a lot of the albums but not all, so really it would have to be a playlist for me! The 80’s incarnation holds a special place as it assimilated new wave/post punk which really are my roots in music and the fact it wasn’t overly noodly, which as a listener bores the pants off me, not the same as a player, as you attempt to go on a journey.
I agree regarding their debut album, but I have to say Epitaph is a good track, alongside Crimson King and Schizoid.
Metal era KC apart from a couple of tracks leaves me cold also.
The irony of it is that I think their best music across all the incarnations are the pieces with the most discipline in them.
As a rhythm section Bruford and Levin were total gods!
I think I only really like a KC album if Bruford is on it....
The Night Watch is a fantastic tune
Good call -- that cello-ish guitar sound Fripp gets on his beautiful solo on that one changed my teenaged idea of what a guitar could sound like.
Good Stuff Andy!
Glad you enjoyed it
RIP Ian Mc Donald.
His Sax and 21st CSM and sure the Court - cover is the foundation of my KC history. Far away from your Top 10 Islands is my number one.
That may well be my least favourite!
80’s Crimson is fab…new wave prog pop
When I saw your no 10 choice I thought - OMG, that's brave , should have been on the SoT least favourite prog albums show so you could have backed up George - and I see George has commented below, which I have to say really made me chuckle. After getting over the shock that ITCOTCK could have even been left off your list and hearing your reasons for why you rated what you rated as being higher I have to say I get it. I dont personally agree, but on reflection ITCOTCK is quite the outlier in terms of the overall Crim catalogue, with Schizoid Man the one to properly tie it to the later work (I too have that Schizoid men CD, its bloody marvelous), and perhaps it should really be treated as a standalone. I personally think its a one off classic, and have been listeniong to it for the past 46 years, although I always skip the improv bit in Moonchild, as to me its just aimless meandering waffle, as opposed to the improvs that the Wetton line up did.
After Ian McDonald passed I reacquainted myself with his McDonald and Giles album and actually that with maybe one or two from Poseidon, is probably the more natural follow up to ITCOTCK. As it was Poseidon was nearly a replica of the first and then Fripp tried out a couple of different avenues with varying degrees of success, all the while builidng up to the 72-74 line up culminating in Red. It took me some time to come to terms with post 80's Crimson, but I saw the light as it were not too long ago and I now love those three Belew/Bruford/Levin outings. I'm still trying to come to terms with all that Thrak and Heaven and Earth stuff though as I've not invested much time in listening to those - when i first heard Thrak I found it to be a bit claustophobic so never took it any further back then.
Its worth checking the Thrak tunes on Vroom...the production is different...more rawer. I do like ITCOTCK. Just like all those other albums more.
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Thanks Andy - I have gone back to re listen to Thrak as its on Spotify, though Vroom isnt, and its a very pleasant surprise, as its not what I remember it as being - I think that when I first heard it, because I held fairly entrenched views about a lot of things that I've since learned was a bit of a silly thing to do, and because I've opened my ears so much , possibly as a result of discovering jazz and fusion in the early 00's, and doing an MBA that taught me how to think critically and ratyionally and not just blindly accept things without challenging them, I've become far more open to stuff that I previously wouldnt have given another thought to.
Although I had had ITCO since xmas 1975 I hadnt really ever got into any other Crim, which of itself I now think of as being pretty daft, until the Frame by Frame boxset came out which I bought because it had the ITCO songs on CD , however that set introduced me to a lot of great stuff up to Red , though I still didnt click with the post 80's material on it - however when Thrak came out I did decide to give it a try but didnt get on with it then so sold it.
Anyway after rambling on I guess you are never too old to learn to appreciate things you may once have disregarded or things you may once have never considered, and that can often be quite rewarding and if not at least you gave it a go. I suppose there is some truth in the old adage about becoming a bit wiser as you get older :)
I'm completely with you except I'm very surprised you didn't put Lizard in your top 10, being a Fusion fan. To me Lizard is one of the first RIO albums.
