In the Court of the Crimson King

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In the Court of the Crimson King
In the Court of the Crimson King - 40th Anniversary Box Set - Front cover.jpeg
Studio album by King Crimson
Released 10 October 1969
Recorded 21 July – 21 August 1969
Studio Wessex Sound Studios, Highbury, Islington, London
Genre Progressive rock
Length 43:53
Label Island
(original UK release)
Atlantic
(original US release)
Producer King Crimson
King Crimson chronology
In the Court of the Crimson King
(1969)		 In the Wake of Poseidon
(1970)In the Wake of Poseidon1970
Singles from In the Court of the Crimson King
  1. "The Court of the Crimson King"
    Released: 1969
  2. "Epitaph" / "21st Century Schizoid Man"
    Released: 1976

In the Court of the Crimson King (subtitled An Observation by King Crimson) is the debut studio album by the British rock group King Crimson, released on 10 October 1969. The album reached number five on the British charts, and is certified gold in the United States, where it reached #28 on the Billboard 200.[1]

The album is generally viewed as one of the first works to truly embody the progressive rock genre, where King Crimson largely departed from the blues influences that rock music had been founded upon and mixed together jazz and classical symphonic elements. In his 1997 book Rocking the Classics, critic and musicologist Edward Macan notes that In the Court of the Crimson King "may be the most influential progressive rock album ever released".[2] The Who's Pete Townshend was quoted as calling the album "an uncanny masterpiece".[3] 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".[4] The album was named as one of Classic Rock magazine's "50 Albums That Built Prog Rock".[5]

The album was remastered and re-released on vinyl and CD several times during the 1980s and 1990s. All of these versions were based on tape copies that were several generations removed from the originals. The original first-generation stereo master tapes were thought to be lost, but were finally located in a storage vault in 2003. This led to a much improved remastered CD version (see below), released in 2004.

Once again, in time for the album's 40th anniversary, the album was re-released both on vinyl and CD with newly cut masters approved by guitarist Robert Fripp. The CD/DVD set includes a stereo and 5.1 mix done by Steven Wilson, as well as the original mix.

Album cover

Barry Godber (1946–1970), a computer programmer, painted the album cover. Godber died in February 1970 from a heart attack, shortly after the album's release. It was his only album cover and the original painting is now owned by Robert Fripp.[6][7] Fripp had said about Godber:

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Peter brought this painting in and the band loved it. I recently recovered the original from [managing label E.G. Records'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.[8]

Production details

King Crimson made their live debut on 9 April 1969,[9] and made a breakthrough by playing the Rolling Stones free concert at Hyde Park, London, in July 1969 before an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 people.

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-track recorder at Wessex Sound Studios in London, engineered by Robin Thompson and assisted by Tony Page. 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.

Some time after the album had been completed, however, it was discovered that the stereo master recorder used during the mixdown stage of the album had incorrectly aligned recording heads. This misalignment resulted in a loss of high frequencies and introduced some unwanted distortion. This is evident in certain parts of the album, particularly on "21st Century Schizoid Man". Consequently, while preparing the first American release for Atlantic Records, a special copy was made from the original 2-track stereo master in an attempt to correct some of these anomalies. (The analog tape copying process usually results in generation loss). From 1969 to 2003, this second-generation "corrected" copy was the source used in the dubbing of the various sub-masters used for vinyl, cassette and CD releases over the years. The original, "first-generation" stereo masters, however, had been filed away soon after the original 1969 mixdown sessions. These tapes were considered lost until 2003.

Critical reception and legacy

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 5/5 stars[10]
Robert Christgau D+[11]
Mojo 5/5 stars[12]
Rolling Stone favourable[13]

In the Court of the Crimson King initially received mixed reactions from critics. Robert Christgau called the album "ersatz shit".[11] Rolling Stone was favorable, writing that "[t]hey have combined aspects of many musical forms to create a surreal work of force and originality".[13]

The album has since attained a classic status, with Allmusic praising it "[a]s if somehow prophetic, King Crimson projected a darker and edgier brand of post-psychedelic rock" in its original review by Lindsay Planer and calling it "definitive" and "daring" in its current review.[10]

In 2014, readers of Rhythm voted it the eighth greatest drumming album in the history of progressive rock.[14] 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.[15]

CD editions

LP and CD re-issues during the 1980s and 1990s by Polydor and EG Records were taken from tape copies several generations from the corrected stereo sub-master tape. This resulted in a lack of clarity and excessive tape hiss. Several different remastered CD versions were released in this period while attempting to make the best use of the tape recordings that were available.

