Favourite KC moments?

[soundchaser09]

They are not my favourite band, but they had a coolness about them, and were undeniably virtuoso. One of their best:

[Gtkgasman]

Seeing them live for the first time in ‘96 at The Mann is my most memorable moment.

edit: But Lake and Wetton are my choice for vocals by far.

[Awaken]

I don't know well KC so far, but they are on my to-listen-to-list: I want to listen to all KC's albums.

[TerryTT]

They aren't one of my favorite bands either, but I loved the Live In Japan video from the 80s. That was my first introduction to them. I've been a big Adrian Belew fan ever since. Fripp is good,
but Belew is from a whole other dimension.

[Frumious B]

[luna65]

[luna65]

[Homemade Parachute]

Never able to see them live, but from the studio and live albums, some choice moments:

From The Great Deceiver, many of "Bob or 'Chuckles' Fripp"'s spoken intros to the crowd, where he comes across as a much funnier person than he is given credit for.
From Absent Lovers (1984), the "Larks Tongues in Aspic Part II" just kills here, like a punk band with a whole lot to prove.
From 1982, any of the shows opening with "Waiting Man", which is just such a great way to bring the band on one by one and build a groove in front of the audience.
From B'BOOM (1994), "VROOOM VROOOM" is a blast, and the transition between "The Talking Drum" and "Larks II", where it sounds like wailing banshees, I've often played that to the kids and said "This is what *you* sound like to me." Laffs (or chuckles) all around.
From Heavy ConstruKction (2000), "Heroes" and "Tomorrow Never Knew Thela", two great twists on other artists' material.
From the recent group, there's a download of "The ConstruKction of Light", not my favourite song, but in this case Tony Levin miscounts his intro, and the whole thing goes off the rails. It's kind of crazy that they released it, but it's a great testament to how crazily complex some of that stuff is, where everyone's in a different time signature, and a train wreck is around almost every corner.

[Soundwaveseeker]

One of my fave bands ever, so lotsa favorite moments.

1) The dreamy, surreal bit after the main song part of Moonchild from In The Court... - try listening to that half asleep after being up in the middle of the night for a bit. If it hits you just right as you're nodding off, you may end up in a strange place. No, various substances do not need to be involved.

2) Fripp's shredding, banjo-like solo at the end of Sailor's Tale where it sounds like the guitar is literally flaking apart in his hands, causing dangerous splinters.

3) Wetton's smoking vocals and David Cross' elegant violin on the underrated and stately Exiles. The same for Starless - near perfection composition.

4) The angular, half urban/half jungle soundscapes of Discipline album, progressive but never prog. Indiscipline and Thela Hun Ginjeet(Heat In The Jungle) are gloriously frantic, while The Sheltering Sky is totally from Neptune. Unlike anything ever made.

5) The early ballads - Cadence & Cascade, Lady Of The Dancing Water, I Talk To The Wind, Book Of Saturday - beautiful, pastoral.

6) The modern, techy and somewhat forgotten Power To Believe - thinking man's ambient nu-metal. Best work since the 80's.

7) The Larks/Starless/Red lineup's uncharted improvs, instant creation of instrumental chunks of musical telepathy.

8) The recent final Crimson's reinstating of classic material after decades of Fripp avoidance.

9) Keith Tippett's liquid-y piano flourishes and the 'Chamber Years' which saw Crimso augmented by Tippett and various jazz/orchestra players, creating a elegant and sublime tapestry with cello, trombone, strings etc. and of course Mel Collins' honkin' sax.

10) The raw Earthbound, and Boz Burrel scatting lines like "ain't make no difference what you think about me, it makes a whole lotta difference what I think about you". Part of you is glad these bluesy rockers forced Fripp to boogie against his will. Now he may be about "King Crimson is a process" and 'the drive to 1981' and 'independent mobile units' and all that, but you know part of him enjoyed layin' it down.

11) Fripp.

12) and of course, my favorite Crimson album, Three Of A Perfect Pair - the yellow album. Industrial light and magic. Music from a space junkyard. The slappy funk bass of Tony Levin on Sleepless, the assembly line chaos of Industry, even a song from the perspective of an old car rusting away in a junkyard, dreaming of the days when it only had so many miles on it and was the pride of its owner. Belew's voice is in fine form. Bruford's Simmons electronic drums on No Warning avoids any and all trappings of any and all 1980's synth/electronic drums. From anyone else, it may sound dated. Here it sounds like it's from Neptune. The instrumentation is nothing like anything before or after - it only could have come out in 1984. A yin/yang album - side one mostly song based, side two out in the deep end. I love this album, one of my faves of all time. Check out the live in Japan 1984 dvd or on youtube and be amazed.