I've got all the box sets and if I could include those then Heaven and Earth with the Projeckts stuff would be in there, along with The Complete Larks Tongues, Road to Red and Starless boxes with loads of live improvised music. However, keeping to just the studio albums and nothing live, here's my list but it depends on my mood:
1 Larks Tongues in Aspic
2 Red
3 Starless and Bible Black
4 Lizard
5 The Power to Believe
6 Discipline
7 Thrak
8 Islands
9 In the Wake of Poseidon
10 In the Court of the Crimson King
Honorable mention yes, Exposure but also, The Construction of Light, David Bowie's Scary Monsters with Fripp's wonderful playing and Van Der Graaf Generator's H to He Who am the only one again with Fripp's guitar work and finally Talking Heads Remain in Light with Adrian Belew's playing.
Nice video and nice to see the love for Larks Tongues in Aspic, one of my favourite albums of all time. 👍
Just to add, seen Crimson live more times than I can remember, all line ups except the one in America with Gavin Harrison replacing the retired Bill Bruford. They are easily THE Best band I've ever seen live especially the last three drummer line up, just amazing.
I woulda thought that you'd like LIZARD.
Great list...im more red over disclipine maybe....
My first KC album was “Starless…” when it was released, and I worked backwards from there. ITCOTCK is of course a classic, but I remember (for some reason) liking “Lizard” a lot. My favorite era is definitely the Bruford/Wetton years. It would have been interesting had Jaime Muir hung around longer. The three huge box sets featuring this version of the band that have been released over the last decade or so are really great. I remember loving everything about “Discipline”, even if it was so different. I kinda think that “Beat” and “Three…” would have made a really great album if they had been combined. Just a personal opinion. I was able to see the band on the “Starless”, “Discipline” and “Thrak” tours, but didn’t get a chance to see the latest three drummer version. Hey, Andy, any thoughts on the triple drummer iteration? It would have been interesting to see how this band would have handled making a studio album.
Listening to this
🌞While I shave the chickens lips
10 should be 1
Honesty? No way! LOL
That was great. I was never a Fripp fan till adulthood. Too anal for me I liked the prog of Gentle Giant Yes Mahavishnu Nektar PFM Zappa. It took me years to appreciate Fripp after seeing the 70’s and 80’s versions I was hooked. I love Red and Discipline but I’m not that familiar with the newer stuff.
We disagree. I'm older than you are and I'm not enamored of the Belew era. My two favorite albums are Lizard and Islands. I'd then include the first two albums, followed by the Wetton/Bruford era. That gives me 7. for 8 I'd include the Live in Amsterdam bootleg from the LTIA tour. 9 would be USA, for 10, I'd include Beat. I never liked Belew's singing. I'd almost rather listen to Jon Davison or Steve Howe sing lead, and that would sound terrible. I also never understood the attraction for LTIA Part 2 and the song Red. I think they are the worst songs on their albums. They're too repetitive. I'd be surprised if they took longer to write than they do to play. Sorry for the contrary view.
I'd be appalled if a percussionist didn't rank Larks' Tongues at number one!
This video is going to cost me a lot of money, love the 80's Crimson, but there's a lot of albums I don't have......yet
If you like 80s Crimson check Fripps band League of Gentleman
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer I had that album back then, must get it again, I got all the Adrian Belew solo albums, all excellent, great video Andy thanks
Don't apologize for your personal taste 😁
Andy, you need to stop with the light weight stuff. You need to address the elephant in the room which is Gentle Giant.
Brilliant comment and you are going to get a long answer. All these bands I cover I have been listening to for many years. I discovered GG about 14 years ago. I went through the whole catelogue but I don't know it all intimately. So my take on GG would be this: First album is really good but there sound is a little in embryo. Then Aquiring the Taste through to perhaps Interview are masterpieces which I could not differentiate in quality. Is Octopus the best? Or Power and Glory? I love Freehand (a bit more fusiony?) I just could not call it. Missing Piece is good, Giant For Day isn't and Civilian is ok, a great indication of what 80s GG could have been...not their Moving Pictures, more their Grace Under Pressure. So I haven't quite got the angle for it. It would just be me going 'Brilliant, Brilliant Brilliant'. I have a friend who is a GG nut and I want to do the video with him. And I plan to do those type of videos when I get to 1000 subscribers and I have a Patreon in place. But don't think GG aren't in my sights...one of my favourite bands
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer thanks for the reply
Your number 2 is out of place.
Sacrilege !! Where is Lizard !