Phoenix Rising - the rebirth of the Court (Part Three)

 

The last time I wrote about Crimson was quite a long while ago. Indeed, the last update on this blog was over a year ago. It may be overdone if unfortunately true to reiterate how the current state of the world feels quite different from the way things were even a few months ago. So too the world of my own life  has followed unexpected paths leaving little time to write, especially about music. Yet, there has been plenty of listening and processing. With a brief pause available I considered tidying up here a bit with one of the loose ends gnawing at my conscience - the promised third Crimson entry. 

Not that anybody particularly gives a hoot one way or another. It's just about the least important thing I can think to do with nobody clamoring for the closure but me. Then again, when King Crimson rebounded with a new personnel and sound in 1973 it would appear that nobody asked for this kind of music then either. The effect is still jarring and baffling today. See and listen here:

There is so much WTF going on - angular melodies, hyperkinetic rhythms - a musical language known seemingly to only the participants onstage. Have audiences caught up with this yet? Well, if the current success of Crimson is any indication, perhaps so. I can only imagine what the world of 1973 might have thought of the above performance. While the striking image of the album cover continues to be a popular visual among progressive music fans (makes for nice t shirts!), what about the music contained therein? 

As I mentioned in the earlier Crimson posts, this era of KC has been my least-favorite to listen to. I don't pull these records out too often. I have to be in one of "those" moods. Considering the short time percussionist Jamie Muir spent in the band (he left before the year was out due to nervous exhaustion) maybe the music was too "hot" to handle for too long. Even Fripp pulled the plug just before the release of the Red LP, not quite two years later. On record at least the sound was dialed in better than the video footage I've seen like this raging performance:

I'd hope the sound was better at the actual show. Must have been since the audience goes quite wild at the end. Easy Money maybe, but not easy listening! Actually, as I gradually pieced together the records I was missing from this era it was a happy discovery indeed when I noticed how good the live USA album was! Quite a different animal than Earthbound that's for sure. 

When it comes to the Larks Tongues era Crimson, I keep wondering if there's something I'm missing in the appreciation department. Not that I don't like this version of the band - maybe just a little less fanatical than most? Oh, I totally get the influence though. Every modern, heavy prog band owes its existence to these guys. Maybe the jarring nature of the material kept me from noticing the underlying sophistication of what is happening musically. Who knows? Yet only a few weeks ago I had a real eureka moment............

Under the right circumstances, art can provide an apt soundtrack when least expected. I took the Steven Wilson remixed Lark's Tongue CD along to a drywall and spackle job I'd been dreading and BINGO! It was like hearing the record properly for the first time. The struggle of the job (not my line of work by trade mind you!) fit the music PERFECTLY. I really liked the remix too. Even worse, I was playing the disc on a little portable CD player (which actually sounded pretty darn good!). Yes, this is sheer heresy isn't it? I mean I really fell in love with the album for the first time. Okay, so I'm not quite ready to throw down the bucks for the big box set exactly, but I felt I captured the hidden splendors of this music finally.......FINALLY!

It had been a long road from when I first heard Starless and Bible Black in high school. Yep! Heard it on cassette in a friend's car, went out and bought the CD which stalled me. 

 

I liked about half of it and was generally unmoved by the rest (mostly the improv stuff). So that's where it all landed for the longest time. I think the next move (years later) was a copy of Lark's Tongues on LP. When the first track exploded out of my speakers I thought "Holy crap this must be the LOUDEST record I've ever heard!" It was around the time when the 5.1 remixes were emerging that I wanted to give this era a better hearing since I KNEW I was going to buy all those discs anyway (all of them just amazing). It took a bit to cobble them together and a bit longer to play the surround versions, but when I did - WOW! I became very fond of Red by which time I'd also set my mind to seeing the band live........

Ah, but this was 2016. I'd been following how Crimson was reviving again in 2014 and grousing about missing my chance to see them that year - like every other time since 1984. Drat. What really captured my attention interestingly enough was the popular video of the new 3 drummer band performing "Starless". For SOME REASON - this performance hit me emotionally. It just seemed to become an anthem of sorts for me.........lots of change and foreboding in the future in those days. There's a strange dignified sadness that permeates the music. 

So, even though I'd had Red on LP and CD, etc.....I associate "Starless" with the 2016 / 2017 time in my life. I did get to see Crimson twice in 2017....both amazing performances! And "Starless" was the emotional peak each time. I really wonder if Fripp understood something about that composition - something that really spoke to people in those days. Still does for me. Which is yet ANOTHER break from accepted wisdom that King Crimson's music is more cerebral than emotional. If anything I've discovered even more emotional depth from the various albums in recent times (I've got a whole new outlook on "Islands" these days as well). 

 I was sad to learn of John Wetton's passing, though he fought a brave battle in his last days. I was also sad to discover the cancellation of the summer 2020 shows Crimson had planned in the US due to the New Plague. There are SO MANY important things to think about - personally for me and otherwise seemingly. The frustrating reality is that the already tired expressions still ring true - the uncertainty, anxiety, grief, the loss......... It may be too early to "look back" on how we survived if that's what we're doing. Though it isn't too early to appreciate beauty where we can find it. My own path has reflected a technicolor range of miraculous love and loss and change - grasping truth from the ashes of pain and grief. It's been a ride through the depths, eyes glued on the hopeful horizon. Sometimes it takes everything falling apart for a new and better and truer phoenix to take flight. That's what I think about when I hear this music - still an inspiring companion, especially in the toughest of times. 

Keeping a light in the window until next time....................