His album is often rated one of the greatest of all time. Here's a link to Metacritic which aggregates all the reviews for a final score - it has a 94 which is almost unheard of (15th all time) www.metacritic.com/music/my-beautiful-dark-twisted-fantasy/kanye-west www.metacritic.com/browse/albums/score/metascore/all/filtered
@@SyedRewinds everyone is entitled to their own opinion obviously but I think it’s absolutely laughable that MBDTF is the 15th best reviewed album of all time according to MC. Like get the fuck outta here 🤣. Critics are also notoriously terrible at reviewing records when they release - for example rolling stone magazine trashing all of Led Zeppelin’s albums when they came out. But even though I’m not the biggest Kanye fan I still really enjoyed your video and your channel rocks so sorry if my initial comment came off as overly negative.
@@SyedRewinds Albums that the critics hated. Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin The Beatles: Abbey Road Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath The Rolling Stones: Exile On Main Street Neil Young: Harvest Bob Dylan: Blood On The Tracks Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here AC/DC: High Voltage
Not to hate on King Crimson or anything, it's one of my favorite band of all time, but Jimi Hendrix made a lot of statements like this. Often saying that this or that person was the best guitarist in the world for example. I don't think he meant it in a literal sense. ITCOTCK is one of the most groundbreaking album of all time, because of its creativness, profond lyrics (after all, a lot of songs of that era were about love, or topics anyone could relate) and basically the fact it was so "out of the way" and unique compared to anything that came prior. Jimi probably said that because he had never heard a band like them before, and was very impressed.
_In The Court Of The Crimson King_ is generally regarded as the greatest Prog album ever made (among the Top 2 or 3). Don't stop at the opener, go all in. Beauty awaits. The fast phrasing is inspired by the lightning improvisation of Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. Rock + Jazz + Classical theory x Acid = Classic Prog
About the guitar work here... Robert Fripp is one of the most innovative and accomplished guitarists of the last 50 years. Nothing he plays is by chance. This doesn't mean that anyone has to like it, but this guitar solo was rated number 82 in Guitar World's list of the Top 100 Greatest Guitar Solos in 2008, exactly because of it's ground breaking dissonance and atonal quality. It was not meant to be exactly pleasing on the ears -not in a traditional way. This song is considered proto-metal, prog rock, and a mixture of rock and free jazz.
Yes Robert Fripp continued on of course and work with Brian ENo Eno of course with his landmark album ambient music started that genre which everybody jumped on in the mid to late 70s And Robert Fripp worked with Eno on a single album of ambient music where Fripp plays the guitar through his special device for electronics I think no pussyfooting was the name of the album
@@zorbeclegras5708 Yes yes yes and that was kind of the start of FripperTronics also all those albums I listen to thousands of times Eno/cluster was a great influence on me when I took moog synthesizer it orange coast college in 1974 and 1976
The rest of the album is completely different. "I Talk to the Wind"--a kind of pastoral ballad with a beautiful flute solo, "Epitaph"-funereal and epic sung by Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, "Moonchild" ethereal and abstract improv "In the Court of the Crimson King"- is very melodic and majestic. At the time of it's release it was revolutionary and somewhat controversial.
The rest is more similar to each other if the 1st track is taken out of the equation, but each song strikes for something unique and they all share a certain epicness.
Yes, that free form jazz section is not for everyone - esp at first listen. That start and stop section just shows how incredibly tight the band was. King Crimson gave their final performance some time last year. What an amazing career they had!
I'm gonna be honest, the first time I listened to it, I genuinely hated that whole part because it was so confusing and hard for me to follow, it wasn't what I was expecting or used to, and I just didn't like it. Now, roughly a billion listens later, I absolutely love it, I cannot get enough of it, and it's one of my all time favourite songs, I adore this track and wish more people could hear it!
A story that I read once said that the members of Yes were at a London club listening to (that version of) King Crimson play a pre-recording version of this. They decided right then that they needed to step up their game. That is, this song was an inspiration for Yes to become Yes.
And thank God for that cause it helped shape one of the best bands of all time. They even pay a bit of an homage to this in the intro to Heart of the Sunrise. Two awesome bands.
This had Greg Lake on Bass and vocals, it was from the mind of the incomparable Robert Fripp, I have seen them live a couple of times and they had 3 (yes you read correctly 3) drummers all placed at the front of the stage, it creates quite an atmosphere.
Coming from a person who has never listened to hip hop, this was very interesting. I like the idea of what you've done here. I'm down for more for sure. My absolute favorite song by King Crimson is "Epitaph." I think you would really enjoy it. IMO it is a lyrical masterpiece. Peace!
From the first prog rock album - astonishing concept and tone from - 1969 - the same year as Led Zeppelin's first album. Both revolutionary in their own ways.
That whole Court of the Crimson King album is brilliant and a landmark at the beginning of Prog. More from this album is a must, try Epitaph next, a haunting cut and utter Masterpiece. Amazing band with many eras and lineups, all worth exploring. Enjoy! 🎵🎸🎤🎹🎶
King Crimson was an astonishing band in all its iteration - one of the all-time best prog rock bands: a little more 'difficult' than Yes, but definitely worth a deep dive. This was their first big single. Live, they were an amazing beast keeping time on their complex rhythms seemingly through telepathy - songs like "Elephant Talk" in particular are remarkable to watch live. Can I suggest you try David Bowie's "Let's Dance", heavily sampled by Puff Daddy and The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Been Around the World".
Kanye West would not even have got a job as a roadie for King Crimson. They were, quite simply, the most most powerful band ever to grace a stage. I saw them live at least three times and this track was usually their encore. The original track was recorded in one take in the studio, almost no overdubs or edits. As a so called boomer I can't pretend to understand rap but it just seems to be recycling stuff form other artists who are a thousand times more talented. No one will be listening to West in 50 years from now.
Love the concept of these. As an annoying dad, I really enjoy hearing what my sons are listening to, recognising the sample, pulling out the original (normally on vinyl) and playing it, waiting for one of them to poke their head in the door and ask "what's this?" I suspect in this series you'll find yourself listening to Steely Dan sooner rather than later.
