King Crimson has been called everything from sellouts to the very definition of what progressive music is. The band was formed in January 1969 out of the ashes of the eccentric `Giles, Giles And Fripp.' Guitarist extraordinaire Robert Fripp (born May 16, 1946 in Dorset, England), drummer Mike Giles and Ian McDonald (keys & reeds), were joined by former bass/vocalist Gods member Greg Lake, (vocals/bass), to complete the first official line-up. Lyricist, Pete Sinfield supplied the words to Fripp's compositions.
The band's debut album,- `In The Court Of The Crimson King,' drew ecstatic praise from critics, a glowing, well-publicized testimonial from The Who's Pete Townshend and many influenced many bands (Genesis/Steve Hackett).
The use of the mellotron keyboard showed the group combining powerful chords with delicate melodies. Fripp's complex chord progressions, and the band's intense introduction to `21st Century Schizoid Man, revealed a rare imagination.
Unfortunately, the following year, the band repeated themselves with an almost debut album clone- `In The Wake Of Poseidon.' The significantly less-popular album was hurt by internal strife which saw McDonald and Giles depart to work as a duo and Greg Lake leave to co-found Emerson, Lake And Palmer; leaving Fripp to finish the album with ex- Cupid's Inspiration- Gordon Haskell (bass/vocals) and Mel Collins on woodwinds. Drummer Andy McCullough completed this particular line-up, but both he and Haskell left when the sessions terminated. Boz Burrell (vocals/bass) and Ian Wallace (drums) replaced McCullough and Haskell and the band embarked on a brutal touring schedule.
After one more studio album- (`Islands'), King Crimson ended their career in April 1972, for now. Collins and Wallace then pursued studio-based careers, being very much in-demand musicians for hire. Burrell later found fame playing bass with `Bad Company.'
Not to be denied, Fripp began fashioning a new, more radical line-up with ex-Family bass/vocalist John Wetton and luring drummer extraordinaire- Bill Bruford away from Yes. Fripp also added percussionist Jamie Muir and violinist David Cross and with Sinfield gone, Richard Palmer-James was recruited as new lyricist. `Larks' Tongues In Aspic,' was the only project with this line-up. During the next two years, Fripp whittled down the group to its bare bones (Fripp, Wetton and Bruford), creating a powerful and more structured exemplary album- `Red.'
In October of `74, the leader of the group- Robert Fripp stated- "King Crimson is completely over for ever and ever." He embarked on a solo career which included many collaborations (Eno, Gabriel, etc.) Bruford worked with bands such as Genesis, Gong, U.K. and National Health. The live album `USA,' was the last release of the decade. Wetton went on to record and tour with Roxy Music, Uriah Heep, UK and Asia.
Seven years later, the eclectic Fripp reformed King Crimson with Bruford, adding bassist/stick maestro Tony Levin and American vocalist/guitarist Adrian Belew.
The albums which followed, `Discipline' (the best of the lot IMHO), `Beat,' and `Three Of A Perfect Pair,' mixed commercialism with harder progressive Crimson instrumentals. They refrained from any older Crimson material, seemingly denied what made them famous in the first place. Still, the band's approach was fresh, and several concerts documented their talents during their tour of Asia.
To keep himself busy during King Crimson idle times, established a pet-project- `The League Of Gentlemen.' He subsequently performed and gave tutorials under "The League Of Crafty Guitarists" banner, but reconvened King Crimson in 1994 to record `Vroom,' and `Thrak.' A second stick player was added- Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto (acoustic/electric percussion) was added with Bruford to add complexity to the rhythm section.
The band recorded the ongoing `ProjeKcts,' series, and oversaw a series of collectors' releases on his own Discipline Global Mobile label. With Bruford and Levin busy on other projects, Fripp simplified the band with a line-up of himself, Belew, Gunn and Mastelotto- `The ConstruKction Of Light,' was released in 2000 to mixed reactions. Rumors of another break-up were common. The group continues to release fanclub recording for their loyal followers.
As 2002 approaches, King Crimson finished a summer tour with `Tool;' the band is currently writing and recording demos of their upcoming studio album, This is taking place at Adrian Belew's home/studio in Nashville.
