Intuitive Music

King Crimson, 1969

King Crimson is one of the most innovative bands in rock music and considered the British pioneers of progressive rock.

King Crimson was originally formed in January 1968 with the ex-members of Giles, Giles and Fripp, Robert Fripp (guitar), Michael Giles (drums) and Peter Giles (bass), plus Greg Lake (vocals), Ian McDonald (winds, vibes) and Pete Sinfield (lyrics and light show).

Robert Fripp had taken lessons from guitarist Tony Alton, who was also teaching Greg Lake. In 1967, Fripp joined the band of bassist Peter Giles and drummer Michael Giles, which was named Giles, Giles and Fripp, releasing the album “The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles, and Fripp” in 1968.

The forthcoming split of the band gave birth to Robert Fripp’s lifetime project, King Crimson, which was originally formed in 1968 featuring Michael Giles (drums), Greg Lake (vocals), Ian McDonald (winds, vibes) and Pete Sinfield (lyrics and light show). In May that same year, they started a three month Sunday residency at the Marquee Club, astonishing the city’s music scene with their impressive combination of rock, avant-garde and jazz and classical music. Robert Fripp picked in his diary that John Kay from Steppenwolf told him he overhead at the back of the club someone saying: “Follow that. They sound like a bleeding orchestra”. King Crimson’s legendary debut album “In the Court of the Crimson King” (October, 1969) was probably the most influencial progressive rock album in the history and one of the most innovative and creative works ever recorded on which the Who’s Pete Townsend described as an “uncanny masterpiece”. In their debut work, King Crimson defined a very personal sound that would last in the band’s first albums, featuring a combination of a haunting Mellotron orchestra, phrenetic free jazz saxes and the sharp and bleeding guitars from Robert Fripp.

“In the Court of the Crimson King” was followed by numerous personnel changes in the band during the 70’s, always leaded by the constant supervision of Robert Fripp. In August 1970, the band released their second album “In the Wake of Poseidon”, featuring just one song with new vocalist Gordon Haskell after Greg Lake left the band to join the legendary progressive rock trio Emerson Lake and Palmer. The band also featured new members the reputed sax and flute player Mel Collins, who the band knew from his regular gigs with his band Circus at the progressive rock, and free jazz Keith Tippet. In this album, the band started to forge a characteristic sound that would stay for the rest of their discography, characterized by dark atmospheres, dramatic rhythm sections and edgy harmonies.

In December that same year, the band released “Lizard” (1970) with a new lineup formed by Robert Fripp (guitar, mellotron), Gordon Haskell (bass, vocals), Mel Collins (sax, flute, mellotron), Andy McCulloch (drums) and Pete Sinfield (words, light show, VCS3 synthesizer). The album also featured guest musicians Keith Tippet, as well as an amazing wind section with members from Soft Machine Mark Charig and Nick Evans, plus Robin Miller. The result was the most free jazz oriented work from the band’s discography. It also featured the guest appearance of Yes singer Jon Anderson on one track, who had a close relationship with the band. Both bands, King Crimson and Yes, used to be neighbors in Fulham, South London, where Crimson actually had their rehearsal room at the basement of an old cafe. Robert Fripp also used to share flat with Yes’ first guitarist, Peter Banks. Both bands had a residency at the Marquee Club and used to check out each other concerts. In March 1970, Yes invited Fripp to replace Peter Banks on guitar, but he declined. Curiously, a year later Yes drummer Bill Bruford left Yes to join King Crimson.

During the production of “Lizard”, Robert Fripp also embarked with free jazz pianist Keith Tippet into a project called Centipede. This consisted in a big band ensemble of artists to record live an experimental avant-garde double album. The lineup featured nothing less than Keith Tippet (piano and musical director), Julie Tippet (vocals), members of Soft Machine Robert Wyatt (drums), Elton Dean (sax), Nick Evans (trombone) and Mark Charig (cornet), members of King Crimson Ian MacDonald (winds) and Boz Burrell (vocals), and members of Nucleus Karl Jenkins (oboe), Ian Carr (trumpet), John Marshall (drums), Brian Smith (flutes) and Jeff Clyne (bass). Robert Fripp also collaborated as a producer in the following Keith Tippett’s improvisational jazz album “Blueprint”, released in 1972, “Couple in Spirit” (1988) with Julie Tippett, and “66 Shades Of Lipstick” (1990) featuring Andy Sheppard. The relationship between Fripp and the Canterbury scene followed with the production that same year of Robert Wyatt’s band album “Matching Mole’s Little Record”.

