King Crimson is an English band formed in London in 1968 and originally made up of Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Group with a strange name on the one hand but which can also be a synonym of Beelzebub...
First album "In the court of the Crimson king" the following year in 1969 and for a first album, it is a real masterstroke since the group will immediately win the biggest success of all its discography on the album side, just that. Notably thanks to the hit Single "The Court of the Crimson King".
A too fast success which will create strong tensions within the group in particular on the future orientations with as a consequence the departure progressively of the majority of the members except Fripp.
A modified version of the group, to say the least, took part in the new album "In the wake of Poseidon", an album which was released a year later in 1970. This did not prevent the album from doing almost as well as its predecessor in terms of success in the Charts ! But which paradoxically will not produce any hit worthy of the name on the Singles side…
A particularly prolific year 1970 since they released a second album "Lizard" at the end of the year, album too much at first sight since it will only know a level of success altogether limited. A relative failure which sees the group exploding once again at the level of its members…
New group composition and new album "Islands" a year later in 1971, an album with average success and which also failed to produce a significant Single.
Several albums will be released thereafter, namely "Larks' tongues in aspic" in 1973, "Starless and bible black" and "Red" in 1974, but none will produce more favorable results on the Singles side.
Suddenly, the group will go to sleep between 1975 and 1980 and return from current year 1981 in a new version of the group, one more. The only permanent member of the group since its beginnings being Fripp… who will have made the rain and the good weather in the group from the beginning to the end.
Back from the year 1981 with a new sound and a new style, which already allows to produce the new album "Discipline". A musical reorientation that pays off since they finally manage to classify a title "Matte kudasar" in the Singles Charts.
The dynamic did not weaken the following year with the release of the album "Beat" in 1982, an album which allowed them to record a new success on the Singles side with the title "Heartbeat".
Despite new tensions within the group, the latter manages to produce the album "Three of a perfect pair" two years later in 1984. Album which will offer them the biggest success of all their discography on the Singles side with the title " Sleepless".
The group will again disappear from the radar for several years and return sporadically during the following decades. Other albums will be released later but none will allow them to produce major new Singles.
To discover or rediscover...
Discography (among others ...) :
60s Decade :
21st century schizoid man 1969
Epitaph 1969
The court of the Crimson King 1969
70s Decade :
In the wake of Poséidon 1970
Cadence and cascade 1970
Lady of the dancing water 1970
Ladies of the road 1971
Islands 1971
Book of Saturday 1973
Exiles 1973
Lament 1974
The night watch 1974
Fallen angel 1974
One more red nightmare 1974
80s Decade :
Frame by frame 1981
Matte kudasai 1981
Thela hun ginjeet 1981
Heartbeat 1982
Waiting man 1982
Three of a perfect pair 1984
Sleepless 1984
90s Decade :
Dinosaur 1995
Walking on air 1995
People 1995
2000s Decade :
The construcktion of light 2000
Fracktured 2000
Eyes wide open 2003
Facts of life 2003
Tracks :
1969... the first steps of an astonishing group which will demonstrate it many times thereafter. Because there will be good, even very good but also much less good, that's for sure...
1969 ... whatever it may be, the group obtains a certain success from its first album. But paradoxically it will not follow - or little - in terms of success on the Singles side...
1969... which will undoubtedly remain as one of their reference titles. A title perfectly in tune with the times and which will be their only success of the album on the Singles side...
1970...on the album side, the sequel will be almost equivalent in terms of success in the Charts but on the Singles side, it will be zero points. Strange paradox...
1970...it must be said that half of the titles on each album are purely experimental, which is not ideal for attracting the general public...
1970...two albums in the same year for the price of one. An album almost too many because it will not really know the same level of success as the one that preceded it...
1971...the beginning of the 1970s saw them somewhat struggling and, above all, unable to produce any world-class Singles. However, it all went well...
1971...success on the album side is still relevant but has dropped compared to the end of the 60s. The permanent tensions within the group frankly do not help things, that's clear...
1973...a group that will spend its time dissolving and reforming. Not easy in these conditions to have a guideline worthy of the name...
1973... suddenly each album is almost made by different musicians and it is therefore the lottery permanently on the inspiration side. In good or in bad...
1974 ... what is surprising is that the group retains whatever happens a base of fans that does not move. This allows them to experience a minimum level of success each time on each album produced...
1974... the other side of the coin is that he hardly attracts any other public. This considerably limits their radiation...
1974... the middle of the decade saw them lose another notch in terms of success in the Charts at the album level. The group will therefore have to ask the right questions at some point...
1974...the main problem is that the different members almost never agree on anything every time. This means that the group changes members constantly...
1981... so much so that the group will purely and simply disappear from the radar for almost 7 years. A disappearance to say the least salutary because the 80s will be much more favorable to them in terms of success in the Singles Charts...
1981...certainly we are not talking about a planetary tidal wave but we can feel that the group is making real efforts to structure its style and its sound. And above all stick for once to what the general public more or less expects...
1981 ... even if some titles see them fall back into their old ways, it should still be noted that there is better. It could therefore be that the group finally manages to win THE title which will finally consecrate them on a planetary level...
1982...well, it won't be 1982 yet, but we're getting closer, that's for sure. The group finally seems to have found the right recipe and it will inevitably end up paying off...
1982...it is clear that the 80s were much more structured from all points of view and above all more in tune with what the public expected. It was time...
1984...and 1984 will be THE big year for the group, finally. They will have taken a long time to win the Grail on the Singles side but they will get there all the same. On the next title at least...
1984...it's THIS title that will finally show the whole world that they can also do in normality. They will get here the biggest success of all their discography and at the same time reach the final consecration after which they have been chasing for years. HU-GE !
1995... and paradoxically it is after having achieved all their objectives that they will simply disappear. At least for almost 11 years...
1995...there they are, therefore, attacking their 4th decade of career. A career punctuated by ruptures, crises but which will all the same have allowed them in the end to enter the musical history of this end of the 20th century in a very beautiful way...
1995...certainly this album will not remain as their best ranked but it has at least the merit of being accessible by almost all audiences. Concerning them, that's already it...
2000...we lose sight of them for almost 5 years and here they are, beginning the new millennium, hoping that the public will follow them for a little longer. Which will be...
2000... they go back more or less to their youthful failings and inevitably the sanction falls behind. The general public has once again deserted the ranks...
2003...they try to correct things with this new opus, a correction that will more or less bear fruit. At least on the albums Charts side because on the Singles side, it's definitely dull plain...
2003...nothing to do, for a normal title, most of the rest is out of scope as they say. But we know that with them nothing will ever be completely normal...
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