I can't imagine what it must've been like to hear this track/album in 1969 - a year before Black Sabbath debuted and it makes them look like The Beatles.
The playing, the arrangement, the musicianship, the melodies, drums, etc etc King Crimson' song is a masterpiece. The Kanye one has good ideas, good hooks, very good production but it will always be just a well crafted hip-pop song.
Kanye's a king of great sample use. "Champion" takes a really tight sample from "Kid Charlemagne" and "Higher" samples Jon Anderson singing the hook on a Mike Oldfield tune. I'd love to have seen Kanye's process of digging through all that old vinyl to find that stuff. I'm mostly a prog fan, and I see some of that challenging, self-indulgent creativity in Kanye's best stuff.
I'm sorry, comparing Kanye to King Crimson is an absurdity. Kanye is a sub part pop artist. I think its obvious on the king crimson song it is speaking about the gluttony, power mongering that is our current system that leads to the schizoid behavior in individuals. Plus, the middle of the song is brilliant conceptually and musically.
@@memesarehere-zg9wb i think if you look at the history of pop music it isn't absurd to say. Compared to popular artists like Steely Dan, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, and a host of others who were great musicians and songwriters, he certainly is sub par.
Couple of thoughts for you: 1) Another great concept for a video. I'm so glad you're doing things like this, rather that just the usual reaction videos; those are great, too, but these sorts of episodes really set your channel apart from similar channels. 2) Welcome to Prog Rock.
Sorry but there is no comparison, Kanye is no genius as he likes to claim, he doesn't even come remotely close to Crimson, the difference lies in the distinction between mere propaganda/advertisement (commodity music like Kanye's and so-called pop music in general) and art and it's ability to deal with complexity.
Great idea to do this. Like it! You gotta listen to Labbi Siffre I got the blues and then the sample for Eminem my name is. The siffre tune is amazing, gangster Funk in 1975. The half way change is brilliant when the dr dre/Eminem sample kicks in. Blew my mind when first heard it and love to trick all my mates with it.
The difference between Kanye and King Crimson is the latter plays their own instruments that took years to learn and doesn't rely on samples of other peoples work. Also the band is level headed and not a whacked out narcissist like West.
Now I hear what you meant by sampling! I can hear it with both these tracks. You're broadening my musical education. I never got too much into King Crimson because I was deep in studies at university. And my hip hop knowledge is pretty much confined to Beastie Boys, Eminem, Tupac and N.W.A. Of course I'm a huge Bob Marley fan (although not hip hop)l.. So I needed to branch out some.
To give you some credit, the beastie boys are just some of the best hip hop artists ever, even after delving deep into hip hop, the b boys still just rest insanely high, Paul's boutique is still one of the most fresh and intricate hip hop albums I've ever heard
This first line up of King Crimson features the young Greg Lake who left and joined forces with Keith Emerson to form the super group ELP. And also the "Prince of the Polyrhythms" Mr Bill Bruford who help complete the Prog-Rock group "YES". And went on to become one of the elite Drummers of all time. Next Crimson you need to check out would be "Catfood" featuring its either Keith Tippett or David Cross on piano. But then progress further through the Crimson Catalog with Starless, and Red, and indiscipline . They are like a great craft beer, an acquired taste But once you develop that taste nothing else will compare to them
Real musicians, playing complex music, with creative solos, and playing off each other, VS a guy who puts sounds together and wouldn't know which end of an instrument to even hold.
I want to say, from what ive googled, Schizoid and Schizophrenia or not the same thing, Schizophrenia is the well known condition of being disconnected from reality, seeing and hearing hallucinations, and overall being disorganized mentally Schizoid, from what I understand, is a personality disorder which makes someone exhibit little emotion and greatly avoid any interaction with other people in any way, shutting themselves away from others, and dont enjoy many activities.
I got the king crimson album for Xmas Along with my new stereo When my father heard the song He thought something was wrong with the new stereo he didn’t realize it was intentional fuzztone distortion on The Voice
I don't know whether or not you check these comments still, But King Crimson outright innovated an entirely new sound and genre; prog rock. In a time where the world was searching for peace and love, King Crimson was able to explain the world through the lens of greed, corruption, and imbalanced power, through a path which no one prior has taken. Without King Crimson, the list of classic prog rock bands would cease to be. There would be no Rush, no Tool, no Yes, no Pink Floyd, and the list goes on and on and on. King Crimson was even recognized by some of the greats; notably Jimi Hendrix has once claimed King Crimson to be his favorite band EVER. Even today, the ripple effects are still felt. Kanye is taking inspiration directly from them even today, and even modern psych/prog bands like "King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard", "The Murlocs", and "Frankie and The Witch Fingers" would cease to exist without the torch of progressive rock passed down by King Crimson. I huge respect for this band even 50+ years after their initial album "In The Court of The Crimson King", and it's amazing to see people today discovering their art and being floored by their musical motifs and outlandish takes on what music is.
Hi. Note the line “Innocents raped by napalm fire”. There is a famous picture from the Vietnam War, perhaps you’ve seen it, of children running from a village that was hit by napalm. One child has had her clothes burned off and is badly burned. I believe this is what the writer of the song was referring to. If you’ve never seen the picture just google something like Vietnam napalm burned girl and it will come up along with the full story behind the picture.
I can see by your facial expressions that you're not used to tempo changes and instrumental breaks. Which isn't that surprising, because modern day pop music and Hip Hop do away with all of that since, a rapper must have a steady beat to flow on. A good example is Chris Cab's cover version of "Englishman in New York" where he does away with the second and third verses and the tempo change and the instrumental break of Sting's original song. It makes it easier for everybody to sing along to and dance away. But it also takes out what the original song was talking about and what made it musically interesting.
Wow, Kanye West's music is just as bad as I imagined it would be... Glad you made it to King Crimson, the pioneers of progressive rock from their 1969 debut.
@@steveowens2505 I'm a huge king crimson fan, heard schizoid man countless times. I just mean to say that there were many albums at the time that were comparable, such as the beatles, or bob dylan.
I stopped listening to your commentary as soon as you described Robert Fripp's guitar solo as 'weak'. Maybe it's the result of you stopping the music continually, but the way the solo soars out of the extraordinary instrumental riffing that precedes it makes the music take flight at that point, the long sustained tones providing a contrast with the frantic playing just before and sounding like nothing else played on the guitar in 1969. It immediately establishes Fripp as a master.
