King Crimson are a
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...
band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of
classical,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
,
folk,
heavy metal,
gamelan,
industrial,
electronic,
experimental music
Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...
and
new wave. They exerted a strong influence on the early 1970s progressive rock movement, including on contemporaries such as
Yes
Yes or YES may refer to:
* An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no
Education
* YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US
* YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talent ...
and
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
, and continue to inspire subsequent generations of artists across multiple genres.
The band has earned a large
cult following
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
.
Founded by
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a sessio ...
,
Michael Giles
Michael Rex Giles (born 1 March 1942) is an English drummer, percussionist, and vocalist, best known as one of the co-founders of King Crimson in 1969. Prior to the formation of King Crimson, he was part of the eccentric pop trio Giles, Giles ...
,
Greg Lake
Gregory Stuart Lake (10 November 1947 – 7 December 2016) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP).
Born and ...
,
Ian McDonald and lyricist
Peter Sinfield, the band initially focused on a dramatic sound layered with
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. ...
, McDonald's saxophone and flute, and Lake's powerful lead vocals. Their debut album, ''
In the Court of the Crimson King'' (1969), remains their most commercially successful and influential release, with a potent mixture of
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
, classical and
experimental music
Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...
. Following the sudden simultaneous departures of McDonald and Giles, with Lake also leaving very shortly afterwards, Fripp and Sinfield assumed direction of the group for ''
In the Wake of Poseidon'' (1970), ''
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia altho ...
'' (1970), and ''
Islands'' (1971) with
Mel Collins,
Boz Burrell and
Ian Wallace among the band members during this period. In 1972, Fripp changed the group's instrumentation and approach, drawing from European free improvisation, and developing ever more complex compositions. With
Bill Bruford,
John Wetton,
David Cross
David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series ''Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/ Netflix sitco ...
and briefly,
Jamie Muir
Jamie Muir (born 1943 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish painter and former musician, best known for his work as the percussionist in King Crimson from 1972–1973.
Biography
Muir attended the Edinburgh College of Art during the 1960s, and began play ...
, they reached what some saw as a creative peak on ''
Larks' Tongues in Aspic
''Larks' Tongues in Aspic'' is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock group King Crimson, released on 23 March 1973 through Island Records in the UK and Atlantic Records in the United States and Canada. This album is the debut o ...
'' (1973), ''
Starless and Bible Black
''Starless and Bible Black'' is the sixth studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson, released in March 1974 by Island Records in the United Kingdom and by Atlantic Records in the United States. It carries over most of the same ...
'' (1974), and ''
Red'' (1974). Fripp disbanded this group in 1974.
In 1981, Fripp and Bruford reformed King Crimson with another change in musical direction. The new group also included
Adrian Belew and
Tony Levin
Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer, specializing in electric bass, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (since 1 ...
. They drew influence from African music,
gamelan,
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-r ...
and New York
minimalism
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Do ...
. This group lasted three years, resulting in the trio of albums ''
Discipline
Discipline refers to rule following behavior, to regulate, order, control and authority. It may also refer to punishment. Discipline is used to create habits, routines, and automatic mechanisms such as blind obedience. It may be inflicted on ot ...
'' (1981), ''
Beat'' (1982) and ''
Three of a Perfect Pair'' (1984). Following a decade-long hiatus, Fripp revived the group as a sextet he called the "double trio" in 1994 adding
Pat Mastelotto and
Trey Gunn. This group participated in another three-year cycle of activity that included the release of ''
Thrak
''Thrak'' (stylised in all caps) is the eleventh studio album by the band King Crimson released in 1995 through Virgin Records. It was preceded by the mini-album '' Vrooom'' in 1994.
It is their first full-length studio album since ''Three of a ...
'' (1995), and multiple concert recordings. There was a hiatus between 1997 to 2000. Four members of the previous sextet reunited in 2000 as a more
industrial-oriented King Crimson,
called the "double duo", releasing ''
The Construkction of Light'' (2000) and ''
The Power to Believe
''The Power to Believe'' is the thirteenth and final studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson. It was released on 4 March 2003 through Sanctuary Records and met with generally favourable reviews, with several critics appreci ...
'' (2003). After a five year hiatus, the group expanded (in the person of new second drummer
Gavin Harrison
Gavin Richard Harrison (born 28 May 1963) is an English musician. He is best known for playing with the progressive rock bands Porcupine Tree (2002–2010; 2021–present), King Crimson (2008, and 2014–present) and The Pineapple Thief (20 ...
) for a 2008 tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of their 1968 formation.
Following another hiatus (2009–2012), during which Fripp was thought to be retired, King Crimson came together again in 2013; this time as a septet (and, later, octet) with an unusual three-drumkit frontline, and new second guitarist and singer
Jakko Jakszyk. This version of King Crimson continued to tour from 2014 to 2021, and released multiple live albums, rearranging and reinterpreting music from across the band's entire 50-year career for the first time.
History
Formation
In August 1967, drummer
Michael Giles
Michael Rex Giles (born 1 March 1942) is an English drummer, percussionist, and vocalist, best known as one of the co-founders of King Crimson in 1969. Prior to the formation of King Crimson, he was part of the eccentric pop trio Giles, Giles ...
and his bassist brother
Peter, pro musicians in working bands since their mid-teens in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
, England, advertised for a "singing organist" to join a group they were forming.
Fellow Dorset musician
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a sessio ...
– a guitarist who neither played organ nor sang – responded, and
Giles, Giles and Fripp was born. The trio recorded several quirky singles and one eclectic album, ''
The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp''. They hovered on the edge of success, and even made a television appearance, but were never able to make a commercial breakthrough.
Attempting to expand their sound, the three recruited
Ian McDonald on keyboards,
reeds and woodwinds. McDonald brought along two new participants: his then-girlfriend, former
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...
singer
Judy Dyble, whose brief tenure with the group ended when the two split,
[ Retrieved on 12 June 2009.] and lyricist, roadie, and art strategist
Peter Sinfield, with whom he had been writing songs – a partnership initiated when McDonald had said to Sinfield (regarding his band Creation), "Peter, I have to tell you that your band is hopeless, but you write some great words. Would you like to get together on a couple of songs?"
Fripp, meanwhile, saw
Clouds
In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid drop (liquid), droplets, ice crystals, frozen crystals, or other particulates, particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. ...
at the
Marquee Club
The Marquee Club was a music venue first located at 165 Oxford Street in London, when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. Its most famous period was from 1964 to 1988 at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, and it finally closed ...
in London which spurred him to incorporate classically inspired melodies into his writing, and utilise improvisation to find new ideas.
[ Retrieved on 4 September 2007.] No longer interested in Peter Giles' more whimsical pop songs, Fripp recommended that his old friend, fellow guitarist and singer
Greg Lake
Gregory Stuart Lake (10 November 1947 – 7 December 2016) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP).
Born and ...
could join to replace either Peter or Fripp himself. Peter Giles later called it one of Fripp's "cute political moves".
According to Michael Giles, his brother had become disillusioned with the band's lack of success and departed before Fripp suggested Lake to fill Peter Giles' position as bassist and singer.
1968–1969: ''In the Court of the Crimson King''
With Fripp, McDonald, Michael Giles and Sinfield joined by Lake, the first incarnation of King Crimson was formed on 30 November 1968. They first rehearsed on 13 January 1969.
Sinfield coined the band's name in "a moment of pressured panic". Sinfield had already used the term "crimson king" in a set of lyrics before his involvement with Giles, Giles and Fripp. Though King Crimson is often assumed to be a synonym for
Beelzebub—prince of demons, Sinfield insisted that a "crimson king" was any ruler during whose reign there were "societal rumblings" and "sort of the dark forces of the world".
According to Fripp, Beelzebub would be an
anglicised
Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...
form of the Arabic phrase "B'il Sabab", meaning "the man with an aim", to which he related.
At this early point, McDonald was the primary composer, with vital contributions from Fripp and Lake, while Sinfield wrote all the lyrics on his own, and also designed and operated the band's unique stage lighting, being credited with "words and illumination" on the album sleeve. Inspired by
the Moody Blues, McDonald suggested the group purchase a
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. ...
keyboard, and this became a key component of the early Crimson sound. Sinfield described the original Crimson thus: "If it sounded at all popular, it was out. So it had to be complicated, it had to be more expansive chords, it had to have strange influences. If it sounded, like, too simple, we'd make it more complicated, we'd play it in 7/8 or 5/8, just to show off".
King Crimson made their breakthrough on 5 July 1969 by playing
the Rolling Stones free concert at
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is a Grade I-listed major park in Westminster, Greater London, the largest of the four Royal Parks that form a chain from the entrance to Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, via Hyde Park Corner and Gre ...
before an estimated 500,000 people.
The debut album, ''
In the Court of the Crimson King'', was released in October 1969 on
Island Records
Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anothe ...
. Fripp would later describe it as having been "an instant smash" and "New York's
acid
In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a se ...
album of 1970" (notwithstanding Fripp and Giles' assertion that the band never used psychedelic drugs).
Who guitarist and composer
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s.
Towns ...
called the album "an uncanny masterpiece."
