King Crimson?

[Ted Jackson jr. s2h2]

> From:          "Hall, Russell J" <russell.j.hall at LMCO.COM>

> Could any of you all tell me something of King Crimson.
> Someone (a HW fan) told me that I should give'm a listen.
> Just wondering what others think of them, before I try to
> track some albums/CDs down.

Hmm...Well, one could say that, along with Frank Zappa, King Crimson
were the original prog-rockers.  Like HW, KC has gone through
innumerable personnel changes, so there's a lot of variety in sound
from album to album, period to period.  The first couple albums were
a real mind blower back, what almost 30 years ago.  They had
saxophones, and clarinets and all other sort of shit on 'em.  Super
spacy lyrics, and one hell of a guitar player, esp. for that day and
age.  Fripp disdained the typical blues based scale approach to
guitar, playing much jazzier, but with a full-bore electric, heavy
vibe.  Think John McLaughlin, but more rocked-out.  About their fifth
album or so, they incorporated a violinist, now-famous bassist John
Wetton came aboard, Bill Bruford joined, and they shifted to a sound
more typically associated with prog rock [IMO].  This was a very
fertile period, and the only time I ever saw them live.  IMO, the
best incarnation of the band, which produced Lark's Toungues...and
Red, maybe their best albums.  After that, I lost touch a bit.  I
know Adrian Belew joined for a couple of good albums.  Lately, KC has
become even more experimental, and intermingled with side projects of
Robert Fripp...

theo