In the Court of King Crimson [Paperback]

Sid Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2002

King Crimson’s 1969 masterpiece In The Court Of The Crimson King, was a huge U.S. chart hit. The band followed it with 40 further albums of consistently challenging, distinctive and innovative music. Drawing on hours of new interviews, and encouraged by Crimson supremo Robert Fripp, the author traces the band’s turbulent history year by year, track by track.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sid Smith is a freelance journalist and arts coordinator. He has written the sleeve notes for a number of recent King Crimson CD releases and also maintains a King Crimson diary on the band's official website.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Helter Skelter Publishing (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1900924269
• ISBN-13: 978-1900924269
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #594,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars COURT IS IN SESSION, December 1, 2002

By 

Kerry Leimer (Makawao, Hawaii United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: In the Court of King Crimson (Paperback)

This is an excellent book, carefully researched and, with the exception of scattered and persistent typos, an enjoyable read. Sid Smith has done an outstanding job of making the story of King Crimson inclusive, with plenty of background information on the many talented and singular musicians who found themselves a part of one of the longest running experiments in rock. It also comes across as a very fair book, in that many of these musicians seem to have more of a voice on these pages than they had in the band.

The indices include a comprehensive discography and gig list. Combined with the 30th anniversary reissues and the King Crimson Collectors Club CDs, a thoroughly documented record of Crimson is readily at hand. We get a good ration of quotes, dates, pictures and descriptions, but we don't get a whole lot closer to the music.

Instead, the reader is brought face to face with the story of the personalities, the business and money issues, the touring, the deadlines, the feeling of elation and exhaustion happening all around the music. The story revealed is one of almost random action and reaction, opportunities lost and flat-out short-sightedness on the part of just about everyone in and around Fripp's experiment. I say Fripp's experiment because, following the departure of McDonald and Giles, the notion that King Crimson was a band in the traditional sense of the word no longer applies.

Despite frequent quotes from Fripp explaining or justifying his rejection of the contributions of others -- or his rejection of others entirely -- by saying that their ideas weren't "Crimson enough", we are never told what "Crimson" is, was, or will be. In light of Fripp's persistence in sticking with this codified response, we can only assume that what is "Crimson" is obviously flexible enough allow some pretty questionable music to be mixed in with some unquestionably remarkable music, as along as Robert is in charge. Readers are left to conclude, given the comparatively small and at times scatter-shot nature of the King Crimson catalog, that perhaps Fripp didn't know what "Crimson enough" meant either. (I say small because, when compared to other groups and musicians pushing 30, once you take away the live releases King Crimson's studio work looks a little skinny. Especially next to, say 47 albums of original work by Peter Hammill.)

Mr. Smith provides us with thoughtful and accurate descriptions of each recorded piece, partly illuminated by details of the recording process and the nearly always strained relationships between whomever the current line-up happened to be. But they are only descriptions. What is lacking is any access to or speculation regarding the thinking behind the music. We are not made privy to the impetus behind a piece as powerful as "Epitaph" or as artificial and strained as the medieval "Lizard". The idea for "Lark's Tongues" is mentioned as arriving before the recording of "Islands", but we don't learn what that idea happened to be. We're only told it was "an idea". The absence of such an orientation to the writing -- to really take on the music rather than simply describe it -- is a flaw because, more than any well-known band, Crimson seemed to offer listeners a genuine aesthetic. An aesthetic that sadly remains unarticulated, at least by verbal or written language. And perhaps the book's approach is a practical one, since it is safe to assume that most readers will be more concerned with human flaws rather than the hard work of creating flawless music.

So, we are left where we begin. With the music. Books like this one deal exceedingly well with the events and the documents, but they do not reach to the heart of the music. That King Crimson's music continues to provide us with glimpses of a fierce intelligence leaves us to conclude that the people that make the music insist that the understanding we seek is available only through listening. And, rightly, that the music is all that really matters.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and illuminating, March 14, 2002

By 

Alwyn Tower (Rural, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Court of King Crimson (Paperback)

If you have an interest in King Crimson or "progressive rock," then this is essential reading. Sid Smith's book focuses on the formation and dissolution of the different King Crimsons and the production and recording of their different albums. The most important thing about the book is that Smith interviewed many Crimson members and associated personnel and friends (such as sound engineers and "significant others"). As a result, the book contains a wealth of fascinating historical information that is not available anywhere else. The book casts light on why Crimson members made certain decisions, about both their music and their careers. Just about every chapter contains a track-by-track treatment of a Crimson album, preceded by extensive discussions of the relations between the band members (and their management), the circumstances of the recording sessions, and the general reception of the band's work. Many photographs are included that have never before been available to the public.

