King Crimson
Red

1974. The King is dead? No, the Progressive is dead (and we are all saddened by this). But the King is alive. Long live the King! The Work I am about to tell you about is magnificent, the result of an extraordinary group effort.

I chose this album for my first review, as a convinced Genesis fan, because I define it as a rare case of rock in its purest form, if the luminaries of music criticism will forgive me the term.

Fripp has taken many musical paths, let's acknowledge his gifts not only technical and compositional but also pioneering, creator of Music to which many have been inspired, he has traversed musical eras always at the forefront and never within the wake, from the most extreme experimentation to the sweetest melodies, with almost always different line-ups.

For "Red," he formed a group of excellent musicians, all equally contributive to the success of the album, a true team. Fripp, an indisputable leader with an unmistakable sound; a great Bruford delicate and varied in his unique way of playing the drums; Wetton brilliant on bass and one of the best voices in rock; Cross, Collins and McDonald great inventors of arrangements and solos on violin and sax in symbiosis with the rest.

After one of the masterpieces of Progressive such as "Lark's Tongues in Aspic," King Crimson conceive a masterpiece of pure rock, with 5 tracks rather 4 (excluding the experimental Providence of which I refrain from speaking) of great impact. It starts with Red, perhaps the weakest track because it is a bit too repetitive, where on a carpet of bass and drums stands out the solo, I would say singing, distorted electric of Fripp. Followed by Fallen Angel, a melodic piece with arpeggios, harmonics and other tricks by Fripp (listen to a passage of his at minute 4'01) and Wetton's seductive voice, with a slightly harder chorus, where the aforementioned Fripp delights in playing with a repeated note, rehearsing for the last great track of the album: Starless.

It's time for One More Red Nightmare, second only to Starless where, under a harrowing onslaught of metallic percussion and sometimes with the electric chords, develops an excellent singing by Wetton; when then Fripp stands out with sensational slightly distorted electric arpeggios you enter the long stu-pen-dous instrumental part supported by great sax interventions. Let's skip the instrumental and experimental Providence which I perhaps do not understand and appreciate enough and come to the last ma-ra-ve-lous track which is Starless. A very sweet crescendo opening of frippian mellotron leads to a series of verses sung by an inspired Wetton, accompanied in the background by the delicate sax. Takes its place a thrilling bass riff, on which first lightly and then in a crescendo I would say orgasmic Fripp's guitar insinuates itself, single note after note, in an original and tense performance. Strengthens it all the great rhythmic entrance of Bruford that brings everyone to the finale on which then majestically reprises the initial theme until the listener is left breathless, emptied of strength as one is after the peak of a passionate act of love.

Believe me, as a die-hard Genesiano fan born in 1960 I have somewhat suffered to recognize the grandeur of this work, but the Truth cannot be silenced: "Red" is a great record, an example of Rock that everyone should have or at least know.

1974. Prog is dead, the memory will remain in our hearts. But the King is alive, the needle is in the red. But it's not the red of reserve, it's that of maximum revs!