The album contains Sinfield's
gothic lyrics and its sound was described as having "dark and doom-laden visions".
Its opening track "
21st Century Schizoid Man
"21st Century Schizoid Man" is a song by the progressive rock band King Crimson from their 1969 debut album ''In the Court of the Crimson King''. Often regarded as the group's signature song, it has been described by sources such as Rolling Ston ...
" was described as "proto-metal" and the song's lyrics criticise
the military involvement of the United States in Southeast Asia.
In contrast to the blues-based hard rock of the contemporary British and American scenes, King Crimson presented a more Europeanised approach that blended antiquity and modernity.
The band's music drew on a wide range of influences provided by all five group members. These elements included classical music, the psychedelic rock spearheaded by
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
,
folk,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
, military music (partially inspired by McDonald's stint as an army musician) and
free improvisation.
After playing shows across England, the band toured the US with various pop and rock acts. Their first show was at
Goddard College in
Plainfield, Vermont. While the band found success and critical acclaim, creative tensions were already developing.
Giles and McDonald, still striving to cope with King Crimson's rapid success and the realities of touring life, became uneasy with their musical direction. Although he was neither the dominant composer nor the frontman, Fripp was very much the group's driving force and spokesman, leading them into progressively darker and more intense musical areas. McDonald and Giles, now favouring a lighter and more nuanced romantic style, became increasingly uncomfortable with their position and resigned near the conclusion of the US tour.
To keep the band together, Fripp offered to resign himself, but McDonald declared that King Crimson was "more (him) than them" and that he and Giles should therefore be the ones to leave. McDonald later said he "was probably not emotionally mature enough to handle it" and made a "rash decision to leave without consulting anyone".
The original line-up played their last show at the
Fillmore West
The Fillmore West was a historic rock and roll music venue in San Francisco, California, US which became famous under the direction of concert promoter Bill Graham from 1968 to 1971. Named after The Fillmore at the intersection of Fillmore Str ...
in San Francisco on 16 December 1969, a little over one year after forming.
Live recordings of the band from 1969 were released in 1997 on ''
Epitaph
An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...
''.
1970–1971: the "interregnum" – ''In the Wake of Poseidon'' and ''Lizard''
After their first US tour, King Crimson was in a state of flux with various line-up changes, thwarted tour plans, and difficulties in finding a satisfactory musical direction. This period has subsequently been referred to as the "
interregnum
An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...
" – a nickname implying that the "King" (Crimson) was not properly in place during this time.
Fripp became the only remaining musician in the band, with Sinfield expanding his creative role to operating synthesizers.
Upon the return to the UK, Lake began discussions with
Keith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 1944 – 11 March 2016) was an English keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. He becam ...
of
The Nice about possibly forming a new band, unsure of Crimson’s future without McDonald and Giles. With Fripp and Sinfield planning for recording the second King Crimson album, ''
In the Wake of Poseidon'', the band's management booked
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
to sing the material as a session musician amidst the uncertainty, but Fripp decided against this idea after listening to his ''
Empty Sky
''Empty Sky'' is the debut studio album by British singer-songwriter Elton John, released on 6 June 1969. It was not issued in the United States until January 1975 (on MCA), with different cover art, well after John's fame had been established ...
'' album. Lake did agree to sing all the vocals, but left to form
Emerson, Lake and Palmer before he could finish recording "Cadence and Cascade", for which Fripp's old school friend
Gordon Haskell was brought in as a guest vocalist. Michael Giles agreed to play on the album, after an initial attempt to find a new drummer proved fruitless, while
Peter Giles played bass guitar instead of Lake. Saxophonist
Mel Collins (of the band Circus) also played on the album, while jazz pianist
Keith Tippett made a guest appearence on a few tracks. Upon its release in May 1970, ''In the Wake of Poseidon'' reached No. 4 in the UK and No. 31 in the US. It received some criticism from those who thought it sounded too similar to their first album. With no set band to perform the new material, Fripp and Sinfield invited Mel Collins and Gordon Haskell to join permanently, with Haskell also handling bass as well as vocals, while
Andy McCulloch joined the band as drummer. Collins would also act as occasional keyboard player and backing vocalist.
Fripp and Sinfield wrote the third album, ''
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia altho ...
'', themselves – with Haskell, Collins and McCulloch having no say in the direction of the material. Tippett was brought back as a session player, and offered full band membership as well, but preferred to remain an occasional guest musician. Two members of Tippett's band also played on the album:
Mark Charig on
cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a so ...
, and
Nick Evans on
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...
. Robin Miller (on
oboe
The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range.
...
and
cor anglais
The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an al ...
) also appeared.
Jon Anderson
John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across thre ...
of
Yes
Yes or YES may refer to:
* An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no
Education
* YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US
* YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talent ...
was brought in to sing a section of the album's title track, "Prince Rupert Awakes", which Fripp and Sinfield considered to be outside Haskell's natural range and style. ''Lizard'' featured stronger jazz and chamber-classical influences than previous albums.
The album contains Sinfield's "
phantasmagorical" lyrics, including "Happy Family" (an allegory of the break-up of
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
),
and the title track, a suite which took up the entire second side, describing a medieval/mythological battle and its outcome.
Released in December 1970, ''Lizard'' reached No. 29 in the UK and No. 113 in the US. Described retrospectively as an "outlier",
the album had been made by a group in disagreement over method and taste. The more rhythm-and-blues-oriented Haskell and McCulloch both found the music difficult to relate to, and tedious and confusing to record. Collins disliked how his parts were composed, while both Fripp and Haskell detested Sinfield's lyrics.
This lineup of the band did not survive much longer than the ''Lizard'' recording sessions. Haskell quit the band acrimoniously during initial tour rehearsals after refusing to sing live with distortion and electronic effects on his voice, and McCulloch departed soon after.
With Sinfield not being a musician and Fripp having seemingly given up on the band, Collins was left to search for new members.
1971–1972: the ''Islands'' band
After a search for a drummer to replace McCulloch,
Ian Wallace was secured. Fripp was re-energised by the addition of a new member, and he joined Collins and Wallace to audition singers and bassists. Vocalists who tried out included
Roxy Music
Roxy Music are an English rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera (guitar), Andy Mackay (saxophone ...
frontman
Bryan Ferry and
John Gaydon, one of the band's managers.
The position eventually went to
Raymond "Boz" Burrell.
John Wetton was invited to join on bass, but declined in order to join
Family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
instead.
Rick Kemp (later of
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...
) rehearsed with the band, but declined the final offer to formally join.
Fripp decided to teach Boz to play bass rather than continue the labored auditions. Though he had not played bass before, Burrell had played enough acoustic guitar to assist him in learning the instrument quickly. Wallace was able to further instruct Burrell in functioning on the instrument in a rhythm section. With a line-up now complete, King Crimson toured in 1971 for the first time since 1969. The concerts were well received, but the musical differences between Fripp and the rest of the group, and the somewhat wilder lifestyles of Collins, Wallace and Burrell alienated the drug-free Fripp, who began to withdraw socially from his bandmates, creating further tension.
In 1971, the new King Crimson formation recorded ''
Islands''. Sinfield, who favoured a softer approach, took lyrical inspiration from
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
's ''
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Iliad'', ...
'', musical inspiration from jazz players like
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
and
Ahmad Jamal
Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones, July 2, 1930) is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and educator. For six decades, he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz.
Biography Early life
Jamal was born Fr ...
, and a sun-drenched trip to
Ibiza
Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its la ...
and
Formentera
Formentera (, ) is the smallest and most southerly island of the Pityusic Islands group (comprising Ibiza and Formentera, as well as various small islets), which belongs to the Balearic Islands autonomous community (Spain). It covers an area ...
.
''Islands'' featured the instrumental "Sailor's Tale", with a droning Mellotron and Fripp's banjo-inspired guitar solo; the raunchy, blues-inspired "Ladies of the Road", which featured Wallace and Collins on backing vocals; and "Song of the Gulls", which was developed from an earlier Fripp instrumental ("Suite No. 1" from Giles, Giles & Fripp's
1968 album), and would be the only time the band would utilize an orchestra.
One of the band members allegedly called ''Islands'' as "an airy-fairy piece of shit".
Released in December 1971, ''Islands'' charted at No. 30 in the UK and No. 76 in the US. Following a tour of the United States, in December 1971, Fripp informed Sinfield that he could no longer work with him, and asked him to leave the band.
In January 1972, the remaining band broke up acrimoniously in rehearsals, owing partially to Fripp's refusal to play a composition by Collins.
He later cited this as "quality control", with the idea that King Crimson would perform the "right" kind of music.
In order to fulfil touring contracts in the United States in 1972, King Crimson reformed with the intention of disbanding immediately after the tour.
Recordings from various North American dates between January and February 1972 were released as ''
Earthbound
''EarthBound'', released in Japan as is a role-playing video game developed by Ape Inc. and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The second entry in the ''Mother'' series, it was first releas ...
'' in June of that year. The album was noted for its playing style that occasionally veered towards
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...
, and Burrell's
scat singing on the improvised pieces, but was criticised for its sub-par sound quality.
