Vinyl: King Crimson Vinyl Collection

Hey kids, it’s King Crimson! If ELP and Yes were neutrons and protons of prog rock, and The Enid and Greenslade were electrons (stay with me here...) then King Crimson is the Higgs boson – they gave the whole movement a serious amount of weight. Prog was the preserve of grammar school boys all over the UK but KC were a bizarre step further – most probably appealing to whispily bearded maths undergraduates who, in later years, ended up at CERN. Don’t be fooled by the daft Sinfield lyrics, whimsical track titles and sleeves, this music came with an attendant darker atmosphere. As a kid I found this music disturbing, the dynamic forceful power of 20th Century and majesty of the Mellotronious (made up word) Court Of The.. were relatively easy to grasp. But the rest was rather more difficult. KC had an intensity and tension that could make even a silence deeply disquieting – apparently this was KC experience even for the band members. Imagine waking in the middle of the night to find Alan Rickman sitting in the corner of your dark bedroom quietly reading Alice In Wonderland, as you cower under the Brentford Nylon sheets... beautiful, but profoundly disturbing... Nothing could kill a hot date more surely than putting one of these disks on before slouching lugubriously on the Afghan coat draped futon, shrouded in a fog of patchouli. No wonder prog rockers died out – we couldn’t breed.

The sleeves are better than good except for Earthbound which seems to have suffered a little for its black-ness. Court Of The... is really very good though. Comparing to photos of other ebay offerings all these would rank as Ex+ , no scuffs, folds, tears or creases. The disks are overall very good – clean and playable – simply old with the attendant noise, clicks, pops and distortion of careful use...but hey, its vinyl... I have priced this at a level that you get a very good deal and I can get the next round in. Cheers!

Oh -and the matrix on In The Wake... is A1 B1 and has the solid pink label. The others are 2,3 or 4.

20th Century? 21st more like.... damn those typos!