深红国王的法院 (1969)

In the Court of the Crimson King (subtitled An Observation by King Crimson) is the debut studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson, released on 10 October 1969, by Island Records. Often regarded as the first true progressive rock album, it combined rock music influences with elements of jazz, classical, and symphonic music while describing the devastating effects of war and conflict, societal alienation and disillusionment, the perceived futility of human efforts against powerful, corrupt forces, unchecked authority and corrupt leadership.

In the Court of the Crimson King was King Crimson's most commercially successful album, and is widely lauded as one of the greatest progressive rock albums ever released. It reached number five on the UK Albums Chart and number 28 on the US Billboard 200, where it was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In 2015, the album was ranked number 2 on Rolling Stone's list of the "50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time", behind 1973's The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd.

Background and recording

King Crimson made their live debut on 9 April 1969 at the Speakeasy Club in London. Another concert at the Speakeasy Club circa August 1969, was disrupted by members of the Pink Fairies Drinking Club (including Steve Peregrin Took, hours before his flight out to the US for Tyrannosaurus Rex's August/September 1969 debut American tour) who were out celebrating the completion of Twink's solo album Think Pink. King Crimson opened for the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park, London, in July 1969, before an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 people, which brought them positive attention.

Initial sessions for the album were held in early 1969 with producer Tony Clarke, most famous for his work with the Moody Blues. After these sessions failed to work out, the group were given permission to produce the album themselves. The album was recorded on a 1" 8-channel recorder at Wessex Sound Studios in London, engineered by Robin Thompson and assisted by Tony Page. In order to achieve the characteristic lush, orchestral sounds on the album, Ian McDonald spent many hours overdubbing layers of Mellotron and various woodwind and reed instruments. In some cases, the band went through five tape generations to attain deeply layered, segued tracks. On "Epitaph", McDonald recorded two separate Mellotron parts and continually shifted their volumes against each other while mixing, saying the technique gave a "sense of motion" to the sustained chords, which would otherwise "sound rather flat sonically".