3. King Crimson was formed in London on 30 November 1968 and first rehearsed on 13 January 1969.
The band's name was coined by Peter Sinfield.
Ian McDonald was the group's main composer, albeit with contributions from Lake and Fripp, while Sinfield wrote
the lyrics. designed and operated the band's stage lighting, credited with "sounds and visions".
McDonald suggested the band purchase a Mellotron, and they began using it to create an orchestral rock sound,
inspired by The Moody Blues.
Peter Sinfield described Crimson thus:
“If it sounded at all popular, it was out.
It had to be complicated, with more expansive
chords. It had to have strange influences.”
The Early Days
5. King Crimson made their live
debut on 9 April 1969, and made
a breakthrough by playing the
Rolling Stones free concert at
Hyde Park, London in July 1969
before an estimated 500,000
people. Their debut album, In
the Court of the Crimson King,
was released in October 1969 on
Island Records. Fripp would later
describe it as having been "an
instant smash" and "New York's
acid album of 1970“.
Their debut album
6. King Crimson made their live debut on 9 April 1969, and made
a breakthrough by playing the Rolling Stones free concert at
Hyde Park, London in July 1969 before an estimated 500,000
people. Their debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King,
was released in October 1969 on Island Records. Fripp would
later describe it as having been "an instant smash" and "New
York's acid album of 1970“.
1970 –72
In the Wake of Poseidon,
Lizard, and Islands
7. Fripp recorded the second King Crimson
album, In the Wake of Poseidon, in 1970
with the Giles brothers, Collins, and Keith
Tippett as guest musicians. The group
considered hiring Elton John to be the
singer, but decided against the idea. Lake
then agreed to sing on the album in
exchange for receiving King Crimson's PA
equipment, except on "Cadence and
Cascade", which is sung by Fripp's friend
Gordon Haskell.
In the Wake of Poseidon
8. During the writing sessions for the third album,
Lizard, Haskell and McCulloch had no say in the
direction of the material as Fripp and Sinfield
wrote album themselves, bringing in Tippett,
Mark Charig on cornet, Nick Evans on trombone,
and Robin Miller on oboe and cor anglais as
additional musicians. Haskell sung and played
bass. Jon Anderson of Yes was also brought in to
sing the first part of the album's title track,
"Prince Rupert Awakes", which Fripp and Sinfield
considered to be outside Haskell's range and
style. Lizard featured stronger avant-garde jazz
and chamber-classical influences than previous
albums, as well as Sinfield's upfront experiments
with processing and distorting sound through the
VCS3 synthesiser.
The lizard
10. The third major line-up of King Crimson was radically different
from the previous two. Fripp's four new recruits included free-
improvising percussionist Jamie Muir, drummer Bill Bruford,
who left yes at new commercial peak in their career in favour
of the "darker" King Crimson, bassist and singer John Wetton,
and violinist and keyboardist David Cross whom Fripp had
encountered through work with music colleges. With Sinfield
gone, the band recruited Wetton's friend Richard Palmer-
James as their new lyricist. Unlike Sinfield, Palmer-James
played no part in artistic, visual, or sonic direction; his sole
contributions were his lyrics, sent to Wetton by post from his
home in Germany. Following a period of rehearsals, King
Crimson resumed touring on 13 October 1972 at the Zoom
Club in Frankfurt, with the band's penchant for improvisation
and Muir's startling stage preseIn January and February 1973,
King Crimson recorded Larks' Tongues in Aspic in London
which was released that Marchnce gained them some press
attention. With Muir gone, the remaining members reconvened
in January 1974 to produce Starless and Bible Black, released
in March 1974 and earned them a positive Rolling Stone
review.
12. Later versions of Discipline
featured this knotwork
design by Steve Ball.
In 1981, Fripp wished to form a new rock group with no intentions
of reforming King Crimson. After Bruford agreed to join in, Fripp
asked singer and guitarist Adrian Belew,[34] the first time Fripp was
in a band with another guitarist and therefore indicative of Fripp's
desire to create a sound unlike any of his previous work. After
touring with Talking Heads, Belew agreed to join and also become
the band's lyricist. Bruford's choice of Jeff Berlin as bassist was
rejected as his playing was "too busy", auditions for musicians took
place in New York. On the third day, following roughly three
auctioneers, Fripp left, only to return several hours later with Tony
Levin, who got the job after playing a single chorus of "Red". Fripp
later confessed that, had he initially known that Levin was available
and interested, he would have selected him as first-choice bass
player without holding auditions.
