King Crimson Vinyl Records – In the Court of the Crimson King, Red & Essential Albums on Vinyl

King Crimson are the great outliers of progressive rock. Founded by Robert Fripp in 1968, they released In the Court of the Crimson King in 1969 — an album whose opening 21st Century Schizoid Man has a legitimate claim to being the first genuinely progressive rock track. Unlike most of their contemporaries, Crimson have reinvented themselves repeatedly across five decades, with Fripp as the only constant member through completely different line-ups and musical directions.

The 1973-74 trio with John Wetton, Bill Bruford and David Cross (Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Starless and Bible Black, Red) is the critical peak; the 1981-84 quartet with Adrian Belew, Tony Levin and Bruford (Discipline, Beat, Three of a Perfect Pair) is the new-wave era; the triple-drummer 2014-21 line-up is the late masterpiece. King Crimson on vinyl is essential — the dynamic range, the guitar textures, the instrumental interplay all need analogue space. The DGM/Panegyric 200g reissues and the 40th Anniversary series are among the best rock vinyl reissues ever produced.

Best King Crimson Albums on Vinyl

In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)
The debut and one of the most important rock albums ever made. 21st Century Schizoid Man, I Talk to the Wind, Epitaph, Moonchild, the title track — a record that genuinely invented progressive rock. The Panegyric 200g reissue is the definitive version.

Red (1974)
The final album of the 1970s line-up. Red, Fallen Angel, One More Red Nightmare, Providence, Starless — the heaviest Crimson ever recorded, and cited by Kurt Cobain as his favourite album. Essential.

Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1973)
The start of the Wetton-Bruford-Cross line-up. Larks' Tongues in Aspic Parts 1 and 2, Book of Saturday, Easy Money — the most aggressive Crimson statement to that point. Beautifully recorded.

Discipline (1981)
The start of the 1980s line-up with Belew, Levin and Bruford. Elephant Talk, Frame by Frame, Matte Kudasai, Thela Hun Ginjeet — polyrhythmic, precise, new-wave-influenced. A completely different Crimson, and a great one.

In the Wake of Poseidon (1970)
The transitional second album. Pictures of a City, Cat Food, the title track — often dismissed at the time as a rewrite of the debut, but containing some of the finest writing Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield ever did for the band.

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