King Crimson - In The Court of The Crimson King (1969)

King Crimson - In The Court of The Crimson King (1969)

Rating: 13

"For I Fear Tomorrow, I'll Be Crying,"

Best Song: 21st Century Schizoid Man

Worst Song: Moonchild

     I shall be reviewing King Crimson's albums, all 13 of them. For the sake of saving money, I won't be reviewing any of the live albums yet. I own Absent Lovers, Live in Toronto 2015, The Great Deceiver, and Radical Action to Unseat The Hold of Monkey Mind, but I won't be reviewing them until at least all of the studio albums have been finished. King Crimson is my favorite band technically, but I will try not to endlessly gush over all of their albums, because frankly, some of them don't deserve praise. However, some bias may be present, so if you'd like, lower all of these scores by 1-2 if you're not a fanatic unless I state otherwise. Unless you're not a fanatic and consider my score the correct one, in which cool. But this is just a fanatic warning right at the very beginning.

     Anyway, what can be said about this album that hasn't been said? This is the root of the tree that is progressive rock. From this album, emerged progressive rock, fully formed and ready to grace the world with its complicated song form and odd instrumental choices. The background of this album has been stated by hundreds of articles, so I won't spend a long time talking about it here. After their previous band, Giles Giles and Fripp, drummer Michael Giles and guitar player Robert Fripp recruited singer Greg Lake, lyricist Peter Sinfield, and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald to perform a form of music that had been toyed with, but never fully fleshed out: Classical-Jazz-Rock. After playing a few successful concerts, this album was released at just the right time in 1969, and it exploded. Despite only having 5 tracks in just over 40 minutes, it was embraced by the overall public and met with rave reviews (other than Robert Christgau, but whatever).

     Does it deserve this praise however? As you can see by my rating, I certainly think so. This album encompasses everything that prog should aspire to be. By that, I don't mean that every prog album should sound like this, I mean that they should try to live up to their name and be progressive. This album came out of seemingly nowhere, fully formed and out of this world. Many bands continued this formula, and while some just repeated the tropes found in this album, others saw it as a sign to continue to try and innovate, no matter how strange the territory. Sometimes, it would fail miserably, but the influence this album had on good music as well is undeniable.

     But enough about the influence, what about the music?? Well to sum it up in one word: amazing. This is a varied album for the genre, starting off with the progressive thunder of the opener, "21st Century Schizoid Man," one of the all time great tracks from the band. The amount of power, but control over the power shown in this song is mind-blowingly amazing, and the way that the end of the song freaks out, then cuts out right into the flutes of the next song, "I Talk to The Wind," is a testament to album flow. The chaos of the first track moving right into the calm and carefree attitude of the second song is simply amazing. The song itself has one of the best melodies you're likely to find around the era period, and the perfect streak that the album started with the first track is completely continued here. The third song on Side one, "Epitaph," bridges from the second track, and continues the flow going. This one is nearly a combo of the first two songs. It is not frantic, but it replaces the carefree attitude of "Wind," with one of anxiety and worriment. The lyrics up to this point are not very good, but they sound amazing in the context of the album, and this song is possibly the greatest example of that. Even though it's 9 minute, it feels half the length, and the lyrics add to that in a way that is astounding.

     At this point, why shouldn't the album get a perfect score?? It was a pretty much perfect side? Side two unfortunately is why this album falls a bit in my eyes. I quite like the first song, "Moonchild," for about 6-7 minutes, but Fripp and the gang fall into their excess just a bit. That just a bit however, is the straw that breaks the camel's back, because after the very pleasant two minute pop song that comprises the beginning of "Moonchild," comes 10 minutes of very quiet improvised, and not very well produced noodling. This takes up nearly a quarter of the record. It is certainly tolerable, but it is nowhere near the greatness of the rest of the record. In fact, it knocks the score down by 2 points. If only the other songs went on a bit longer to compensate for a 6-7 minute Moonchild, then we may have a runner-up for the greatest album of all time. It may still be a runner up, but a shorted "Moonchild" would put this in top 10 territory for me personally. 