Giving Credit to Kanye for good choice sampling and not the original artist?. Wrap your head around some more Crimson. By the way early Crimson lyricist was Peter Sinfield.
Schizoids and schizophrenic people are two different things. I encourage you to do your own research but basically schizoids: ALONE and schizophrenics: delusional
Check out Starless live from Tokyo, you get to see them all on stage, you really get to appreciate what's going on, I don't think I've ever seen a rock band before with three drum kits on stage
I think Robert Fripp will be pleased to know Kanye sampled KC without his consent. Fripp is a little picky when it comes to intellectual property... We can expect some court fun... Oh, BTW, the drums are not "delayed", this is fully played. No way dudes on acid can play anything like this. BTW: Greg Lake (bass+vocals) : Emerson Lake & Palmer Ian McDonald ( saxophone, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, Mellotron, harpsichord, piano, organ, vibraphone, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "I Talk to the Wind", production) : founding member of the band Foreigner. Band leader and guitarist Robert Fripp is well known for his collaborations with David Bowie, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, David Sylvian (Japan), Blondie, Andy Summers (The Police), Van der Graaf Generator, Talking Heads, Daryl Hall, Cheikha Rimitti (the grandmother of Raï)... Actually, his career encompasses over 1100 official and unofficial releases
It's fine to desample a song--it might even be instructive. However, music is not a contest so the whole "versus" label is not productive and is, in fact, misleading.
Yeah I bought this album and the people that were all about 7 to 10 years older than me loved it to death. And surprisingly I was just like you pretty much, I liked the more organized Parts about it but not the fusion Jazz stuff because I was just so used to organized stuff. The most hilarious thing is that the way I actually became a fan of King Crimson was years later on there red album which came out around 1980 or so. And even though it sounded much more modern than this, it still had stuff like those abstract guitar solos that are so angular, which in a way you can draw a direct line from that to Kurt Cobain and his guitar solos. They aren't what you're wanting from a rock song but they are often really abstract in angular and dissonant and Powerful and strident and just fit perfectly. And they were already showing this here back then, that guitar wasn't weak, it was intentionally a bit abstract because really it was that bass along with the drums that were carrying and driving this whole thing. That bass playing on this is insane. I mean totally insane. But it was around 1982 or so and I was riding around with my roommate and bandmate in his car and he put in a cassette and said you got to check this out it really rocks. And so I was expecting something that I knew we were both already really into, like AC/DC or Nazareth or Deep Purple or Ted Nugent or Iron Maiden or Pantera or whatever, stuff that you thought of as just really rocking hard. And when the King Crimson song came on, I was immediately captive by the amazing cool arrangement and execution and the drumming and just the strangeness of it but I remember clearly saying to him, I don't know man, that guitar just doesn't really rock, laugh. Again I was thinking of Angus Young and so forth. But then since he was my roommate I started to hear him play it a lot and in the end I fell head over heels and bought that CD and then I started working my way backwards towards this earlier stuff buying the vinyl. It just takes a while for your brain to accept something that's outside of the more normal stuff but this band was just so good that there is a lot of wonderful stuff waiting there for people to understand and discover. But I will say my favorite stuff is off the red album and then kind of their intermediate albums like Lark's tongues in aspic, and there's another one called starless in Bible black from that. That were great and even then I just typically will play certain selections from them. But I do like them better than this first album. I guess I was just younger than the older crowd that had their minds blown when Court Of The Crimson King came out and it was so different but for me that was 10 years before and here I am like 18 or 20 years old.
I'm afraid this is going to get blocked (King Crimson is notorious for that) but while it's up - great concept for a reaction! I'd love to see more of these.
Yeah….King Crimson has never been accessible to me. I know many put them together with Yes, ELP, Genesis, Rush, Gentle Giant as a major player in the Prog rock genre. But even though Prog has never been my favorite genre, I can respect and even love songs from the other bands. King Crimson, although I can spot the talent here, leaves me cold. The description of jazz on acid is apt…….but is that a good thing? As you said..it’s bonkers. It’s noise. The ,lyrics are powerful, the primary riff is powerful, but that middle off-the-chain part………what was the point? What did it add? Is it a song you’d want to hear more than once? Would you buy an album of this style? I guess I have to admit I just do t get the appeal.
I find Yes to be a more enjoyable band overall but I can listen to this album and Red repeatedly, it’s a great mix of having melody, improvisation and storytelling via instrumentation. There are some crimson albums that I find a little boring though. The middle off the chain part conveyed the schizophrenic mindset.
1. you can listen to kanye and enjoy king crimson. stop tryin to gatekeep an artist when you know they wouldn't want you to. 2. is playing videogames a bad thing? can't that just be spun back onto you? "shame on you, oldhead, go yell at clouds and be racist!"
I don't feel this song is truly about a schizoid mind, my reading is it is a dystopian view of a world being led down a path of war to ultimate destruction. The context is the song was written at the height of the Vietnam War in 1969.
This song is actually about the horrors that occurred during Vietnam, its more a protest song than anything, raped with napalm fire is a literal lyric not metaphoric by any means
This song is timeless, though it reflects directly the sociopolitical vibe of 1968-69, it speaks for all world-time. That said, even today, when I hear this song and Greg Lake sings rock and roll's first ever distorted-on-purpose vocals, it sounds like the unrest of 1968-69 are throwing up all the social toxicity. Just picture Nixon's face, because that's the 21st Century Schizoid Man if there ever was one.
I love the commentor's story about the schzoid co-worker, and addressed the person as "they". Btw, you'd better hope Robert Fripp, doesn't come across this video, because he was pretty pissed off at Kanye. Kanye, with Mos Def, also sampled the german band Can's "Sing Swan Song" for the track "Drunk & Hot Girls"
You have to study groups like King Crimson to understand how you got bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, KORN, etc. There's this erratic rhythm. Punk was never commercially popular but new wave, the 80s and 90s music wouldn't exist without it. Blues was never popular but you wouldn't have Rock without it. You're looking at Kanye is interesting because when I hear RHCP .. I hear bands like King Crimson and musicians like George Clinton who were never really that popular.
