King Crimson’s Red

Their swan song for the seventies

Red was released in October 1974 as King Crimson’s seventh studio album. Yet two weeks prior to the album hitting the high streets, it was all over for the band. Having been reduced to a trio of Robert Fripp, John Wetton and Bill Bruford, Fripp, as bandleader, called time on one of the most accomplished bands in rock history. He declared Crimson

Over for ever and ever

Fripp disappeared from the music scene to pursue a spiritual journey, returning as a jobbing musician (e.g. lead guitar on Bowie’s Heroes) before finally reforming King Crimson in 1981. It seems that even ‘over for ever and ever’ turned out to be finite after all. Yet a very different beast it was.

In the succeeding years, John Wetton became vocalist and bass player for pop/progressive band, Asia, as well as stints in Roxy Music and Uriah Heep. He also worked with Bruford again in the excellent, prog/jazz-rock supergroup, U.K. Bruford was a hired gun for many years with bands such as Gong, National Health, Genesis (briefly as touring drummer) and Pavlov’s Dog, before rejoining Fripp for the ‘80s Crim. But these are tales for other times.

Back in 1974, Fripp was about to withdraw from the music scene to enrol in the residential spiritual school titled the International Academy of…