King Crimson, 1971

In December 1971, inspired by a holiday in the Spanish islands of Formentera and Ibiza, King Crimson released the album “Islands”, which featured a new line-up that took several months of frustrating auditions. Finally, it was completed with new members Boz Burrell on bass and vocals, and reputed drummer Ian Wallace. The album also featured the guest appearances of Robin Miller and Mark Charig on the wind section, Harry Miller on double bass, Keith Tippet on piano, and soprano Paulina Lucas. “Islands” remains as one of the most beautiful albums in the band’s career, in which King Crimson approached to avant-garde landscapes where the expressive sax playing of Mel Collins and the impressionist piano of Keith Tippet create a colourful tapestry with the haunting vocals of Paulina Lucas.

Soon later, the long-term tandem created by Fripp and the lyricist Pete Sinfield broke due to the increasing incompatibilities in the method of work that started during the production of the “Lizard” album. Robert Fripp explained to the New Musical Express magazine in January 1972: “I suppose that the thing to say is that I felt the creative relationship between us had finished. I’d ceased to believe in Pete … It got to the point where I didn’t feel that by working together we’d improve on anything we’d already done.”

In 1973, Robert Fripp resurrected King Crimson from it’s ashes with a completely new line-up that included the drummer Bill Bruford from Yes, bassist John Wetton from Uriah Heep, violin player David Cross and percussionist Jamie Muir. This lineup would only released the album “Lark’s Tongues In Aspic” since Jamie Muir left right after being injured during a show at the Marquee Club and quit the music business and retired to a Tibetan buddhist monastery in Scotland. During the following years King Crimson kept suffering numerous line-up changes, always under the direction of Robert Fripp. After the release of the album “Starless And Bible Black” in early 1974, the band remained as a trio, featuring Robert Fripp, John Wetton and Bill Bruford. With this lineup, King Crimson released the album “Red”, which was one of the most reputed works from the band and a pioneering work of advanced and alternative rock that later influenced generations of industrial, and indie punk rock artists.

King Crimson, 1981

In 1981, Robert Fripp rebuilt King Crimson featuring Bill Bruford on drums plus the new members guitarist/vocalist Adrian Belew who had played to Talking Heads, David Bowie and Frank Zappa, and bassist Tony Levin who had played to Peter Gabriel and John Lennon. The result was one of the most innovative and powerful unities in the history of rock, a revolutionary and contemporary work that fusioned new wave, progressive, and pre-electronica. The combination of Bill Bruford’s brand new electronic drums combined by the powerful, organic and precise basses of Tony Levin on the stick and the post-new wave syncopated rhythms (highly influenced by Talking Heads) and melodic charm added to Robert Fripp’s surgically frantic guitars created an unique style that was never heard before. In this same formula, the band released three essential albums: “Discipline” (1981), “Beat” (1982) and “Three Of A Perfect Pair” (1984). The three of them were produced using the same type of combination of tracks, which included a selection of pop/dance oriented tracks (“Waiting Man”, “Sleepless”), pop ballads (“Mate Kudasai”, “Two Hands”), and a modern revision of the classical King Crimson long-length dark and experimental instrumentals (“Discipline”, “Requiem”, “Industry” and “Lark Tongues In Aspic III”). In 1984, after having gained more attention and recognition in the media and industry that during the whole of it’s former career, King Crimson split again.

In 1994, King Crimson was re-invented in a curious experiment called “double trio” that featured two drummers and two bass players, including the lineup from 80’s (Bill Bruford, Tony Levin, Adrian Belew) on one hand and stick and warr guitar player Trey Gunn and drummer Pat Mastelotto in the other. In 2003, in a short of nature selective process, the band remained as Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto, releasing the album “The ConstruKtion of the Light” (2003) with an important switch in the sound of the band to alternative hard rock, and “The Power to Believe” (2003) featuring with Tony Levin instead of Trey Gunn.

In 2002, Ian Wallace, Mel Collins, Peter Giles and Ian McDonald formed 21st Century Schizoid Band, along with Jakko Jaksyck of Level 42, playing King Crimson material.