King Crimson ( Russian King Crimson [5] , in English read Kin Crimson ( kɪŋ 'krɪmz (ə) n ); in the lane with the English. Crimson King [6] ) - British rock band , created by guitarist Robert Fripp and drummer By Michael Giles in 1968 . The band's music is stylistically progressive rock . King Crimson is recognized as one of the best bands of this genre [7] .
King crimson | |
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basic information | |
Genres | progressive rock jazz rock new wave [1] [2] [3] art rock experimental rock |
Years | 1968 - 1974 1981 - 1984 1994 —2004 2007 - 2009 2013 - our days [4] |
A country | Great Britain |
From where | London , England |
Labels | , , , and |
Composition | Robert Fripp Mel Collins Tony Levin Pat Mastelotto Gavin harrison Jacco jazz Bill Riflin Jeremy stacy |
Former the participants | Peter Sinfield Greg Lake Michael giles Iain Macdonald Gordon Haskell Andy McCulloch Boz burrell Ian wallace Bill Bruford John Wetton David Cross Jamie Muir Adrian belew Trey Gunn Chris Gibson |
king-crimson.com | |
A prominent part of the King Crimson story consists of various changes that took place in the group. Through this whole story, Robert Fripp passes as the only permanent participant.
History and Creativity
Title
The name King Crimson was coined by Peter Sinfield . According to Robert Fripp, “The Crimson King” is Beelzebub , “the lord of the flies,” whose Arabic form of the name, “Bill Sabab,” means “purposeful man.” At the same time, in Sinfield’s verses much indicates that under the “Crimson King” lies Frederick II Hohenstaufen , the Sicilian and German king, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, whom Dante called “the last emperor of the Romans”. [eight]
These two points of view are connected in one of the Tarot cards “The Emperor”, depicting Zeus the Thunderer (who had the nickname Apomius, “Run the Flies”, and he is depicted in the red mantle); Frederick II was depicted on the early Tarot cards on the Emperor's map. [eight]
1968–69 (birth)
Guitarist Robert Fripp and drummer Michael Giles began discussing the creation of King Crimson in November 1968 , shortly before the collapse of the short-lived and not-too-successful band Giles, Giles and Fripp . The first musician to join was the multi-instrumentalist Ian MacDonald (brass, keyboards, vocals); Soon, the poet Peter Sinfild and singer and guitarist Greg Lake were added, who were entrusted with bass guitar and singing.
The first rehearsal took place in early January 1969 . The group’s loud premiere took place on July 5 of the same year at the famous open concert in Hyde Park ( London ), organized by The Rolling Stones in memory of the deceased guitarist and founder Brian Jones the day before. In October, the first King Crimson album was released - “ In the Court of the Crimson King ” ( “At the court of the crimson (crimson) king” ).
The premiere album of the band, on the one hand, was a demonstration of the possibilities of the newly created team, who from the first steps made a serious bid to join the "big league" of rock music. In the compositions I Talk to the Wind ( “I Speak with the Wind” ), the two-part Gothic rock ballad Epitaph ( “The Epitaph” ), the two-part jazz-rock piece Moonchild ( “Lunar Child” ) demonstrated the possession of the main subgenres of melodic and improvisational rock.
On the other hand, the album contains innovative elements.
. The first composition of the first King Crimson album was declared a commitment to polyrhythmia .
Its sound could be called “signature”, but the genre was developed by others: in fact, King Crimson didn’t create anything like this, although “metallic” elements are present in the band’s work to this day.
The final title composition of the album The Court of the Crimson King ( “ The Court of the Crimson King ” ) is a long structured epic in minor with artificial major cadences. This style, although not alien to King Crimson in later periods, is more characteristic of the ELP group, which was founded a year later with the participation of Greg Lake and later also attracted Peter Sinfield.
The King Crimson title album is often referred to as the first progressive rock album (despite Fripp’s repeated skepticism about this genre definition). He still remains the most popular album of the group.
King Crimson toured the UK and then in the United States , performing along with many popular musicians and bands, including Iron Butterfly , Janis Joplin , The Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac . Meanwhile, within the group, friction and apparent differences in musical preferences exacerbated, leading to the departure of MacDonald and Giles in December (in 1970 they released their studio album, McDonald and Giles ; later, in 1976 , MacDonald became one of the founders of Foreigner .
1970s
In the next few years, the composition of the team continuously changed.