By this time, the musical rift between Fripp and the rest of the band had grown very wide indeed. Wallace, Burrell and Collins favoured improvised
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...
and funk. Later Fripp described this lineup at the time, was more of a
jam band
A jam band is a musical group whose concerts (and live albums) are characterized by lengthy improvisational " jams." These include extended musical improvisation over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns, and long sets of music which often ...
than an "improvising" band, an opinion with which Wallace disagreed. Personal relations actually improved during the tour to the point where most of the band decided to continue on, however Fripp opted to part company with the other three, restructuring King Crimson with new musicians, as he felt the other members wouldn't be fully engaged in the musical direction he had in mind.
1972–1975: the "European improvisers" – ''Larks' Tongues in Aspic'', ''Starless and Bible Black'', ''Red'', and hiatus
The third major line-up of King Crimson was radically different from the previous two. Fripp's four new recruits were
free-improvising percussionist
Jamie Muir
Jamie Muir (born 1943 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish painter and former musician, best known for his work as the percussionist in King Crimson from 1972–1973.
Biography
Muir attended the Edinburgh College of Art during the 1960s, and began play ...
, drummer
Bill Bruford (who left
Yes
Yes or YES may refer to:
* An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no
Education
* YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US
* YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talent ...
at a commercial peak in their career in favour of the "darker" Crimson), bassist and vocalist
John Wetton, and violinist, keyboardist and flautist
David Cross
David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series ''Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/ Netflix sitco ...
, whom Fripp had met when he was invited to a rehearsal of Waves, a band Cross was working in.
Most of the musical compositions were collaborations between Fripp and Wetton, who each composed segments independently and fitted together those which they found compatible.
[ Event occurs at 4:34-13:48.] With Sinfield gone, the band recruited Wetton's friend
Richard Palmer-James
Richard William Palmer-James (born 11 June 1947) is an English guitarist, songwriter and lyricist. He may be best known as one of the founder members of Supertramp (playing guitar and songwriter); writing lyrics for several songs by the prog ...
(from the original
Supertramp) as their new lyricist.
Unlike Sinfield, Palmer-James played no part in artistic decisions, visual ideas, or sonic directions; his sole contributions to the group were his lyrics, sent via mail from his home in Germany. Following a period of rehearsals, King Crimson resumed touring on 13 October 1972 at the Zoom Club in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
, with the band's penchant for improvisation (and Muir's startling stage presence) gaining them renewed press attention.
In January and February 1973, King Crimson recorded ''
Larks' Tongues in Aspic
''Larks' Tongues in Aspic'' is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock group King Crimson, released on 23 March 1973 through Island Records in the UK and Atlantic Records in the United States and Canada. This album is the debut o ...
'' in London which was released that March.
The band's new sound was exemplified by the album's
two-part title track – a significant change from what King Crimson had done before, the piece emphasised the sharp instrumental interplay of the band, and drew influence from modern classical music, noisy free improv, and even heavy metal riffing. The record displayed Muir's unusual approach to percussion, which included a self-modified drum kit, assorted toys, a
bullroarer,
mbira, gongs, balloons,
thunder sheet and chains. On stage, Muir also employed unpredictable, manic movements, bizarre clothing, and fake blood capsules (occasionally spit or applied to the head), becoming the sole example of such theatrical stage activity in the band's long history.
The album reached No. 20 in the UK and No. 61 in the US. After a period of further touring, Muir departed in 1973, quitting the music industry altogether. Muir told King Crimson's management that he had decided a musician's life was not for him, and he had chosen to join a Scottish Buddhist monastery. He offered to serve a period of notice which the management declined. Instead of reiterating Muir's decision, the management informed the band and the public that Muir had sustained an onstage injury caused by a gong landing on his foot.
With Muir gone, the remaining members reconvened in January 1974 to produce ''
Starless and Bible Black
''Starless and Bible Black'' is the sixth studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson, released in March 1974 by Island Records in the United Kingdom and by Atlantic Records in the United States. It carries over most of the same ...
'', released in March 1974 and earned them a positive ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' review.
Though most of the album was recorded live during the band's late 1973 tour, the recordings were carefully edited and overdubbed to sound like a studio record, with "The Great Deceiver", "Lament" and the second half of "The Night Watch" the only tracks recorded entirely in the studio. The album reached No. 28 in the UK and No. 64 in the US. Following the album's release, the band began to divide once more, this time over performance. Musically, Fripp found himself positioned between Bruford and Wetton, who played with such force and increasing volume that Fripp once compared them to "a flying brick wall", and Cross, whose amplified acoustic violin was consistently being drowned out by the rhythm section, leading him to concentrate more on Mellotron and an overdriven electric piano. An increasingly frustrated Cross began to withdraw both musically and personally, with the result being that he was voted out of the group following the band's 1974 tour of Europe and America.
In July 1974, Fripp, Bruford, and Wetton began recording ''
Red''.
Before recording began, Fripp, now increasingly disillusioned with the music industry, turned his attention to the works of Russian mystic
George Gurdjieff and had a spiritual experience in which "the top of my head blew off". Though most of the album had been developed during live improvisations before Fripp retreated into himself and "withdrew his opinion", leaving Bruford and Wetton to direct the recording sessions. The album contains one live track, "Providence", recorded on 30 June 1974 with Cross playing violin. Several guest musicians (including
Mel Collins and
Ian McDonald) contributed to the album.
Released on 6 October 1974, ''Red'' went to No. 45 in the UK and No. 66 in the US.
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...
called it "an impressive achievement" for a group about to disband,
with "intensely dynamic" musical chemistry between the band members.
Two months before the release of ''Red'', King Crimson's future looked bright (with talks regarding founder member Ian McDonald rejoining the group). However, Fripp wished not to tour as he felt increasingly disenchanted by the group and the music industry. He also felt the world was going to drastically change by 1981 and that he had to prepare for it.
Despite a band meeting while touring the US in which Fripp expressed a desire to end the band, the group did not formally disband until 25 September 1974 and later Fripp announced that King Crimson had "ceased to exist" and was "completely over for ever and ever".
It was later revealed that Fripp had attempted to interest his managers in a King Crimson with McDonald (but without him), but this idea was rejected.
Following the band's disbanding, the live album ''
USA'' was released in May 1975, formed of recordings from their 1974 North American tour. It received some positive reviews,
including "a must" for fans of the band and "insanity you're better off having".
Issues with the tapes rendered some of Cross' playing inaudible, so
Eddie Jobson was hired to perform violin and keyboard overdubs in a studio; further edits were also made to allow the music to fit on a single LP. Between 1975 and 1981, King Crimson were completely inactive.
1981–1984: the "rock gamelan" – ''Discipline'', ''Beat'', ''Three of a Perfect Pair'', and second hiatus
In the late autumn of 1980, having spent several years on spiritual pursuits and then gradually returning to music (playing guitar for
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
,
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...
and
Daryl Hall, pursuing an experimental solo career, leading instrumental
new wave band
The League of Gentlemen
''The League of Gentlemen'' is a surreal British comedy horror sitcom that premiered on BBC Two in 1999. The programme is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in northern England, originally based on Alston, Cumbria, and follows the live ...
), Fripp decided to form a new "first division" rock group, but had no intentions of it being King Crimson. Having recruited Bill Bruford as drummer, Fripp asked singer and guitarist
Adrian Belew to join,
the first time Fripp would actively seek collaboration with another guitarist in a band and therefore indicative of Fripp's desire to create something unlike any of his previous work. After touring with
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.[Talki ...](_blank)
, Belew agreed to join and also become the band's lyricist. Bruford's suggestion of his bassist
Jeff Berlin was rejected as Fripp thought his playing was "too busy", so auditions were held in New York: on the third day, Fripp left after roughly three auditions, only to return several hours later with
Tony Levin
Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer, specializing in electric bass, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (since 1 ...
(who got the job after playing a single chorus of "Red").
[Bruford, Bill "Bill Bruford – the Autobiography", Jawbone Press, 2009] Fripp later confessed that, had he known that Levin (whom Fripp had played with in
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...
's group) was available and interested, he would have selected him without holding auditions. Fripp named the new quartet Discipline, and they went to England to rehearse and write new material. They made their live debut at Moles Club in
Bath, Somerset
Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...
on 30 April 1981, and completed a short tour supported by
the Lounge Lizards.
By October 1981, the band had opted to change their name to King Crimson.
In 1981, King Crimson recorded ''
Discipline
Discipline refers to rule following behavior, to regulate, order, control and authority. It may also refer to punishment. Discipline is used to create habits, routines, and automatic mechanisms such as blind obedience. It may be inflicted on ot ...
'' with producer
Rhett Davies. The album displayed a very different version of the band, with newer influences including
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-r ...
,
new wave, funk,
minimalism
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Do ...
,
pointillism
Pointillism (, ) is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image.
Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism" ...
, world music and African percussion.
With a sound described in ''
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide'' as having a "jaw-dropping technique" of "knottily rhythmic, harmonically demanding workouts".
