top ten albums - no. 6

Dear Sheddists,

no Top Ten list of mine could ever be complete without a King Crimson album.  I've followed the works of Robert Fripp since I was a small boy hearing the roar of 'Twenty First Century Schizoid Man' through my bedroom wall. It came courtesy of an Island sampler called, "Nice Enough to Eat' owned by elder brother, Bruce.

The very first King Crimson album I bought was the debut, 'In the Court of the Crimson King'. As a teenager I also loved the much neglected and oft maligned, 'Islands'. It's very pleasing to see that at least two songs from that album ('the Letters' and 'Sailor's Tale') now feature regularly on the live sets of the latest incarnation of King Crimson.

More of that later, but back to the albums.  Others followed in quick succession, including the legendary 'Larks Tongues in Aspic' and a trio of sharp, poly-rhythmic albums featuring the distinctive voice and guitar of Adrian Belew. He brought an almost Talking Heads-like feel to the music and it's unsurprising to learn he once turned down an offer to replace David Byrne in that band.

Mr Fripp has never stayed in one place for too long. Both his music and the band that plays it changes and morphs with delightful regularity.  Indeed, at one point he launched a whole series of bands simultaneously under the collective name of the ProjeKcts.

The album I've chosen is one of the more recent King Crimson live sets, called, 'Radical Action to Unseat the Monkey Mind'. 

In recent years Mr Fripp has put together a fantastic seven piece touring band, featuring three drummers, to re-imagine selections from the mightily impressive King Crimson back catalogue. These are drawn from many different eras and iterations of the band and the fact they integrate so well with each other and with the various impromptu sound landscapes that punctuate the performance is testimony to his music genius. 

Mr Fripp once described the contrast between King Crimson's studio albums and their live outings as the difference between receiving a love letter and a going on a hot date. We saw the band play two years ago and it was most certainly a hot date! We're due to see them again later this year and we're very much looking forward to a similarly exciting experience!