# King Crimson



## Conservationist (Apr 5, 2007)

> King Crimson moved retrograde to the tendency to dumb down the medium into image and trivial yet novel variations on accepted form, and with Red the band reached a climax, fusing simplicity with a need for subliminal elegance and a finding a transcendental recognition of the relative balance between structure and content, fulfilling the prophetic words of Ornette Coleman: "The pattern for a tune, for instance, will be forgotten and the tune itself will be the pattern."
> 
> King Crimson _Red_ Review and MP3 samples


Always been a big fan of this band -- intelligent rock music, which is a total minority.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I love King Crimson and the Red album, but I would scarcely put it above their excellent recent output. They are one of the few bands that never ran out of creative juices, or sold out, or became hackneyed parodies of themselves.

"Happy With What You Have to Be Happy With" is a fantastic EP.

I do consider the song "Red" to be the definitive King Crimson work though. Or maybe "Larks' Tounges in Aspic, Part One"


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## Mark Harwood (Mar 5, 2007)

The band's perennial mainstay, Robert Fripp, has consistently held that the best way to experience King Crimson is live. I used to listen to their records a lot, but in retrospect they seem mostly insubstantial and unsatisfactory, always striving for effect, with a few exceptions:
a) the brief guitar solo in "A Sailor's Tale" on Earthbound still makes the jaw drop;
b) the nightmare of "21st Century Schizoid Man" on USA, and other moments on that album;
c) the majestic almost-sonata, "Starless", which, for me, far outshines everything else I've heard by them combined.
Mr. Fripp has many stimulating ideas about music, and even if some of them appear quite bonkers he does make you think.
Please allow me to recommend the book, "From King Crimson to Guitar Craft", and two of RF's solo CDs, "A Blessing of Tears" and "Churchscapes".


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## Yagan Kiely (Feb 6, 2008)

McDonald & Giles > King Crimson

Just.



> intelligent rock music, which is a total minority.


Whether or whether not you call Beatles 'rock' George Martin managed (pun) to make the Beatles another intelligent rock band (more so anyway).


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## Mr. Terrible (Oct 17, 2008)

I have this sneaking suspicion that behind all the relentless intellectualism, Robert Fripp actually HAS a sense of humour.
Mind you I quite liked In the court of the.......


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Did Zappa follow the same formula or was it the other way around?


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

I think it's both at the same time with Zappa but the humour is mainly an acquired but non the less cherished way of communicating more socially acceptable about serious business. I know because I recognise it. I'm the same and proud of it. Life in the end is not about people, it's about knowledge, truth, art and music. Music is the best.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Very cool and nice Zappa quote


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