The title track "Discipline" was described as a
postminimalist
Postminimalism is an art term coined (as post-minimalism) by Robert Pincus-Witten in 1971Chilvers, Ian and Glaves-Smith, John, ''A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art'', second edition (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. ...
rock song. Fripp intended to create the sound of a "rock
gamelan", with an interlocking rhythmic quality to the paired guitars that he found similar to Indonesian gamelan ensembles. Fripp concentrated on playing complex picked arpeggios, while Belew provided an arsenal of guitar sounds that "often mimic animal noises".
In addition to bass guitar, Levin used the
Chapman Stick
The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and is used to play bass lines, melody lines ...
, a ten-string two-handed
tapping, hybrid guitar and bass instrument which he played in an "utterly original style".
Bruford experimented with cymbal-less acoustic kits and a
Simmons SDS-V electronic drum kit. The band's songs were shorter in comparison to previous King Crimson albums, and very much shaped by Belew's pop sensibilities and quirky approach to writing lyrics. Though the band's previous taste for improvisation was now tightly reined in, one instrumental ("The Sheltering Sky") emerged from group rehearsals; while the noisy, half-spoken/half-shouted "Indiscipline" was a partially written, part-improvised piece created in order to give Bruford a chance to escape from the strict rhythmic demands of the rest of the album.
Released in September 1981, ''Discipline'' reached No. 41 in the UK and No. 45 in the US.
In June 1982, King Crimson followed ''Discipline'' with ''
Beat'', the first King Crimson album recorded with the same band line-up as the album preceding it. Beat is the only album where Fripp had no involvement in the original mixing; Davies and Belew undertook production duties.
The album had a linked theme of the
Beat Generation
The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Genera ...
and its writings, reflected in song titles such as "Neal and Jack and Me" (inspired by
Neal Cassady
Neal Leon Cassady (February 8, 1926 – February 4, 1968) was a major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic and counterculture movements of the 1960s.
He was prominently featured as himself in the "scroll" (first d ...
and
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.
Of French-Canadian an ...
), "
Heartbeat" (inspired by
Carolyn Cassady
Carolyn Elizabeth Robinson Cassady (April 28, 1923 – September 20, 2013) was an American writer and associated with the Beat Generation through her marriage to Neal Cassady and her friendships with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and other promin ...
's "Heart Beat: My Life with Jack and Neal"), "The Howler" (inspired by
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
's "
Howl") and "Waiting Man" (inspired by
William Burroughs). The album contained themes of life on the road,
existential angst and romanticism. While ''Beat'' was more accessible, it had the improvised "Requiem", which featured
Frippertronics, a guitar technique invented by
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop a ...
and Robert Fripp using a
tape loop system.
Recording ''Beat'' was faced with tension with Belew suffering high stress levels over his duties as front man, lead singer, and principal songwriter. On one occasion, he clashed with Fripp and ordered him out of the studio.
As ''Beat'' reached No. 39 in the UK and No. 52 in the US, King Crimson resumed touring. "Heartbeat" was released as a single which peaked at No. 57 on the ''Billboard''
Mainstream Rock
Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.
Format background
Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active ro ...
chart. Around this time the band released the VHS-only '"The Noise: Live in Frejus", a record of a show played at the Arena,
Frejus, France on 27 August 1982. This video is on DVD as part of the compilation
Neal and Jack and Me and
On (and off) The Road (1981–1984).
King Crimson's next album, ''
Three of a Perfect Pair'', was recorded in 1983 and released in March 1984. Having encountered difficulty in both writing and determining a direction for the album, the band chose to record and call the album's first half a "left side" – four of the band's poppier songs plus an instrumental – and the second half a "right side" – experimental work, improvisations that drew influence from industrial music, plus the third part of the "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" series of compositions. The stress during the writing process and the tension between the band members manifested in both lyrical content and music, and the result is a "nerve-racking" album.
The 2001 remaster of the album included the "other side", a collection of remixes and improvisational out-takes plus Levin's humorous song, "The King Crimson Barbershop".
''Three of a Perfect Pair'' peaked at No. 30 in the UK and No. 58 in the US, with "
Three of a Perfect Pair" and "
Sleepless" being released as singles. The last concert of the ''Three of a Perfect Pair'' tour, at the
Spectrum
A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...
in Montreal, Canada on 11 July 1984, was recorded and released in 1998 as ''
Absent Lovers: Live in Montreal''. Despite their conflict, the musicians remained professional on stages.
Following the 1984 tour, Fripp dissolved King Crimson for the second time, exactly ten years after dissolving the previous group. Bruford and Belew expressed some frustration over this; Belew recalled the first he had heard of the split was when he read about it in a report in ''Musician'' magazine.
1994–1999: the Double Trio – ''Vrooom'', ''THRAK'', and the ProjeKcts
In the summer of 1991, Belew met with Fripp in England to express an interest in reviving King Crimson.
One year later, Fripp established his
Discipline Global Mobile (DGM) record label with producer
David Singleton
David Singleton (born 1961) is an English record producer, audio engineer, record label director, musician, songwriter, author and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known as the production and business partner of Robert Fripp of King Crimson.
...
. Subsequently, DGM would be the primary home for Fripp's work, with larger album releases distributed to bigger record companies (initially
Virgin records
Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a world ...
), and smaller releases handled by DGM. This afforded Fripp and his associates greater creative freedom and more control over all aspects of their work.
In late 1991, Fripp asked former
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
singer
David Sylvian
David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt, 23 February 1958) is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan. The band's androgynous look and increasingly ...
to join the new King Crimson band, but Sylvian declined the offer, though the two collaborated as Sylvian/Fripp.
In June 1993, Fripp began to assemble a larger version of the band, joined by Belew and Levin from the 1980s quartet, Chapman Stick player
Trey Gunn (a veteran of Fripp's Guitar Craft courses) and drummer
Jerry Marotta
Jerome David Marotta (born February 6, 1956, in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American drummer who resides in Woodstock, New York. He is the younger brother of Rick Marotta, who is also a drummer and composer.
Career
Marotta was a member of the bands ...
,
with whom Fripp had played with
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...
. After Sylvian/Fripp's closing concerts at the
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...
in December 1993,
a tour that Marotta didn't participate in, Fripp decided to ask the tour's drummer
Pat Mastelotto to join instead of Marotta.
Bruford wound up being the last of the 1980s group to return to the band.
Fripp explained that he had a vision of a "Double Trio" with two drummers while driving along the
Chalke Valley one afternoon in 1992.
Bruford later said he lobbied Fripp last minute because he believed that Crimson was very much "his gig", and that Fripp had come up with a philosophical explanation for utilizing both Mastelotto and himself later. One of the conditions Fripp imposed upon Bruford if he were to return was to give up all creative control to Fripp.
Following rehearsals in
Woodstock, New York, the group released the
extended play
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. ''
Vrooom
''Vrooom'' (stylised as ''VROOOM'') is an EP by the band King Crimson, classified as a mini-album due to its length. It was released in 1994 as a companion to the subsequent full length album ''THRAK'' (1995). It is the first King Crimson rele ...
'' in October 1994. This revealed the new King Crimson sound, which featured the interlocking guitars of the 1980s mixed with the layered, heavier feel of the 1970s period.
There was also a distinct influence from the
industrial music
Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initial ...
of that time. Many of the songs were written or finalised by Belew, and displayed stronger elements of 1960s pop than before; in particular, a
Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...
influence.
Bruford would refer to the band as sounding like "a dissonant
Shadows on steroids".
As with previous line-ups, new technology was utilised, including
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...
, which Fripp used to convert Frippertronics to digital version of it called "Soundscapes",
and the versatile
Warr tap guitar with which Gunn replaced his Stick in 1995. King Crimson toured the album from 28 September 1994 in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
; portions of these concerts were released on the double live CD set ''
B'Boom: Live in Argentina'' in 1995.
In October and December 1994, King Crimson recorded their eleventh studio album, ''
THRAK
''Thrak'' (stylised in all caps) is the eleventh studio album by the band King Crimson released in 1995 through Virgin Records. It was preceded by the mini-album '' Vrooom'' in 1994.
It is their first full-length studio album since ''Three of a ...
''.
Formed mostly of revised versions of the tracks from ''Vrooom'', plus new tracks, the album was described by ''Q'' magazine as having "jazz-scented rock structures, characterised by noisy, angular, exquisite guitar interplay" and an "athletic, ever-inventive rhythm section,"
while being in tune with the sound of
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...
of the mid-1990s.
Examples of the band's efforts to integrate their multiple elements could be heard on the accessible (but complex) songs "Dinosaur" and "
Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream", the more straightforward ballad "One Time", as well as "Radio I" and "Radio II"- a pair of Fripp's Soundscapes instrumentals.
King Crimson resumed touring in 1995 and into 1996; dates from October and November 1995 were recorded and released on the live album ''
Thrakattak'' in May 1996, which is an hour of improvised music integrating sections from performances from the "THRAK" tour in the United States and Japan, mixed and arranged by Fripp's DGM partner, engineer David Singleton.
