In the Court of the Crimson King
In the Court of the Crimson King (subtitled An Observation by King Crimson) is the debut studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson, released on 10 October 1969 by Island Records.[3] The album is one of the earliest and most influential of the progressive rock genre, where the band combined the musical influences that rock music was founded upon with elements of jazz, classical, and symphonic music.
For the song, see The Court of the Crimson King.Considered by many critics to be one of the greatest progressive rock albums of all time, it reached number five on the UK Albums Chart and number 28 on the US Billboard 200, where it was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Production[edit]
Composition[edit]
The song "I Talk to the Wind" was written for King Crimson predecessor group Giles, Giles and Fripp (the only song on the album for which this was the case), but was retained by King Crimson in order to show the group's soft side.[4] According to lyricist Peter Sinfield, the song was influenced by Joni Mitchell; in a 1997 interview, he said it is still his favourite lyric that he ever wrote.[4]
"The Court of the Crimson King" was written by keyboardist/woodwinds player Ian McDonald and Sinfield for their earlier group The Creation, and started as a country and western song before its final progressive rock configuration.[5]
Recording[edit]
Multiple sources state that King Crimson made their live debut on 9 April 1969 at The Speakeasy Club in London,[6][7] but King Crimson had played an earlier show in February 1969 at the Change Is club in Newcastle.[8] Sinfield describes the April Speakeasy concert as their second. Another concert at the Speakeasy Club circa August 1969, was disrupted by members of The Pink Fairies Drinking Club (including Steve Peregrin Took, hours before his flight out to the US for Tyrannosaurus Rex's August/September 1969 debut American tour) who were out celebrating the completion of Twink's solo album Think Pink.[9][10]
King Crimson opened for the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park, London, in July 1969, before an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 people, which brought them positive attention.[11][12]
Initial sessions for the album were held in early 1969 with producer Tony Clarke, most famous for his work with The Moody Blues. After these sessions failed to work out, the group were given permission to produce the album themselves. The album was recorded on a 1" 8-channel recorder at Wessex Sound Studios in London, engineered by Robin Thompson and assisted by Tony Page.[13] In order to achieve the characteristic lush, orchestral sounds on the album, Ian McDonald spent many hours overdubbing layers of Mellotron and various woodwind and reed instruments. In some cases, the band went through 5 tape generations to attain deeply layered, segued tracks.[14]
Legacy[edit]
The Who's Pete Townshend was quoted as calling the album "an uncanny masterpiece".[48] In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, the album came fourth in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".[49] The album was named as one of Classic Rock magazine's "50 Albums That Built Prog Rock".[50] In 2014, readers of Rhythm voted it the eighth greatest drumming album in the history of progressive rock.[51] In 2015, Rolling Stone named In the Court of the Crimson King the second greatest progressive rock album of all time, behind Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon.[1] The album is also featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[52] It was voted number 193 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[53]
Hip hop artist Kanye West used samples of "21st Century Schizoid Man" in his song "Power", from his 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. In a 2022 lawsuit by Declan Colgan Music Ltd, the owners of the mechanical licence for the song, they claimed that West had sampled it without a licence.[54]
King Crimson
Production