Red is a good one to start with.

I'm a little iffy about getting into a band via the pinnacle of their work....

Thing with KC, They have had many line up changes, and through their lineup changes their sound has changed drasticly. 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s/00s Crimson all sound like completely different bands. And since Fripp has been the only consistant member, they pretty much were different bands. So if you are turned off by a certain period of their career, don't let it turn you off from the whole bands. Every album is different.

Starless and Bible Black is another good starter. For their earlier stuff I certainly recommend In The Court of The Crimson King. Discipline is one of my favorite Crimson albums and its the next one up to review.

Fallen Angel is an absolutely amazing song... personally ITCOTCK is my favorite, but if you want to start at the bottom and work up... Three of a Perfect Pair was a bit of a flop. I'm pretty ambivalent about their newest output... it's cool but I never really get into it.

"Larks' Tongues In Aspic" is my love

I love Three of a Perfect Pair, but I can understand why KC purists dislike it, its their most accessible and pop oriented record, but I think its a great, underrated little gem... Its my 7th fav KC album after ITCOTCK, Red, SABB, Lizard, Discipline and THRAK. In fact I prefer it over Larks.

A better choice for worst KC album would be Beat, Islands or ConstruKction of Light. Though those are all good albums, just not great.

It struck me as very... eighties.

Discipline sounds more 80s to me. Mainly because of Adrian Belew's David Byrnisms.

I'm not even sure if I've heard anything off Discipline. For the most part I avoid their 80's output.

Have you heard Giles, Giles & Fripp, btw?

Yeah, and their version of I Talk to the Wind. Though I prefer the KC version.