Released: 1974
Tracks: Red; Fallen Angel; One More Red Nightmare; Providence; Starless
Best track: Starless
Track to skip: none
Best King Crimson album up to this point and probably 2nd best overall. Yes, Red is better than In the Court of the Crimson King. It’s really the summation of everything that happened to the band in the previous 5 years. They started out high, then dipped down a bit, and then came storming back up. Red is the sound of 3 professionals achieving a perfect synthesis of musical being. Ha! Did I just type that sentence? Ugh, see, that sounds like usual rock critic talk. What I mean to say is that Bruford, Fripp & Wetton had become such a powerful unit over the past 2 years of touring that they reached their creative peak on this album. Yes, I did say ‘3’, as violinist David Cross was kicked out of the group following the band’s
Central Park show. Cross does pop up on the instrumental Providence, which was recorded at the Providence, RI concert (see
Great Deceiver, Disc 1 for a description of this show). The other guests provide a wonderful rounding-out of King Crimson. Both of the band’s previous two saxophonists Ian MacDonald and Mel Collins play on here (alto and soprano, respectively) and it brings a nice completion to it all.
Like the last album, we get all the best aspects of King Crimson on this album: powerful opening instrumental, nice ballad (Fallen Angel), live improv (Providence), & epic genre-breaking final track. Although I’ve become tired of hearing it live so much in the past few years, Red is a perfect album opener and the best since 21st Century Schizoid Man on the debut. It’s also a fun song to play as my first band covered it. I was seriously blown away first time I heard it. I really like both Fallen Angel and One More Red Nightmare (that cymbal!), but I’m not going to bother going into them. They’re just great, ya know? So, about Providence…I totally prefer this version to the extended one from Great Deceiver. Wetton’s bass is mixed a lot louder in this and his tone knocks me down. I want that tone. Very cool improv.
Oh my gosh I love Starless. It starts out so melancholy with that GORGEOUS melody, then goes into the biggest tension-fest (in 13/8!) ever with the release coming in the jazz destruction of the last bit and with MacDonald soloing like his life depended on it. Starless is the best Crimson song from these early incarnations, by far. What I really love about this track is how Fripp just *knew* that this was the last King Crimson album (it was, minus compilations, until 1981) and the band actually DIES at the end of Starless. I have no idea how to possibly convey the heaviness of this, but it’s true. At the end of the 12 minutes of Starless the music and the band itself just…die. It’s death, absolutely and positively. You hear it; it’s all there on the recording. It’s such an emotional experience to listen to this gorgeous song and eventually have it kill the band. That’s one of the many reasons why I love this album so much. The songs here are world class and overall it is just an amazing album.
Rating: 97
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