It doesn't measure up to the source but I think Radar Love by Golden Earing does a better job when borrowing from 21st Century Schizoid Man. Ye is a sad fellow. Try to imagine him trying to create something this magnificent on his own. Not a chance.
Also, I'm not that familiar with Kanye even though I should be, because I like a lot of hip hop and I used to listen to rap and hip hop a whole lot but kind of got away from it right before the Kanye era because I was playing in bands that were off into older music and rockabilly stuff like that. Really old stuff. But I know that he has influenced so many people and I really enjoyed what you played by him. Yeah it's a great use of a sample but I would also say I really like the Timbre of his voice, I like that slower kind of drawn out flow, I like the production values and so forth. The first rap song I ever heard was when I was in high school and it was when Sugarhill Gang did that iconic Rappers Delight and somehow it broke through to White audiences. I first started hearing it at parties. And then I went out and bought it and of course the vinyl version is much longer with a lot more bars in it then the radio cut. And then all the sudden Grandmaster Flash and the furious five started to have an impact with it's like a jungle sometimes. There just wasn't much of that kind of music available to White audiences at the time and it was in its infancy. I mean it was truly in its infancy. And then Along Comes Run DMC and suddenly rap becomes a thing that everybody knows about and a lot of young people like me decided they really liked. Right along with their rock music and everything else. And then it's like the floodgates opened. Fast forward a handful of years and you've got the explosion of gangsta rap with Ice Cube and Ice-T and that movie boys in the hood became really popular, again even two white audiences and that introduced a whole bunch of new names and sounds. And then it was just off to the races. I tended to gravitate to the so-called intelligent rappers like KRS-One and then later Mos Def and Blackalicious and others. But I really did go for total immersion and was listening to just about everything coming out including the rare female rapper at the time and I always loved their stuff as well. I kind of drifted away from it and then got interested in Nicki Minaj when my Pakistani cab driver in New York City once told me he was from Queens and to check her out and that she had these two mixtapes out. This was before she was super big. I found them on TH-cam after a lot of digging and some of those cuts are still my favorites to this day. But then I kind of drifted away. I went through an intense Eminem phase and more recently Lil Dicky aka David Burd. I live near Kansas City and so I can't tell how many shows I went to in Lawrence and Kansas City to see Tech N9ne and other Regional artists.
It's interesting how some people see this song about the mind of a schizophrenic man whereas I believe it to be representing the world that would drive someone to insanity, since all lyrics are talking about the world, using the term "21st Century Schizoid Man" in a slowly more and more tragic, mourning way
Great kind of reaction ! Your idea is brilliant. Musical advice (sorry) : I think you can have a lot of views with a reaction to "I got the" (Labi Siffre, 1975. A pure jewel), used by Eminem in "My name is". Great job ! Hi from France.
It's quite funny when reactors say that the song they are reacting to reminds them of another artist from much later in time, when it's really the other way around. This was very early prog rock and for that time it was super hard. Does Kanye get extra points for choosing this sample? Maybe if it's homage to King Crimson.
The original track is so much better than Kanye’s corny ass song sorry
Agree 100%. King Crimson's is the best. Even April Wine and Ozzy Osbourne's remakes are are better than "Kanye’s corny ass song".
His album is often rated one of the greatest of all time. Here's a link to Metacritic which aggregates all the reviews for a final score - it has a 94 which is almost unheard of (15th all time)
www.metacritic.com/music/my-beautiful-dark-twisted-fantasy/kanye-west
www.metacritic.com/browse/albums/score/metascore/all/filtered
@@SyedRewinds everyone is entitled to their own opinion obviously but I think it’s absolutely laughable that MBDTF is the 15th best reviewed album of all time according to MC. Like get the fuck outta here 🤣. Critics are also notoriously terrible at reviewing records when they release - for example rolling stone magazine trashing all of Led Zeppelin’s albums when they came out. But even though I’m not the biggest Kanye fan I still really enjoyed your video and your channel rocks so sorry if my initial comment came off as overly negative.
Agree, not to mention the album. This is one of the records that launched all of prog. This is an intelligent reactor so let's see where this goes.
@@SyedRewinds Albums that the critics hated.
Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin
The Beatles: Abbey Road
Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath
The Rolling Stones: Exile On Main Street
Neil Young: Harvest
Bob Dylan: Blood On The Tracks
Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here
AC/DC: High Voltage
After hearing this band in 1969 , Jimi Hendrix said: "this is the best band in the world".
Not to hate on King Crimson or anything, it's one of my favorite band of all time, but Jimi Hendrix made a lot of statements like this. Often saying that this or that person was the best guitarist in the world for example. I don't think he meant it in a literal sense. ITCOTCK is one of the most groundbreaking album of all time, because of its creativness, profond lyrics (after all, a lot of songs of that era were about love, or topics anyone could relate) and basically the fact it was so "out of the way" and unique compared to anything that came prior. Jimi probably said that because he had never heard a band like them before, and was very impressed.
_In The Court Of The Crimson King_ is generally regarded as the greatest Prog album ever made (among the Top 2 or 3). Don't stop at the opener, go all in. Beauty awaits.
The fast phrasing is inspired by the lightning improvisation of Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. Rock + Jazz + Classical theory x Acid = Classic Prog
About the guitar work here... Robert Fripp is one of the most innovative and accomplished guitarists of the last 50 years. Nothing he plays is by chance. This doesn't mean that anyone has to like it, but this guitar solo was rated number 82 in Guitar World's list of the Top 100 Greatest Guitar Solos in 2008, exactly because of it's ground breaking dissonance and atonal quality. It was not meant to be exactly pleasing on the ears -not in a traditional way. This song is considered proto-metal, prog rock, and a mixture of rock and free jazz.
Yes Robert Fripp continued on of course and work with Brian ENo
Eno of course with his landmark album ambient music started that genre which everybody jumped on in the mid to late 70s
And Robert Fripp worked with Eno on a single album of ambient music where Fripp plays the guitar through his special device for electronics I think
no pussyfooting
was the name of the album
@@stevensprunger3422 And Evening Star (1975) and some more albums after 2000
@@zorbeclegras5708
Yes yes yes and that was kind of the start of FripperTronics also
all those albums I listen to thousands of times
Eno/cluster was a great influence on me when I took moog synthesizer it orange coast college in 1974 and 1976
Robert Fripp didn’t write anything on In The Court Of The Crimson King.
