King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King (2LP, 50th anniversary edition, 200g vinyl) [PANEGYRIC]

Why you'll love it

This 50th anniversary 2LP set is newly cut from tapes approved by Robert Fripp, on 200g vinyl in a gatefold, with a second disc of alternate takes and 2019 mixes. The album reached No. 5 in the UK, went gold in the US, and Rolling Stone ranked it No. 2 on its 50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums list.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 50th anniversary edition
• 200g vinyl
• Gatefold jacket
• Remastered
• Pressed in England

About the album

In July 1969, a band with no album yet opened for the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park in front of hundreds of thousands of people. Three months later King Crimson put out In the Court of the Crimson King, and it's often called the first true progressive rock album, mixing rock with jazz, classical and symphonic music.

After early sessions with the Moody Blues' producer Tony Clarke, the band produced it themselves at Wessex Sound Studios in London on an eight-track machine. Ian McDonald layered Mellotron, woodwinds and reeds, sometimes through five tape generations, and on "Epitaph" he rode two Mellotron parts against each other to make the chords move. "21st Century Schizoid Man" is a ferocious opener, "I Talk to the Wind" floats, and the title track closes in grand style. Disc two adds the 1969 take of the title track, a trio version of "Schizoid Man" and fresh 2019 mixes.

Its screaming cover face is as famous as the music, and fifty years on it still stops people in the racks. It's the record that launched a thousand Mellotrons, which is roughly how many it takes to tune one.

Also at Kops: more King Crimson on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Panegyric / Discipline Global Mobile (cat# KCLPX2019), a reissue of the 1969 album.