King Crimson began their "Level Five" tour in November and featured former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones as an opening act.
They are crrently working on an EP to be released prior to the next studio release which they plan to record June 2002.
Adrian Belew and KMax's record "Stereotype Be" is nominated for best "Modern Rock/Alternative Album of the Year for the Dove Awards.
In November 2003, Gunn left the group to pursue solo projects and was replaced by Levin. The band reconvened in early 2004 for rehearsals, but nothing developed from the sessions. Fripp reassessed his desire to work with King Crimson and the music industry altogether, seeing the unsympathetic aspects of the life of a touring musician.
2007–present: 40th Anniversary Tour, hiatus, and touring
In 2007, a new King Crimson formation was announced:[55] Fripp, Belew, Levin, Mastelotto, and a new second drummer, Gavin Harrison,[56][57] the first new member from the UK since 1972. In August 2008, after a period of rehearsals,[58] the five completed a four-date tour as a warm up for the band's 40th Anniversary Tour, which took place in 2009. Performances of the band's past songs received striking new versions, in particular percussion-heavy arrangements. Additional shows were planned for 2009, but they were cancelled due to scheduling clashes. 2009 saw the release of the DVD Eyes Wide Open, a compilation of the band's shows Live at the Shepherds Bush Empire (London, July 3, 2000) and Live in Japan (Tokyo, April 16, 2003).
King Crimson began another hiatus after the 40th Anniversary Tour Belew continued to lobby for reviving the band, and discussed it with Fripp several times in 2009 and 2010, including a temporary reunion of the 1980s line-up for a thirtieth anniversary tour.[60][61][62] The idea was declined by Fripp and Bruford, who said: "I would be highly unlikely to try to recreate the same thing, a mission I fear destined to failure." In December 2010, Fripp wrote that the King Crimson "switch" had been set to "off", citing several reasons.
In 2011, a band called Jakszyk Fripp Collins (and subtitled "A King Crimson ProjeKct") released an album called A Scarcity of Miracles. The band featured Jakko Jakszyk, Robert Fripp and Mel Collins as main players and composers, with Tony Levin and Gavin Harrison covering bass guitar/Chapman Stick and drums respectively. At one point, Fripp referred to the band as "P7". Unusually for a ProjeKCt, it was based around fully finished and carefully crafted original songs (initially derived from improvisations). For a while, King Crimson fans debated whether this was a new line-up of the main band under another name, but the project did not tour or release another album. In August 2012, Fripp announced his retirement from the music industry, leaving the future of King Crimson uncertain.
In September 2013, Fripp announced King Crimson's return to activity with a "very different reformation to what has gone before: seven players, four English and three American, with three drummers". He cited several reasons to make a comeback, varying from the practical,[70] and the whimsical: "I was becoming too happy. Time for a pointed stick." The new line-up drew from the previous one and the Scarcity of Miracles project, retaining Fripp, Levin, Harrison and Mastelloto with Jakszyk and Collins, and drummer Bill Rieflin. Belew was not asked to take part, thus ending his 32-year tenure in King Crimson. Jakszyk took his place as singer and second guitarist.
In early 2014, the group had no plans to record in the studio, instead playing "reconfigured" versions of past material After rehearsing in England,[ they toured North America from 9 September 2014 across 20 dates. Recordings from the Los Angeles dates were released as Live at the Orpheum. Tours across Europe, Canada, and Japan followed[78] in the later half of 2015. A live recording from the Canadian leg of the tour was released as Live In Toronto. A European tour was planned for 2016. Following Rieflin's decision to take a break from music after the three dates of March, April and June in Salisbury, drummer Jeremy Stacey of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds was called in place for dates from September, building-up the now so-called 2016-SOND line-up.
On December 7, 2016, founding King Crimson member Greg Lake died of cancer.
On January 3, 2017, Robert Fripp announced Bill Rieflin's return to King Crimson. King Crimson will now be an octet and something which Fripp refers to as the "Double Quartet Formation". Rieflin will be focusing on keyboards rather than drums in the new configuration.[
On January 31, 2017, another former King Crimson member, John Wetton, died of colon cancer.[89][90][91]
On April 27, 2017, King Crimson announced a new live EP named "Heroes" after the David Bowie song, as a tribute to both the artist and the album featuring the song in question (both of which featured distinctive Robert Fripp guitar contributions throughout). The video to the song won "Video of the Year" at the 2017 Progressive Music Awards.