[kkleinschmidt]

Favorite King Crimson moments, eh? Where do I begin... 😂

• Hearing my first King Crimson in a dark smoky basement when someone put on USA and I said who the hell are these guys?
• Playing my original copy of Discipline at full volume and hearing Adrian as the front man for the first time!
• Buying the entire pre-80s back catalog after it was released by EG, blasting it at full volume in order, and during Red my neighbor came over crying asking me to turn it down because he was trying to study for his bar exam (which of course I did immediately after apologizing but sadly he still failed).
• Sitting front row center at a show in Asbury Park, NJ when Adrian played John Lennon's Free As A Bird live right before it was publicly released with the additions made by the rest of The Beatles which Adrian apparently hadn't heard yet so he sang lu lu lus during the vocal parts that Paul added. Extra credit - I met Bill Bruford before the show and got to shake his hand and chat with him a bit before he went in the venue for sound check.
• Sitting behind a huge dude at my first show with Betsy in Chicago, which was also her first KC show and our first show with three drummers, when she noticed huge dude had wires coming up through the back of his sport coat and into his hat. I went to the soundboard and told them what was going on, so they walked over to huge dude and told him to take off his hat where of course they found microphones. Huge dude was ejected and we had a great view of the stage (we really couldn't see it at all because this guy was so big before he got the hook).
• Going to Toronto with Betsy to see two shows, one of which was released on CD, and having a blast with Betsy on her first visit outside of the USA.
• Going to Italy to see two shows at the freaking amphitheater in Pompeii sitting front row center both nights (this is probably my peak live music experience ever).
• Going to Albany, NY to The Egg to see our final King Crimson show ever, which was a friends and family show and it was free!

But the best thing about my King Crimson journey, and the most surprising to me by far, is the fact that Robert went back into his catalog and found a way to play songs live that I never ever thought I would hear and see. Starless, Islands, Fracture (!), Pictures of a City, all of the LTIAs, the first album songs including Moonchild, and all of the other songs that we heard during the 15 shows we saw starting with that show in Chicago. It still gives me goose bumps thinking about it. Thanks for the memories Robert!

[Ceasar’s Palace]

Bill Bruford (not) drumming on One More Red Nightmare.

[Sharp On Attack]

The first album, the Wetton trilogy, Discipline and Thrak are a good start and also more than enough for the casual fan.
I would avoid starting it off with Lizard or Islands though I know some people cherish these albums, I just don't...

[Homemade Parachute]

my favorite Crimson album, Three Of A Perfect Pair - the yellow album. Industrial light and magic. Music from a space junkyard. The slappy funk bass of Tony Levin on Sleepless, the assembly line chaos of Industry, even a song from the perspective of an old car rusting away in a junkyard, dreaming of the days when it only had so many miles on it and was the pride of its owner. Belew's voice is in fine form. Bruford's Simmons electronic drums on No Warning avoids any and all trappings of any and all 1980's synth/electronic drums. From anyone else, it may sound dated. Here it sounds like it's from Neptune. The instrumentation is nothing like anything before or after - it only could have come out in 1984. A yin/yang album - side one mostly song based, side two out in the deep end. I love this album, one of my faves of all time. Check out the live in Japan 1984 dvd or on youtube and be amazed.

We may indeed be the outliers, because that's one of my favourite albums, too, and such a great rebound from Beat, which had its moments, but not enough of them. Hell of a high note for the 80s Crim to go out on.

[Soundwaveseeker]

We may indeed be the outliers, because that's one of my favourite albums, too, and such a great rebound from Beat, which had its moments, but not enough of them. Hell of a high note for the 80s Crim to go out on.

Beat was cool too, but a bit short. They struggled to make it. They also struggled to make 3OAPP too, but it all eventually snapped in place. There are two volumes of 1983 demos from 3OAPP available at Fripp's DGM site which make fine companions to the main album. Mostly instrumental, they try all sorts of things, including a really nice instrumental ballad called...uh, Robert's Ballad, and even a bit of something from Twang Bar King for those Crim enough to spot it. Three Of A Perfect Pair is an album that should be given the deluxe edition thing so it can collect it all up all those demo bits and Sleepless remixes and stuff. Throw in the Bewitched album from Fripp & Andy Summers (also from 1984) and you got all the '84 Crimso one could need.

The sounds they were making that year were in its own bubble, never repeated again. But that's ok, King Crimson never stayed in one mode too long - they would either morph into something else or just disband altogether, only returning when there were new sounds to create. The only KC era I had even the slightest issue with was the 2014-2021 final one, as they never did much new music and never made a new studio album.

[Homemade Parachute]

Three Of A Perfect Pair is an album that should be given the deluxe edition thing so it can collect it all up all those demo bits and Sleepless remixes and stuff.

Can’t say about the remixes, but the 40th Anniversary CD/DVD version has a few extras, like the Industrial Zone improvs and the Barbershop Quartet (of course). Worth it for those alone! And indeed, some choice bits on those rehearsal disks…