[.ca] King Crimson: Track by Track (ISBN 1900924269)

Great Book, Does the Story Justice:
I really don't agree with any criticism of this book be it minor or major. I think that Smith did a tremendous job. He covers each era of the band in sufficient depth to understand the characters involved and the work they did. He benefits from Robert Fripp's detailed and (as always) well-thought out analysis of each phase of the band, but takes care to present the views of other members where they diverge from Fripp's. I did get a feeling from this book that all members had been heard from, and that I now posessed an understanding of each phase of this band. Really a great job of researching and writing. And, the band has made a load of great music, which makes this a great book to read.

COURT IS IN SESSION:
This is an excellent book, carefully researched and, with the exception of scattered and persistent typos, an enjoyable read. Sid Smith has done an outstanding job of making the story of King Crimson inclusive, with plenty of background information on the many talented and singular musicians who found themselves a part of one of the longest running experiments in rock. It also comes across as a very fair book, in that many of these musicians seem to have more of a voice on these pages than they had in the band. The indices include a comprehensive discography and gig list. Combined with the 30th anniversary reissues and the King Crimson Collectors Club CDs, a thoroughly documented record of Crimson is readily at hand. We get a good ration of quotes, dates, pictures and descriptions, but we don't get a whole lot closer to the music. Instead, the reader is brought face to face with the story of the personalities, the business and money issues, the touring, the deadlines, the feeling of elation and exhaustion happening all around the music. The story revealed is one of almost random action and reaction, opportunities lost and flat-out short-sightedness on the part of just about everyone in and around Fripp's experiment. I say Fripp's experiment because, following the departure of McDonald and Giles, the notion that King Crimson was a band in the traditional sense of the word no longer applies. Despite frequent quotes from Fripp explaining or justifying his rejection of the contributions of others -- or his rejection of others entirely -- by saying that their ideas weren't "Crimson enough", we are never told what "Crimson" is, was, or will be. In light of Fripp's persistence in sticking with this codified response, we can only assume that what is "Crimson" is obviously flexible enough allow some pretty questionable music to be mixed in with some unquestionably remarkable music, as along as Robert is in charge. Readers are left to conclude, given the comparatively small and at times scatter-shot nature of the King Crimson catalog, that perhaps Fripp didn't know what "Crimson enough" meant either. (I say small because, when compared to other groups and musicians pushing 30, once you take away the live releases King Crimson's studio work looks a little skinny. Especially next to, say 47 albums of original work by Peter Hammill.) Mr. Smith provides us with thoughtful and accurate descriptions of each recorded piece, partly illuminated by details of the recording process and the nearly always strained relationships between whomever the current line-up happened to be. But they are only descriptions. What is lacking is any access to or speculation regarding the thinking behind the music. We are not made privy to the impetus behind a piece as powerful as "Epitaph" or as artificial and strained as the medieval "Lizard". The idea for "Lark's Tongues" is mentioned as arriving before the recording of "Islands", but we don't learn what that idea happened to be. We're only told it was "an idea". The absence of such an orientation to the writing -- to really take on the music rather than simply describe it -- is a flaw because, more than any well-known band, Crimson seemed to offer listeners a genuine aesthetic. An aesthetic that sadly remains unarticulated, at least by verbal or written language. And perhaps the book's approach is a practical one, since it is safe to assume that most readers will be more concerned with human flaws rather than the hard work of creating flawless music. So, we are left where we begin. With the music. Books like this one deal exceedingly well with the events and the documents, but they do not reach to the heart of the music. That King Crimson's music continues to provide us with glimpses of a fierce intelligence leaves us to conclude that the people that make the music insist that the understanding we seek is available only through listening. And, rightly, that the music is all that really matters.

vous êtes in the court:
Avec ce livre je suis plongé dans les plus petits détails que Fripp et ses musiciens ont pu vivre au cours des années de King Crimson ainsi que les groupes adjacents. Il y a tout les aspect important relié à ce groupe extraordinaire. Chacune des pièces sont expliquées minutieusement, comment elles ont été composées, dans quel circonstance, etc. J'aimerais bien avoir une version française pour ma compréhension, mais il me le fallait absolument. Pour ceux qui veulent en savoir d'avantage sur "King" c'est un "Must".

