black and white and red all over
21 August 2007 by julietb 
i’m in throws of organisation, which means little proper work of any kind is getting done.
it means furrowed brows and fractured conversations as i remember some other relatively pointless detail i’ve forgotten in the compilation of my list to end all lists.
so this is an apology to the people around me, i will not be consumed by upcoming events and will try to spend more time listening to prog rock.
ok, that might not be true but for some reason this week i’ve been really getting into king crimson. a quick wiki of them revealed all the usual prog facts; rapidly changing rosters, failing to recruit elton john and bryan ferry in various line-up changes.
king crimson are the maiden aunt of a huge chunk of the british rock family tree (covering in various incarnations yes, elp, foreigner, bad company amongst others) but their early incarnation is the only one i’ve ever engaged with.
repubilican former hearthrob vincent gallo harbours a transparent crimson crush, using the song, moonchild in a beautiful scene in buffalo 66, working out references in his own compositions with varying success at concealing them and that’s probably where i came across them first. but in the court of the crimson king is an astonishingly listenable album - for all of prog’s reputation for tedious noodling free jazz sections and netherworld-fantasy topographies. even this track, clocking in at over seven minutes and resplendent in polyrhythmic saxophone and percussion breaks is catchy in the old rock sense, just try getting that hook out of your head before bedtime…
22 August 2007, on 12:09 am
In complete ‘Saxondale’ style, my Dad roadied for King Crimson, around the time of the release of ITCOTCK [that acronym's so nearly funny I had to use it, sorry].
It brings me great joy to imagine him enjoying the gig from the side of the stage, a glass of Watney’s or perhaps a bottle of Taunton Cider in his hand, giving the sound engineer some sage advice before packing down and wobbling off into the night. Rock on Pops.
22 August 2007, on 2:58 pm
my first taste of KC as well. then i skipped a bunch and got into discipline (KC mach 4, 5?). i highly recommend it. experiemental w/o the bad prog aftertaste, and with a jagged new wave edge.
please send my check now, mr fripp.