@@joshuak4372 Don't be silly.
If you want to explore King Crimson further, their album ‘Red’ is a leftfield progressive masterpiece
Red is an epic album
One of Kurt Cobain's favourite albums.
Red , Starless &
Larks Tongue all good
Their best album after their debut
Discipline 😮
The rest of the album is completely different. "I Talk to the Wind"--a kind of pastoral ballad with a beautiful flute solo, "Epitaph"-funereal and epic sung by Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, "Moonchild" ethereal and abstract improv "In the Court of the Crimson King"- is very melodic and majestic. At the time of it's release it was revolutionary and somewhat controversial.
i absolutely love every song on ITCOTCK
The rest is more similar to each other if the 1st track is taken out of the equation, but each song strikes for something unique and they all share a certain epicness.
"Moonchild" to me is one of the best songs ever. And I mean, both parts, from the beginning to the end.
Did Crimson King skipped your comment?
It’s hard to ever compare Kanye’s Power to the masterpiece that is 21st Century Schizoid man. Love them both but Kanye can’t compare in this case
Yes, that free form jazz section is not for everyone - esp at first listen. That start and stop section just shows how incredibly tight the band was. King Crimson gave their final performance some time last year. What an amazing career they had!
that's not free form jazz at all, that's jazz influenced of ccourse, but certainly has a form, a structure, a harmony
You can’t hear the patterns in the mid section? You might not be used to jazz then.
i went apeshit when i hears that the first time. how often do you get a sick jazz free form in the middle of a studio album
I'm gonna be honest, the first time I listened to it, I genuinely hated that whole part because it was so confusing and hard for me to follow, it wasn't what I was expecting or used to, and I just didn't like it.
Now, roughly a billion listens later, I absolutely love it, I cannot get enough of it, and it's one of my all time favourite songs, I adore this track and wish more people could hear it!
A story that I read once said that the members of Yes were at a London club listening to (that version of) King Crimson play a pre-recording version of this. They decided right then that they needed to step up their game. That is, this song was an inspiration for Yes to become Yes.
And thank God for that cause it helped shape one of the best bands of all time. They even pay a bit of an homage to this in the intro to Heart of the Sunrise. Two awesome bands.
Hendrix told Fripp they were the best band he’d ever heard.
@@billalbritton4972chat is this real???
Yep, they formed in 1969, and still playing, and still playing great! One of my friend saw them live, and said they were amazing.
Guess you didn't get the memo.
they disbanded and reformed like 10 times with new people almost every time
This had Greg Lake on Bass and vocals, it was from the mind of the incomparable Robert Fripp, I have seen them live a couple of times and they had 3 (yes you read correctly 3) drummers all placed at the front of the stage, it creates quite an atmosphere.
Coming from a person who has never listened to hip hop, this was very interesting. I like the idea of what you've done here. I'm down for more for sure. My absolute favorite song by King Crimson is "Epitaph." I think you would really enjoy it. IMO it is a lyrical masterpiece. Peace!
Its been sampled in hip hop as well.... El-P and cage both used it if i remember properly
From the first prog rock album - astonishing concept and tone from - 1969 - the same year as Led Zeppelin's first album. Both revolutionary in their own ways.
That whole Court of the Crimson King album is brilliant and a landmark at the beginning of Prog. More from this album is a must, try Epitaph next, a haunting cut and utter Masterpiece. Amazing band with many eras and lineups, all worth exploring. Enjoy! 🎵🎸🎤🎹🎶
The way this track ends is how I expect the universe will end.
This song (20th Century Schizoid Man) is so amazing. I’m really glad to see anyone reacting to it! King Crimson is my favourite!
if Kanye is a genius then what the f**k does that make Robert Fripp? :)
kanye is nothing compared to King Crimson.
King Crimson was an astonishing band in all its iteration - one of the all-time best prog rock bands: a little more 'difficult' than Yes, but definitely worth a deep dive. This was their first big single. Live, they were an amazing beast keeping time on their complex rhythms seemingly through telepathy - songs like "Elephant Talk" in particular are remarkable to watch live. Can I suggest you try David Bowie's "Let's Dance", heavily sampled by Puff Daddy and The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Been Around the World".
Kanye West would not even have got a job as a roadie for King Crimson. They were, quite simply, the most most powerful band ever to grace a stage. I saw them live at least three times and this track was usually their encore. The original track was recorded in one take in the studio, almost no overdubs or edits. As a so called boomer I can't pretend to understand rap but it just seems to be recycling stuff form other artists who are a thousand times more talented. No one will be listening to West in 50 years from now.
What I love about the song is the mess of noise in some parts almost just makes sense. Like you understand what's going on and it's weird but great.
My father is a die hard king crimson fan I grew up listening crimson constantly and I grew to love them. Elephant talks is great one.
yes
Love the concept of these. As an annoying dad, I really enjoy hearing what my sons are listening to, recognising the sample, pulling out the original (normally on vinyl) and playing it, waiting for one of them to poke their head in the door and ask "what's this?"
I suspect in this series you'll find yourself listening to Steely Dan sooner rather than later.
king crimson is genius,,,,,Kanye well he isn't
I can't imagine what it must've been like to hear this track/album in 1969 - a year before Black Sabbath debuted and it makes them look like The Beatles.
Lead singer and bassist Greg Lake, went on to Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.
It’s laughable you’re trying to call kanye brilliant and then mention King crimson after that sentence.
The playing, the arrangement, the musicianship, the melodies, drums, etc etc King Crimson' song is a masterpiece.
The Kanye one has good ideas, good hooks, very good production but it will always be just a well crafted hip-pop song.
If this is the first of a bunch of videos like this one, count me in. Great job.
Kanye's a king of great sample use.
"Champion" takes a really tight sample from "Kid Charlemagne" and "Higher" samples Jon Anderson singing the hook on a Mike Oldfield tune.
