Thursday 29 December 2016

Starless (King Crimson, 1974)

Heartbreaking and double-faced. These are the only adjectives I can suggest right now to describe this song. Robert Fripp's guitar pierces the listener's heart with its bittersweet intro, soon reinforced by John Wetton's neat and warm vocals and, of course, by Mel Collins's guest sax. The beautiful melody flows like a majestic river, an emotional landslide.
 
...and if you badly like "Red", there is this 24-disc box set called
"The Road to Red" that could ineterest you (guitar not included).
 
Then the song changes and goes through an underground instrumental second part, dark and haunting, a challenging crescendo graced by Carl Palmer's creative percussions. A lancinating guitar and a jazzy section finish this long section and bring back the main theme twice: first in an acid (even pre-punk) version, then in fully symphonic garments. A feast to the ears and to the hearts, "Starless" is an outstanding way to close "Red", one of my favourite KC's albums ever and still stands up like a milestone in prog history.

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