A more conventional live recording from the period was later made available as the double CD release ''
Vrooom Vrooom
''Vrooom Vrooom'' is a live two CD set by the band King Crimson, recorded in 1995 & 1996, and released in 2001. It features the six member “double trio” lineup of the band, with guitarists Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew, bassists Tony Levi ...
'' (2001), as was a full 1995 concert on the ''
Déjà Vrooom'' DVD (2003).
Writing rehearsals began in May 1997 in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
. Fripp was dissatisfied with the quality of the new music being developed by the band; Longstanding friction and disagreements between himself and Bruford led to the latter deciding to leave King Crimson for good. The resulting bad atmosphere and the lack of workable material almost broke the band up altogether. Instead, the six members opted to work in four smaller groups (or "fraKctalisations", as Fripp called them) known as
ProjeKcts. This enabled the group to continue developing ideas and searching for a new direction without the practical difficulty (and expense) of convening all six musicians at once. From 1997 to 1999, the first four ProjeKcts played live in the United States and the United Kingdom, and released recordings that showed a high degree of free improvisation, with influences ranging from jazz, industrial,
techno
Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...
and
drum'n'bass.
These have been collectively described by music critic
J. D. Considine as "frequently astonishing" but lacking in melody.
After Bruford had played four dates with Projekct One in December 1997, he left King Crimson to resume working with his own jazz group
Earthworks
Earthworks may refer to:
Construction
*Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour
*Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil
*Earthworks (military), mi ...
.
2000–2003: the Double Duo – ''The Construkction of Light'', ''The Power to Believe'', third hiatus
In October 1999, King Crimson began to reconvene. Tony Levin was busy working as a session musician and decided to take a hiatus from the group, so the remaining members (Fripp, Belew, Gunn and Mastelotto) formed the "Double Duo" to write and record ''
The Construkction of Light'' in Belew's basement studio and garage near
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...
.
Released in May 2000, the album reached No. 129 in the UK. Most of the pieces were metallic, harsh and
industrial in sound.
They featured a distinct electronic texture, a heavily processed electric drum sound from Mastelotto, Gunn taking over the bass role on Warr Guitar, and a different take on the interlocking guitar sound that the band had pioneered in the 1980s.
With the exception of an industrial blues (sung by Belew through a voice changer under the pseudonym of "Hooter J. Johnson"), the songs were dense and complex.
The album contains the
fourth installment of "Larks' Tongues in Aspic". It received a negative reception for lacking new ideas.
The band recorded an album of improvised instrumentals at the same time, and released them under the name
ProjeKct X
ProjeKct X was a side project of the music band King Crimson during 1999–2000.
In 2000, while the band King Crimson recorded their album '' the construKction of light'', the four members of this line-up also recorded the album '' Heaven and Ear ...
, on the CD ''
Heaven and Earth''.
King Crimson toured to support both albums, including double bill shows with
Tool
A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates b ...
.
The tour was documented in ''
Heaven & Earth (box set)''.
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ...
bassist
John Paul Jones and his band supported Crimson on some live shows.
On 9 November 2001, King Crimson released a limited edition live
extended play
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. called Level Five, featuring three new pieces: "Dangerous Curves", "Level Five" and "Virtuous Circle", plus versions of "The Construkction of Light" and ProjeKct's "The Deception of the Thrush", followed by an unlisted track called "ProjeKct 12th and X" after one minute of silence. A second EP followed in October 2002, ''
Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With
''Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With'' (stylized in lowercase) is the third EP by prog rock band King Crimson released in 2002, a companion to the subsequent album '' The Power to Believe'' (2003). Many of the songs on ''Happy With What ...
''. This featured eleven tracks (including a live version of "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part IV"). Half of the tracks were processed vocal snippets by Belew, and the songs themselves varied between Soundscapes, gamelan, heavy metal and blues.
King Crimson released their thirteenth album, ''
The Power to Believe
''The Power to Believe'' is the thirteenth and final studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson. It was released on 4 March 2003 through Sanctuary Records and met with generally favourable reviews, with several critics appreci ...
'', in March 2003.
Fripp described it as "the culmination of three years of Crimsonising". The album incorporated, reworked and retitled versions of "Deception of the Thrush" ("The Power to Believe III"); tracks from their previous two EPs; and an extract from a Fripp Soundscape with added instrumentation and vocals.
''The Power to Believe'' reached No. 162 in the UK and No. 150 in the US. King Crimson toured in 2003 to support the album; recordings from it were used for the live album ''
EleKtrik: Live in Japan''. 2003 also saw the release of the DVD ''
Eyes Wide Open'', a compilation of the band's shows Live at the Shepherds Bush Empire (London, 3 July 2000) and Live in Japan (Tokyo, 16 April 2003).
In November 2003, Gunn left the group to pursue solo projects and was replaced by the returning Tony Levin. The band reconvened in early 2004 for rehearsals, but nothing developed from these sessions. They went on another hiatus.
At this point, Fripp was publicly reassessing his desire to work within the music industry, often citing the unsympathetic aspects of the life of a touring musician, such as "
the illusion of intimacy with celebrities".
On 21 September 2006, former King Crimson member
Boz Burrell died of a heart attack, followed by another former member,
Ian Wallace, who died of esophageal cancer on 22 February 2007.
2008: The second quintet and 40th Anniversary tour
A new King Crimson formation was announced in 2007: Fripp, Belew, Levin, Mastelotto, and a new second drummer,
Gavin Harrison
Gavin Richard Harrison (born 28 May 1963) is an English musician. He is best known for playing with the progressive rock bands Porcupine Tree (2002–2010; 2021–present), King Crimson (2008, and 2014–present) and The Pineapple Thief (20 ...
.
In August 2008, after a period of rehearsals, the five completed the band's 40th Anniversary Tour. The setlists featured no new material, drawing instead from the existing mid '70s era/''Discipline''-era/Double Trio/Double Duo repertoire.
Additional shows were planned for 2009, but were cancelled due to scheduling clashes with Belew.
King Crimson began another hiatus after the 40th Anniversary Tour. Belew continued to lobby for reviving the band, and discussed it with Fripp several times in 2009 and 2010. Among Belew's suggestions was a temporary reunion of the 1980s line-up for a thirtieth anniversary tour: an idea declined by both Fripp and Bruford, the latter commenting "I would be highly unlikely to try to recreate the same thing, a mission I fear destined to failure. In December 2010, Fripp wrote that the King Crimson "switch" had been setting to "off" since October 2008, citing several reasons for this decision.
2014–2021: the "Seven-Headed Beast" and "Three Over Five" lineups
In 2011, a band called Jakszyk, Fripp and Collins (and subtitled "A King Crimson ProjeKct") released an album called ''
A Scarcity of Miracles
''A Scarcity of Miracles'' is the lone album by Jakszyk, Fripp and Collins, released in 2011. It united singer and guitarist Jakko Jakszyk with three musicians best known from King Crimson, guitarist Robert Fripp, saxophonist Mel Collins and bas ...
''. The band featured guitarist and singer
Jakko Jakszyk, Fripp and former Crimson saxophonist
Mel Collins as the main players/composers, with Tony Levin playing bass and Gavin Harrison playing drums. At one point, Fripp referred to the band as "P7" (ProjeKct Seven).
Unusually for a ProjeKct, it was based around "finely crafted" and "mid-paced" original songs derived from improvised sessions. In August 2012, Fripp announced his retirement from the music industry, leaving the future of King Crimson uncertain.
In September 2013, Fripp announced King Crimson's return to activity with a "very different reformation to what has gone before: seven players, four English and three American, with three drummers".
He cited several reasons to make a comeback, varying from the practical to the whimsical: "I was becoming too happy. Time for a pointed stick."
The new line-up drew from both the previous lineup (retaining Fripp, Levin, Harrison and Mastelotto) and the ''Scarcity of Miracles'' project (Jakszyk and Collins), with
Guitar Craft alumnus and former
R.E.M./
Ministry drummer
Bill Rieflin as the seventh member.
Adrian Belew was not asked to take part, thus ending his 32-year tenure in King Crimson: Jakszyk took his place as singer and second guitarist.
This version of the group took on the nickname of "the Seven-Headed Beast".
In early 2014, King Crimson had no plans to record in the studio, instead playing "reconfigured" versions of past material. For the first time since 1974, the band's repertoire included songs from the run of albums between ''In The Court of the Crimson King'' and ''Larks' Tongues in Aspic'', as well as including instrumentals from ''THRAK'' and ''The Power to Believe''. After rehearsing in England, they toured North America from 9 September to 6 October.
Recordings from the Los Angeles dates were released as ''
Live at the Orpheum''.
Tours across Europe, Canada, and Japan followed in the later half of 2015. A live recording from the Canadian leg of the tour was released as ''
Live In Toronto''. A European tour was planned for 2016. Following Rieflin's decision to take a break from music, drummer
Jeremy Stacey of
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds was called in place for dates from September.
On 7 December 2016, founding King Crimson member
Greg Lake
Gregory Stuart Lake (10 November 1947 – 7 December 2016) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP).
Born and ...
died of cancer. Another former King Crimson member,
John Wetton, died of
colon cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowe ...
on 31 January 2017.