14. 2000 King Crimson toured to support both
albums, including double bill shows with
Tool. The tour was documented in the triple
live album Heavy ConstruKction, released in
December 2000. This showed the band
constantly switching between the
structured album pieces and ferocious
ProjeKct-style Soundscape-and-percussion
improvisations. Bassist John Paul Jones also
performed on some live shows.
HeavyConstruKction
15. In November 2001, King Crimson released a
limited edition live extended play called Level Five,
featuring three new pieces: A version of
"Deception of the Thrush" plus the new tracks
"Dangerous Curves" and "Virtuous Circle". A
second EP followed in October 2002, Happy with
What You Have to Be Happy With. This featured
eleven tracks including a live version of "Larks'
Tongues in Aspic, Part IV". Half of the tracks were
brief processed vocal snippets sung by Belew, and
the songs themselves varied between gamelan
pop, Soundscapes, and slightly parodic takes on
heavy metal and blues.
DeceptionoftheThrush
16. King Crimson released their thirteenth album, The Power to
Believe, in October 2003.Fripp described it as "the culmination
of three years of Crimsonising". The album incorporated
reworked and/or retitled versions of "Deception of the
Thrush", tracks from their previous two EPs, and a 1997 track
with added instrumentation and vocals. The Power to Believe
reached No. 162 in the UK and No. 150 in the US. King Crimson
toured in 2003 to support the album; recordings from it were
used for the live album EleKtrik: Live in Japan.
The power to believe
17. Musical style
The band's music was initially grounded in the
rock of the 1960s, especially the acid rock and
psychedelic rock movements. However, for
their own compositions, King Crimson largely
stripped away the blues-based foundations of
rock music and replaced them with influences
derived from classical composers.
18. Personnel:
Current members
Robert Fripp – guitars, "Soundscapes", keyboards
(1968–74, 1981–84, 1994–present)
Mel Collins – saxophone, flute (1970–72, 2013–
present)
Tony Levin – bass guitars, Chapman Stick, funk
fingers, backing vocals (1981–84, 1994–98, 2003–
present)
Pat Mastelotto – acoustic and electronic drums,
percussion (1994–present)
Gavin Harrison – drums (2007–present)
Jakko Jakszyk – guitars, lead vocals, flute (2013–
present)
Bill Rieflin – drums, keyboards, backing vocals (2013–
present
19. Former members
Peter Sinfield – lyrics, synthesiser, keyboards, illumination,
artwork (1968–72)
Greg Lake – bass guitar, lead vocals (1968–70)
Michael Giles – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1968–69)
Ian McDonald – flute, saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet,
keyboards, vibraphone, backing vocals (1968–69)
Gordon Haskell – bass guitar, lead vocals (1970)
Andy McCulloch – drums (1970)
Ian Wallace – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1971–72)
Boz Burrell – bass guitar, lead vocals, choreography (1971–72)
Bill Bruford – acoustic and electronic drums, percussion (1972–
74, 1981–84, 1994–97)
John Wetton – bass guitar, lead vocals, piano, guitar, lyrics
(1972–74)
David Cross – violin, viola, keyboards, flute (1972–74)
Jamie Muir – percussion, drums (1972–73)
Adrian Belew – guitars, lead vocals, electronic percussion, lyrics,
occasional drums (1981–84, 1994–2013)
Trey Gunn – guitars, bass, Chapman Stick, backing vocals
(1994–2003)
20. Studio albums
In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)
In the Wake of Poseidon (1970)
Lizard (1970)
Islands (1971)
Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1973)
Starless and Bible Black (1974)
Red (1974)
Discipline (1981)
Beat (1982)
Three of a Perfect Pair (1984)
THRAK (1995)
The ConstruKction of Light (2000)
The Power to Believe (2003)
