Red: 30th Anniversary Editions [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

King Crimson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 17, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: E.G. Records
• ASIN: B000003S0P
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (124 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #144,583 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Red

2. Fallen Angel

3. One More Red Nightmare

4. Providence

5. Starless

Editorial Reviews

This CD is the original first issue on CD.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive. No Question., June 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Red: 30th Anniversary Editions (Audio CD)

So much could be said for this album in spite of these reviews and the many liner notes accompanying King Crimson box sets. Not only is this an excellent album that represents all that is Crimson, it might also be the last word that slammed the door shut on what was once the most maligned but certainly most intriguing genre of rock music in its storied history - progressive rock. Even though the term made Robert Fripp cringe, King Crimson was (from their lofty beginnings with "In the Court of the Crimson King" to their harsh excursions through "Larks ..." and "Starless ..." ) a progressive band, because hardly a single song followed the verse/chorus/verse/chorus/guitar solo/chorus/fade-out formula pervasive throughout what passes as popular music today. Each Crimson excursion explored beyond the boundaries most bands feared to cross. While some fared not as well ("Formentera Lady"), most succeeded (esp. "Larks Tongues in Aspic, Part II").

Red, once thought to be the end of the band after the top of Robert Fripp's head blew off (read said liner notes!), revealed a troubled mind (Fripp) in conflict with the music business, his own muses and his ambitious bandmates John Wetton and Bill Bruford. Wetton's vocals developed with such conviction and delivery - his bass fretwork fast and heavy (second to only Chris Squire at the time); and lest anyone might still have been questioning Bruford's startling decision to leave Yes at their peak, Bruford, with drumming agile, intricate and heavy, emerged with such force and abandon (to make up for the departed Jamie Muir) that John Bonham and Keith Moon must have returned to the drawing board. This against slabs of thick metallic Frippian guitar helped define the "Power Trio," a term often applied to much more renowned bands like Rush, the Police, and Brand X (each Crimson understudies).

The album kicks off with the title track, a dirge of heavy metal that revolves around the tritone ("Diabolus in Musica" - once a forbidden interval in classical music - the devil in music - more fodder for King Crimson mythology) twisting and turning in various time signatures. "Fallen Angel" is a ballad with a beautifully lilting oboe counter-melody that falls into blistering, revolving guitar arpeggios backed by an irreverent, blasting trumpet. Wetton's most moving vocal performances in U.K. and Asia have this song to thank for his craft of melody and restraint. "One More Red Nightmare" sears with brutal, thundering percussion and a faster variation of the tritone that sends the piece into outer space behind Ian McDonald's (a worthy welcome back from the first album) alto saxophone. "Providence" is an unstructured jam that recalls King Crimson's four-piece lineup with David Cross on violin. While some jams on previous albums come off as random and lost, "Providence" builds and connects - until it disappears, probably due to tape error. "Starless" concludes the album, and within the 12 minutes of this aural masterpiece exist everything that is King Crimson - soft ballad mellotron with linear guitar that *really* gently weeps; jam session with all sorts of strange percussive blasts and crescendos of screaming guitar; fast, jazzy jam session featuring Mel Collins on soprano sax and even screamier guitar before every element falls into place at the end to repeat the opening theme and conclude just this close to absolute madness and despair. Only in silence at the album's end does one find relief while struggling to contemplate the meaning of what had just captivated his senses for the last forty minutes.

Rock historians have noted that the golden age of progressive rock came to an abrupt end with this album, for as King Crimson ceased to exist (at the time), Genesis, Yes, ELP, Focus and every other progressive band worth mentioning just never seemed quite the same. King Crimson's "Red," an aural assault and a musical journey into the depths of Fripp's mind, heart and soul, paints a picture we might seldom wish to see in ourselves. It is complicated, painful and incredible and what's more - it demands the listener's attention, intelligence and open mind. Simply put it is the best album I have ever heard.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing new to add, but I will anyway, February 3, 2001

By 

J. G. Hancock "Idiot Consumer" (PNS, FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red: 30th Anniversary Editions (Audio CD)

In my opinion, this album, and the title track, are the ultimate introductions to King Crimson. I first got the album on vinyl back in 1975 or 1976, and wore out "Red" (the track) within a month--you can actually see light reflect differently from that section compared to the rest of it--the grooves are less than microscopic. The CD is worth twice the price just for the title cut.

The original back cover says everything about the record: a black and white photo of a gauge, with the needle pegged in the red. In "Red", "One More Red Nightmare", and "Starless", some of the most obscene violations of sound waves can be heard, and I mean that in a very positive way. Fripp has tortured a guitar on many other recordings as "beautifully" as he did on "Red", but never so consistently.

If you have no, or very little, King Crimson, this is a must. If you have any interest in challenging, guitar-fuelled music, likewise. I've also found that when the neighbors' kids are outside listening to the Backsync Boys or Britney Aguilera or whatever, at high volume, the title track does a good job of keeping them out of my yard. It probably kills rodents, too.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the best Crimson album, January 13, 2000

By 

David Hogan "Iron Horse" (Edison, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red: 30th Anniversary Editions (Audio CD)

Not my favorite, but in all likelyhood, the very best. At the very least, it is definitely the tightest and most technically proficient of the albums turned out by the 69-74 incarnation of the great KC--even the most die-hard fans of LTIA and SABB must admit to that. It's perfect, much like the later song 'Discipline' is perfect in that it always makes sense where it ends up, but the means to those ends are not in the least ways boring or predictable.

Along with ITCOTCK, Red is also the most accessible of the early KC albums. Apart from the incredible performances of the players (especially Mr. Bruford's precussion), songs like Fallen Angel and One More Red Nightmare sound more like straightforward rock songs than anything on the two previous albums (though Easy Money fits that bill too). Of course, they sound like dark and ominous rock songs; this album is much darker than its predecessors, but has such a rich and full sound as well that is likewise absent on previous efforts.

Then there's the title track, Fripp's third guitar masterpiece in as many albums, and though it does not match 'Fracture' in bouts of sheer intensity, it tops it in terms of structure and consistency.

The two gems here, however, are on the second side of the album. Providence is the most perfectly structured improv KC has ever done, and so does not sound too much like it somehow escaped from SABB to be on a more reputable album. And then we come to Starless, thought by many to be the greatest progressive rock song of all time. Well, that's a tall order, even for this terrific song...the first 4 1/2 minutes are what Mr. Fripp usually puts on KC compilations and consist of some great lyrics sung over the saddest chords imaginable and some wailing Fripp guitar--pretty moving stuff so far. Then (and this description does not nearly succeed in covering the vast range of emotions here), Mr. Fripp begins a guitar solo which spends many minutes building and building until finally the band just explode into a fantastic jam...the best part, as other reviews have stated, is the end where Fripp's guitar plays over the resurrected main theme. The guitar solo in the middle might last a bit too long, but this only serves to make the ending all the more enjoyable.

Perfect. It's really a must have, and a great first Crimson album to buy. For those who own it and consider Providence to be one of the best tracks (as I do), buy Starless and Bible Black as well...assuming you already have Lark's Tongues in Aspic.