King Crimson
In The Court Of The Crimson King

"In The Court Of The Crimson King" is one of those seminal albums, the forefather of a fundamental genre like English progressive, that any music (good music) enthusiast must have. It is the result of the perfect harmony created among the members of the group who made it, and especially the eclectic guitarist Robert Fripp, the true "brain" of the Crimson, who states: "King Crimson is a group that behaves like an organism. It works on three levels: the head, an intellectual expression; the heart, an emotional expression; and the hips, a physical expression. I am the smallest common denominator... If I said I am the leader, the other musicians might be offended". This is despite Fripp remaining the only constant member of the band for all the following years, starting from that distant 1969.

On October 10th of that year, "In The Court Of The Crimson King" is released, one of the most extraordinary debuts in rock history, not only for sales (after 2 weeks it's already at no.1 in Great Britain) but especially for the music: something absolutely new and inconceivable for the time.

This is exactly the guiding principle of the whole album: extreme originality, something that is as shocking now as it was then (was it really 1969???), the continuous and tireless sonic exploration that emerges from every single note and leads to truly astonishing results. One of the most visible (or audible...) innovations is the use of the mellotron, a kind of proto-synthesizer that electronically reproduces sounds similar to strings and choirs. It is also thanks to this bizarre instrument that Fripp and company manage to open rock music to the melodies and possibilities of symphonic music, jazz, electronics, conceiving and creating what we define as a "masterpiece".

The beginning of the album is something shocking: "21st Century Schizoid Man" attacks the listener with an impressive progression of notes, a true sonic explosion. The tones then become calmer with the sweet and dreamy atmosphere of "I Talk To The Wind", with the incredible theatricality of sounds and melodies of "Epitaph" and with the fascinating and delicate symphony of "Moonchild". The last piece is the title track, a majestic, intense, and heartfelt anthem, which develops over an infinite variety of themes and the alternation between explosive and silent interludes. Silent like the face on the cover twisted and contorted in a scream that cannot be heard, manifesting inner deformity and psychic weakness (Barry Goodberg, the cover's author, would die at only 24 years old a year after the album's release).

"In The Court Of The Crimson King", manifesto of the new progressive rock, is a work full of imagination, creative, ingenious, overflowing with ideas, that opens hidden and unexplored horizons of music: the starting point for a new musical season rich in colors and emotions.