5) King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King

I’m sure nobody would have expected this album to make the list unless you have seen a previous post I wrote awhile back saying how this album does not receive the credit it deserves. Obviously I believe it is by far one of the best albums of all time ranking it among the top five. Not only is this album overlooked but I feel King Crimson is overlooked, they have a plethora of fantastic material and this one certainly tops the list. The album opens up with the intense “21st Schizoid Man,” and if this is not one of the most powerful songs I have ever heard I don’t quite know what is. Ian MacDonald’s shows some of his best work right from the beginning of the album on this track and Michael Giles’ fast pounding of the snares gives the song the incredible energy it has, and not to mention haunting voice of the eternal Greg Lake gives this song the passion it has. Right after that we have the soft and subtle “I Talk to the Wind.” It’s a beautiful song, and it’s quite a gigantic leap from “21st Schizoid Man” in terms of its sound. This song has some of the best harmonies I’ve ever heard along with a mean flute solo. Fantastic and surreal lyrics also certainly account for the majesty of this song. Right from there we come to what I believe is the greatest song ever written by any band at any time “Epitaph.” The song has unmatched emotion and power. It opens up with a rather haunting feel to it but builds into as I said earlier one of the most powerful songs ever. Wonderful lyrics, incredible vocals, great guitar work by the under rated Robert Fripp, and deep emotion make this song easily the height of the album. The first time I heard it I nearly broke down and cried. I could right a whole review on just this song (If you want an even better version check out their bootleg “Live at the Filmore East” in 1969) but it would probably be better that I move on to the final two tracks which also deserve much credit. Next there is “Moonchild” another slow and haunting song like “I Talk to the Wind.” Although it is a fantastic song it doesn’t quite match up to the others which is not exactly a bad thing by any means. It is the longest song on the album clocking in at over 12 minutes and possibly if it was cut down in length it would stand up to the other songs. Normally I’m not one to say that I believe a song should be cut down in length considering I always say the best song is a long song. About three minutes into the song it seems to go nowhere and is mainly just silence with an occasional tapping of the symbol and some other occasional random noises and this continues for the rest of the song which is about ten minutes. Normally I don’t like to say that music is going nowhere but this is just quite excessive, ten minutes of random noises is quite a lot, if they cut it down by five or so minutes they could have really hit with a great song. All in all it is a good song but doesn’t quite match up to the others. The album closes with the title track “In the Court of the Crimson King” which doesn’t falter one bit. It has that epic feeling to it just like “21st Century Schizoid Man” and “Epitaph.” Also just like the rest of the songs, it has a heap of raw emotion. It has a very poetic touch to it which sounds rather nice with the flute playing of McDonald behind it. To sum up this album in a few adjectives I would say: haunting, powerful, emotional, and surreal. Just a must have album especially if you are a fan of progressive rock.

1) 21st Century Schizoid Man
2) I Talk to the Wind
3) Epitaph
4) Moonchild
5) In the Court of the Crimson King