In the Court of the Crimson King (CD/ DVD-A) [UK-Version, Regio 2/ B]
King Crimson

I think there is no need to review this album. It is one of the masterpiece of progressive rock which fan should own one.

The first album of a super progressive rock band. It was released in 1969 and is considered their best album. This edition is just great. Great double digipak. Two sound options. I am very happy and I advise all fans of this group.

The end of the 60s. It's time for the birth of art rock. The progressive territories of music have already been explored by Procol Harum and The Nice, as well as The Beatles and Pink Floyd to some extent, have released their debut Van Der Graaf Generator, but the proud title of the first swallow (at least one of the first) of the new musical direction is deserved received the group's debut album under the beautiful name "Raspberry King". The backbone of this wonderful team was made up of members of the band Giles, Giles and Fripp, which released the commercial pop-jazz album The Cheerful Insanity a year earlier: great guitarist Robert Fripp, drummer Michael Giles, and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald collaborated with them. The bassist was not Pete Giles (the second of the brothers), who suddenly wanted to practice law, but Greg Lake from The Gods - the same one where Ken Hensley participated. Apparently, he was attracted by the fact that he not only played bass, but also sang quite well. Fripp did not continue the musical line of the previous group, but decided to combine other things: rock (guitars, drums), European classical music (winds, keyboards) and improvisational jazz (saxophone, vibraphones). He did not engage in verbal creativity, but invited for this purpose the poet from the side - Peter Sinfield, who at the same time became a driver for the guys, as well as a light and sound engineer. By the way, it was he who gave the name to the group, meaning by “Raspberry King” several characters at once - for example, Charlemagne and the Lord of the Rings of Sauron. However, according to many researchers of the group’s work, it also turns out that in Sinfield’s verses says a lot that “Raspberry King” means Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (1194-1250), the Sicilian and German king, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, whom Dante called “the last Emperor of the Romans. " According to the historian Friedrich Heyer, “he seemed to his friends the Messiah, the harbinger of peace in the universe, the God-Emperor of a new era, and the enemies saw in him a ruthless tyrant and the embodiment of Antichrist, whose coming foretold the collapse and end of the world.” In any case, he was a very controversial figure in which two eras clashed - the church-ruled middle ages and modernity ruled by secular power. He was a very educated and tolerant person - a humanist who was far ahead of his time, but it was under him that the most fierce struggle was between the papacy and the empire, led by Frederick. Robert Fripp himself claimed that the "Raspberry King" is none other than Beelzebub, whose Arabic form named Bill Sabab means "a man with a purpose", although in fact the name of this main Syrian god means "lord of the flies" - either because he was the god of the sun, and flies appear precisely during the day, or due to the fact that he was called to drive away flies from places of sacrifice. These two points of view are connected in one of the Tarot cards, which are also very important for understanding the symbolism associated with the group. It is called the Emperor, but it depicts Zeus the Thunderer, who, incidentally, had the nickname Apomius, “Chasing Flies”, and he is depicted in a red mantle. By the way, the Romans called Jupiter the God of Peace, and Frederick II was nicknamed the Lord of the World. And another interesting detail - medieval characters were depicted on the early Tarot cards to remind players of important historical events, and on the map the Emperor was precisely Friedrich, the “scourge of the Church”. The first side of the disc (1-3) deals with the present and the real world, while the second takes us to the fantasy world (4), and then to the distant past (5). 1) "21st Century Schizoid Man." Inspired by the work of Jimi Hendrix, the theme begins with sounds reminiscent of cars on the freeway. Then an aggressive rhythm section comes in with a metal-riffing guitar, a saxophone, sounding in the style of Van Der Graaf Generator, and drums, performing a rather complex rhythmic pattern. And what vocals! He is distorted and full of genuine rage because of what is happening around. In the middle, there is a very fast instrumental called “Mirrors”, listening to which you feel as if you are rushing somewhere with terrifying speed - apparently, to death. The composition ends with a real instrumental chaos, which perfectly complements the general picture of the not-so-attractive pre-apocalyptic future, in which innocent people are burned with napalm, poets are starving, and children are bleeding (obvious allusions to the Vietnam War). The fear with which this thing is permeated is perfectly illustrated by the album cover, on which a face frozen in a cry of horror is painted. 2) "I Talk to the Wind." The absolute opposite of the previous composition, showing how diverse this group can be. MacDonald created a beautiful ballad with keyboards, winds and a mellotron, together creating an atmosphere of being in nature, somewhere away from civilization. If we compare the first two compositions with the image of Frederick II, then in them we see two of his essence - the desire to act by force and

Very good album - I enjoyed listening to the last minute - DVD bonus is very very good - thanks

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