I'd love to have seen Kanye's process of digging through all that old vinyl to find that stuff. I'm mostly a prog fan, and I see some of that challenging, self-indulgent creativity in Kanye's best stuff.
aint no way kianye just dropped it in like that, no fade in, no blending, just mashed in there lol
that's the point? the contrast between the rest of the song and the sample is part of what makes the song so iconic.
I'm sorry, comparing Kanye to King Crimson is an absurdity. Kanye is a sub part pop artist.
I think its obvious on the king crimson song it is speaking about the gluttony, power mongering that is our current system that leads to the schizoid behavior in individuals.
Plus, the middle of the song is brilliant conceptually and musically.
I'm sorry, but calling kanye a "sub par pop artist" is absurd.
@@memesarehere-zg9wb i think if you look at the history of pop music it isn't absurd to say. Compared to popular artists like Steely Dan, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, and a host of others who were great musicians and songwriters, he certainly is sub par.
@@antidote7 he's a rapper. wrong genre.
@@memesarehere-zg9wb Music can still be creative, have interesting, develolped musical content.
This song is not about a schizophrenic man. it is a socal commentary on the politics in 1969.
Couple of thoughts for you:
1) Another great concept for a video. I'm so glad you're doing things like this, rather that just the usual reaction videos; those are great, too, but these sorts of episodes really set your channel apart from similar channels.
2) Welcome to Prog Rock.
The great Greg Lake, later from EL&P, on lead vocals and bass.
Sorry but there is no comparison, Kanye is no genius as he likes to claim, he doesn't even come remotely close to Crimson, the difference lies in the distinction between mere propaganda/advertisement (commodity music like Kanye's and so-called pop music in general) and art and it's ability to deal with complexity.
Try "In the Court of the Crimson King" A masterpiece imo :)
Great idea to do this. Like it! You gotta listen to Labbi Siffre I got the blues and then the sample for Eminem my name is. The siffre tune is amazing, gangster Funk in 1975. The half way change is brilliant when the dr dre/Eminem sample kicks in. Blew my mind when first heard it and love to trick all my mates with it.
The difference between Kanye and King Crimson is the latter plays their own instruments that took years to learn and doesn't rely on samples of other peoples work. Also the band is level headed and not a whacked out narcissist like West.
Now I hear what you meant by sampling! I can hear it with both these tracks. You're broadening my musical education. I never got too much into King Crimson because I was deep in studies at university. And my hip hop knowledge is pretty much confined to Beastie Boys, Eminem, Tupac and N.W.A. Of course I'm a huge Bob Marley fan (although not hip hop)l.. So I needed to branch out some.
To give you some credit, the beastie boys are just some of the best hip hop artists ever, even after delving deep into hip hop, the b boys still just rest insanely high, Paul's boutique is still one of the most fresh and intricate hip hop albums I've ever heard
This first line up of King Crimson features the young Greg Lake who left and joined forces with Keith Emerson to form the super group ELP. And also the "Prince of the Polyrhythms" Mr Bill Bruford who help complete the Prog-Rock group "YES". And went on to become one of the elite Drummers of all time. Next Crimson you need to check out would be "Catfood" featuring its either Keith Tippett or David Cross on piano. But then progress further through the Crimson Catalog with Starless, and Red, and indiscipline . They are like a great craft beer, an acquired taste
But once you develop that taste nothing else will compare to them
Sad news Ian McDonald Died on February 9 2022 in New York. Sure Robert received the news.
Imposible to compate. King Crimson one of best bands ever. What overrated is Kanya West in US audience... never will undestand.
Real musicians, playing complex music, with creative solos, and playing off each other, VS a guy who puts sounds together and wouldn't know which end of an instrument to even hold.
You should check out Flashlight by Parliment. It's basically every Dr. Dre song from the early 90s.
This was the first album I owned - 1968 maybe, still sounds great.
This is a great idea. Prodigy and Fat Boy Slim brought plenty of old tunes back to peoples ears.
King Crimson were and still are fantastic musicians.
I want to say, from what ive googled, Schizoid and Schizophrenia or not the same thing, Schizophrenia is the well known condition of being disconnected from reality, seeing and hearing hallucinations, and overall being disorganized mentally
Schizoid, from what I understand, is a personality disorder which makes someone exhibit little emotion and greatly avoid any interaction with other people in any way, shutting themselves away from others, and dont enjoy many activities.
I got the king crimson album for Xmas
Along with my new stereo
When my father heard the song
He thought something was wrong with the new stereo he didn’t realize it was intentional fuzztone distortion on The Voice
Greg Lake’s bass line is absolutely brilliant!!!
I don't know whether or not you check these comments still, But King Crimson outright innovated an entirely new sound and genre; prog rock. In a time where the world was searching for peace and love, King Crimson was able to explain the world through the lens of greed, corruption, and imbalanced power, through a path which no one prior has taken. Without King Crimson, the list of classic prog rock bands would cease to be. There would be no Rush, no Tool, no Yes, no Pink Floyd, and the list goes on and on and on. King Crimson was even recognized by some of the greats; notably Jimi Hendrix has once claimed King Crimson to be his favorite band EVER. Even today, the ripple effects are still felt. Kanye is taking inspiration directly from them even today, and even modern psych/prog bands like "King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard", "The Murlocs", and "Frankie and The Witch Fingers" would cease to exist without the torch of progressive rock passed down by King Crimson. I huge respect for this band even 50+ years after their initial album "In The Court of The Crimson King", and it's amazing to see people today discovering their art and being floored by their musical motifs and outlandish takes on what music is.
Kanye?..no you bleeding can't
There’s also that “neuro scream neuro scream neurosurgeon neuro scream.
Are you seriously comparing these two tracks?
Please…
Hi. Note the line “Innocents raped by napalm fire”. There is a famous picture from the Vietnam War, perhaps you’ve seen it, of children running from a village that was hit by napalm. One child has had her clothes burned off and is badly burned. I believe this is what the writer of the song was referring to. If you’ve never seen the picture just google something like Vietnam napalm burned girl and it will come up along with the full story behind the picture.
