As I was reading In the Court of King Crimson in the last few weeks I felt the urge to revisit my King Crimson discography. I have listened to some of the more obscure albums, the ones I know the least, but KC music is dense and requires time to sink in, so I have also listened to albums I knew better already, like Red. What strikes me listening to it now, 50 years after it was released, is how influential this album has been. Virtually every album I've heard in the progressive metal genre (from Tool to Dream Theater to Haken and, presumably, beyond) is clearly influenced by this album. As such, it deserves to be heard way more than it has been, I think. The album is bookended by two masterpieces, the brutal, uber heavy Red as the opener, and the epic and shifting Starless that closes it, starting as a heavy, tense ballad that then meanders into a frantic free-jazz influenced territory reminiscent of the middle section in 21st Century Schizoid man. Both absolute classics. I'd previously paid less attention to the rest of the album which, although it may be a little less memorable, is nonetheless incredibly modern, daring and listenable. With Red, King Crimson had finally found the delicate balance between experimentation and accessibility that had eluded them since their debut album. And then disbanded.
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