King Crimson
In The Court Of The Crimson King: An Observation By King Crimson

Some albums are like daily bread: you listen to them every day and feel satisfied. But it's not routine, you don't listen to them because you have to, or at least partly, but because they drive you crazy, they touch your soul, leaving an indelible mark inside you. This is the beauty of music: you listen and become its slave, you're like married to it but you don't have to pay alimony, you're with it for life without ever betraying it and the music doesn't betray you either, your music, your songs remain there, whenever you want to take and listen to them. As Bruno, one of the characters in the movie Radiofreccia, says, "Those who make them (the songs) may betray you, but the songs, those that had meaning for you, your songs you can trust".

So I eagerly set out to describe an album that for me is like daily bread, an album I could never do without, which, if I were to leave for a deserted island, I would take with me along with Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot by Genesis, Led Zeppelin I by Led Zeppelin, and The Dark Side of the Moon. Which album am I talking about? I'm talking about "In the Court of the Crimson King," an album that won me over from the first listen, a sublime album, so full of epicness, melancholy, and poetry. "In the Court ..." represents for me "The Betrothed," the indispensable album for my musical growth, a masterpiece that made me love prog even more than I already did. Yes, because before, I already listened endlessly to Genesis and bought their entire discography. "In the Court of the Crimson King" is a piece of history, a masterpiece of rock music, a refined work at every point, it never disappoints me, except perhaps in the instrumental part of Moonchild, which still remains a mix of originality and absolute and wonderful genius.

"In the Court of the Crimson King" is designated by many as the first progressive rock album in history, others trace the birth of prog to the album "Days of Future Passed" by the Moody Blues from 1967. In any case, "In the Court ..." was an album of fundamental importance for generations to come and many artists have been inspired by it.

The album cover is famous, featuring a face disfigured by fear and tension: anxious eyes looking sideways, watery eyes, mouth wide open in a scream. What frightens the "21st Century Schizoid Man"? The state of the world, the hatred that humans cultivate among themselves, war?

We find an answer in the first track of the album "21st Century Schizoid Man" in which the poet and lyricist of the band, Peter Sinfield, illustrates various subjects, various nouns accompanied by negative adjectives, or expressions intended to convey the sense of unease, panic that pervades the air, the ruin caused by humans, the madness "Blood, torture, barbed wire, politicians' funeral pyre, innocents raped with napalm fire, 21st Century Schizoid Man!". Closing the lyrical parenthesis, we give way to music: jazz influences everywhere, hard rock guitar riffs signed by Robert Fripp, pronounced distortions, and a cacophonous finale that serves as a bridge to the next song.

"I Talk to the Wind" is the shortest song on the album, even though it still lasts quite a while, six minutes to be precise. It represents a more melodic, softer track compared to the complex and articulate "21st Century Schizoid Man". As usual, Peter Sinfield pours all his poetry and the lyrics, somewhat pessimistic, reflect the thoughts of a hippie toward the restrictive and absolutely suffocating, but also pathetic and unaware society.

The highlight arrives with "Epitaph", my favorite song on the album and by King Crimson, the true gem of the album. The mellotron introduction is famous and particularly poignant and goosebump-inducing. Every time I listen to it, my soul departs and I am charmed by the sweet notes. The philosophical lyrics are simply marvelous: there is a sense of unease, melancholy, and the lyrics are particularly haunting. But in the chorus, the author declares "Confusion will be my epitaph": I don't want to bow to society, I don't want to be stereotyped, I don't want to be a puppet like others, but be a revolutionary, I want change and "I want to create confusion", "be remembered this way" even after death.

The B-side of the album opens with the already mentioned "Moonchild", a track divided into two parts, the first shorter, entitled The Dream, the second longer, entitled The Illusion. In the first few minutes represented by The Dream, Greg Lake, the band's singer, tells us through his voice about a girl, the Lovely and lonely "Moonchild" awaiting a smile from the "Son of Sun". This is followed by The Illusion, an instrumental section of more than 10 minutes dominated by percussion.

"The Court of the Crimson King" represents the second masterpiece of the album, a piece in the vein of Epitaph: 9 minutes long, the track closing the album is graced by the presence of the mellotron and the lyrics are particularly evocative.

"In the Court of the Crimson King" represents one of the finest debuts in rock music and King Crimson proves to be a brilliant band, indeed more than that, one that has managed to fuse different styles into a single work of just 5 long tracks and has managed to imbue the music with epicness. Fripp & Company deserve an A+ for this debut that likely marked the birth of progressive.

Honor to King Crimson!