On This Day 45 Years Ago...

Posted by Sid Smith
10 Oct 2014

In The Court Of The Crimson King was released on Friday, 10th October 1969.


"Put all these five guys together and they all seemed to have part of the puzzle in the making of this band, which made it untenable but glorious too."
Stephanie Ruben

The album was released with an endorsement from no less a shaker and mover than Who guitarist Pete Townshend who was asked to endorse the album by EG.  Famously calling the album an “uncanny masterpiece”, Townshend noted: "A friend listening to the album from a room below says, 'Is that a new WHO album?' Deeply I'm ashamed it isn't but I'm also glad somehow. That kind of intensity is music, not Rock."

With just a handful of gigs and their groundbreaking appearance on the stage at Hyde Park, the band were seen by many as The Next Big Thing.  But, now that the album was soon to be public property, there was a sense of anti-climax in some reviews. 

The NME spotted an apparent lack of drive in the material compared to their live performances and in doing so coined a recurring leitmotif that would surface in many subsequent Crimson album reviews over the next thirty years. Less measured was a short piece in International Times, which described it as "the ultimate album" whilst Disc lauded the brilliant mixture of "melody and freak-out, fast and slow, atmospheric and electric". Melody Maker dependably intoned: "This is one you should try to hear."

Rolling Stone, which weeks earlier had gushed about Crimson, signalled that open season was about to begin.  Beginning with something of an own goal, Jonathan Green lamented the lack of musical consistency.  "'Confusion is my epitaph' they sing on ‘Moonchild’ and confusion certainly sums up this album…The confusion comes in the mixture of styles on the LP...The difficulties come through the lack of positive force on the whole LP. The title track in particular is a weak parody of the same number when delivered to a live audience…In judging this LP one must discriminate between their live performance and the result of their time in the studios...Bob Fripp, lead guitarist, admits willingly that the group play for themselves.  Hearing this album, they may well be bored."  Thus began the media's long love/hate relationship with Crimso. 


Your thoughts and observations on King Crimson's debut album are most welcome on the guestbook.


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