KING CRIMSON/IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING - AN OBSERVATION BY KING CRIMSON ILPS 9111 (-69) UK

Uncertain what to put here since it already is one of the most probed rock/prog classics. Not my absolute King Crimson favorite, which would be "Lizard" (see earlier post), but certainly one of the better debute albums with its perfect blend of emotional and experimental and Greg Lake's vocals as icing on the cake. Title track, "Epitaph" and "21st Century Schizoid Man" have the strength to catch you immediately and then stay in mind for a very long time. A while ago I was very happy to find this pink label to a price I could afford and totally blown away by the audio. My other copy is a UK pink rim (-4U/-4U) EMI press. It has allowed me to enjoy the record to some extent, yet to my taste that comes out somewhat too compressed with partly almost squeeky treble. I expected this to sound better and it really does. Wide open with innate separation, like a big warm hug you wanna return to again and again. The matrixes have A▽2 and B//3, which I guess means it was pressed by Polydor. A couple of pink label copies also came with -1U/-1U matrixes showing on EMI press. I've seen those sometimes are called "first" while some claim the Polydor ones were earlier and EMI took over just before the label change and then continued on the pink rim. I don't know for sure, but find the latter alternative a little more logic. (ÖSÄP*) (KYK*)