This was my favourite paragraph from the interview:
How do you feel about the so-called "heavy" bands in England?
There's only one: Robin Trower. And he's amazing. Robin Trower, I think, for the moment is the only thing that is really doing it for me in terms of working bands. Amazing. He plays with spirit; he's made a very real connection with the spirit of music. The press in England have been slagging him off, saying that he sounds like Hendrix, and I can't really see it. I could only see having to compare him with Hendrix because there's not really another category you can put him in. He's not rock and roll, he's not blues, he's not "English Twitch Pube" Rock, so they say, "oh, he sounds like Hendrix" and put him down for this. This is not important, because it doesn't really matter what form of music you use anyway as long as you make that connection with the spirit of music, which Robin does. And with the new drummer, Billy Norton, it's really quite amazing. I went to see them three weeks ago. It really took me off.
Thanks black321. For one, I am very happy that Robert Fripp came back with numerous incarnations of KC.
Happy to read that Fripp enjoyed the Beatles. I recall Steven Wilson stating he did not really like the Beatles in an interview yet I can think of 2 Porcupine Tree albums that have mid-60s Beatles all over them.
Concerts in the 1970s. I enjoyed the big stadium concerts though much of the time it was through the lense of an absolutely fascinated pop anthropologist. At one point, I recognized that I was enjoying the concerts because the hashish was rounding off all the rough edges. Many in the audience were such disrespectful ass-holes. I know, I know. Canadians as ass-holes, who would have thunk it?
Early King Crimson. Went to a concert in Ottawa in the early 1970s where Fripp and the band were 'shredding wallpaper'. I was not familiar with the music. I readily recognized how incredibly tight the band was but had difficulty getting into it due to the lack of familiarity. Made a note to one day correct that situation.
Well, fast forward almost 5 decades later and recently, I bought the Lark's Tonque in Aspic and Red albums (as CDs). Not good for crunching numbers and writing âheheâ but I do like many of the songs. Look forward to some longer road trips over the summer to play it. I have one buddy here in town who I can share this stuff with but otherwise it is hard to share. He is a pretty decent jazz, folk, rock, world music guitarist BTW. He used to live in the Hare Krishna community not too far down the road.
Interesting story from the mi-70s on Fripp's retirement.
Fripp's King Crimson brought a new meaning to the word "tight". For a short time the band represented a pinnacle of British rock achievement. Since then Robert Fripp has been through several bands, most looser than the first. Now Fripp's had enough. He's provisionally playing a London date in June, but he's had enough. Where will the quiet genius go? Why have you finally disbanded Crimson after all these years?
Well, there are three reasons: The first one represents a change in the world: the second reason was that the education I was receiving as a young man, which I considered to be the best, was no longer the best. I wasn't learning what I needed to. And the third reason, the energies involved in the music were no longer appropriate to my way of living. http://www.muzines.co.uk/artic...
Reiflin was one of the original drummer trio, then pulled out (health reasons?) then came back to do keyboards - although I was hoping he'd be 4th drummer - and now isn't there any more. Hope he's OK.
The Steven Wilson 50th remix of Court is due out at the end of the month. Been waiting for this one.
Have you formed an opinion on Steven Wilson remixes yet?
Yes. They are great, so far. I have both the EU and USA's versions of Jethro Tull's Benefit (the songs are different and I prefer the USA tracks and play order) and Aqualung (only one version) albums and the Yes Box Set of 5 Yes albums. I got the two Benefits first. I got the EU first because the pressings are better overall but forgot about the differences. So I got the USA version next. And the EU is a tad better but the USA copy is very doable.
Anyway, what Wilson has accomplished imho, are very loving and respectful remixes that sound like they "should". They are not earth shakingly different, just more refined and more listenable. He has demonstrated his chops with Porcupine Tree and his solo stuff ( I see that you are a fan looking at your song ratings). One may not like his music but his engineering skills are outstanding; he seems to have a gift. I just know what I've read and heard with my own two ears. It seems that he is a fan of the music he is remixing and is picking out particular albums that he thinks he can really improve and fix certain things in the way they were intended to be, not what is expedient, and make them into what he wants to hear as a fan of the music himself. I have really liked all of his remixes so far. I trust him and when looking for a replacement or upgrade copy of an album, I'll go with his efforts over anyone else's, except Bernie Grundman. Those are the first fingerprints I'm looking for when choosing. Bruce Botnik and Bob Ludwig are two other names I look for.
The Yes Box is a masterpiece of work. Chris Bellman did the lacquers at Bernie Grundman Mastering. A twofer. Win / win.
His earlier remix of Court is widely acclaimed, but only available on CD. I have not knowingly heard it yet. This 2019 50th of Court is a brand new remix and available on both digital and vinyl. He gets my benefit of the doubt with this effort and makes it worth the risk of not liking it which I believe is highly unlikely. I've been a fan of Court from day one and know all of the material very well. It should not take long to decide.
Tell you what. I'll put up the Steven Wilson remix of The Yes Album in my quiet vinyl thread Sunday. I've promised it to more than a couple of people already and have been very tardy in getting around to it. You can grab it and give it a proper listen and let me know what you think based upon knowing SW, PT and Yes so well. Let me know if you can hear what he did to it and if it makes sense to you based upon what you already know about SW.
There are legendary incarnations (Bruford/Fripp/Wetton, and Bruford/Levin/Fripp/Belew at least) but this latest beast certainly deserves that designation.
It's odd that they used a 1974 photograph of the band for an article about a 1969 album; I'm pretty sure that Fripp is the only person in that photo who played on âIn the Court of the Crimson Kingâ. Anyhow, it's hard to say how much that album influenced PF, but "Heart of the Sunrise" by Yes (who I never liked anyhow) was clearly inspired by KC's "21st Century Schizoid Man".
Not odd. Probably the only photo that was easily available and either free or cheap. Media economics.....
PF's Dark Side of the Moon stands out for the long, slow notes. I do not recall off-hand King Crimson doing anything quite like that.
Never saw a connection between Heart of the Sunrise and 21st Century Schizoid Man. Will have to re-listen with that in mind.
From my perspective, the evolving technology made King Crimson and other similar bands' music possible or at least more likely. The 1969 KC line-up could have died in a plane crash and all the other bands would have come out with their own version of 'prog rock'.
How King Crimsonâs masterpiece led a generation to Pink Floydâs âThe Dark Side of the Moonâ âIn the Court of the Crimson Kingâ was released 50 years ago â Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis could never have sounded like they did without it, says Simon HardemanThe first KC album was pathbreaking and I am a big fan but this article hypes the importance of that album. Just a little me thinks.
It's odd that they used a 1974 photograph of the band for an article about a 1969 album; I'm pretty sure that Fripp is the only person in that photo who played on âIn the Court of the Crimson Kingâ. Anyhow, it's hard to say how much that album influenced PF, but "Heart of the Sunrise" by Yes (who I never liked anyhow) was clearly inspired by KC's "21st Century Schizoid Man".