The remaining Trio of Fripp, Sinfield and Lake did not last long, releasing the single Cat Food / Groon ( Cat Food / Roar ) in March 1970 and preparing the recordings, which were then included in the band's second album, In the Wake of Poseidon. 1970). The second album is very close in character to the first one. The complicated compositions appeared on him primarily in the play The Devil's Triangle ( “ The Devil's Triangle ” ) - adaptation of the “Mars” part from the famous suite of Gustav Canvas “The Planet” ), consisting of two parts of Pictures of a City (“Pictures of the City”) and title composition. The genre-stylistic range of other songs included varies from the medieval choral in Peace - A Beginning ( "Peace - Beginning" ) to the jazz-rock blues in Pictures of a City and the epic in In the Wake of Poseidon .
Mel Collins (woodwinds) joined the band, and Peter Giles took part in the recording of several tracks. In April of the same year, the group left Lake, which entered the newly formed “ ELP ”, leaving King Crimson without a vocalist. Gordon Haskell was recruited as the lead vocalist (and bass guitar player), with whom the band's third album, Lizard (1970), was recorded. Andy McCulloch (drums) and John Anderson from Yes (vocals in Prince Rupert Awakes ( "The Awakening of Prince Rupert" )) also took part in the recording of this album, obviously of an experimental search character. The desire to complicate the macro form here reached its peak in the opening album of the avant-garde trilogy Cirkus and the Lizard suite, which occupies the entire second side of the original disc. At the end of the recording, Haskell and McCulloch left the band, leaving him in a hopeless position of a rock band without a singer, bass player and drummer.
As a result of lengthy listening, the choices of Fripp and Sinfield settled on drummer Iane Wallace and vocalist Bose Barrel , whom Fripp also decided to teach him to play bass guitar. In the course of lengthy tours, the group in this lineup released the fourth album - Islands ( “Islands” , 1971), searching by character and becoming transitional in the history of the group - this is farewell to the symbolic poetry of Peter Sinfield, and the first “swallow” or petrel impending metamorphosis - song Sailor's Tale, and, of course, grandiose ending drive - prelude Song of the Gulls, and, in fact, the title song disc - Islands, fantastic beauty and lyricism, the product is so perfect that Fripp finally moved from the phase search "to« destroy phase. " In late 1971, the team left Sinfield. The remaining lineup continued touring the following year; records 1971-1972 entered the Earthbound concert album ( "Earth" , 1972). In terms of track composition, this album intersects with the Islands , and the live performance is more interesting (despite the extremely low quality of the official album for the recording).
After the King Crimson tour ended, Collins, Wallace and Barrell left to form the Snape group, and Fripp again began to search for new musicians. The group included improvising percussionist Jamie Muir , vocalist and bassist John Wetton (who had previously played Family and an acquaintance of Fripp since his student days), drummer Bill Bruford , who quit playing unstable and unpredictable King Crimson with creative and commercially successful band Yes , and David Cross (bowed, keyboards). The writer of the texts was taken by Richard Palmer-James . The new line-up began rehearsals and tours at the end of 1972 , and already at the beginning of the next, the group’s fifth studio album, Larks' Tongues in Aspic ( “The filler of the larks” ) came out.
Larks' Tongues ... differs significantly from the group's early albums and represents a significant milestone in the history of both progressive rock and rock music in general. Its semantic center is the three instrumental pieces: the opening and final parts of the title composition Larks' Tongues in Aspic - Part I and Part II), and also Talking Drum ( “The Talking Drum” ). They first showed the group's tendency to build up along the course of development of the themes of rhythmic and timbral complexity on a relatively poor melodic material, characteristic of the group's subsequent work. The album also includes the energetic and rhythmically complicated ballad Book of Saturday ( “Saturday Book” ), the unexpectedly richly modulated song Exiles ( “Exiles” ) and the strange polymetric Easy Money ( “Easy Money” ). Unique to this album is the addition of Muir's drums with percussion, creating a very complex metric-rhythmic pattern of percussion instruments. Despite the studio character of the recording, Larks' Tongues ... emphasizes the improvisational component of the band's work. Even more clearly, it manifests itself in the records of those years, made public in the late 1990s on the discs of the collection series - Live at Jacksonville (1998), The Beat Club (1999) , etc.
In 1973 , at the beginning of which Muir left King Crimson, the band continued touring Britain, continental Europe and America. The material recorded during these tours is presented on Starless and Bible Black albums (Starless Biblical Darkness, 1974), released as the sixth studio, although most of the tracks are included in the live recording, and USA ( United States , 1975), considered concert.
