{"id":2027,"date":"2017-02-03T22:25:12","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T22:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hippy.com\/hip\/other\/the-fundamental-difference-between-king-crimson-and-the-brit-prog-cartel\/"},"modified":"2017-02-03T22:25:12","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T22:25:12","slug":"the-fundamental-difference-between-king-crimson-and-the-brit-prog-cartel-by-shiloh-noone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/reviews\/the-fundamental-difference-between-king-crimson-and-the-brit-prog-cartel-by-shiloh-noone\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fundamental difference between King Crimson and the Brit Prog Cartel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tWading through the countless Prog Rivers and endless streams of England\u2019s Progressive tide however magical cannot be described as a wondrous Tolkienistic endurance of Dr Robert Moog\u2019<\/strong>s resurrection and eventual demise. The causeway has valleys of unreachable dimension and between those undulating plains, hidden crevices and jagged cliffs you will have your senses jarred and numbed, but rest assured, inevitably reaching the golden sanctuary of the Holy Grail. Once such creature is the enigmatic beast called King Crimson<\/strong>, hardly comparable to the Latimer<\/strong> \u2018B Marvin\u2019 guitar riffs of Camel<\/strong>, the anglo Saxon tales of synth Genesis<\/strong> or Canterbury mellotron delights of Viola flavoured Caravan<\/strong>. Fripp<\/strong>\u2019s Crimson<\/strong> was delusional and bizarre throwing you into turmoil and over the precipice in once instant and then soothing you out in the next with Lake<\/strong>\u2019s pastoral vox and mellotron manicured soundscapes. But don\u2019t get comfortable in the courts of that Crimson<\/strong> magician because Fripp<\/strong> reinvents himself with each album as in the anguishing \u2018Wake Of The Poseidon\u2019<\/em> or jazz abstract \u2018Lizard\u2019<\/em>, I mean Tippet<\/strong>\u2019s input was far from accessible compared to Jon Andersons\u2019<\/strong> lengthy contribution adding sanity to the \u2018Lizard\u2019s<\/em>\u2019 shape shifting metamorphosis.<\/p>\n

Fripp <\/strong>was continually churning out bizarre landscapes often rancid with jazz invocations and off- beat structures while Camel <\/strong>pursued a more consistent plain of synth conceptual creations wonderfully augmented by Barden<\/strong>\u2019s\u2019 characteristic keys although primarily Latimer<\/strong>\u2019s guitar that always took frontal. Only in the latter seventies did those Camel<\/strong> ridden trails enter a saxophonist drone, although notably never sliding into a jazz incline and very distant from the Olympic strides of say ELP<\/strong>. The revolving door of Camel<\/strong> keyboardists and Mel Collins<\/strong>\u2019 soaring escapades may have distanced some Camel <\/strong>riders, albeit in flow with the changing tide of the seventies. \u00a0Even Caravan<\/strong>, a Canterbury marvel who could whip up astounding live synth battles had moments of morose gesticulation, (Even John Peel<\/strong> nodded off to some of the more wavering BBC mellotron trials) Genesis<\/strong> was consistently the most original Brit Prog band with its determined lyrical richness, ultimately their mainline strength \u00a0even if Gabriel<\/strong> claimed he walked out the of the \u2018Broadway\u2019<\/em> machine, what a fucking machine, superbly oiled and far from the endless striving of Yes<\/strong>\u2019 \u2018Topographical\u2019<\/em> dimensions.<\/p>\n

Genesis<\/strong>\u2019 \u2018Lamb\u2019<\/em> offered short tasteful morsels of mellotron coupled with astounding drum scales, Hackett<\/strong> was so in the crease that one hardly noticed that it was guitar and not keyboards. Crimson<\/strong> went from bizarre to bludgeoning vibrato after Wetton <\/strong>made his glorious entry, but not the quite the finesse of the Crimson<\/strong> courts. Caravan <\/strong>trails dismembered sadly at \u2018Waterloo\u2019 and some blundering bulldog with no more water at any oasis but refilled graciously with the jazzy Hatfield & the North <\/strong>and National Health<\/strong>, nothing to do with Thatcher but more the enlightened slant of Mr Robert Wyatt<\/strong>, six guns fully drawn for the \u2018shipbuilding\u2019 Falklands.<\/p>\n

Possibly the closet relative \u2018bastard\u2019 to Fripp\u2019<\/strong>s inventive prognosis \u00a0would be Hammill<\/strong>\u2019s Van der Graaf Generator<\/strong> , \u00a0a more Gothic sombre splendour but far more refined as time goes by than the relentless \u00a0ravaging of Crimson<\/strong>\u2019s sabre warriors. Van Der Graaf<\/strong> was wonderfully ugly, sensationally awkward and as real as rough gravel, a far cry from the adult contemporary pleasurable Renaissance<\/strong>. Hammill<\/strong>\u2019s lyrical magnum force arguably the best in Britain, moreover globally was a force to be reckoned with that even Gabriel<\/strong> stood in awe of. \u00a0So in rewind that gaping red face that swallowed you whole in the late sixties , a Fripp <\/strong>marvel cannot be discounted in the same revered countenance as Syd Barrett<\/strong>\u2019s\u2019 cosmic \u2018Piper\u2019 <\/em>exordium. Yet beyond the brightness and lightness of the chosen few the likes of Julien J Saverin, Gravy Train, Audience, Beggars opera<\/strong> and Curved Air<\/strong> were busy carving an indelible stamp on the more discerning mass of Prog lovers.<\/p>\n

Across the channel Germany was logistically at the forefront of the Prog revolution, yet sadly deemed \u2018Krautrock\u2019 an inherent stab at historical enemies that even vented at the soccer stadium. Thanks and no thanks to the M&N cartel (Melody Maker & New Musical Express Polls) the mainland of Europe was largely ignored and only when Jan Akkerman <\/strong>crossed the channel did the British realise that the royalty perceptions of Hackett<\/strong> and Steve Howe<\/strong> were clearly in dire threat, as quoted by Jack Bruce <\/strong>\u2018oh shit he really can play the whole Focus<\/strong> album<\/em>, well enough to get him on stage and jam with the Akkerman acolyte. In hindsight Germany\u2019s Prog bands outnumbered Britain, 10 to 1 but that\u2019s another story?<\/p>\n

Reviewer:<\/b> Shiloh Noone<\/a> | See all reviews<\/a> by Shiloh Noone\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wading through the countless Prog Rivers and endless streams of England\u2019s Progressive tide however magical cannot be described as a wondrous Tolkienistic endurance of Dr Robert Moog\u2019s resurrection and eventual demise. The causeway has valleys of unreachable dimension and between those undulating plains, hidden crevices and jagged cliffs you will have your senses jarred and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}