Virgin Records released a 30th-anniversary 24-bit remastered edition in 1999.

The first-generation stereo master tapes for the album were finally rediscovered in a storage vault in 2003. A 2004 HDCD version (described as the "Original Master Edition", DGM0501) was released on Robert Fripp's Discipline Global Mobile label. This release has greatly improved sound over previous CD editions. Modern digital technology was used to repair high-frequency problems caused during the original mixing sessions. This edition also has a twelve-page booklet that includes pictures and press clippings from the period.

With Fripp's collaboration, Steven Wilson remixed the original 8-channel master tapes to into a 5.1 Surround Sound and new stereo mix, and a 40th-anniversary edition was released on 12 October 2009.[16][17] There are three different versions: a two-CD set containing the old and new stereo versions, a CD+DVD set with the surround and new stereo mixes, and a six-disc (5CD/1DVD) box containing all versions as well as related studio and live material.

Track listing

All songs written by King Crimson, except "I Talk to the Wind" and "The Court of the Crimson King", written by Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield:

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "21st Century Schizoid Man"
  • "Mirrors"  
 7:24
  • 2:06‑5:47
2. "I Talk to the Wind"   6:04
3. "Epitaph"
  • "March for No Reason"
  • "Tomorrow and Tomorrow"  
 8:49
  • 3:58‑5:17
  • 6:58‑8:49
Side two
No. Title Length
4. "Moonchild"
  • I: "The Dream"
  • II: "The Illusion"  
 12:13
  • 0:00‑2:26
  • 2:26‑12:13
5. "The Court of the Crimson King"
  • "The Return of the Fire Witch"
  • "The Dance of the Puppets"  
 9:26
  • 4:16‑5:33
  • 7:20‑9:26

Personnel

King Crimson
  • Robert Fripp – guitars, production
  • Michael Giles – drums, percussion, backing vocals, production
  • Greg Lake – lead vocals, bass guitar, production
  • Ian McDonald – woodwinds (saxophone, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet), keyboards (mellotron, harpsichord, piano, organ), vibraphone, backing vocals, production
  • Peter Sinfield – lyrics, illumination, production
Production
  • The original album featured the following credit: Produced By King Crimson for E.G. Productions – ' David & John'. David Enthoven and John Gaydon were the founders of EG Records, both of whom left the company during the 1970s. CD reissues of the album dating from the 1980s removed any mention of 'David & John'; the original full credit was restored in 1999 at the insistence of Robert Fripp.
  • Recorded and engineered by Robin Thompson and Tony Page (also assistant engineer)
  • Barry Godber – cover illustrations[18]

Charts

Chart (1969) Peak
position
UK Albums (OCC)[19] 5

Trivia

The album cover is painted on a wall in the 1987 Troma Entertainment film Surf Nazis Must Die.

The album is referenced in the Venture Brothers episode "Perchance to Dean". Dr. Venture introduces Dean to progressive rock, and Dean says: "What's this one with the face?" To which Dr. Venture replies: "You're not ready to step into the court of the Crimson King. At this stage in your training, an album like that could turn you into an evil scientist."

References

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  1. ↑ RIAA: Gold & Platinum
  2. ↑ Macan, Edward (1997). Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-509888-9, p. 23.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Q Classic: Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, 2005.
  5. ↑ Classic Rock magazine, July 2010, Issue 146.
  6. ↑ Robert Fripp: Elephant Talk interview
  7. ↑ BatGuano.com
  8. ↑ Interview with Robert Fripp in Rock and Folk – ETWiki
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Relevant portion also posted at Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ DGM news
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ "King Crimson | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved 9 December 2015.
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