In 1974, King Crimson recorded the seventh studio album - Red ( “Red” ), already as a trio - without leaving the Cross group, but with Collins (soprano-saxophone), Robert Miller (oboe), Mark Charigom (clarinet), McDonalds ( alto saxophone) and ... by the same David Cross. In this lineup, the group did not speak, and at the end of his recording, Fripp announced the dissolution of King Crimson "forever."
1980s (wave period)
In early 1981, Fripp and Bruford decided to form a new group, which they planned to call the Discipline. The role of bass player was invited by Tony Levin , known in professional circles as an experienced session musician. In addition, Fripp called guitarist Adrian Belleu (toured with the group Talking Heads ) to the band. After the start of the European club tour, the musicians decided that this group was the new incarnation of King Crimson.
In this line-up, the team released three studio albums: Discipline (1981), Beat (1982) and Three of a Perfect Pair (1984). These albums can be viewed as a trilogy. Among the fans of the group, they are known as “new wave” .
Adrian Belleu acts on them as a vocalist and author of most texts. In many cases, he writes exaggeratedly simple songs with obvious (for a contemporary) hints of the popular culture of the “new wave” surrounding the song. On top of this (external for progressive rock) material, the team develops a complex timbre and rhythm play, just as they used to do the same on artificially melodious melodic material. In terms of irony and “detached inclusiveness” in the evolution of the King Crimson musical mode of the “wave” period is a completely unique phenomenon.
In relation to those years, Fripp mentioned the desire to create a rock analogue gamelan , with a polyrhythmic function, carried not only by the rhythm section, but also by a pair of intertwined guitar parts.
Eric Tamm identifies the following leading ideas characteristic of the music of King Crimson eighties:
- rock'n'roll;
- rock gamelan (sophisticated textures in Elephant Talk compositions ( Elephant Talk ), Frame by Frame ( Frame by Frame )), Discipline ( Discipline ), etc.);
- metric complexity and polymetry ;
- ballad form ( Matte Kudasai , Two Hands ( “Two Hands” ) or its elements ( Model Man ( “Model man” )), Man with an Open Heart ( Man with an open heart ));
- specific guitar tricks and effects;
- the inclusion of “industrial noise” (“industrial”) ( Neurotica ( “Neurotic” ), Dig Me (“Unlock me”), No Warning ( “Without warning” ), etc.);
- ethnic spirit ( The Sheltering Sky ( "Under the cover of heaven" ), Thela Hun Ginjeet );
- improvisational spirit;
- textural contrasts ( Indiscipline ( Disobedience ), Dig Me );
- shifting harmonic plans.
In addition to the studio trilogy, the King Crimson “wave” period creativity is also featured on the Absent Lovers double concert album ( Scattered Lovers , 1998), several collectible editions of “official bootlegs” and The Noise: Frejus (1982) and Three of a Perfect video recordings. Pair: Live in Japan ( Three Pair of Boots: A Concert in Japan , 1984), reissued on DVD ( Neal and Jack and Me - Neil, Jack and Me , 2004), demonstrating Belew's extraordinary acting skills.
After the release of Three of a Perfect Pair, Robert Fripp disbanded the group again, this time for almost a decade.
1990s
In 1994 , after reviewing the various lineup options, King Crimson recovers as a sextet (or “double trio”), including Fripp, Bruford, Belleu, Levin (bass guitar, Chapman's stick ), Trey Gann ( Warra guitar ) and Pat Mastelotto ( drums) (Gann and Mastelotto were previously involved as session musicians for Fripp performances and recordings with David Sylvian ).
This lineup has released three albums: VROOOM (1994), THRAK (1995) and THRaKaTTaK (1996) with extremely sophisticated music, combining the "heavy" sound characteristic of the King Crimson sample of the 1970s, with the attraction of the song material characteristic of the 1980s .
The recordings of the 90s are also presented on the collection of “official bootlegs” and the 1995 video déjà VROOOM (released in 1999).
At the end of the 1990s, the practice of abbreviated concerts and King Crimson recordings took place - a process that Fripp called the group's “factionalization”. Abbreviated compositions performed and recorded in the late 1990s and early 2000s under the name “ProjeKct” (ProjeKct): Project One , Project Two , Project Three , Project Four and Project Xt, and later Project Oct Five and Project Oct. 6 for which is characterized, above all, high improvisational music.
2000s
At the turn of the century, with the departure of Bruford and Levin, King Crimson remained in a more traditional quartet composition, which coincides with ProjeKct X and this time includes Fripp, Belleu, Gann and Mastelotto.
