King Crimson - Red
October 6th, 1974.
Island/Atlantic
King Crimson's seventh studio album, Red, gets in touch with the darker side of the bands output. One of the meanest sounding rhythm sections in popular music history - Bill Bruford and John Wetton - meet Robert Fripp at his most sinister. A trio converged on a darker sound, a more robust and unbreakable bond. King Crimson, in this form/lineup, somewhat ironically following what was just said, would split two weeks before the release of Red.
Red opens on the jagged-sonic-soliloquies of the title track. A malignant force feeds on those who wander into the world of Red. It's skeletal fingers ticklingly touch those that steer near, or stray too far. A slight tap on the shoulder or gentle push to the back might signify this. It'll never let its presence be fully known, but you'll know. It's a menace to your mind. A playful stranger. A stranger that knows your every move. Trips you up and catches you. Fallen Angel radiates an air of reminiscence. The air of reminiscence makes way for a sour spirit. Fallen angels, and the demons which they turn into. Light as a feather breaths and the cement seals in which they solder. No moral obligations. One more red nightmare. One more maddening night of fraught fear. Bed sweats and soiled pants.
The joy, and the sadness it brings. The weight which comes pre-packaged with every bout of bliss. The inevitable fall after the rise. The whopping low after the unfiltered high. The eventual even-out and return to square one. Ready to begin again from a new perspective. Providence's off-the-cuff-ness comes at a time which breaks up the machine-like musicianship. The air of burnt debris comes loose and seems to drift off - although the eerie spontaneity of it all feels like a subconscious, twisted smirk. The strings are pulled by an omnipresent puppet master. Each and every avenue is possible, but the path has already been, and always will be, chosen long beforehand.
'Sun down dazzling day go through my eyes, but my eyes turned within.....'