I can see by your facial expressions that you're not used to tempo changes and instrumental breaks. Which isn't that surprising, because modern day pop music and Hip Hop do away with all of that since, a rapper must have a steady beat to flow on.
A good example is Chris Cab's cover version of "Englishman in New York" where he does away with the second and third verses and the tempo change and the instrumental break of Sting's original song. It makes it easier for everybody to sing along to and dance away. But it also takes out what the original song was talking about and what made it musically interesting.
Super review/ of King Crimson's most epic song - first time I've ever heard Kanye's version - very cool. Thanks much
Wow, Kanye West's music is just as bad as I imagined it would be...
Glad you made it to King Crimson, the pioneers of progressive rock from their 1969 debut.
Only music comparable at time was Frank Zappa
I've never met a KC fan that wasn't a Zappa fan, & vice versa.
Abbey road released in the same year, I'd say that album is quite comparable.
@@swaglordthe1th597 Listen to Bebop Tango and Schizoid Man. Especially bass during trombone solo
@@steveowens2505 I'm a huge king crimson fan, heard schizoid man countless times. I just mean to say that there were many albums at the time that were comparable, such as the beatles, or bob dylan.
I stopped listening to your commentary as soon as you described Robert Fripp's guitar solo as 'weak'. Maybe it's the result of you stopping the music continually, but the way the solo soars out of the extraordinary instrumental riffing that precedes it makes the music take flight at that point, the long sustained tones providing a contrast with the frantic playing just before and sounding like nothing else played on the guitar in 1969. It immediately establishes Fripp as a master.
Kanye MELTS compared to KC. No comparison of artistry (Kanye is an artist?!), and Greg Lake's vocals alone just SPANK Kanye's mewling.
Giving Credit to Kanye for good choice sampling and not the original artist?. Wrap your head around some more Crimson. By the way early Crimson lyricist was Peter Sinfield.
Schizoids and schizophrenic people are two different things. I encourage you to do your own research but basically schizoids: ALONE and schizophrenics: delusional
Check out Starless live from Tokyo, you get to see them all on stage, you really get to appreciate what's going on, I don't think I've ever seen a rock band before with three drum kits on stage
I think Robert Fripp will be pleased to know Kanye sampled KC without his consent.
Fripp is a little picky when it comes to intellectual property...
We can expect some court fun...
Oh, BTW, the drums are not "delayed", this is fully played.
No way dudes on acid can play anything like this.
BTW:
Greg Lake (bass+vocals) : Emerson Lake & Palmer
Ian McDonald ( saxophone, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, Mellotron, harpsichord, piano, organ, vibraphone, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "I Talk to the Wind", production) : founding member of the band Foreigner.
Band leader and guitarist Robert Fripp is well known for his collaborations with David Bowie, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, David Sylvian (Japan), Blondie, Andy Summers (The Police), Van der Graaf Generator, Talking Heads, Daryl Hall, Cheikha Rimitti (the grandmother of Raï)... Actually, his career encompasses over 1100 official and unofficial releases
It's fine to desample a song--it might even be instructive. However, music is not a contest so the whole "versus" label is not productive and is, in fact, misleading.
The original was a nightmare set to music. Brilliant stuff, especially for 1969.
You should listen to "The Court of the Crimson King" from the same album
Yeah I bought this album and the people that were all about 7 to 10 years older than me loved it to death. And surprisingly I was just like you pretty much, I liked the more organized Parts about it but not the fusion Jazz stuff because I was just so used to organized stuff. The most hilarious thing is that the way I actually became a fan of King Crimson was years later on there red album which came out around 1980 or so. And even though it sounded much more modern than this, it still had stuff like those abstract guitar solos that are so angular, which in a way you can draw a direct line from that to Kurt Cobain and his guitar solos. They aren't what you're wanting from a rock song but they are often really abstract in angular and dissonant and Powerful and strident and just fit perfectly. And they were already showing this here back then, that guitar wasn't weak, it was intentionally a bit abstract because really it was that bass along with the drums that were carrying and driving this whole thing. That bass playing on this is insane. I mean totally insane. But it was around 1982 or so and I was riding around with my roommate and bandmate in his car and he put in a cassette and said you got to check this out it really rocks. And so I was expecting something that I knew we were both already really into, like AC/DC or Nazareth or Deep Purple or Ted Nugent or Iron Maiden or Pantera or whatever, stuff that you thought of as just really rocking hard.
And when the King Crimson song came on, I was immediately captive by the amazing cool arrangement and execution and the drumming and just the strangeness of it but I remember clearly saying to him, I don't know man, that guitar just doesn't really rock, laugh. Again I was thinking of Angus Young and so forth. But then since he was my roommate I started to hear him play it a lot and in the end I fell head over heels and bought that CD and then I started working my way backwards towards this earlier stuff buying the vinyl. It just takes a while for your brain to accept something that's outside of the more normal stuff but this band was just so good that there is a lot of wonderful stuff waiting there for people to understand and discover. But I will say my favorite stuff is off the red album and then kind of their intermediate albums like Lark's tongues in aspic, and there's another one called starless in Bible black from that. That were great and even then I just typically will play certain selections from them. But I do like them better than this first album. I guess I was just younger than the older crowd that had their minds blown when Court Of The Crimson King came out and it was so different but for me that was 10 years before and here I am like 18 or 20 years old.
I'm afraid this is going to get blocked (King Crimson is notorious for that) but while it's up - great concept for a reaction! I'd love to see more of these.
Love that nujabes in the background
Compare Kayne West and King Crimson it is like compar military music and classic music...🤔
Yeah….King Crimson has never been accessible to me. I know many put them together with Yes, ELP, Genesis, Rush, Gentle Giant as a major player in the Prog rock genre. But even though Prog has never been my favorite genre, I can respect and even love songs from the other bands. King Crimson, although I can spot the talent here, leaves me cold. The description of jazz on acid is apt…….but is that a good thing? As you said..it’s bonkers. It’s noise. The ,lyrics are powerful, the primary riff is powerful, but that middle off-the-chain part………what was the point? What did it add? Is it a song you’d want to hear more than once? Would you buy an album of this style? I guess I have to admit I just do t get the appeal.
