johnwhite's Full Review: The Concise King Crimson by King Crimson
The concise King Crimson does a very nice job of introducing you to this remarkably diverse and interesting "rock" band.
The first three tracks are from "In The Court Of The Crimson King." They are certainly progressive rock songs. Sadly, this bad part of this disc is that these three tracks are in dire need of remastering. But all the more excuse to buy their original album!
1) 21st Century Schizoid Man is KC's most popular track and starts of this disc. It's a blistering rock some with weird stop time, changing rhythms, and a saxophone solo of all things.
2) Epitaph is very grandiose, loaded with great drumming. In fact, all percussion on this disc is fab.
3) The Court Of The Crimson King is a mellotron fest.
4) Cat Food sounds like a jazz piece with great percussive flourishes.
5) Ladies Of The Road reminds me of Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite by The Beatles. There are points in both songs where the time changes to 3/4, and both make very plodding rhythmic use of the high hat. It starts off very slow with raunchy lyrics. The end nearly sounds like porn music but the wacky saxophone playing gives the song an abusive coda.
6) Starless [abridged] is soothing and eerie. I must admit that I love spooky music of all kinds from Gyorgy Ligeti to Lizst's "Grey Clouds" to this.
7) Red a nightmare riff. Play it three or four times and it will be stuck in your head for an eternity. Instrumental track.
8) Fallen Angel almost heads in one direction and changes within a few seconds of starting -- great stuff! Neat song about death in New York City.
9) Elephant Talk. This was almost too weird for me to instantly like. Took a while, now it's one of my faves. Belew's guitar work is enthralling.
10) This song has only six lines of lyrics, but they are used to great effect and they have a nice meaning. The guitar work sounds like it would have to be electronic to be possible, but it's all done by the hands of Fripp and Belew.
11) Matte Kudesai is okay. Light and fluffy. Weird lyrics but it beats most typical rock lyrics.
12) Took a bit to like Heartbeat. Very pop-ish feel. But hear the guitar work and it'll hook in your noggin.
13) One of my favorite KC tracks is Three Of A Perfect Pair. Great intro with a hypnotic, undulating pulse.
14) Stop time usage is great in Sleepless. Cool and creepy lyrics. Tony Levin is a bass god.
I bought this at a used CD store. (What a fool the seller was!) I was already curious about Crim before and heard a few tracks and liked them. (e.g. "One Time"). This disc solidified my love.
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