King Crimson: Red

Red

Best song: Starless

Worst song: Providence

Overall grade: 6

Some people say King Crimson should have stopped here; should have gone out in a blaze of glory with this unrivalled masterpiece instead of degenerating into the relentless dissonant guitar jammings that defined their 90s work. Now, the existence of ‘Discipline’ means I will never share that view, but I can understand it. Crimson had achieved the impossible and had created a second record on the same level as ‘In the Court’, and they were quite plainly never going to do it a third time – plus, the idea that these two records could start and end their career was certainly a compelling one.

This record actually follows the same pattern as ‘In the Court’, interestingly. It has three great songs on the first side, followed by a pretty awful one at the start of side two, and then the best song of all to close. And if it wasn’t for that one terrible mess, I’d have no problem giving this album the top grade of 7. But ‘Court’ only achieved that because of its status as probably one of the top ten most influential albums of all time, and ‘Red’ doesn’t quite have that same legacy, so a 6 it remains.

The music here is the combination of everything this band have done, ever: it’s got the freshness of the debut and the feeling that it’s like nothing that had ever been heard before, it’s the amazing songwriting and heavy style of ‘Lark’s Tongues’ and the confidence and technical proficiency of ‘Starless & Bible Black’.

The title track opens the record and acts as a kind of instrumental overture, summing up the overall feel of the album: dark and eerie, not in an atmospheric way but in how tight and relentless it all is.  Track two, ‘Fallen Angel’ creates another parallel with the debut in being lighter in contrast and more lyrically/vocally based (no Greg Lake though, sadly) although don’t listen to it hoping for anything like ‘I Talk To The Wind’, because this one slowly descends into anarchy for its dissonant middle section, before coming up to the surface again as a brief respite in the next verse, before ducking back under for its big finish, which is angry and determined at the same time.

If you’re still not sold on my insistence that Bill Bruford is the best ever rock drummer, final proof comes in the form of ‘One More Red Nightmare’. Its purposefulness and precision sends a shiver down my spine. But my favourite part is actually the wacky guitar solo that starts about three minutes in, perfectly capturing the surreal terror of a nightmare.

‘Providence’ is a waste of vinyl space, plain and simple. ‘Moonchild’ on their first album at least had the redeeming quality that it began as a proper song for the first three minutes, but this one skips that part and heads straight for the aimless ambling around section. The only thing it has which improves on that other song is that this one is slightly shorter. People who like ‘Moonchild’: all this is your fault. I hope you’re happy with yourself.

But I promise you that as soon as it’s over you’ll have forgotten all about it, because it launches right into the culmination of Crimson’s career so far, ‘Starless’, a breathtakingly energetic and virtuosic piece of music that puts every second of its twelve minutes to good use. Officially, the band had been reduced to a kind of warped power trio by this point, but here they make use of lots of extra musicians (and a lot of overdubs) to create the dense texture that characterises this piece. It’s obvious that Fripp intended the piece to be a summary of his career thus far, its jazzy sections giving a nod to ‘Lizard’ and its heavy use of Mellotron a throwback to ‘In the Court’/’In the Wake’, even while it goes further than they ever have before in its dramatic mood changes and constant messing with your mind. I have no problem calling this one of the best, most well-arranged songs I’ve ever heard.

This is absolutely essential listening for everyone. You might not be quite the same afterwards, but it’ll be worth it.