It`s not really often we can find the band with so diverse and strange music and with so interesting and outstanding history as well. The King Crimson is one of the least that can surely be classified to such kind of bands.
Being created on the 30th of November 1968 the band was first rehearsed on the 13th of January 1969 in London with the first band`s line-up: Robert Fripp, who was the guitarist of the band, Greg Lake, the bassist and the vocalist, Michael Giles was the band`s drummer, Ian McDonald, playing the woodwinds and the keyboards, Peter Sinfield, who was the lyric-writer and the stage designer for the band. Band`s name was proposed also by Sinfield meaning the synonym for the Beelzebub, the demons` prince, but etymologically, a “crimson king” could be considered as any tyrannical monarch whose reign caused the civil unrests and abundant slaughter of the common people. The line-up has become the creator of the first album, “In the Court of the Crimson King” that was recorded and produced by Island Records in October 1969. The album was highly evaluated by the critics and other musicians, not mentioning the fans. The sound of the album has been characterized as the anterior for grunge and alternative rock although it has been a mixture of psychedelic rock of Jimi Hendrix’s style, jazz, folk, ambient improvisations and many other elements and details of different kinds of music, making the album the leader of the progressive and psychedelic wave of the music world of the time.
The live debut of the band took place on the 9th of April 1969, but the 5th of July 1969 has become the date of the breakthrough for the band, taking part in The Stones in the Park festival before approximately 500,000 people.
The concert at Fillmore West in San Francisco on the 16th of December 1969 was the last for the original line-up. Giles and McDonald then pursued their solo-work: Giles became a session drummer and McDonald would become one of the founders of the “Foreigner” band. Between the 1970 and the mid-1971, King Crimson found themselves in Brownian motion with continuous break-ups and changing line-ups, causing the breaking of the touring plans and hesitations in finding the most relevant music direction. The next one to leave was Greg Lake joining Keith Emerson what would become “Emerson, Lake & Palmer”. Fripp was the only one musician in the band, adding the role of the keyboard player. To help Fripp with this, Sinfield began developing himself as the keyboards and synthesizers player also. The albums “In the wake of Poseidon” and “Lizard” have been recorded and released by Frapp and Sinfiled using the help of session musicians and former band members, who haven`t stayed in the band although.
The band`s history accounts for 8 line-ups and 4 hiatuses, but there can be mentioned the most often presented line-up of the band:
- Robert Fripp — guitarist, also playing keyboards, MIDI guitar synthesizers and soundscapes (1968–1974, 1981–1984, 1994–2009, 2013–present);
- Mel Collins — flutes, saxophones, backing vocals, mellotron (1970–1972, 2013–present);
- Tony Levin — bass guitars, upright bass, Chapman Stick, backing vocals, synthesizers (1981–1984, 1994–1999, 2003–2009, 2013–present);
- Pat Mastelotto — drums and percussions (1994–2009, 2013–present);
- Gavin Harrison — drums (2007–2009, 2013–present);
- Jakko Jakszyk — guitars, lead vocals (2013–present);
- Bill Rieflin — drums (2013–present).
In total King Crimson had 21 full band-members. Many of different other musicians have worked with the band during the studio recordings, life performances and lyric writing. Fripp has become the one remaining musician of King Crimson through all the history of the band. He has always claimed that he doesn`t think about himself as the frontman of the band however he was always the one to dictate the right style to compose and play in the band. Trey Gunn, who worked with the band in the preiod between 1994 and 2003, has stated that "King Crimson is Robert's vision." . Since 1997 the band hiatuses or other periods of band`s inactivity have caused a variety of associated bands or cooperations called ProjeKcts in which the ideas of King Crimson have been found and extended. Fripp have also taken part in all of them except of the last Crimson ProjeKct with the Fripp`s permission to use word “Crimson” for the association. The former members of the King Crimson band are:
- Adrian Belew — lead vocals, guitars, guitar synthesizer and MIDI guitar, electronic percussion, lyrics (1981–1984, 1994–2009)
- Andy McCulloch — drums (1970)
- Bill Bruford — acoustic and electronic drums and percussion (1972–1974, 1981–1984, 1994–1997)
- Boz Burrell — bass guitar, lead vocals, choreography (1971–1972)
- David Cross — violin, viola, mellotron, electric piano, keyboards, flute (1972–1974)
- Gordon Haskell — bass guitar, lead vocals (1970, guested in 1970)
- Greg Lake — lead vocals, bass guitar, tambourine (1968–1970)
- Ian McDonald — flutes, saxophones, clarinet, bass clarinet, mellotron, keyboards, vibraphone, backing vocals (1968–1969, guested in 1974)
- Ian Wallace — drums, percussion, backing vocals (1971–1972)
- Jamie Muir — various percussion, drums, allsorts (1972–1973)
- John Wetton — bass guitar, lead vocals, occasional piano, guitar and lyrics (1972–1974)
