#prog_rock

In the 7th edition in the series ‘Prog rock 1965 – 2025’ you listen to and read about the English band Marillion, one of the most characteristic bands from the period of neo-progressive rock: narrative lyrics, different sound preferences within a song, atmospheric and melodic.

https://hermanvandenbosch.com/2025/01/30/marillion-prog-rock-1965-2025-part-7/

Het begrip ‘prog rock’ (progressieve rock) ligt niet bij iedereen voorin de mond. Maar namen als Pink Floyd en Genesis kent iedereen. Dit zijn de eerste groepen waarvoor muziekcritici de term ‘progressieve rock’ gebruikten. Lees meer op mijn nieuwe post.

Het begrip ‘prog rock’ (progressieve rock) ligt niet bij iedereen voorin de mond. Maar namen als Pink Floyd en Genesis kent iedereen. Dit zijn de eerste groepen waarvoor muziekcritici de term ‘progressieve rock’ gebruikten. Lees meer op mijn nieuwe post.

I need someone's help today

I felt decay

Yet needed someone else

To be followed

Followed

Wanting, waiting

Procrastinating

Wanting, waiting

Commemorating

Does this perception of the world

Fit the role?

Or is it big enough to swallow

You whole?

I needed no one but you

Yet now I am finally free

Free to breathe

King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King.

[4.5/5] I'm going to do a bit of a lengthier post here, because I think this album deserves it.  Listen to it before you read this, I don't want to over-sell it.  tl;dr, I like this album.

Given the late-1960's, early-1970's rock I've heard so far, I wasn't going into this album expecting to like it.  It's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of Psychedelic rock --- usually stemming from the "oh-so-deep" lyrics thinly masked with obvious symbolism --- and I figured that's what I was getting into: ten to twelve songs (of which maybe one or two are catchy or memorable) each around four to five minutes long talking about drugs or women (but pretending they're not talking about drugs or women) with a bunch of guitar solos thrown in.  King Crimson wasn't this.  

While the lyrics are nothing to write home about (except, possibly, for The Court of the Crimson King) everything was composed, timed, and executed so well that it felt like a classical music piece. The drums, in particular, were fantastic.  It felt like I was immersed in some sort of landscape that they had constructed, and this, I feel, is the way music ought to be.  The only other album I've felt this for, that I can think of, is Kid A from Radiohead: sitting in my room all those years ago, just listening to the CD player with my headphones in and the lights off --- but it wasn't music for the sake of sound: it was music to figure things out to.  So goes King Crimson.

It felt the same way that it feels when you read a book and get attached to the characters.  Is it because you can relate to the characters, or because you've been with them on the journey for so long?  The songs, purposely long (some composed of two parts), give the listener this experience: you remember the theme, you remember the voices, you remember the patterns.  When the song's over, you feel a genuine emptiness.  So goes King Crimson.