In the Court of the Crimson King

In the Court of the Crimson King
Studio album by King Crimson
Released	October 12, 1969
Recorded	June-August 1969, Wessex Sound Studios, London
Genre	Progressive rock, symphonic rock, psychedelic rock, experimental rock
Length	43:54
Label	Island Records (U.K.) Atlantic Records (U.S.) Polydor Records E.G. Records Discipline Global Mobile
Producer	King Crimson
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Rolling Stone (favorable) link
King Crimson chronology
In the Court of the Crimson King (1969) In the Wake of Poseidon (1970)

In the Court of the Crimson King (an observation by King Crimson) is the 1969 debut album by the British progressive rock group King Crimson. The album reached No.3 on the British charts. It continues to be a classic and has been a tremendous influence on other artists. The album is certified gold in the United States.^[1] The album generally considered by many the launching point of progressive rock where blues-oriented rock is completely abandoned in favour of more jazz and European symphonic elements incorporated. The Who's Pete Townshend was quoted as calling the album "an uncanny masterpiece".^[2] The album was remastered and re-released on vinyl and CD several times during the 1980s and 1990s. The original master tapes were finally located in a Virgin Records storage vault in 2003, leading to a much improved remastered version released in 2004.

Album cover

Barry Godber (1946–1970), an artist and computer programmer, painted the album cover. Godber died in February 1970 of a heart attack, shortly after the album's release. It would be his only painting, and is now owned by Robert Fripp.^[3][4] Fripp had this to say about Godber:

CD Editions

The most recent CD version (described as the "Original Master Edition", DGM0501) was released in 2004 on Robert Fripp's Discipline Global Mobile label. This version has greatly improved sound over all previous CD versions. The original stereo master mix tapes were only recently re-discovered in the archives of Virgin Records after being misplaced for over 30 years. The latest edition also has an excellent 12 page booklet full of pictures and press clippings. It is best to avoid other CD versions, especially those released by Polydor and E.G. Records. Previous CD editions were made from tape copies far removed from the original stereo master tape.

Track listing

1. "21st Century Schizoid Man" (Fripp, McDonald, Lake, Giles, Sinfield) – 7:21
   • "Mirrors"
2. "I Talk to the Wind" (McDonald, Sinfield) – 6:05
3. "Epitaph" (Fripp, McDonald, Lake, Giles, Sinfield) – 8:47
   • "March for No Reason"
   • "Tomorrow and Tomorrow"
4. "Moonchild" (Fripp, McDonald, Lake, Giles, Sinfield) – 12:13
   • "The Dream"
   • "The Illusion"
5. "The Court of the Crimson King" (McDonald, Sinfield) – 9:25
   • "The Return of the Fire Witch"
   • "The Dance of the Puppets"

Personnel

• Robert Fripp – guitar
• Ian McDonald – flute, saxophone, vibes, keyboards, mellotron, vocals
• Greg Lake – bass guitar, lead vocals
• Michael Giles – drums, percussion, vocals
• Peter Sinfield – words, illumination
• Barry Godber – cover illustrations

Cultural References

• The popular MMORPG EverQuest II based all of the Non-Player Characters in the zone The Court of Al'Afaz on characters in this album.
• The Stephen King book Insomnia references the title of the album several times throughout the book.
• The Finnish doom metal band Reverend Bizarre named their first album In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend in a conscious homage to King Crimson.

References