{"id":482784,"date":"2019-02-27T11:03:09","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T18:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=800926"},"modified":"2019-02-27T11:03:09","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T18:03:09","slug":"song-you-need-to-know-king-crimson-the-mincer-law-of-maximum-distress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/song-you-need-to-know-king-crimson-the-mincer-law-of-maximum-distress\/","title":{"rendered":"Song You Need to Know: King Crimson, \u2018The Mincer \/ Law of Maximum Distress\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For most of their existence, King Crimson<\/a> have been one of rock\u2019s least nostalgic bands. Through frequent lineup changes and a staunch commitment to starting from scratch with each new phase, bandleader Robert Fripp has preserved the sense of risk and experimentation that marked their landmark 1969 debut In the Court of the Crimson King<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But in honor of their 50th birthday this year, Fripp & Co. are allowing themselves the luxury of looking backward. In addition to a worldwide tour, the group\u2019s KC 50 campaign<\/a> \u2014 unveiled five decades to the day after their very first rehearsal<\/a> \u2014 also includes an upcoming documentary, a deluxe reissue of Crimson King<\/em> and a yearlong series of \u201crare or unusual\u201d selections from the band\u2019s massive back catalog. Each week in 2019, the band is releasing a new track for download or streaming, with bonus commentary from King Crimson manager and producer David Singleton.<\/p>\n

So far, they\u2019ve put out everything from a single edit<\/a> of the group\u2019s signature early anthem \u201cIn the Court of the Crimson King\u201d and a complete version of the piece \u201cInner Garden,\u201d<\/a> which was divided into two separate tracks on 1995\u2019s Thrak<\/em>. One of the coolest posts to date involves a lengthy 1973 live recording that was excerpted briefly as \u201cThe Mincer\u201d on the band\u2019s 1974 album Starless and Bible Black<\/em>. As Singleton explains before the music begins, when he and Fripp were prepping the full show the piece came from for a separate release, they realized that one improvised section had a sizable chunk missing, leading them to title the incomplete fragments \u201cThe Law of Maximum Distress,\u201d parts I and II. But later they realized that \u201cThe Mincer\u201d itself was actually the missing piece and had been cut out of the original tape for use on Starless<\/em>. They eventually rejoined the various bits for a deluxe 2014 Starless<\/em> box set, and here you can hear the entire performance.<\/p>\n

Mostly instrumental, the track shows just how adventurous the prog rock<\/a> group\u2019s early-to-mid\u2013Seventies lineup was. Though that quartet, with Fripp, violinist David Cross, bassist-vocalist John Wetton<\/a> and drummer Bill Bruford, rocked as hard as any Crimson lineup to date, they were also a phenomenal improvising unit. In this piece, we hear the band move gradually from abstract, textural playing to wild avant-rock \u2014 with Bruford bashing away and Cross soloing madly \u2014 and back into eerie ambience. Later, Fripp and Wetton kick into a dubby groove, providing a platform for Fripp\u2019s brilliant noise-meets-melody soloing. Wetton\u2019s voice finally enters late in the piece, adding a dose of soulful emotion, but just minutes later, this more \u201csong-like\u201d section of the piece gives way to clattering sonic overload.<\/p>\n

Taken together, the ongoing KC50 tracks serve as a reminder that no one glimpse of King Crimson is definitive. By late \u201974, the lineup heard here was done, and the group was headed for a five-year break. Though both Fripp and Bruford would return, the group that surfaced on 1981\u2019s Discipline<\/em> was, as ever, an entirely different animal.<\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For most of their existence, King Crimson have been one of rock\u2019s least nostalgic bands. Through frequent lineup changes and a staunch commitment to starting from scratch with each new phase, bandleader Robert Fripp has preserved the sense of risk and experimentation that marked their landmark 1969 debut In the Court of the Crimson King. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-482784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 17:00:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KQZR - The Reel","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482784\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}