Smith finds something worthwhile to say in almost every entry of the track-by-track sections. Retrospective evaluations of particular tracks, by Crimson's own members (gained in interviews) and Smith himself, are helpful in tracing the general development of the band. More importantly, Smith gives us glimpses behind the scenes. We find out, for example, how Ian MacDonald's lovely romance with Charlotte Bates served as the inspiration for Suite in C (from the MacDonald and Giles album, which Smith rightly considers as a King Crimson album); and how Fripp recorded the amazing guitar solo on "Sailor's Tale." We also find out how the great final masterpiece of the 1970s Crimson, "Starless," came together from disparate pieces, including a haunting song by Wetton that was initially rejected by the band; how the "the Howler" went from being a heavy instrumental live to a vocal piece on the Beat album (this had been a mystery to me for years); and how the 1990s Crimson digitally knit together "Heaven and Earth" from a number of experimental sessions.

Of course, the book leaves some questions unanswered. King Crimson is a unique band that is still working. It seems too difficult now to set the band's accomplishment in the broader context of popular music or avant-guard rock. The evaluations of particular tracks seem incomplete without a detailed discussion of Crimson's music and how it compares with other efforts. On the whole, Smith wisely avoids such a large project. If and when music lovers become interested in such questions, then Sid Smith's account will be a necessary touchstone. For the moment, we can enjoy this excellently written and engaging book, which tells us a great deal about the making of an important band.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Socrates, PLato and the Cave of King Crimson, June 5, 2002

By 

o dubhthaigh (north rustico, pei, canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: In the Court of King Crimson (Paperback)

Sid Smith has written an absorbing and fascinating linear history of the drive of King Crimson from its dual inception in GG&F and the McDonald-Sinfield partnership through the ConstruKction of Light. While claiming not to be a musicological analysis, his discussions about the music itself take this book far away from the fanzine type of writing in many a band or popstar bio. He is inclusive and thorough in his research and was trusted by present and former members of the court enough for them to present their forthright observations of their service to the king. And in the end, who is the king? It is not Fripp. Fripp is certainly the Prime Minister for the moment, although the heir apparent has presented his credentials. King Crimson is and is not what it is that moves the spirit of all of these earnest young men, many with facial hair and glasses, to commit themselves to the Heideggerian tasks of clearing the ground for Music to take them into its confidence. Even when failure, calamity and heartbreak result, it has come with passion. Each member in each phase has stood up and recognized the shadows on the wall for what they are and elected to make their ways to the source of the light. They have gone out to the garden to greet the Future. Some retreat, some go beyond, some become extraordinary gardiners.
There may yet be a musicological analysis, perhaps from Fripp or Bruford or a Lewis Porter, whose remarkable tome on Coltrane quite lucidly shows the structure of the music being very much a part of that ineffable presence Coltrane came face to face with. But in this book, Smith charts the artistic and personal commitments that the King demanded and exacted from its participants.
It is quite clear that once he stood up from the rest of the crowd and sensed that there was something else besides the ephemera before him, Fripp's course in life could go only in search of this light. He is by no means a benevolent Yoda, but his heart has always been in the right place, and so in the pursuit of the Ideal, he has wrought a milieu in which only the pure of heart prevail. Parsifal with an axe and a jones for Bartok and Hendrix.
However, inasmuch as the King could not have carried on without his dedicated minister, so too Fripp could not have pursued his mission without the remarkable contributions of each and all. There are essential dialectics throughout: with McDonald and Giles, with Bruford and Wetton, with Belew and Gunn and Levin, among others. There are sacrifices and conversions of the soul with Cross and Muir. Locked horns, business failures, dope and disappointment each assault the Court, yet the King and Fripp remain loyal to each other. It is quite a read, and well worth the time to go slowly and mull the contents. My only criticism of the physical book is that it seems no one ran spellcheck or proofread the punctuation.
Perhaps you'll draw some conclusions, for whatever conclusions might be worth, such as:
1. Drummer who best got along with Fripp: Ian Wallace
2. Vocalist who least had a clue what the lyrics were about: Gordon Haskell
3. Best pinch hit vocalist: Jon Anderson
4. Bassist who hated every minute of Crimson: Boz Burrell
5. Drummer who least got along with Fripp: well, that would be telling
6. Reed player who seems to rattle Fripp the most: Ian McDonald
7. Worst lyricist: Sinfield. After the first record, it all got a bit arch, and Haskell was right.
8. Best lyricist: Palmer-James and Belew.
9. Perfect foil for the Prime Minister: see number 5.
10. Heir apparent: Trey Gunn.

At different points in the history of this band, the question has been raised whether or not Crim could be Frippless. Possibly during the Wetton-Bruford-McDonald summit at "RED" time. Now, on the evidence of what is on record, another clearing is about to be becoming. But that's likely another book or two away yet.