Short Reviews [Various Artists - 2024 - "Reimagining The Court Of The Crimson King"]

As one may well gather from both the title and the artwork, here we have a group of very famous musicians undertaking a re-evaluation of one of the most important progressive albums of all time. We get seven tracks instead of the original five as it ends with two additional versions of “21st Century Schizoid Man”, and although some musicians play on more than one track, no song features exactly the same line-up as another. Todd Rundgren and Arthur Brown are the perfect choices to sing that song, as they add just the right amount of craziness while they are joined by former King Crimson saxophonist Mel Collins, guitarist Chris Poland and drummer Ian Paice. Also included on the album is current King Crimson vocalist/guitarist Jakko Jakszyk, Joe Lynn Turner, James LaBrie, Marty Friedman, and Carmine Appice. Adding to this stellar lineup are rock and prog giants such as Steve Hillage, known for his work with Gong, and Jah Wobble, the post-punk bass maestro and PIL & Eno collaborator; and the Hawkwind alumni trifecta of Alan Davey, Paul Rudolph and Nik Turner. While playing this, and thoroughly enjoying it, I kept asking myself the same question, “Why?”. I am sure every proghead in the world has the original album in their collection, and while this is fun, at the end of the day it is just some guys covering the album track by track. True, the recording is modern, but while the arrangements are different in places, there is nothing too dramatically different between this and what happened 55 years ago. I know there are many King Crimson completists out there who will be interested in hearing what this is like, and will want it for their collection but I am sure many of them will be like me and play this a couple of times for interest’s sake and then rarely, if ever, play it again.