On 3 January 2017, Bill Rieflin returned to King Crimson. Since the band wished to retain Jeremy Stacey, Fripp called the new lineup the "Double Quartet Formation", referencing four drummers. Consequently, King Crimson became an octet. Later on, Rieflin shifted his group role and became King Crimson's first full-time keyboard player, Fripp rechristened the lineup the "Three Over Five" (or "Five Over Three") Formation.
On 2 June 2017, King Crimson released a new live EP named "Heroes" (after the
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
song), as a tribute to both the artist and the album featuring the song in question, both of which featured distinctive Robert Fripp guitar contributions throughout. The video to the song won "Video of the Year" at the 2017
Progressive Music Awards. Shortly afterwards, King Crimson embarked on a United States tour beginning on 11 June and ending on 26 November. On 3 September, Robert Fripp said that his differences with Adrian Belew had been resolved and that there were "no current plans for (him) to come out with the current formation" but "the doors to the future are open." Belew confirmed this, adding "it means I may be back in the band in the future at some point."
On 13 October, it was announced that Bill Rieflin would be unable to join the Three Over Five Formation on the 2017 Autumn tour in the U.S. He was temporarily replaced by Seattle-based
Crafty Guitarist Chris Gibson.
During 2018, King Crimson performed the extensive 33-date Uncertain Times tour through the UK and Europe between 13 June and 16 November.
On 6 April 2019, it was announced at a press conference that Rieflin would take another break from King Crimson to attend to family matters, his place on keyboards for the 2019 50th anniversary tour would be taken by
Theo Travis, better known as a saxophonist,
Soft Machine
Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966– ...
member and occasional duo collaborator with Robert Fripp.
Although Travis joined the band for rehearsals, Fripp said on 2 May that the band had decided that it was no longer possible to have other musicians deputising for Rieflin and for this reason were "proceed(ing) as a Seven-Headed Beast" without Travis. Rieflin's parts were divided among other band members, with Fripp, Stacey, Jakszyk and Collins adding keyboards to their on-stage rigs, and Levin once again using the synthesizer he used during the '80s tours.
Soon after on 11 June, King Crimson's entire discography was made available to stream online on all the major streaming platforms, as part of the band's 50th anniversary celebration.
On 24 March 2020, Bill Rieflin died of cancer.
In the same year, former member
Gordon Haskell died of lung cancer on 15 October.
The band toured North America and then Japan in 2021. Recordings from
Washington, D.C. and
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Cit ...
dates were released as ''Music is our Friend''. Because of the rising cost of services during
the pandemic and old age, they took another hiatus, with no intentions for any more tours. The band has ceased activity. Levin said in a late 2022 interview that, "I got from Robert
ripp Ripp may refer to:
As a surname
* Andrew Ripp, American singer-songwriter
* Artie Ripp
Arthur Marcus "Artie" Ripp (born 1940) is an American music industry executive and record producer.
Career
Early career
Ripp began his career as a singer ...
was that it's over. Maybe King Crimson will speak to him in the future in some way, and will revive its head with who-knows-what line up?"
On 9 February 2022, founding King Crimson member
Ian McDonald died of cancer.
Former member cover bands
Since the early 2000s, several bands containing former, recent or current King Crimson members have toured and recorded, performing King Crimson music.
Active between 2002 and 2005, the
21st Century Schizoid Band
21st Century Schizoid Band were a King Crimson alumnus group formed in 2002.
The name derives from the famous song "21st Century Schizoid Man" from the first King Crimson album, ''In the Court of the Crimson King''. The initial band featured Mel ...
reunited several former King Crimson members who had played on the band's first four albums. The band featured
Ian McDonald,
Mel Collins,
Peter Giles and
Michael Giles
Michael Rex Giles (born 1 March 1942) is an English drummer, percussionist, and vocalist, best known as one of the co-founders of King Crimson in 1969. Prior to the formation of King Crimson, he was part of the eccentric pop trio Giles, Giles ...
(the latter subsequently replaced by
Ian Wallace), and was fronted by
Jakko Jakszyk, a decade prior to his own recruitment into King Crimson. The band engaged in several tours, played material from King Crimson's '60s and '70s catalogue, and recorded several live albums. The band disbanded upon Wallace's death in 2007.
Since 2007, Tony Levin has led the trio
Stick Men, which also features Pat Mastelotto. The band was initially completed by Chapman Stick player Michael Bernier, replaced in 2010 by touch guitarist and former Fripp student
Markus Reuter. This band includes (and reinterprets) King Crimson compositions in their live sets. Previously called "Tuner", Reuter and Mastelotto also play together as a duo, for which they have been known to rework the mid-1980s King Crimson instrumental "Industry" live.
Between 2011 and 2014, Stick Men and Adrian Belew's Power Trio band (Belew plus drummer Tobias Ralph and bass player
Julie Slick
Robert Steven "Adrian" Belew (born December 23, 1949) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist primarily known as a guitarist and singer, he is noted for his unusual and impressionistic approach to ...
) joined forces to play and tour as
The Crimson ProjeKCt, covering the music made during the '80s and '90s.
The two groups performed together from time to time, usually under names like "Belew, Levin, Mastelotto and friends".
During his solo career, including performances with the Power Trio, Adrian Belew has performed various versions of King Crimson songs.
Musical style
King Crimson have been described musically as
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...
,
art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ...
, and
post-progressive
Post-progressive is a type of rock music distinguished from vintage progressive rock styles, specifically 1970s prog. Post-progressive draws upon newer developments in popular music and the avant-garde since the mid-1970s. It especially draws fro ...
, with their earlier works being described as
proto-prog. Their music was initially grounded in the rock of the 1960s, especially the
acid rock and
psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a rock music genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound effects and recording te ...
movements. The band played
Donovan
Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world mus ...
's "Get Thy Bearings" in concert, and were known to play
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
' "
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" in their rehearsals. However, for their own compositions, King Crimson (unlike the rock bands that had come before them) largely stripped away the
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...
-based foundations of rock music and replaced them with influences derived from classical composers. The first incarnation of King Crimson played the ''Mars'' section of
Gustav Holst's suite ''
The Planets'' live and later the band used ''Mars'' as a foundation for the song "Devil's Triangle". As a result of this influence, ''
In the Court of the Crimson King'' is frequently viewed as the nominal starting point of the progressive rock movements.
King Crimson also initially displayed strong
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
influences, most obviously on its signature track "
21st Century Schizoid Man
"21st Century Schizoid Man" is a song by the progressive rock band King Crimson from their 1969 debut album ''In the Court of the Crimson King''. Often regarded as the group's signature song, it has been described by sources such as Rolling Ston ...
".
The band also drew on English
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
for compositions such as "
Moonchild"
[ "'Moonchild', along with 'I Talk to the Wind', was the clearest link to the folk influences borne by King Crimson on its first album, the only one that included Ian McDonald and Michael Giles among the personnel. The first three minutes or so of 'Moonchild' – really, the three minutes that are all that most listeners remember well – comprise a delicate, folky poetic ballad."] and "I Talk to the Wind."
[ "King Crimson, it is not often noted, had some folk and folk-rock influences in their very early days (and the Giles, Giles & Fripp collaborations predating King Crimson). 'I Talk to the Wind' is the track that most reflects these folk influences and the influence of co-songwriter Ian McDonald (only a bandmember for the first album) in particular. Coming right after the assaultive jazz-prog rock of '21st Century Schizoid Man', the first track on their debut album in the Court of the Crimson King: An Observation by King Crimson, this gentle, subdued folky ballad was quite a contrast and served notice that King Crimson was more versatile than your average new band."] In the 1972 lineup, Fripp's intention was to combine the music of
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
,
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...
and
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hu ...
.
The 1981 reunion of the band brought in even more elements, displaying the influence of funk, post-punk, new wave,
gamelan music and late 20th century classical composers such as
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive ...
,
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, ...
, and
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for ...
.
For its 1994 reunion, King Crimson reassessed both the mid-1970s and 1980s approaches in the light of new technology, intervening music forms such as
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to ...
,
drum'n'bass and
techno
Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...
;
and further developments in
industrial music
Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initial ...
, as well as expanding the band's ambient textural content via Fripp's Soundscapes looping approach.
The 2013 version of the band returned, for the most part, to the band's 1960s and 1970s influences and repertoire but addressed them via current technology and rearrangements suited to a larger ensemble of more experienced musicians, while also incorporating the New Standard Tuning used by Fripp since 1984.
Compositional approaches
Several King Crimson compositional approaches have remained constant from the earliest versions of the band to the present. These include:
* The use of a gradually building rhythmic motif. These include "The Devil's Triangle" (an adaptation and variation on the
Gustav Holst piece ''Mars'' played by the original King Crimson, based on a complex pulse in time over which a skirling melody is played on a
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. ...
), 1973's "The Talking Drum" (from ''
Larks' Tongues in Aspic
''Larks' Tongues in Aspic'' is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock group King Crimson, released on 23 March 1973 through Island Records in the UK and Atlantic Records in the United States and Canada. This album is the debut o ...