     Fortunately, after the slight blemish that is "Moonchild," comes a song that stands toe to toe with every other song on the album: the title track. The drum fill that segues this song from the previous one is legendary, and it features one of the most beautiful choruses of all time, and a wordless one at that. The lyrics are medieval drivel, but they fit the song amazingly, and the fake ending is surprisingly effective. 

     Overall, this is one of the best albums of all time, and if you haven't listened to this album, check it out now. It's fantastic. 

Beach House - Depression Cherry (2015)

*Beach House - Depression Cherry (2015)*

Rating: 14

"Chances are like night disappeared,"

Best Song: 10:37 or Levitation, maybe?

Worst Song: I have no idea again

Song List:

1. Levitation

2. Sparks

3. Space Song

4. Beyond Love

5. 10:37

6. PPP

7. Wildflower

8. Bluebird

9. Days of Candy

Continuing on with the reviewing of Beach House's Discography, we retreat back just a couple of months ago, to when this album released was near the end of August. I was walking around my local record store, browsing the vinyls of bands like  Rush and Brian Eno, when a song came on the overly loud speakers of the store. A soft chord began on a keyboard, and as it was held, other keyboards began to layer it in beautiful and melodic ways. Then the drum machine began playing softly and a gorgeously ethereal voice began singing "You, and me, with our long hair on the gold wall," I just stopped what I was doing and listened in shock as this amazing song played on and on until it prettily faded out. After it was finished and the next song began, I walked up to the cashier and asked him "What band was that?!" He just looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "It's Beach House, man. Their new album just came out."

About an hour later, I held the beautifully clear "Loser Edition Vinyl" of Beach House's newest album, Depression Cherry. I listened to the album from start to finish a couple times that day alone, and my god, was I in love. This was a band at its peak playing to its strengths and making some gloriously music. Other reviews pinned it as lazy, and it seemed quite divisive overall, but I knew where I stood. I couldn't get enough of this album, and even as I bought Bloom, Teen Dream, and recently Thank Your Lucky Stars, I kept flocking back to this album. It captured some kind of feeling that the others just can't. To be honest, that's what makes Beach House so great. One major complaint that they always get is that every album sounds the same, but after a couple listens, that obviously isn't true. Beach House has this power to tap into emotions that may sound similar at first, but reveal their depth and differences with time. Depression Cherry does this impeccably, by making the jumpy feeling of Bloom toned down and more relaxed.

Listening to this album in order of songs as an album is a must. There is no way to more fully enjoy the songs than to just experience the songs in the order intended by the band itself. This may seem like an obvious fact restated, but in a world where many people have an ipod with 3000 songs, and 2500 albums on their ipod, the flow of albums are being more forgotten about than ever. This album blossoms when listen to in its entirety, and the way that the album calms down through its modest running time almost makes it feel like the day ending and the night beginning. If Bloom is a hazy summer day, then Depression  Cherry is a cool autumn evening. Thank Your Lucky Stars is the middle of the night, if we were to continue on with that comparison, but it's so different from the other two that such a comparison is almost meaningless.

I don't really enjoy track by track reviews, but the flow of this album must be mentioned. The album starts out with the amazing "Levitation," A dreamy reminiscing of days gone by and wishes not fulfilled, before crashing into the noisy, yet chilled out "Sparks,". Sparks almost fades into "Space Song," A song as floaty and beautiful as it sounds. By the time "Beyond Love" comes on, you're overtaken in this world of pretty sounds, and as side one ends, you are given a breather, almost to signify time passing. By the time you flip your vinyl record (or just wait a few seconds),  the night begins to fade in with the fantastic "10:37" which is my possibly favorite Beach House song, and it is followed up by the magnificent "PPP," Which floats like a cloud. Then, the lo-fi "Wildflower" sends you off to another world, as "Bluebird" and "Days of Candy" return you to your world, and after the otherworldly choruses of "Days" ends, you're left in a calm world of beautiful silence. It's a truly remarkable experience...

Overall, I would say get this album right now. Beach House doesn't have a bad song on here, and the whole album is a beautiful listening experience and one that has to be heard to be believed. It's my personal favorite album by them, and a must-buy for anyone who even has a passing interest in dreamy or alternative music.

You can listen to a Youtube stream of the album for free by clicking on this link!