In The Court Of The Crimson King

King Crimson's debut places the jagged riff and distorted vocal of “21st Century Schizoid Man” beside the flute-led calm of “I Talk to the Wind.” Robert Fripp, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald and Michael Giles move between those extremes with arrangements shaped around Peter Sinfield's words.

Mellotron gives “Epitaph” and the title track their broad orchestral colour, while “Moonchild” opens into a much less structured passage. The record's impact comes partly from those changes in density. It makes quiet, uncertainty and sudden instrumental force equally important to the five-song sequence.