Music Arcades: King Crimson: Red

Red was never one of my favourite King Crimson albums. My feelings about it are similar to Bill Bruford's about the title track, as recorded by Sid Smith in the sleeve notes, "I don't get it, but if you both say it's good I believe you."

Back in the mists of time — well, 1981 was quite misty — I borrowed a copy of the album, possibly from Woking Record Library. There were bits I liked, but overall the effect was intimidating, even alienating.

Over the decades, I noticed that people whose views I respected said it was good, and I began to believe them.

Then the 40th Anniversary edition came out. (That's the 40th anniversary of the founding of King Crimson, not the 40th anniversary of Red's release, which is still four years away.) I had the first of the 40th Anniversary reissues, and the combination of great performances with astonishing sound quality just blew my socks off. That sound quality was just the CD version. The two-disc reissues also include DVD-audio versions, but, as with the Neil Young Archives, I don't have the hardware to play them — yet.

Rateyourmusic.com lists no less than 30 issues of Red, including a "Collector's Edition" (1987), a "Definitive Edition" (1989), a 30th Anniversary edition (2000) and this 40th Anniversary one. I'm guessing some fans out there have all of these, plus the original. I figured, well, if they're persistent enough to keep asking the question, one almost feels obliged to say Yes sooner or later. These 40th Anniversary editions seem good enough quality to capitulate (though my wallet is concerned to see that more of them are on the way).

I've quoted before Fripp's maxim that "What we hear is the quality of listening". Maybe it's the expectation of great sound quality that improves my listening, but now I find Red more accessible, and enjoyable, than I did before.

Still not entirely in its thrall, however. I understand the review, mentioned previously, that described Red as "immensely unbeautiful music to have nightmares by," at that same time as recognising the backhanded compliment in that description.

I'll end, as I began, with a Bill Bruford quote about Red, this time from his autobiography, where he once again adopts the role of the nonplussed curmudgeon man,

Robert [Fripp] neglected to tell us that, a few days before the sessions, he had undergone a spiritual awakening… Presumably it was in relation to this that Our Fearless Leader [Fripp] decided to withold his opinion on all proceedings in the studio, so a minor chord was as good, or not, as a major chord, and Take 4 was as good or lousy as Take 5. This was spectacularly unhelpful. All this spiritual awakening certainly wasn't making the music any easier to produce, and what with the input of gurus and seers like Paramhansa Yogananda and J.G. Bennett, it is indeed a miracle that any of the records were made at all. Robert would doubtless argue the opposite.