I find Yes to be a more enjoyable band overall but I can listen to this album and Red repeatedly, it’s a great mix of having melody, improvisation and storytelling via instrumentation. There are some crimson albums that I find a little boring though.
The middle off the chain part conveyed the schizophrenic mindset.
Get your head around " Larks tongue in aspick".
Kanye should have left it alone
The entire album is good. A classic, one of the best rock albums ever made.
The difference is that King Crimson has talent.
In the real world we call it plagiarism. No talent stealing others work!!
I am happy young people were introduced to a great song and amazing band. ‘Sampling’ I guess can be more than theft by the talentless.
Shame on you. Do something else. If you’re a Kanye fan you shouldn’t be listening to King Crimson. Go play video games!
1. you can listen to kanye and enjoy king crimson. stop tryin to gatekeep an artist when you know they wouldn't want you to.
2. is playing videogames a bad thing? can't that just be spun back onto you? "shame on you, oldhead, go yell at clouds and be racist!"
One is music the other is, well can't even call it rap ffs let alone music
King Crimson !!!!! ✌
If anyone wants more prog listen to Yes, or Emerson Lake and Palmer (the vocalist, Greg Lake, is the same for 21 century schizoid man)
king crimson is sick!
I don't feel this song is truly about a schizoid mind, my reading is it is a dystopian view of a world being led down a path of war to ultimate destruction. The context is the song was written at the height of the Vietnam War in 1969.
This song is actually about the horrors that occurred during Vietnam, its more a protest song than anything, raped with napalm fire is a literal lyric not metaphoric by any means
Great video tho, glad people are looking into the samples more
This song is timeless, though it reflects directly the sociopolitical vibe of 1968-69, it speaks for all world-time. That said, even today, when I hear this song and Greg Lake sings rock and roll's first ever distorted-on-purpose vocals, it sounds like the unrest of 1968-69 are throwing up all the social toxicity. Just picture Nixon's face, because that's the 21st Century Schizoid Man if there ever was one.
i'm so glad this exists. i was listening to 21st century schizoid man and i heard power in there
Recorded by Crimson in 1969. 1969!!! This was a groundbreaking album that birthed the entire progressive rock movement and still sounds amazing today.
I love the commentor's story about the schzoid co-worker, and addressed the person as "they". Btw, you'd better hope Robert Fripp, doesn't come across this video, because he was pretty pissed off at Kanye. Kanye, with Mos Def, also sampled the german band Can's "Sing Swan Song" for the track "Drunk & Hot Girls"
Fair play to Kanye he picked cool tunes to sample check out Steely Dan Kid Charlemagne.
You have to study groups like King Crimson to understand how you got bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, KORN, etc. There's this erratic rhythm. Punk was never commercially popular but new wave, the 80s and 90s music wouldn't exist without it. Blues was never popular but you wouldn't have Rock without it. You're looking at Kanye is interesting because when I hear RHCP .. I hear bands like King Crimson and musicians like George Clinton who were never really that popular.
It doesn't measure up to the source but I think Radar Love by Golden Earing does a better job when borrowing from 21st Century Schizoid Man. Ye is a sad fellow. Try to imagine him trying to create something this magnificent on his own. Not a chance.
Also, I'm not that familiar with Kanye even though I should be, because I like a lot of hip hop and I used to listen to rap and hip hop a whole lot but kind of got away from it right before the Kanye era because I was playing in bands that were off into older music and rockabilly stuff like that. Really old stuff. But I know that he has influenced so many people and I really enjoyed what you played by him. Yeah it's a great use of a sample but I would also say I really like the Timbre of his voice, I like that slower kind of drawn out flow, I like the production values and so forth.
The first rap song I ever heard was when I was in high school and it was when Sugarhill Gang did that iconic Rappers Delight and somehow it broke through to White audiences. I first started hearing it at parties. And then I went out and bought it and of course the vinyl version is much longer with a lot more bars in it then the radio cut. And then all the sudden Grandmaster Flash and the furious five started to have an impact with it's like a jungle sometimes. There just wasn't much of that kind of music available to White audiences at the time and it was in its infancy. I mean it was truly in its infancy. And then Along Comes Run DMC and suddenly rap becomes a thing that everybody knows about and a lot of young people like me decided they really liked. Right along with their rock music and everything else. And then it's like the floodgates opened. Fast forward a handful of years and you've got the explosion of gangsta rap with Ice Cube and Ice-T and that movie boys in the hood became really popular, again even two white audiences and that introduced a whole bunch of new names and sounds. And then it was just off to the races. I tended to gravitate to the so-called intelligent rappers like KRS-One and then later Mos Def and Blackalicious and others. But I really did go for total immersion and was listening to just about everything coming out including the rare female rapper at the time and I always loved their stuff as well. I kind of drifted away from it and then got interested in Nicki Minaj when my Pakistani cab driver in New York City once told me he was from Queens and to check her out and that she had these two mixtapes out. This was before she was super big. I found them on TH-cam after a lot of digging and some of those cuts are still my favorites to this day. But then I kind of drifted away. I went through an intense Eminem phase and more recently Lil Dicky aka David Burd. I live near Kansas City and so I can't tell how many shows I went to in Lawrence and Kansas City to see Tech N9ne and other Regional artists.
It's interesting how some people see this song about the mind of a schizophrenic man whereas I believe it to be representing the world that would drive someone to insanity, since all lyrics are talking about the world, using the term "21st Century Schizoid Man" in a slowly more and more tragic, mourning way
I will never endorse sampling, it's a cheat sheet for the untalented. Either do a sophisticated cover or get the freakin hell outta here!!!..
are you dumb or are you stupid.
Robert Fripp ............ Gurdjieff (Peter Green, Kate Bush, Dylan 13th Floor Elevators) dig it.
Great kind of reaction ! Your idea is brilliant.
Musical advice (sorry) : I think you can have a lot of views with a reaction to "I got the" (Labi Siffre, 1975. A pure jewel), used by Eminem in "My name is".
Great job !
Hi from France.
It's quite funny when reactors say that the song they are reacting to reminds them of another artist from much later in time, when it's really the other way around. This was very early prog rock and for that time it was super hard. Does Kanye get extra points for choosing this sample? Maybe if it's homage to King Crimson.