In this line-up, the group toured (including a performance in Russia in 2003 ) and recorded studio albums The ConstruKction of Light ( “Designing the Light” , 2000) and The Power to Believe ( “ The Power to Believe ” , 2003), as well as five live performers.
On August 30, 2008, most of the former line-ups of the group performed at the international festival of live music “ Creation of the World ” in Kazan as the King Crimson Project , Adrian Belew Power Trio and KTU . Together with the group, keyboardist and violinist Eddie Jobson performed on the stage for the first time in 27 years. On September 3, 2008, they gave a similar concert in Moscow in Club B1.
Since the end of 2007, King Crimson has played a new second drummer - Gavin Harrison [9] - the first Briton to join the band since 1972.
The nature of the music performed by King Crimson in the 2000s is close to the creative work of the 1990s.
After 2008, a break came again in the work of the group. In 2009, the King Crimson Project performed at the Creation of the World festival in Kazan [10] .
2010s
In September 2013, there were reports that Robert Fripp again revived the group after a four-year hiatus [11] . In 2016, drummer Bill Riflin was replaced by Jeremy Stacy [12] .
In September 2016, the group released a concert boxing set, Radical Action to Unseat , recorded during the 2015 tour with material mainly from 1969-1974 [13] .
On December 7, 2016, one of the founders of King Crimson, Greg Lake, died of cancer.
In early January 2017, Bill Riflin returned from a sabbatical leave, but at the same time Jeremy Stacy remained in the group. Thus, King Crimson became an octet [14] with four drummers: Mastelotto, Harrison, Riflin and Stacy.
At the same time, Riflin and Stacy are multi-instrumentalists, therefore, according to Robert Fripp, "King Crimson will produce a lot more noise than ever . "
On January 31, 2017, another former King Crimson member, John Wetton, died of colon cancer [15] [16] [17] .
On April 27 of the same year, the group announced a new concert mini-album “Heroes”, named after David Bowie of the same name [18] .
On September 3, 2017, Fripp announced that the differences with Adrian Beliou were settled and “the door for reunion for the future is open for him” [19] .
On October 13, 2017, it was announced that Bill Riflin would not be able to join the “Double Quartet” ( eng. Double Quartet ) in the autumn 2017 tour of the United States. He was replaced by Chris Gibson from Seattle, whom Bill prepared for the upcoming performances [20] .
On November 22, 2017, King Crimson announced the Uncertain Times tour, which lasted 33 days and was held in the UK and Europe during 2018 (from June 13 to November 16). The team visited Poland, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom and France [21] .
On April 6, 2019, at a press conference, it was announced that Riflin would take another break from King Crimson to do family business. Teo Travis , better known as a jazz saxophonist, a member of the Soft Machine and previously collaborated with Robert Fripp in a duet, will take his place behind keyboards on a tour dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the band. [22] However, the group soon decided to conduct the tour 2019 completely in the form of a septet [23] [24] [25] .
Composition
Current composition
- Robert Fripp - guitar, electric piano, mellotron, keyboards (1968–1974, 1981–1984, 1994–2004, 2007–2009, 2013 — our days)
- Mel Collins - saxophone, flute, mellotron (1970-1972, 2013 — our day, invited in 1970 and 1974)
- Tony Levin - bass guitar, stick, double bass, synthesizer, vocals (1981–1984, 1994–1999, 2003–2004, 2007–2009, 2013 — our days)
- Pat Mastelotto - acoustic and electronic drums and percussion (1994—2004, 2007—2009, 2013 — our days)
- Gavin Harrison - the drums (2007—2009, 2013 — our days)
- Dzhakko Dzhezik - vocals, guitar, flute (2013 — today)
- Bill Riflin - keyboards, synthesizer, mellotron, backing vocals (2013–2015, 2017 — our day; currently not touring), drums, percussion (2013–2015)
- Jeremy Stacy - drums, keyboards, backing vocals (2016 — our day)
Former members
