Gold through my eyes
But my eyes turned within
Only see
Starless and
Bible Black"
Red is the seventh album by English Progressive Rock band King Crimson, released on 6 October 1974 through Island Records in the United Kingdom and Atlantic Records in North America and Japan. After the departure of violinist David Cross in the aftermath of King Crimson's 1974 tour in support of Starless and Bible Blacknote , the band continued the sound that they've established from Larks' Tongues in Aspic onwards but went with a layered production that led to the album being the band's heaviest in spite of now being a three-piece band. The density of the album was attributed to the rhythm contributions of John Wetton and Bill Bruford, and there were even guest contributions from past incarnations of the band.
Red was to be the final album for the band, who broke up shortly before release, and sales were among their weakest at the time, only peaking at 45 in the UK album chart before vanishing from the chart altogether a week later. In the aftermath of the album, Bill Bruford and John Wetton formed the supergroup U.K. while Robert Fripp quietly retired out of Artist Disillusionment, believing that prog as a whole had become too conventional for his liking. He would reemerge three years later as a producer and session musician. Bruford and Fripp would eventually reform the band in 1981 with a new lineup.
Tracklist
Side one- "Red" (6:20)
- "Fallen Angel" (6:00)
- "One More Red Nightmare" (7:07)
Side two
- "Providence" (8:08)
- "Starless" (12:18)
Principal members
- Bill Bruford - drums, percussion
- Robert Fripp - guitars, Mellotron, Hohner pianet
- John Wetton - bass, vocals
Lifetimes spent on the tropes of a city:
- Boléro Effect: "Starless" applies the gradual layering that it was regarded as an Ur-Example of Post-Rock.
- Drone of Dread: A large part of "Providence" was an unnerving drone from an improvisation during a concert in Providence, Rhode Island.
- Epic Rocking: All of the tracks are at least six minutes, with "Starless" going for twelve minutes in three distinct parts.
- Face on the Cover: The only album in King Crimson's discography to feature this, portraying Wetton, Bruford and Fripp from left to right.
- Grand Finale: "Starless" was initially designed to be this, since King Crimson was in the verge of breaking up while recording the album, and in fact broke up just before release. Years later, the band reformed with a new lineup and their new sound album Discipline.
- Grief Song: "Fallen Angel", which is sung from the point of view of a guy whose brother joins a biker gang and ends up getting killed on the streets of Los Angeles.
- Instrumental: "Red" and "Providence". Two of the three parts of "Starless" are also instrumentals, with the first part being a vocal track.
- Location Song: The instrumental track "Providence" is so named because it was an improvisation recorded at a concert in Providence, Rhode Island.
- Longest Song Goes Last: Standing at just over twelve minutes, "Starless" closes out the album already filled with long tracks.
- Special Guest:
- David Cross's final contribution to King Crimson was taken from an improvisational number during the band's concert in Providence, Rhode Island, in the resulting track "Providence".
- Ian McDonald, the original member and alto saxophonist dating from In the Court of the Crimson King, contributed to "One More Red Nightmare" and "Starless".
- Jazz trumpeter Mark Charig, who did make contributions to King Crimson in the past, played the cornet for "Starless".
- Title-Only Chorus: "Fallen Angel", "One More Red Nightmare" and to a lesser extent "Starless", where the chorus for the vocal part is "Starless and Bible Black", the name of the prior album.
