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21st Century Schizoid Man and King Crimson

seagullsnacker

seagullsnacker

iGull
I remember in my youth a friend playing this as a live version on Earthbound (?) and thinking it was really great...now the question is: -

King Crimson...is it all like this, or is it a one off fab track and is not representative of the KC oeuvre?

Enqiring minds wish to know etc....


Paul
 
Yes and er no.

Krim have this sort of LOUD then quiet thing going on a lot of their albums. Schizoid Man being a LOUD one

Krim went through many changes over the years with the line-up changing for every album.

The Fripp-Wetton-Bruford years are my favourites (the mid-70's combo)

Larks Tongues in Aspic
Red
Starless and Bible Black

In the Court of The Crimson King (where Schizoid Man comes from originally hasn't aged well but it is an interesting period piece, it explains a lot about why prog was like it was)

Later stuff with Fripp, Bruford, Levin and Belew has it's moments (some almost sounding like late Talking Heads!)
 
Its moved on since then... all Krim eras are great but as their music becomes more unhinged it gets better (for me at least...)

Best to go to http://www.dgmlive.com/kc/ and have a play around -- free MP3 downloads as well -- look out for "Hot Tickles". I like Krim at its most raucous and improvised where is compares favourably to pure stuttering, jittery white noise... Discipline/Three Of a Perfect Pair/Beat was Krim at their most accessible...

For the true adventurer I always recommend the ProjeCKts Box Set -- 4 x CDs of "without a net" improv music with fractured instances of King Crimson -- a sort of meta-band. Fab. KC has come a long way since it started, and in some ways looped right back on itself.
 
In answer to the original question, is it all like 21st Century... then the nearest you'll get is probably the second album, In The Wake Of Poseidon - but it's not as good. Closest to that early style is the McDonald & Giles album - the one they made directly after In The Court Of The Crimson King was made. It's mellower and tuneful and good.
 
I look at them as at least 4 periods, with different crews in the early phases (things seem more stable since, with former members coming and going):
- early (late 60s, early 70s) In the court of the Crimson King, Lizard
- mid 70s: Red, Starless, USA (llive) etc.
- early 80s: Discipline, Beat
- 90s to now: Thrak, Thrakattak, Happy with what you have to be happy with, etc.

They're all quite different and all good to great. The 2 middle periods are my favourites, particularly Red, Starless and Discipline. The ones from the 90s are a bit harsher.

The similarity with the Talking Heads sound of the early 80s is not a pure coincidence (Belew), although I'm not sure who influenced who.
 
I'm no expert on KC, as I haven't heard a lot of their stuff, but I think Red is a good album.
 
Matte Kudasai and Indiscipline ain't bad either, in fact the entire Side 1 is fantastic. I like Side 2 a bit less, apart from the opening of Thela Hun Ginjeet, which is great stuff.
 
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