- Peter Sinfield - Lyrics, synthesizer (1968-1972)
- Greg Lake - vocals, bass guitar (1968-1970; died in 2016)
- Michael Giles - drums, vocals (1968–1969, invited in 1970)
- Ian Macdonald - saxophone, flute, mellotron, vibraphone, vocal (1968-1969, invited in 1974)
- Gordon Haskell - vocals, bass guitar (1970, invited in 1970)
- Andy McCulloch - Drums (1970)
- Ian Wallace - drums, percussion, vocals (1971-1972; died in 2007)
- Boz Burrell - vocals, bass guitar (1971-1972; died 2006)
- Bill Bruford - acoustic and electronic drums and percussions (1972–1974, 1981–1984, 1994–1997)
- John Wetton - vocals, bass guitar, guitar, piano (1972-1974; died in 2017)
- David Cross - violin, viola, flute, mellotron, electric piano, keyboards (1972-1974)
- Jamie Muir - Percussion (1972-1973)
- Adrian Belleu - vocals, guitar, electro-percussion (1981–1984, 1994–2004, 2007–2009; The last performance with the group was in 2009, “left” the band from 2013 to 2017, as of summer 2017 is “the ninth inactive "member)
- Trey Gunn - Warra Guitar, Stick, Baritone Guitar, Eschbori-Bass, Vocals (1994-2003)
Former Concert Members
- Keith Tippett - piano, keyboards (1970)
- Chris Gibson - keyboards, synthesizer, mellotron (replaced by Bill Riflin, October — November 2017)
- Theo Travis - keyboards, synthesizers, mellotron (2019)
Timeline
Discography
- Studio albums
- In the Court of the Crimson King ( 1969 )
- In the Wake of Poseidon ( 1970 )
- Lizard ( 1970 )
- Islands ( 1971 )
- Larks' Tongues in Aspic ( 1973 )
- Starless and Bible Black ( 1974 )
- Red ( 1974 )
- Discipline ( 1981 )
- Beat ( 1982 )
- Three of a Perfect Pair ( 1984 )
- VROOOM ( 1994 )
- THRAK ( 1995 )
- The ConstruKction of Light ( 2000 )
- The Power to Believe ( 2003 )
Notes
- ↑ King Crimson at John McFerrin Music Reviews . "Crimson's form of prog, however, tended to incorporate the modern elements of the modern wave (sometimes), avantgarde jazz (sometimes), and later heavy elements of the New Wave."
- ↑ Allmusic review of the album Discipline
- ↑ Allmusic review of the album Beat
- Lenta.ru: Culture: Music: Robert Fripp revived King Crimson
- ↑ King Crimson // Cyril and Methodius Universal Encyclopedia
- ↑ IndoorGames - The Russificated King Crimson
- ↑ Ayvazyan A. A. and others. ROCK. 1955/1991: Reference Book. . - SPb: Trial, 1992. - p. 78. - 424 p. - ISBN 5-7601-0001-7 .
- 2 1 2 King Crimson King . darkside.ru . The appeal date is February 6, 2015.
- ↑ Robert Fripp's diary, November 09, 2007 Archived July 18, 2011.
- ↑ Makarevich prepared to bury the festival "Creation of the World"
- ↑ Spirit blows when Robert Fripp wants to revive King Crimson again
- ↑ Robert Fripp's Diary, Sunday 6th March 2016
- ↑ AllMusic review . AllMusic . The appeal date is November 24, 2017.
- ↑ Robert Fripp's Diary, 03 January 2017
- ↑ Asia frontman, ex-King Crimson bassist John Wetton dies - NME (Eng.) (January 31, 2017).
- ↑ John Wetton dies aged 67 ( January 31, 2017).
- ↑ Robbins, Josh John Wetton, front man for Asia and the United States (31 January 2017).
- ↑ Crimson Release Heroes EP, 27th April 2017
- ↑ Peace - a new beginning? , DGM Live (4 September 2017).
- ↑ . [one]
- Cri ms UK teamrock.com (22 November 2017). The appeal date is November 24, 2017.
- Cri King Crimson's 50th Anniversary Press Day: 15 Things We Learned . Rolling stone The appeal date is April 8, 2019.
- ↑ Robert Fripp - In the King Crimson Rehearsal Zone at 13.02 today ... . Facebook The appeal date is May 2, 2019.
- Ir 'Irreplaceable Billness' (post on DGM Live, 02 May 2019)
- ↑ Fripp, Robert Robert Fripp's Diary: Bredonborough Neopr . Discipline Global Mobile (4 May 2019). The appeal date is May 5, 2019.
Links
- dgmlive.com - the official website of Discipline Global Mobile
- Elephant Talk - the main English-language site of King Crimson fans
- King Crimson Com - English-language website dedicated to the anniversary reissues of classic King Crimson albums in 5.1 Surround Sound
- Indoor Games is the main Russian-language site for King Crimson fans, based on Vladimir Kalnitsky's book Russified King Crimson.
- PRoViDeNCe - Russian-language news site about King Crimson
- Robert Fripp The Diary of King Crimson: 80-81 year