Frownland

Pretty sure they're on the cheap download sites that TH uses.

Looking forward to this.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Trollheart

Nope. Quite aware of this. I own all the albums.
They are, and I have them all. Will be re-listening to this, their debut and the only one of their albums I've actually heard, later tonight, hopefully post some initial thoughts either tonight or tomorrow.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Frippin' Out: Trollheart's First-time Exploration of King Crimson's Music


In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)

So this is where it all starts, huh? Well, I actually did eventually listen to this album, when it came up on the list for my History of Prog journal, and was very very impressed. But I haven't listened to it since, so though this won't be the first time I'm listening to it, it will be slightly new to me. I see they're already being mavericks at this point. They have multi=part suites, but unlike Genesis for instance who would use numbers to differentiate the parts a few years later, or indeed the Moody Blues, who just broke up the tracks, to say nothing of others (whose name at present escapes me) who used letters, King Crimson take a leaf out of fellow proggers Van der Graaf Generator's book, and simply call the track by its main name, noting that it “includes” other songs, such as with “Epitaph (including March For No Reason and Tomorrow and Tomorrow)". Of course, I'm only going by Wiki and I don't know if this is how the track listing is shown on the actual albums, as mine aren't physical copies.

Only five tracks, but the album still clocks in at a relatively impressive 44 minutes. So let's break this puppy down, shall we?

1. 21st Century Schizoid Man (Including Mirrors): Heavy, powerful start to the album, with what sound like almost Beefheartian vocals. Sure, others copied these, but at this time I doubt anyone else was emulating the bold Captain. Maybe it's a vocoder? Not sure. Anyway, it's quite heavily psychedelic with a lot of jazzy elements thrown in, and you can already hear a band that's tighter than me at the pub. Serious skills here..

2. I Talk to the Wind: A lovely change into a soft, lush ballad. Really relaxing and just gorgeous. Lake's vocals are very soothing here, in contrast to the slightly manic tone of the opener.

3. Epitaph (Including March For No Reason and Tomorrow and Tomorrow): Hmm. Seems to be another ballad, with some fantastic orchestral stuff in there and guitar that pulls at your heart at times. Sublime.

4. Moonchild (including The Dream and the Illusion): The real epic here, coming in at just over twelve minutes, part of which (I assume the aforementioned “The Dream”) is sort of atmospheric, ambient instrumental music which really gets very quiet, though you can hear a lot of strange little sounds. Xylophone? Maybe a vibraphone? Touches on the piano. Susurrating percussion, all very almost surreal.

5. In the Court of the Crimson King (Including The Return of the Fire Witch and The Dance of the Puppets): I'm sure there's little I can say about this that hasn't already been said. The powerful vocals on the chorus, the sort of medieval atmosphere created, the flutes, the extended instrumental ... pure magic.

Result: Well as expected I loved it, but then that's hardly the revelation I'm looking for, since as I already said, I've heard this once before. Only gets better with the second listen though. I am a little surprised (pleasantly) by how laid back most of it is. Hopefully the rest of the discography can keep up this extremely high bar. Oh, and this is the first time I've really heard drumming I can say is something special. One other thing that really hits me about this album is how really advanced it must have been for its time. When you consider what Genesis and Yes were doing around this time, well, this knocks both into a cocked hat. Like I said, magic.

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Trollheart

In the Wake of Poseidon (1970)

Okay so here's where it really kind of begins for me. After the debut there is not a single Crimson album, or track, that I've heard (shut up) so all of this will be new to me.

1. Peace – A Beginning Just a quick a capella intro, less than a minute. Not much to say about that.

2. Pictures of a City (Including 42nd at Treadmill): Very jazzy, comes in very powerfully and has a nice groove. Melody and rhythm kind of reminds me of early Sabbath to a degree. Fripp breaks out the guitar magic about three minutes in and the track takes off. Does go a little too improvisational at the end though.

3. Cadence and Cascade: No problem with this one. Lovely little gentle ballad in a kind of Moody Blues vein. Lovely piano, lovely vocal harmonies, sweet flute.

4. In the Wake of Poseidon (Including Libra's Theme): The moment that organ starts I'm in love with this song. Kind of puts me in mind of my boys VDGG, like something off H to He or maybe Aerosol Grey. Also again a very Moodies influence, or maybe that should be the other way around? Whatever. Great track anyway.

5. Peace – A Theme: Again, just a short little instrumental. Nice for what it is.

6. Catfood: I can't place my finger on it; there's just something about this I don't like. It reminds me of the worse tracks by Spock's Beard that make me unsure whether or not I will ever like them as a band. No, not into this one at all. Actually the ending is good, but that's about it.

7. The Devil's Triangle (i) Merday Morn (ii) Hand of Sceiron (iii) Garden of Worm: An eleven-and-a-half minute instrumental? This better be good. I read that it's based around Holst's “Mars” but that his estate wouldn't allow them to use it so they had to kind of disguise it. I can hear it, but had I not read that I don't think I would have made the connection. Hmm. Oh no wait: I definitely would. I hear it clearly now. Takes a while to get going, but then there's plenty of time I guess.

It's quite funny in a way: Fripp saying “so we can't use your music? Well **** you: we'll make it so close to it that it'll really piss you off without being legally actionable!” Reminds me of that Simpsons episode where Homer says “How much are we getting paid for this?” referring to the story of Bart's life, and Marge says “the producers changed it just enough so that they wouldn't have to pay us!” Heh. Loving this at the moment I must say; high point of the album.

Very cleverly done, shows real skill to skate that close to the edge (pun intended) without falling over. Like the addition of the chorus to “In the Court of the Crimson King” thrown in there. Overall, a definite ten out of ten here.

8. Peace – An End: Bit of a hippy ending with a short almost a capella piece though the acoustic guitar and the vocal harmonies that come in are nice.

Result: Nowhere near as good as the debut, though to be fair I hadn't expected it to be. To follow up such an instant classic inside a year would have been asking a lot. Still, I'm a little more underwhelmed by this than I had thought I would be. There's more on it that I don't like than I anticipated, though the good tracks do outweigh the bad. I feel it doesn't quite hold together the same way ITCOTCK did, that it's perhaps a little disjointed? Don't know, but overall not as impressed this time round. Still good, even great, just not, for me, a classic.



Note: Key -
Really love
Love
Like
Meh
Hate

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Trollheart

All right, here's the thing. If I continue as I am, and listen to King Crimson, or, as intended, Hawkwind's discog, I end up duplicating work, as I'm currently deep into my History of Prog, and both of these of course feature. So I need to stay away from at least the seventies.

So here's what I propose.

A sort of love or hate thing but on prog albums only. No discographies (at least, not yet) and no album before, let's say, 1979. Other than that I'll take suggestions for anything with a progressive rock or progressive metal tag, and if I've heard it before I'll review it anyway. I'll continue to review in my LorH style, track by track, and I'll do one album per member at a time.

So, who wants to start? Hello? Hello? Ground control to....

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018