The Fat Angel Sings

On this date 46 years ago King Crimson released their debut album, In The Court Of The Crimson King.
In the Court of the Crimson King (subtitled An Observation by King Crimson) by the British rock group King Crimson, released on 10th October 1969. The album reached number five on the British charts,

The album is generally viewed as one of the first works to truly embody the progressive rock genre, where King Crimson largely departed from the blues influences that rock music had been founded upon and mixed together jazz and classical symphonic elements. In his 1997 book Rocking the Classics, critic and musicologist Edward Macan notes that In the Court of the Crimson King “may be the most influential progressive rock album ever released”.The Who’s Pete Townshend was quoted as calling the album “an uncanny masterpiece”. In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, the album came fourth in its list of “40 Cosmic Rock Albums”.

The album was remastered and re-released on vinyl and CD several times during the 1980s and 1990s. All of these versions were based on tape copies that were several generations removed from the originals. The original first-generation stereo master tapes were thought to be lost, but were finally located in a storage vault in 2003. This led to a much improved remastered CD version (see below), released in 2004. Recorded at Wessex Sound Studios between 21st July and 21st August 1969.

Once again, in time for the album’s 40th anniversary, the album was re-released both on vinyl and CD with newly cut masters approved by Robert Fripp. The CD/DVD set includes a stereo and 5.1 mix done by Steven Wilson, as well as the original mix.

King Crimson made their live debut on 9th April 1969, and were on the bill for the Rolling Stones at Hyde Park in July 1969 before an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 people.

Initial sessions for the album were held in early 1969 with producer Moody Blues producer Tony Clarke. After these sessions failed to work out, the group were given permission to produce the album themselves. The album was recorded on a 1″ 8 track recorder at Wessex Sound Studios in London, engineered by Robin Thompson, and assisted by Tony Page. In order to achieve the characteristic lush, orchestral sounds on the album, Ian McDonald spent many hours overdubbing layers of  Mellotron and various woodwind and reed instruments.

Some time after the album had been completed, however, it was discovered that the stereo master recorder used during the mixdown stage of the album, had incorrectly aligned recording heads. This misalignment resulted in a loss of high-frequencies and introduced some unwanted distortion. This is evident in certain parts of the album, particularly on “21st Century Schizoid Man“. Consequently, while preparing the first American release for Atlantic Records, a special copy was made from the original 2-track stereo master in an attempt to correct some of these anomalies. (The analog tape copying process usually results in generation loss). From 1969 to 2003, this second-generation “corrected” copy was the source used in the dubbing of the various sub-masters used for vinyl, cassette and CD releases over the years. The original, “first-generation” stereo masters, however, had been filed away soon after the original 1969 mixdown sessions. These tapes were considered lost until 2003.

All songs written by King Crimson, except “I Talk to the Wind“ and “The Court of the Crimson King”, written by Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield:

King Crimson

• Robert Fripp – guitars, production
• Michael Giles – drums, percussion, backing vocals, production
• Greg Lake – lead vocals, bass guitar, production
• Ian McDonald – woodwinds (saxophone, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet), keyboards (mellotron, harpsichord, piano, organ), vibraphone, backing vocals, production
• Peter Sinfield – lyrics, illumination, production