Schizoid
A feature of Melody Maker, that I’d forgotten about until I went looking at back issues, was a weekly article in which artists would answer questions about their instruments or technique. I’ll drop two or three in thorough the year; this is the first–something to cleanse the palate after a few days of reviews.
King Crimson unleashed a revolution in 1969 with their debut In The Court of the Crimson King. The album is regularly cited as the progenitor of ‘Prog.’ I have problems with that description, but it is one of those albums that was tossed into the pond and made bigger ripples than most others. The opening track, 21st Century Schizoid Man is an all out assault on the senses with distorted vocals and fiendishly complex unison playing by musicians with attitude. And it owes nothing to anything that came before; it is sui generis.
It was ferocious then and, as I can attest from my last couple of visits to King Crimson gigs, is just as ferocious now. But what are the secrets of Robert Fripp’s guitar sound? Robert Jones of Dartford asked Melody Maker and they asked the man himself. And he answered. In detail. Click on the cutting to find out how you too can transport yourself to paranoia’s poison door.
Click here, and you can play along at home.
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