In the Court of King Crimson

In the Court of King Crimson
Author: Sid Smith
Publisher: Helter Skelter Publishing
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2001
Genre: Rock musicians
ISBN: 9781900924269

The rapturous highs and acrimonious lows of life in the Court of King Crimson.

In the Courts of the Crimson Kings

In the Courts of the Crimson Kings
Author: S.M. Stirling
Publisher: Tor Books
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2008-03-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429944463

In the parallel world first introduced in S. M. Stirling's The Sky People, aliens terraformed Mars (and Venus) two hundred million years ago, seeding them with life-forms from Earth. In the Courts of the Crimson Kings is set in that same astonishing world. Humans didn't suspect this until the twentieth century, but when the first probes landed on our sister worlds, and found life—intelligent life, at that—things changed with a vengeance. By the year 2000, America, Russia, and the other great powers of Earth are all contending for influence and power amid the newly-discovered inhabitants of our sister planets. Venus is a primitive world. But on Mars, early hominids evolved civilization earlier than their earthly cousins, driven by the needs of a harsh world growing still harsher as the initial terraforming runs down. Without coal, oil, or uranium, their technology was forced into different paths, and the genetic wizardry of the Crimson Dynasty united a world for more than twenty thousand years. Now, in a new stand-alone adventure set in this world's 2000 AD, Jeremy Wainman is an archaeologist who has achieved a lifelong dream; to travel to Mars and explore the dead cities of the Deep Beyond, searching for the secrets of the Kings Beneath the Mountain and the fallen empire they ruled. Teyud Zha-Zhalt is the Martian mercenary the Terrans hire as guide and captain of the landship Intrepid Traveller. A secret links her to the deadly intrigues of Dvor il-Adazar, the City That Is A Mountain, where the last aging descendant of the Tollamune Emperors clings to the remnants of his power...and secrets that may trace their origin to the enigmatic Ancients, the Lords of Creation who reshaped the Solar System in the time of the dinosaurs. When these three meet, the foundations of reality will be shaken—from the lost city of Rema-Dza to the courts of the Crimson Kings. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Fifty Shades of Crimson

Fifty Shades of Crimson
Author: Pete Tomsett
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 457
Release: 2021-09-15
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1493051032

Features interviews with Bill Bruford, Peter Giles, Gordon Haskell, Judy Dyble and more . . . In 1969 five young Englishmen calling themselves King Crimson altered the course of rock music, and despite a revolving-door lineup, the band has continued to innovate and inspire for more than fifty years. Fifty Shades of Crimson tells the story of this legendary band and of the unique English guitarist Robert Fripp it revolves around. With a deep passion for the music, author Pete Tomsett celebrates the achievements of Fripp and the array of incredible talent that has passed through Crimson, while not shying away from the many behind-the-scenes difficulties. Getting signed after supporting The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park, Crimson shot to fame with their debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, becoming one of the most influential bands of that era and triggering the rise of prog rock. While going through countless personnel, including Greg Lake, Bill Bruford and John Wetton, rejecting Elton John and Bryan Ferry along the way, they have put out many highly acclaimed albums and to this day maintain a big international following. In their early years Fripp's band reached the same commercial heights as the likes of David Bowie and Pink Floyd. However, as an intellectual who despised the practices of the music business, Fripp preferred innovation over chasing big sales. In 1974 he withdrew from mainstream music, becoming involved with the Fourth Way philosophy, but was eventually tempted back and reformed Crimson to much acclaim in the eighties. As well as also having collaborations with Brian Eno, Andy Summers and others, Fripp has created new forms of instrumental music, run his own idiosyncratic guitar courses and set up an ethical record company. Both genius and 'a special sort of awkward', Fripp has never been afraid to take his music where no one has gone before, and Crimson have been a powerful influence on everyone from Genesis and Yes to Roxy Music and Radiohead, creating a legacy that will live on for decades more!

