06/10/2025
ON THIS DATE (51 YEARS AGO)
October 6, 1974 - King Crimson: Red is released.
# ALL THINGS MUSIC PLUS+ 4.5/5
# Allmusic 4.5/5
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Red is an album by King Crimson, released on October 6, 1974. It reached #66 on the Billboard 200 Top LP's chart. The title track was ranked #87 in the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs list of Rolling Stone. It was their last studio recording of the 1970s and the last before the lead member Robert Fripp temporarily disbanded the group.
Released in 1974 after King Crimson had “ceased to exist”, Red remains a remarkably powerful document of a group quitting at the top of its game. The grinding crunch of Red appears to anticipate much of the heavy metal scene whilst the epic Starless brings together several strands of the group’s musical history.
Including powerful contributions from Ian McDonald, Mel Collins, David Cross, Mark Charig and Robin Miller, Red form what is arguably the definitive statement of the ‘70s period Crimson. Bill Bruford recently described the album in just five words: Prescient, short and bass heavy.”
While musically similar to its predecessor Starless and Bible Black, Red was produced very differently from previous King Crimson albums. For instance, while the acoustic guitar features prominently in previous releases, on Red it is heard only for a few bars in "Fallen Angel". Also, unlike previous King Crimson albums, Red features extensive use of guitar overdubs. Later albums lacked acoustic guitar entirely and reverted to a minimum of overdubs, though by that point the band featured multiple guitarists playing simultaneously.
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from ROBERT FRIPP'S SLEEVENOTES
The influence of Red has been primarily in the US. Until then, Crimson influence reached Europe, including the Eastern bloc, South America & Japan, as well as North America. But something about Red resonated in the United States in a way & to an extent that wasn’t matched elsewhere.
Much as I have often wished, this time has not left me. It remains the time it was, continuing as it was, resonating still; waiting for the experience/s to be digested & the moment redeemed.
These were young Englishmen doing the best they could.
Now, I watch a grandson bearing my name & his co-working players writing the rulebook as they lived it. No one gave it to them. They were too young to know what to do; but old enough to be held accountable as adults. They were old enough to know how to behave, and too young to do so. Their band models came more from the jazz world than entertainment & popular music; their primary passion in Crimson, the music; and for me, where Music came from.
~ Robert Fripp April 24th. 2009; Bredonborough, Worcestershire,
England.
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REVIEW
Bruce Eder, allmusic
King Crimson fell apart once more, seemingly for the last time, as David Cross walked away during the making of this album. It became Robert Fripp's last thoughts on this version of the band, a bit noiser overall but with some surprising sounds featured, mostly out of the group's past -- Mel Collins' and Ian McDonald's saxes, Marc Charig's cornet, and Robin Miller's oboe, thus providing a glimpse of what the 1972-era King Crimson might've sounded like handling the later group's repertory (which nearly happened). Indeed, Charig's cornet gets just about the best showcase it ever had on a King Crimson album, and the truth is that few intact groups could have gotten an album as good as Red together. The fact that it was put together by a band in its death throes makes it all the more impressive an achievement. Indeed, Red does improve in some respects on certain aspects of the previous album -- including "Starless," a cousin to the prior album's title track -- and only the lower quality of the vocal compositions keeps this from being as strongly recommended as its two predecessors.
TRACKS:
Side one
"Red" (Fripp) – 6:16
"Fallen Angel" (Fripp, Palmer-James, Wetton) – 6:03
"One More Red Nightmare" (Fripp, Wetton) – 7:10
Side two
"Providence" (Bruford, Cross, Fripp, Wetton) – 8:10
"Starless" (Bruford, Cross, Fripp, Palmer-James, Wetton) – 12:16
