In the Court of the Crimson King
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| In the Court of the Crimson King | |||||
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| Studio album by King Crimson | |||||
| Released | October 12, 1969 | ||||
| Recorded | June-August 1969, Wessex Sound Studios, London | ||||
| Genre | Progressive rock, symphonic rock, psychedelic rock, experimental rock | ||||
| Length | 43:54 | ||||
| Label | Island Records (U.K.) Atlantic Records (U.S.) Polydor Records E.G. Records Discipline Global Mobile |
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| Producer | King Crimson | ||||
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| King Crimson chronology | |||||
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| Singles from In the Court of the Crimson King | |||||
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In the Court of the Crimson King (an observation by King Crimson) is the influential 1969 debut album by the British progressive rock group King Crimson. The album reached #3 on the British charts. The album is certified gold in the United States.[1]
The album is generally considered by many to be the launching point of progressive rock where blues-oriented rock was mixed together with jazzy and European symphonic elements. The Who's Pete Townshend was quoted as calling the album "an uncanny masterpiece".[2]
The album was remastered and re-released on vinyl and CD several times during the 1980s and 1990s. The original stereo master tapes were finally located in a Virgin Records storage vault in 2003, leading to a much improved remastered CD version released in 2004.
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[edit] Album cover
Barry Godber (1946–1970), an artist and computer programmer, painted the album cover. Godber died in February 1970 of a heart attack, shortly after the album's release. It would be his only painting, and is now owned by Robert Fripp.[3][4] Fripp had this to say about Godber:
Barry Godber was not a painter but a computer programmer. That painting was the only one he ever did. He was a friend of Peter Sinfield, and died in 1970 of a heart attack at age 24. Peter brought this painting in and the band loved it. I recently recovered the original from EG's offices because they kept it exposed to bright light, at the risk of ruining it, so I ended up removing it. The face on the outside is the Schizoid Man, and on the inside it's the Crimson King. If you cover the smiling face, the eyes reveal an incredible sadness. What can one add? It reflects the music.[5]
[edit] CD editions
The most recent CD version (described as the "Original Master Edition", DGM0501) was released in 2004 on Robert Fripp's Discipline Global Mobile label. This release has greatly improved sound over previous CD editions. Previous CD's released by Polydor and EG Records used copies several generations removed from the original stereo master causing a lack of clarity and excessive tape hiss. The stereo master tapes were finally rediscovered in the archives of Virgin Records in 2003 after they had been misplaced for over 30 years. 24 bit mastering was also utilized to enhance the sound. This latest edition also has a twelve-page booklet that includes pictures and press clippings from the period.
[edit] Track listing
[edit] Side one
- "21st Century Schizoid Man" (Fripp, McDonald, Lake, Giles, Sinfield) – 7:21
- "Mirrors"
- "I Talk to the Wind" (McDonald, Sinfield) – 6:05
- "Epitaph" (Fripp, McDonald, Lake, Giles, Sinfield) – 8:47
- "March for No Reason"
- "Tomorrow and Tomorrow"
[edit] Side two
- "Moonchild" (Fripp, McDonald, Lake, Giles, Sinfield) – 12:13
- "The Dream"
- "The Illusion"
- "The Court of the Crimson King" (McDonald, Sinfield) – 9:25
- "The Return of the Fire Witch"
- "The Dance of the Puppets"
[edit] Personnel
- Robert Fripp – guitar
- Ian McDonald – flute, clarinet, saxophone, vibes, keyboards, mellotron, vocals
- Greg Lake – bass guitar, lead vocals
- Michael Giles – drums, percussion, vocals
- Peter Sinfield – words, illumination
- Barry Godber – cover illustrations
[edit] Cultural References
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (May 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
- Howard Stern's band, "The Losers", have covered the song live on the air.
- The popular MMORPG EverQuest II based all of the Non-Player Characters in the zone The Court of Al'Afaz on characters in this album.
- The Stephen King book Insomnia references the title of the album several times throughout the book. It is quite likely that the Crimson King in his Dark Tower series is also named after the band/album.
- The Finnish doom metal band Reverend Bizarre named their first album In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend in a conscious homage to King Crimson.[citation needed]
- Black metal band Lurker of Chalice (a sideproject of Leviathan) have a track called "In the Court of the Crimson King Diamond" in a double homage to this album and the lead singer of Mercyful Fate; it appears on their second demo.
- "The Court of the Crimson King" is featured in a scene of the 2006 movie Children of Men.
- The prog-rock band Upsilon Acrux titled an album "In the Acrux of the Upsilon King".
[edit] References
- ^ RIAA: Gold & Platinum
- ^ King Crimson biography. Discipline Global Mobile (dgmlive.com). Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
- ^ Robert Fripp: Elephant Talk interview
- ^ BatGuano.com
- ^ Interview with Robert Fripp in Rock and Folk - ETWiki