Failure to Fracture

Failure to Fracture
Author: Anthony Garone
Publisher: Stairway Press
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2021-05-18
Genre:
ISBN: 9781949267457

When progressive rock band King Crimson released Starless and Bible Black in 1974, very few recognized the astonishing virtuosity captured in the album's 11-minute instrumental capstone, "Fracture." Three minutes into the piece, guitarist Robert Fripp begins playing a quiet, non-stop barrage of notes called a "moto perpetuo," an Italian term for "perpetual motion." Fripp's moto perpetuo requires intense right-hand string-skipping, and picking capabilities only a handful of guitarists around the world possess. Musician Anthony Garone was challenged by his father to learn Fracture in 1998. As a 16-year-old who practiced six or more hours every day, he could not understand why he could play other technical pieces of music, but not Fracture. Over the years, he published blog posts and videos about his efforts. Garone kept working in isolated frustration until he enrolled in a week-long guitar instruction course led by Fripp in rural Mexico in 2015. That week was transformative. It was in Mexico that Garone learned the mechanics of Fripp's very unique right-hand technique. To properly play Fracture, Garone had to re-learn how to play guitar, sit, stand, and breathe. It would also require meditation and a new way of using his body. Following many months of remedial guitar practice, Garone re-trained himself to play guitar. In 2016, he was finally able to play small pieces of Fracture without any pain or frustration. He documented his progress, work, and learnings on his Make Weird Music YouTube channel in a series called Failure to Fracture. The videos garnered hundreds of thousands of views and praise from Fripp himself, who wrote "Fracture is impossible to play, cf. Anthony Garone." Failure to Fracture (the book) captures Garone's transformative 22-year journey. The story begins with his time as a teenager developing a friendship with guitar hero Steve Vai in 1996. It ends with video performances of both Fracture and the even more difficult "sequel" composition, FraKctured, written and performed in Fripp's own New Standard Tuning. It is a book about achieving the impossible, overcoming one's limitations, and retraining the mind and body.

Bill Bruford

Bill Bruford
Author: Bill Bruford
Publisher: Jawbone Press
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2009
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1906002231

Bill Bruford - once known as the godfather of progressive-rock drumming - has been at the top of his profession for four decades, playing with Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Earthworks, and many more. This is his autobiography, a memoir of life at the heart of progressive rock and electronic and acoustic jazz. It's an account of Bill's 40 years on the road and in the studio, rubbing shoulders with everyone from Phil Collins to Allan Holdsworth and creating an impressive tally of great music.

The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock

The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock
Author: David Weigel
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2017-06-13
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0393242269

The wildly entertaining story of progressive rock, the music that ruled the 1970s charts—and has divided listeners ever since. The Show That Never Ends is the definitive story of the extraordinary rise and fall of progressive (“prog”) rock. Epitomized by such classic, chart-topping bands as Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and Emerson Lake & Palmer, along with such successors as Rush, Marillion, Asia, Styx, and Porcupine Tree, prog sold hundreds of millions of records. It brought into the mainstream concept albums, spaced-out cover art, crazy time signatures, multitrack recording, and stagecraft so bombastic it was spoofed in the classic movie This Is Spinal Tap. With a vast knowledge of what Rolling Stone has called “the deliciously decadent genre that the punks failed to kill,” access to key people who made the music, and the passion of a true enthusiast, Washington Post national reporter David Weigel tells the story of prog in all its pomp, creativity, and excess. Weigel explains exactly what was “progressive” about prog rock and how its complexity and experimentalism arose from such precursors as the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper. He traces prog’s popularity from the massive success of Procol Harum’s “Whiter Shade of Pale” and the Moody Blues’ “Nights in White Satin” in 1967. He reveals how prog’s best-selling, epochal albums were made, including The Dark Side of the Moon, Thick as a Brick, and Tubular Bells. And he explores the rise of new instruments into the prog mix, such as the synthesizer, flute, mellotron, and—famously—the double-neck guitar. The Show That Never Ends is filled with the candid reminiscences of prog’s celebrated musicians. It also features memorable portraits of the vital contributions of producers, empresarios, and technicians such as Richard Branson, Brian Eno, Ahmet Ertegun, and Bob Moog. Ultimately, Weigel defends prog from the enormous derision it has received for a generation, and he reveals the new critical respect and popularity it has achieved in its contemporary resurgence.