''), 1984's "Industry" (from ''
Three of a Perfect Pair'') and 2003's "Dangerous Curves" (from ''
The Power to Believe
''The Power to Believe'' is the thirteenth and final studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson. It was released on 4 March 2003 through Sanctuary Records and met with generally favourable reviews, with several critics appreci ...
'').
* An instrumental piece (often embedded as a break in a song) in which the band plays an ensemble passage of considerable rhythmic and
polyrhythmic complexity. An early example is the band's initial signature tune "
21st Century Schizoid Man
"21st Century Schizoid Man" is a song by the progressive rock band King Crimson from their 1969 debut album ''In the Court of the Crimson King''. Often regarded as the group's signature song, it has been described by sources such as Rolling Ston ...
", but the "
Larks' Tongues in Aspic
''Larks' Tongues in Aspic'' is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock group King Crimson, released on 23 March 1973 through Island Records in the UK and Atlantic Records in the United States and Canada. This album is the debut o ...
" series of compositions (as well as pieces of similar intent such as "THRAK" and "Level Five") go deeper into polyrhythmic complexity, delving into rhythms that wander into and out of general synchronisation with each other, but that all 'finish' together through polyrhythmic synchronisation. These polyrhythms were particularly abundant in the band's 1980s work, which contained gamelan-like rhythmic layers and continual overlaid
staccato
Staccato (; Italian for "detached") is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. It has been described by theorists and has appeared in music ...
patterns in counterpoint.
*The composition of difficult solo passages for individual instruments, such as the guitar break on "Fracture" on ''
Starless and Bible Black
''Starless and Bible Black'' is the sixth studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson, released in March 1974 by Island Records in the United Kingdom and by Atlantic Records in the United States. It carries over most of the same ...
''.
*The juxtaposition of ornate tunes and ballads with unusual, often dissonant noises (such as "Cirkus" from ''
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia altho ...
'', "Ladies of the Road" from ''
Islands'' and "Eyes Wide Open" from ''
The Power to Believe
''The Power to Believe'' is the thirteenth and final studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson. It was released on 4 March 2003 through Sanctuary Records and met with generally favourable reviews, with several critics appreci ...
'').
*The use of improvisation.
*Ascending note structure (e.g. "Facts of Life" and "THRAK").
Improvisation
King Crimson have incorporated improvisation into their performances and studio recordings from the beginning, some of which has been embedded into pieces such as "
Moonchild", "Providence", "Requiem" and "No Warning", including passages of restrained silence, as with Bill Bruford's contribution to the improvised "Trio". Rather than using the standard jazz or rock "jamming" format for improvisation (in which one soloist at a time takes centre stage while the rest of the band lies back and plays along with established rhythm and chord changes), King Crimson improvisation is musicians collectively making creative decisions and contributions as the music is being played. Individual soloing is largely eschewed; each musician is to listen to each other and to the group sound, to be able to react creatively within the group dynamic. Fripp has used the metaphor of "magic" to describe this process, in particular when the method works particularly well.
Similarly, King Crimson's improvised music is varied in sound and the band has been able to release several box sets and albums consisting mostly or entirely of improvised music, such as the ''THRaKaTTaK'' album,
and the band's series of
ProjeKcts.
Occasionally, particular improvised pieces will be recalled and reworked in different forms at different shows, becoming more and more refined and eventually appearing on official studio releases.
Influence and legacy
King Crimson have been influential both on the early 1970s progressive rock movement and numerous contemporary artists.
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
and
Yes
Yes or YES may refer to:
* An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no
Education
* YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US
* YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talent ...
were directly influenced by the band's usage of the mellotron,
and many King Crimson band members were involved in other notable bands: Lake in
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitar, producer) and Carl Palmer (drums, percus ...
; McDonald in
Foreigner; Burrell in
Bad Company, and Wetton in
U.K.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
. Canadian rock band
Rush's drummer
Neil Peart
Neil Ellwood Peart OC (; September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020) was a Canadian-American musician, best known as the drummer and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush. Peart earned numerous awards for his musical performances, including an ...
credited the adventurous and innovative style of
Michael Giles
Michael Rex Giles (born 1 March 1942) is an English drummer, percussionist, and vocalist, best known as one of the co-founders of King Crimson in 1969. Prior to the formation of King Crimson, he was part of the eccentric pop trio Giles, Giles ...
on his own approach to percussion.
King Crimson's influence extends to many bands from diverse genres, especially of the 1990s and 2000s.
Kurt Cobain, the frontman of the grunge band
Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
, had stated that the album ''
Red'' had a major influence on the sound of their final studio album ''
In Utero
''In Utero'' is the third and final studio album by American rock band Nirvana. It was released on September 21, 1993, by DGC Records. After breaking into the mainstream with their second album, ''Nevermind'' (1991), Nirvana hired Steve Albin ...
''.
Tool
A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates b ...
are known to be heavily influenced by King Crimson,
with vocalist
Maynard James Keenan
Maynard James Keenan (born James Herbert Keenan; April 17, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and winemaker. He is best known as the singer and primary lyricist of the rock bands Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Pusc ...
joking on a tour with them: "Now you know who we ripped off. Just don't tell anyone, especially the members of King Crimson."
Modern progressive, experimental, psychedelic and
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
bands have cited them as an influence as well, including
the Mars Volta
The Mars Volta is an American progressive rock band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 2001. The band's only constant members are Omar Rodríguez-López (guitar, producer, direction) and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals, lyrics), whose partnership for ...
,
Primus,
Mystery Jets
Mystery Jets are an English indie rock band, formerly based on Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, London. The band consists of Blaine Harrison (vocals, guitar and keyboards), Jack Flanagan (bass and vocals), Kapil Trivedi (drums) and Henry Harriso ...
,
Fanfarlo
Fanfarlo are a London-based indie/alternative band formed in 2006 by Swedish musician Simon Balthazar. They fuse elements of folk, indie rock and post-punk using eclectic instrumentation including trumpet, violin, mandolin, musical saw, clari ...
,
Phish
Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon ...
,
and
Anekdoten
Anekdoten is a Swedish progressive rock band, composed of guitarist/vocalist Nicklas Barker, cellist/keyboardist Anna Sofi Dahlberg, bassist/vocalist Jan Erik Liljeström and drummer Peter Nordins. They are notable for the use of the mellotron ...
, who first practiced together playing King Crimson songs.
Steven Wilson
Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosio ...
, the leader of
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree are an English rock band formed by musician Steven Wilson in 1987. During an initial career spanning more than twenty years, they earned critical acclaim from critics and fellow musicians, developed a cult following, and became ...
, was responsible for remixing King Crimson's back catalogue in surround sound and said that the process had an enormous influence on his solo albums, and his band was influenced by King Crimson. In November 2012
the Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, vocals), Derek Brown (keyb ...
in collaboration with
Stardeath and White Dwarfs released a track-by-track reinterpretation of ''In the Court of the Crimson King'' entitled ''
Playing Hide and Seek with the Ghosts of Dawn''.
Colin Newman
Colin John Newman (born 16 September 1954) is an English musician, record producer and record label owner. He is best known as the primary vocalist and songwriter for the post-punk band Wire.
Early life
Newman was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire ...
, of
Wire
Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm
A wire is a flexible strand of metal.
Wire is c ...
, said he saw King Crimson perform many times, and that they influenced him deeply. The seminal
hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...
group
Black Flag acknowledge Wetton-era King Crimson as an influence on their experimental period in the mid-1980s.
Melvin Gibbs
Melvin Gibbs is an American bass guitarist who has appeared on close to 200 albums in diverse genres of music. Among others, Gibbs is known for working in jazz with drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson and guitarist Sonny Sharrock, and in rock music ...
said that the
Rollins Band was influenced most by King Crimson, using similar chords.
Bad Religion
Bad Religion is an American punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilitie ...
cites the lyrics of "21st Century Schizoid Man" on their single "
21st Century (Digital Boy)" and the name of their record label,
Epitaph
An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...
(founded by their guitarist
Brett Gurewitz
Brett W. Gurewitz (born May 12, 1962), nicknamed Mr. Brett, is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records and a number of sister labels. He has produced albums f ...
), comes from
the song of the same name on Crimson's debut album.
Living Colour
Living Colour is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. The band currently consists of guitarist Vernon Reid, lead vocalist Corey Glover, drummer Will Calhoun and bassist Doug Wimbish (who replaced Muzz Skillings in 1992). S ...
guitarist
Vernon Reid
Vernon Alphonsus Reid (born 22 August 1958) is an English-born American guitarist and songwriter. Reid is the founder and primary songwriter of the rock band Living Colour, Reid was named No. 66 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's 2003 list of the ...
considered
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a sessio ...
as one of his guitar influences.
King Crimson have frequently been cited as pioneers of
progressive metal
Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...
and as an influence on bands of this genre, including
Opeth
Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal/rock band from Stockholm, formed in 1990 by lead vocalist David Isberg. The group has been through several personnel changes, including the replacement of every original member; notably Isberg in 1992. Mikael ...
,
Mastodon
A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of th ...
,
Between the Buried and Me
Between the Buried and Me, often abbreviated as BTBAM, is an American progressive metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina. Formed in 2000, the band consists of Tommy Giles Rogers Jr. (lead vocals, keyboards), Paul Waggoner (lead guitar, backing ...
