2. King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King (1969) - 5/5 (03/09/12)

1. 21st Century Schizoid Man (7:20)
2. I Talk To The Wind (6:05)
3. Epitaph (8:47)
4. Moonchild (12:11)
5. The Court Of The Crimson King (9:22)  

"In The Court Of The Crimson King" is one of the very first and until today most essential progressive rock record including five stunning proto and eclectic progressive rock pieces. Even nowadays, this outstanding release hasn't lost anything of its visionary magic and never feels old-fashioned. Everything is perfectly worked out on this release: the iconic cover and booklet artwork, the warm productional sound, the catchy but highly diversified song structures, the instrumental experiments and the addicting ethereal vocals featuring cryptic and mysteriously intriguing lyrics. Today, fans and experts always mention bands such as Genesis, Pink Floyd or Yes when it's time to name the biggest names but for me King Crimson easily stand above them all and not only because of this brilliant debut record. This album is still in my all time favourite top twenty records ever done even after thousand of releases I was able to listen to in my life. This here is definitely one of those records anybody should have listened to at least once in a lifetime, no matter what you are usually used to listen to.

The album kicks off with the visionary heavy metal prototype "21st Century Schizoid Man" that has been covered so many times over the years because it's simply an essential masterpiece. The distorted vocals, the agressive big band sounds, the unchained but always technical drumming, the wildly pumping bass guitar and teh hypnotizingly noisy guitars create an apocalyptic atmosphere with an unsurpassable intensity.

The rest of the record has a rather floating tone that breaks a lot with the first song which is the only negative part I could find out about this release. Even though this radical change doesn't really want to fit, the remaining four songs are excellent in their own way as well. We get the calm, dreamy and folk influenced hippy anthem "I Talk To The Wind", the beautifully sung spiritual ballad "Epitaph" that makes me think a little bit of The Moody Blues, the floating "Moonchild" with a weird and unique instrumental section that immediately puts you in an eerie mood and finally the catchy and peaceful epic hymn "In The Cour Of The Crimson King". Each song is profound, unique and shows the band's open minded versatility.

In the end, we have one truly heavy track and four songs that discover all possible aspects of the musical power of tranquility. Today, the album still feels magic and relevant and finally gets the credit it always deserved. If I had only one progressiev rock record to choose to introduce someone to this kind of music, it would definitely be this album. King Crimson prove right from the start that they are the true kings of progressive music and it's sad that they were never able to equal or top this release and get a little bit more recognition but once you will discover this album you may realize why it's almost unbeatable and was never surpassed by any other band since its release.