The Crimson King

The Crimson King
Author: Graham McNeill
Publisher: Games Workshop
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018-12-25
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781784968342

Exiled, hunted and reviled, the Thousand Sons Legion are adrift – as is their primarch, Magnus. But with his power and personality fracturing, drastic action is needed by the Legion if they are to avoid losing their gene-father forever. After the razing of Prospero, Magnus the Red spirited the Thousand Sons away to the aptly un-named Planet of the Sorcerers, deep within the Eye of Terra. Removed from the concerns of the galaxy at large and regarding the Warmaster’s unfolding Heresy with cold detachment, he has dedicated his hollow existence to the preservation of all the knowledge once held in the great libraries of Tizca, should mankind ever seek such enlightenment again. But his sons can see the change in their primarch – he is a broken soul, whose mind and memories are slipping away into the tumult of the warp. Only by returning to the scenes of his greatest triumphs and tragedies can they hope to restore him, and allow the Crimson King to be crowned anew by the Ruinous Powers.

Rocking the Classics

Rocking the Classics
Author: Edward Macan
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 325
Release: 1997
Genre: Progressive rock music
ISBN: 0195098870

This is the first authoritative study of the music, history and culture of progressive rock, a genre remembered for its virtuoso guitar solos and massive stage shows. Among the bands covered are Jethro Tull, Genesis, Yes, and Pink Floyd.

Dust & Grooves

Dust & Grooves
Author: Eilon Paz
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Total Pages: 577
Release: 2015-09-15
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1607748703

A photographic look into the world of vinyl record collectors—including Questlove—in the most intimate of environments—their record rooms. Compelling photographic essays from photographer Eilon Paz are paired with in-depth and insightful interviews to illustrate what motivates these collectors to keep digging for more records. The reader gets an up close and personal look at a variety of well-known vinyl champions, including Gilles Peterson and King Britt, as well as a glimpse into the collections of known and unknown DJs, producers, record dealers, and everyday enthusiasts. Driven by his love for vinyl records, Paz takes us on a five-year journey unearthing the very soul of the vinyl community.

Lucky Man

Lucky Man
Author: Greg Lake
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2017-06-29
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1472126475

Greg Lake first won acclaim as lead vocalist, bass guitarist and producer when, together with Robert Fripp, he formed King Crimson. Their first album, the landmark In the Court of the Crimson King, co-produced by Greg, featured the iconic song '21st Century Schizoid Man'. King Crimson pioneered progressive rock and paved the way for many famous bands that followed, from Yes and Genesis to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. In 1970 Greg met fellow legend Keith Emerson during a North American tour; the two shared common bonds: European musical influences and a desire to reinterpret classical works while creating a new musical genre. After being introduced to drummer Carl Palmer, they formed the first progressive rock supergroup Emerson, Lake and Palmer. To date ELP has sold over 50 million records. Lake produced Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Tarkus, Pictures at an Exhibition, Trilogy, Brain Salad Surgery, Works Vol. 1 and 2, and two different live albums. All went platinum and featured a series of hit singles, most written and all sung by Lake. The three created a unique live theatrical performance which featured Emerson attacking his keyboards with knives, Palmer playing a 2.5 ton stainless steel kit and Lake performing on a £6,000 Persian rug which had its own roadie. One of their very first performances was at the historic Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 and they went on to headline California Jam, one of the biggest concerts of the 1970s, attended by 350,000 people. Probably the voice of his generation, Greg fronted the greatest rock supergroup of the 1970s but never held with the 'progressive' tag that attached itself to both the music and the excess. Lucky Man not only charts the highs and lows of a career in rock music but also reflects on the death of Keith Emerson last year, living with terminal cancer and the end of life. Greg can best be summed up by his now-famous line: 'Material wealth is a very fleeting pleasure ... when you can buy anything you want and do anything you want, you soon discover that you actually don't want any of it.'