On June 11, 2017 in Seattle, Washington, King Crimson embarked on an extensive tour of North America that ended on November 26, 2017 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
On September 3, 2017, Robert Fripp announced that his differences with Adrian Belew had been straightened out and Belew had accepted to become "King Crimson's Ninth Man", meaning he is not a band member, but the door is open for him to rejoin in the future.
On October 13, 2017, it was announced that Bill Rieflin would be unable to join the Double Quartet Formation on the 2017 Autumn tour in the U.S. He was replaced by Seattle-based Chris Gibson who Rieflin coached in preparation of the upcoming tour.
On November 22, 2017, King Crimson announced that the Uncertain Times tour, an extensive 33-date UK and European tour, would take place throughout 2018 (from June 13 to November 16), visiting Poland, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, the UK and France.
Current members
Robert Fripp – guitar (1968–74, 1981–84, 1994–present), Mellotron, keyboards (1970–74, 1994–present), Frippertronics (1981–84), soundscapes (1994–present)
Mel Collins – saxophone, flute (1970–72, 2013–present; studio: 1974), Mellotron, backing vocals (1971–1972)
Tony Levin – bass guitar, electric upright bass, Chapman Stick, funk fingers, synthesizers, backing vocals (1981–84, 1994–98, 2003–present)
Pat Mastelotto – percussion, acoustic and electronic drums (1994–present)
Gavin Harrison – main drums (2007–present)
Jakko Jakszyk – lead vocals, guitar, flute (2013–present)
Bill Rieflin – drums, percussion (2013–2015), keyboards, synthesizer, Mellotron, backing vocals (2013–2015, 2017–present)
Jeremy Stacey – drums, keyboards, backing vocals (2016–present)
Discography Chronological U.S. Album Releases
10/10/1969IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING
05/09/1970IN THE WAKE OF POSEIDON
12/11/1970LIZARD
12/03/1971ISLANDS
03/31/1973LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC
02/21/1974STARLESS AND BIBLE BLACK
10/05/1974RED
04/26/1975USA
10/03/1981DISCIPLINE
06/19/1982BEAT
1983THE YOUNG PERSONS' GUIDE TO KING CRIMSON
03/29/1984THREE OF A PERFECT PAIR
1986THE COMPACT KING CRIMSON
10/08/1991THE ESSENTIAL KING CRIMSON :FRAME BY FRAME (4CD Boxed Set)
10/18/1991THE ABBREVIATED KING CRIMSON : HEARTBEAT
11/17/1992THE GREAT DECEIVER :LIVE 1973-1974 (4CD Boxed Set)
10/26/1993THE CONCISE KING CRIMSON : SLEEPLESS
11/18/1994VROOOM
04/25/1995THRAK
08/22/1995B'BOOM OFFICIAL BOOTLEG - LIVE IN ARGENTINA 1994
06/25/1996THRAKATTAK
05/07/1997EPITAPH
01/13/1998THE NIGHTWATCH - LIVE 1973
04/07/1998PROJEkCT TWO - SPACE GROOVE
06/23/1998ABSENT LOVERS
05/25/1999CIRKUS: THE YOUNG PERSONS' GUIDE TO KING CRIMSON LIVE
10/26/1999THE PROJEKCTS (4CD Boxed Set)
10/26/1999A BEGINNERS' GUIDE TO PROJEKCTS: THE DECEPTION OF THE THRUSH
05/23/2000THE CONSTRUKCTION OF LIGHT
11/07/2000HEAVY CONSTRUKCTION
11/13/ 2001 VROOOM VROOOM
EPITAPH, VOLUMES 3 AND 4
3/2003 THE POWER TO BELIEVE
3/2003 HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU HAVE TO BE HAPPY WITH (EP- one track from The Power to Believe and extras))
2015 Live at the Orpheum
2016 Live in Toronto
2016 Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind
2017 Live in Chicago
2018 Live in Vienna