- Michael Giles — drums, percussion, backing vocals (1968–1969, guested in 1970)
- Peter Sinfield — lyrics, synthesiser, illumination, artwork (1968–1972)
- Trey Gunn — Warr Guitar, Chapman Stick, baritone guitar, Ashbory silicone-string bass, backing vocals, "talker" (1994–2003)
The whole discography of King Crimson consists of 25 live albums, 13 studio albums, 8 compilations, 3 EPs and 14 singles. The description of the first record “In the Court of the Crimson King” was mentioned in the beginning, so let us proceed with giving characteristics from the second album. “In the wake of Poseidon” was recorded with the help of Greg Lake and brothers Michael and Peter Giles and other session musicians. The album was moderately well received and reached the fourth position in UK Albums Chart. The next line-up has taken part in the recording of the third album, “Lizard”, which was described as the “acquired taste”, and has reached the 26th position in UK Albums Charts, however Haskell and McCulloch didn`t like the sound of the album and have left the band. After that Raymond Burrell and Ian Wallace have joined the band and gone on tour. With this line-up the fourth King Crimson`s album, “Islands”, was recorded. It was deeply influenced Miles Davis` cooperation with Gil Evans and the album has formed the 30th position in UK Albums Chart. After the next tour Sinfield left King Crimson and released a solo album, “Still”, which presented all the previous and current musicians from the band except Fripp. The band reunited in 1972 for the fulfillment of their tour, releasing the live album “Earthbound”. In late 1972 the band renewed the studio work and the album “Larks` Tongues in Aspic”, characterized for its revolutionary sounds and dynamics use, was released the next year. The album reached the 20th position in the UK Albums Chart. In January 1974 the band released the next record, “Starless and Bible Black”, which was positively reviewed by “The Rolling Stone” and reached the 28th position in UK Albums Chart. Most of the album was recorded from live shows, but with the help of studio equipment and soundman`s skills it was edited and presented as the studio album. At this moment, Cross was expelled from the band and the rest of the King Crimson released the seventh record, “Red”, which has reached the 45th position on the UK Albums chart with the further predictions for the future band`s decay. It officially happened on the 25th of September 1974. The post-mortem live album, “USA”, released in 1975 gained high marks from the critics and viewers, claiming that it was the must-have for every band`s fan. 1981 was the year of the peculiar reunion of the band, when Robert Fripp was asked to join Toni Levin, Adrian Belew and Bill Bruford in the “Discipline” quartet. They have successfully played several shows in UK and by the October 1981 they made a decision to resurrect the King Crimson and released the “Discipline” album on E`G Records in UK and Warner Bros. Records in USA and Canada. It has become the standard of the band`s new sound and has reached the 18th position on the Canadian Albums Chart. In 1982 it was followed by “Beat” with the 18th position on the Norwegian Albums Chart and the “Three of a Perfect Pair” in 1984, with the 30th grade on the UK Albums Chart. The last one was recorded as the “Absent Lovers: Love in Montreal” live album. After that the band took a 10 years lasting break. In 1991 Robert Fripp created his own label “Discipline Global Mobile” because of the serious arguing with his previous management. He also invited David Sylvian to sing for the future reunion of King Crimson, after that he invited Belew, Bruford, Levin back. To this line-up he added Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto for the so-called “Double-Trio”. They recorded and released the “EPVrooom” album in 1994. During the period of “Double Trios” the musicians worked in sub-divisons called “ProjeKcts”. DGM launched the “King Crimson Collector`s Club” in 1998, which was the service that continually released live recording from all of the band`s live shows throughout their career. King Crimson recorded “The ConstruKction of Light” which has achieved the 17th position on the Italian Albums Chart. The parallel album was recorded labeled with the name of “ProjeKct X” at the same time, it was called “Heaven and Earth”. Several EPs were released within the next years: “Level Five” in 2001, “Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With” in 2002 and the full-length album “The Power to Believe” was released in 2003 and has earned the 25th position on the Finnish Albums Chart. The next line-up of the King Crimson was presented in 2007 with Fripp, Levin, Mastelotto, Belew and Gavin Harrison as the second drummer joined the band in 2008.
After the last hiatus in 2009, Robert Fripp announces the next reformation of the King Crimson in 2013 with Levin, Harrisom and Mastelotto from the previous line-up, adding saxophonist Mel Collins and two new members, the vocalist and guitarist Jakko Jakszyk and the drummer Bill Rieflin, which is working and playing at this moment.
Works Cited
Smith, Sid. In the Court of King Crimson. London: Helter Skelter Publishing, 2001.
