King Crimson - Red

Yesterday, news broke that legendary prog rock bassist John Wetton passed away. He died in his sleep after losing the battle to cancer. It took me a minute to make the connection that he is the low end AND the voice on my favorite King Crimson album, Red.

I got into King Crimson through Vroom Vroom, a double live album with Adrian Belew fronting the band. When I started digging into their older discography, I didn’t immediately connect to the older material. King Crimson has progressed so much over the years, with each era having a distinct sound to it. The revolving door of members (except Robert Fripp) contributed to the changes in sound over the years. That being said, the early era of King Crimson didn’t really appeal to me right away.

With time, and perhaps getting into other old face prog, I finally grew to LOVE early King Crimson, especially Red. The album is a lean five tracks clocking in at 40 minutes.  The title track and album opener is an instrumental, and Wetton’s bass fills are a signature to the song. The album closer, Starless, is a 12 minute slow burning epic that builds to a bone chilling climax. The entire mid-section of the song has such a fantastic bass line that lays the foundation under Fripp’s droning guitar. I’ve heard Starless performed live with King Crimson’s most recent incarnation (three drummers!) and it just gave me the chills and littered my arm with goosebumps.

I can’t really speak for Wetton’s other work (Asia), but for me he was integral to one of my favorite albums of all time. RIP John Wetton, I’m hoping you’re having a gnarly jam session with Prince, David Bowie, Emerson, Lake, and the countless others we lost in 2016.