Red by King Crimson

Yet another immense album, Red, the seventh album by the King Crimson, released in 1974, which is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of progressive rock, yet another by this band. An Essential Album.

A dark and powerful work with prog and jazz-rock influences and endowed with a compositional quality that makes it accessible, despite the difficult situation of the band at the time. It contains the masterpiece "Starless" with its melancholic beauty, a work of the highest artistic level.  

Without David Cross but with a truly excellent line-up, Robert Fripp on guitar and mellotron, John Wetton on bass and vocals, and Bill Bruford on drums and percussion, with a set of guests including David Cross himself on violin, but also a horn section with Mel Collins, Ian McDonald, Robin Miller, and Mark Charig

Immediately after the release of Red, Fripp announced that King Crimson had "ceased to exist" and in fact disappeared until 1981 when they returned for a stellar trilogy (Discipline, Beat, Three of a Perfect Pair)

Kurt Cobain called it "the best album in the history of rock," and who could blame him.

I can't choose a favorite track, they are all pieces of unparalleled level, I'll just share some anecdotes about the tracks:

Red: The central section of the track includes a cello overdub performed by a session man not credited on the cover and recruited on the fly. The name of this musician has been lost.

Fallen Angel: Contains the last acoustic guitar track recorded by Fripp with King Crimson (apart from an exception on a mini CD I believe)

One More Red Nightmare: the ending of the track is cut off due to the end of the original multi-track tape.

Providence: a live improvisation at the Palace Theatre in Providence in the months preceding the album and therefore also features David Cross, both as a musician and as an author.

Starless: a track that closed the concerts, by David Cross, was performed for the first time ever at the Palazzo dello Sport in Udine in 1974. Fripp called it a perfect and worthy point of arrival for that line-up, on that album, as well as for rock in general in those years, "a concluding statement." According to author Richard Palmer-James, the track is about the breakup between two close friends, highlighting how the future of one without the other appears "bare" and "starless."

One of those albums for which a single word is enough: Masterpiece.

Tracklist

1. Red (6:17)
2. Fallen Angel (6:03)
3. One More Red Nightmare (7:10)
4. Providence (8:10)
5. Starless (12:17)

Duration 39:57

LineUp

- Robert Fripp - guitars, Mellotron
- John Wetton - bass, vocals
- Bill Bruford - drums and percussion

With:
- David Cross - violin (4, Video1-4), Mellotron (Video1-4)
- Mark Charig - cornet (2), double bass (1)
- Mel Collins - soprano saxophone (5)
- Ian McDonald - alto saxophone (3,5)
- Robin Miller - oboe (2)

Note: All links to the musicians' works are in the TAGS under the article title or on the "Artists" page