My review of Smith’s revised and expanded In the Court of King Crimson: An Observation Over 50 Years, published today at All About Jazz, along with an exclusive book excerpt.
When it was first released in 2001, British scribe Sid Smith's In the Court of King Crimson (Helter Skelter Publishing) filled a major need for a band that was, at that time, touring in its double duo format, responsible for the some of the music reissued, earlier this year, in the Heaven & Earth: Live And In The Studio 1997-2008 (Panegyric, 2019) set. That mega-box was but one of a number of 50th Anniversary celebratory events, which also saw the release of King Crimson’s 1969 debut, with new stereo and surround mixes and a bevy of bonus material, in the three-CD/Blu Ray edition of In the Court of the Crimson King (50th Anniversary) (Panegyric, 2019), not to mention a three-continent, globe-trotting tour by the current seven-piece incarnation that touched down for a couple of characteristically exceptional performances in Toronto and Montréal back in September.
But it's been almost twenty years since the release of Smith's detailed, exceptionally well-researched and thoroughly entertaining look at a band that may have helped to define the term "progressive rock" back in 1969 but, through its various lineups and albums in the ensuing years, has gone well past that now-reductionist definition of the genre to become something far greater.
As good as In the Court of King Crimson was, and as much as it absolutely filled that need when it was first published, nearly twenty years on it has been in serious need of, at the very least, an update to cover them many things that have transpired during that time. And so, perfectly timed with the band's 50th anniversary, Smith has finally done just that with the aptly titled In the Court of King Crimson: An Observation Over 50 Years.
Continue reading here...
Exclusive book excerpt here...
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