The surface story:
Light reading for Crimson fans, of which author Smith is certainly one. He provides many colorful adjectives but little in the way of musical analysis; any detailed info comes from interviews with the KC members. What the reader gets is mostly the overal Crim story, with some trivia and background from the recordings. There are some incongruities and non sequiturs in the text; one suspects that significant chunks of prosal connective tissue were cut from Smith's original manuscript. And thus some of the comments from (ex-)members come without context, and we're still left wondering about how, when, and exactly why Bruford quit/was dismissed from KC, among other things. Also, Smith's tendency to lengthily quote email (!) from KC members - right down to every punctuation mark and grammatical liberty - is an impersonal touch and does not make for great reading. As the "middle man" in the email flurries of Fripp, Sinfield, and Bruford, Smith does not quite reconcile or even set up the conflicting views of these musicians. Again, this may have something to do with the editing. But for several sections of the book, I was reading with eyebrows raised, wondering if certain questions were even being asked, let alone answered. Nevertheless, these gripes are outweighed by the fact that this Crimson biography simply exists. Smith obviously has a lot of love for his subject, and Crimsonites will find it enjoyable, if light.

It wasn't Easy Money for KC:
Robert Fripp has some sort of passive/agressive thing going on. It seems that whenever he encounters conflict with his band he splits the band or threatens to leave. Perhaps part of it has to do with his initial discomfort as "leader". Regardless, this makes for compelling reading in Sid Smith's fine book on the Crimson King. Journeying from 1969 to the present incarnation of Crimson, Smith assesses the strengths and weaknesses of each incarnation with candor. He's also managed to track down and interview just about every member of the band past and present. While I don't always agree with his critical comments about the various albums, line ups and songs, Smith's writing makes for a compelling and informed argument. Each incarnation of the band has produced notable and exceptional music but the most stable line ups (Fripp-Wetton-Cross-Brufford/Fripp-Belew-Levin-Brufford) are, of course, afforded the most space. Both have been the most powerful and consistent line ups in terms of the quality of music. They're also as different as can possibly be.He doesn't short the other line ups. The original line up gets plenty of space despite the fact that they only recorded one album. Smith also briefly focuses on their respective solo careers and other bands. The most interesting and conflicted of the line ups was the Fripp-Burrell-Collins-Wallace version that recorded Islands and Earthbound. There was an earthiness and blues/jazz element in this edition that was missing from later versions of the band. Smith manages to highlight the creative conflict that both created some enduring music (particularly on the Live in Jacksonville and Live at Summit Studios as well as Earthbound). Fripp was little more than a sideman in his own band at the end but it was a band that could create quite a noise! The Fripp-Wetton-Cross-Brufford line up produced three studio albums (Cross left during recording of material for the last album)and one live album during their life time. This edition of KC had a distinctive European flavor to its prog rock sound. Cross violin helped accentuate this aspect of Crim. The band's most compelling albums (Lark's Tongue in Aspic and Red)were created in the fire of creativity and the burned out embers of the band's decline. Smith manages to give us an inside view of the conflicts, egos and critical press that created and destroyed the band. The final line up (before the 7 year itch compelled Fripp to reform KC again)was originally going to be called Discipline. Smith displays a good understanding of what made this version tick. He also lays out the pressures that became its undoing (the conflict between Fripp & Belew over creative control and between Fripp & Brufford over "timekeeping"). He doesn't shy away from discussing the controversies about KC 80; he discusses the influence of Talking Heads (Belew was a member briefly during Remain in Light and toured with both David Bowie and Frank Zappa. It should be noted, however, that TH were also influenced by KC's 70's line up)and does acknowledge the difficulty of dealing with Fripp (he had Adrian Belew re-record the vocal to Cadence and Cascade and Tony Levin redo the bass part on a track from Lizard to "erase" former member Gordon Haskall from the band's history). Fripp does get the last word but that's because it's his band (which he would deny). Nevertheless, Smith provides a fair balance assessment of the band from glory days to the aftermath of their implosion. A fine book for KC fans to read that gives a unique perspective of the band.