#regaplanar3

Madness, One Step Beyond 1979.

King Crimson ‘Red’ 1974.

King Crimsons Red was the bands last album of the seventies as Robert Fripp wanted to take a year off and asked the management team if Ian McDonald could replace him. Oddly that request was rejected and Fripp disbanded King Crimson.

Red follows the technical brilliance of the previous two albums Larks' Tongues in Aspic 1973 and Starless and Bible Black 1974. However Its heavier and colder but that’s not an insult. There is a welcome return of the saxophone which I thought had been missing previously. Surprisingly Fripp stepped back for large parts of the decision making as John Wetton and Bill Bruford’s sound was heavier this time round.

In my eyes the album is a masterpiece but isn’t most of King Crimsons work? My highlights are ‘One more Red Nightmare’ which has excellent guitars, heavy bass and drums. All this makes the song quite heavy and some have called the song Proto-heavy metal. John Wettons vocal style is quite something to listen to. Lyrics of course about a nightmare but with the fear of flying. One more Red Nightmare is a great ride.

Next is of course Starless, a song written by Wetton for Starless and Bible Black but was rejected. Starless was altered to include an instrumental section and Lyrical changes. This is a difficult song to write about because there is so much to it. Starless has a soft intro with the mellotron, guitar, drums and saxophone, then comes Wetton’s gruff vocals. The first time I heard this opening I knew this song was going to be something momentous. John Wetton’s Bass is greatly underrated and during the course of the album has a unique sound which is prevalent through the midsection and slowly builds with Fripp’s simple steady single note guitar that is constantly repeated. The build finally turns into a frenzy of hard drums, distorted bass and Fripp’s single notes become more apparent. The end brings slight normality with the saxophone and bass dictating the end.

This album fully deserves the universal acclaim it has received then and now. It would have been interesting to see what would have come after, unfortunately there was a seven year gap which brought personal changes, while the 80’s brought style changes musically. This and the previous two albums evolved and progressed from each other. It took till 2003’s The Power to Believe to find ‘Red’ and it’s heavy hitting music and complexities again.

Album Cover 6/10

Music 8.5/10