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IN THE COURT OF KING CRIMSON
Sid Smith
(Helter Skelter)
A comprehensive biography of the great progressive rock pioneer King Crimson has long been desired. While Crim fanatic Sid Smith's new tome In the Court of King Crimson isn't quite the book needed to fill that void, it's a step in the right direction. Smith takes the reader from bandleader Robert Fripp's earliest days as a musician up through the band's last album The ConstruKCtion of Light and its subsequent tour. He covers the band's original formation, as well as each breakup and realignment. With candid comments from Fripp and nearly every other past or present member of Crimson, some of whom hold quite the grudge against the band's seemingly mercurial leader, it's a fascinating overview of the inner workings of a landmark musical group. Smith also meticulously notes the construction of every song on every studio album, with comments from the musicians. For details on how the songs "Easy Money," "Elephant Talk" or "In the Court of the Crimson King" were recorded, this book is a must.

Unfortunately, for all the detail into which Smith goes about the songs themselves, he leaves out reams of material about the bandmembers' lives, especially that of Robert Fripp. While he wisely avoids sordid details of love affairs or petty notes on the musicians' favorite foods and whatnot, he doesn't get into nearly as many specifics as he should have about what drives them to create. For instance, Fripp originally broke up Crimson due to a religious conversion of some sort. Smith notes what book inspired Fripp to make this choice, but then goes no further to explain what the book is actually about; he doesn't seem to have even asked Fripp if the guitarist still practices the spirituality to which he ascribed. Also, Smith glosses over any time Fripp spends outside of Crimson. No Pussyfooting, the album Fripp recorded with Brian Eno in the early 70s, is given only a passing mention, while his work with Andy Summers in the 80s is barely noted at all. Also in the 70s, Fripp developed a new approach to solo performance he dubbed Frippertronics—yet Smith never explains exactly what this approach might be, or what impact Frippertronics had on either Fripp's career or music in general. Even Fripp's albums with the League of Gentlemen and Sunday All Over the World, a band he formed with his wife Toyah Wilcox, who's also barely mentioned in the book, get extremely short shrift. Admittedly, this is a book about King Crimson, not about Fripp alone, but the guitarist/composer's career has been so closely tied to the band he leads that to ignore his outside interests is to ignore potential inspiration that he might bring to Crimson. It makes the book feel rushed, as if Smith is so eager to get on to the Crimson parts he speeds blithely past any other details that would be of interest.

Regardless, though, In the Court of King Crimson is still required reading for any Crim fan. Though seriously flawed, it's still the best literary resource on the world's most forward-thinking progressive rock band. Michael Toland [buy it]