,
Leprous
Leprous is a Norwegian rock band from Notodden, formed in 2001. The group was founded by singer and keyboardist Einar Solberg and guitarist Tor Oddmund Suhrke.
After releasing several demos with relatively unstable lineups, the band released th ...
,
Haken,
the Ocean,
Caligula's Horse
Caligula's Horse is an Australian progressive metal band from Brisbane, Queensland. The band was formed by Sam Vallen and Jim Grey in early 2011. The current lineup consists of lead vocalist Jim Grey, lead guitarist Sam Vallen, bassist Dale Pr ...
,
Last Chance to Reason
Last Chance to Reason is an American progressive metal band from Augusta, Maine. Their debut album, '' Lvl. 1'', was released through Tribunal Records in 2007. Their first major label debut, '' Level 2'', came in 2011 through Prosthetic Record ...
, and
Indukti
Indukti is a progressive metal band from Poland, founded in 1999. Their debut album, '' S.U.S.A.R.'', featured Mariusz Duda of the Polish band Riverside on vocals.
Indukti's performances of concerts and festivals include NEARfest
The North Eas ...
. Members of metal bands
Mudvayne
Mudvayne is an American heavy metal band formed in Peoria, Illinois in 1996. Known for their sonic experimentation, face and body paint, masks and uniforms, the band has sold over six million records worldwide, including nearly three millio ...
,
Voivod,
Enslaved,
Yob,
Pyrrhon, and
Pallbearer
A pallbearer is one of several participants who help carry the casket at a funeral. They may wear white gloves in order to prevent damaging the casket and to show respect to the deceased person.
Some traditions distinguish between the roles of ...
have cited King Crimson as an influence. Heavy experimental and avant-garde acts like
the Dillinger Escape Plan
The Dillinger Escape Plan was an American metalcore band. The band was formed in 1997 in Morris Plains, New Jersey by guitarist Ben Weinman, bassist Adam Doll, vocalist Dimitri Minakakis, and drummer Chris Pennie. The band's use of odd time si ...
,
Neurosis
Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving chronic distress, but neither delusions nor hallucinations. The term is no longer used by the professional psychiatric community in the United States, having been eliminated from th ...
,
Zeni Geva
Zeni may refer to:
* Zeni (letter), a letter of the Georgian alphabet
* Zeni, Iran, a village in South Khorasan Province, Iran
* Zeni Husmani (born 1990), Macedonian footballer
* Zeni (surname), surname
See also
* Zenigata Heiji
, usual ...
,
Ancestors
An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...
, and
Oranssi Pazuzu all cite King Crimson's influence.
Other artists affected by King Crimson include video game composer
Nobuo Uematsu
is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the ''Final Fantasy'' video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton Jo ...
,
noise music artist Masami Akita of
Merzbow
is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by , best known for a style of harsh, confrontational noise. Since 1980, Akita has released over 400 recordings and has collaborated with various artists.
The name Merzbow comes from the German dada ...
, jazz guitarist
Dennis Rea
Dennis Rea (born July 7, 1957) is an American guitarist, author, and music event organizer. He was a member of the electronic music group Earthstar (band), Earthstar in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He leads the progressive rock quintet Morain ...
of
Land
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...
,
folktronica
Folktronica is a genre of music comprising various elements of folk music and electronica, often featuring uses of acoustic instruments – especially stringed instruments – and incorporating hip hop, electronic or dance rhythms, although i ...
exponent
Juana Molina
Juana Rosario Molina (; born 1 October 1961) is an Argentine singer, songwriter and actress, based in Buenos Aires. She is known for her distinctive sound, considered an exponent of folktronica, although it has also been described as ambient, exp ...
, hip hop producer
RJD2
Ramble Jon Krohn (born May 27, 1976), better known by his stage name RJD2, is an American musician based in Columbus, Ohio. He is the owner of record label RJ's Electrical Connections. He has been a member of groups such as Soul Position, MHz Lega ...
, hip hop and soul composer
Adrian Younge
Adrian Younge (born May 7, 1978) is an American composer, arranger and music producer based in the Los Angeles area.
Background
Younge grew up in Fontana, California. His father is a lawyer and Younge himself earned a Juris Doctor degree fro ...
, film director
Hal Hartley
Hal Hartley (born November 3, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and composer who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and '90s. He is best known for his films '' The Unbelievable T ...
, and folk-pop singer
Ian Kelly.
Members
Current members
*
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a sessio ...
– guitar, keyboards, mellotron, electronics
*
Mel Collins – saxophones, flute, bass flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, mellotron, backing vocals
*
Tony Levin
Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer, specializing in electric bass, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (since 1 ...
– bass, Chapman stick, synthesisers, backing vocals
*
Pat Mastelotto – drums, percussion, programming
*
Gavin Harrison
Gavin Richard Harrison (born 28 May 1963) is an English musician. He is best known for playing with the progressive rock bands Porcupine Tree (2002–2010; 2021–present), King Crimson (2008, and 2014–present) and The Pineapple Thief (20 ...
– drums, percussion
*
Jakko Jakszyk – lead vocals, guitar, flute, keyboards
*
Jeremy Stacey – drums, keyboards, backing vocals
Former members
*
Michael Giles
Michael Rex Giles (born 1 March 1942) is an English drummer, percussionist, and vocalist, best known as one of the co-founders of King Crimson in 1969. Prior to the formation of King Crimson, he was part of the eccentric pop trio Giles, Giles ...
– drums, percussion, backing vocals
*
Ian McDonald – saxophone, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, keyboards, mellotron, vibraphone, backing vocals
*
Peter Sinfield – lyrics, lighting, synthesizer
*
Greg Lake
Gregory Stuart Lake (10 November 1947 – 7 December 2016) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP).
Born and ...
– bass, lead vocals
*
Gordon Haskell – bass, lead vocals
*
Andy McCulloch – drums
*
Ian Wallace – drums, percussion, backing vocals
*
Boz Burrell – bass, lead vocals
*
John Wetton – bass, lead vocals
*
Jamie Muir
Jamie Muir (born 1943 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish painter and former musician, best known for his work as the percussionist in King Crimson from 1972–1973.
Biography
Muir attended the Edinburgh College of Art during the 1960s, and began play ...
– percussion
*
Bill Bruford – drums, percussion
*
David Cross
David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series ''Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/ Netflix sitco ...
– violin, viola, keyboards
*
Adrian Belew – guitar, lead vocals, drums and percussion
*
Trey Gunn – Warr guitar, Chapman stick, backing vocals, bass
*
Bill Rieflin – keyboards, synthesizer, mellotron, drums, percussion ; inactive
Discography
* ''
In the Court of the Crimson King'' (1969)
* ''
In the Wake of Poseidon'' (1970)
* ''
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia altho ...
'' (1970)
* ''
Islands'' (1971)
* ''
Larks' Tongues in Aspic
''Larks' Tongues in Aspic'' is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock group King Crimson, released on 23 March 1973 through Island Records in the UK and Atlantic Records in the United States and Canada. This album is the debut o ...
'' (1973)
* ''
Starless and Bible Black
''Starless and Bible Black'' is the sixth studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson, released in March 1974 by Island Records in the United Kingdom and by Atlantic Records in the United States. It carries over most of the same ...
'' (1974)
* ''
Red'' (1974)
* ''
Discipline
Discipline refers to rule following behavior, to regulate, order, control and authority. It may also refer to punishment. Discipline is used to create habits, routines, and automatic mechanisms such as blind obedience. It may be inflicted on ot ...
'' (1981)
* ''
Beat'' (1982)
* ''
Three of a Perfect Pair'' (1984)
* ''
Thrak
''Thrak'' (stylised in all caps) is the eleventh studio album by the band King Crimson released in 1995 through Virgin Records. It was preceded by the mini-album '' Vrooom'' in 1994.
It is their first full-length studio album since ''Three of a ...
'' (1995)
* ''
The Construkction of Light'' (2000)
* ''
The Power to Believe
''The Power to Believe'' is the thirteenth and final studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson. It was released on 4 March 2003 through Sanctuary Records and met with generally favourable reviews, with several critics appreci ...
'' (2003)
Citations
General references
*
*
External links
Discipline Global Mobile LiveCrimson Jazz TrioElephant TalkProjeKction*
*
{{Authority control
Articles which contain graphical timelines
Atlantic Records artists
Caroline Records artists
Discipline Global Mobile artists
E.G. Records artists
English art rock groups
English progressive rock groups
Free improvisation ensembles
Island Records artists
Musical groups disestablished in 1974
Musical groups disestablished in 1984
Musical groups disestablished in 2004
Musical groups disestablished in 2008
Musical groups established in 1968
Musical groups reestablished in 1981
Musical groups reestablished in 1994
Musical groups reestablished in 2007
Musical groups reestablished in 2013
Musical quartets
Musical quintets
Polydor Records artists
Post-progressive musicians
Symphonic rock groups
Vertigo Records artists
Virgin Records artists
Warner Records artists