Today we bring you another excellent collectors item hand-picked by the staff of eil.com. Our stock addition manager and all-round prog aficionado, Syd, has chosen an early pressing of King Crimson’s magnum opus, In The Court of The Crimson King.
“After rightfully hat-tipping the The Wilde Flowers, Soft Machine, Arthur Brown or even early Floyd & Caravan for their parts to play in making important steps beyond 60s psychedelia, and frankly transcending what The Nice, Procol Harum, and The Moody Blues brought to the table, In The Court of The Crimson King has to mark the undeniable true dawn of progressive rock.
“This is the one that had the attack, the real contrasting darkness and light, the unsettling balance of chaos and order and the ambiguity that any definitively daring piece should offer, and it’s crucial that this is the one that landed just before the main onslaught that followed over the subsequent few remarkable years from Comus to Gentle Giant to the Krautrock and Canterbury movements and can stake its claim as the archetypal pioneer of musical exploration in a rock setting.
“The artwork itself is colossal among the host of iconic cover designs from the era, no small achievement in a time where album sleeve art had the potential to become historic in music culture. Its representation of the sound of this record perfectly portrays the equally harrowing surrealist music with nothing short of suitably devil-like temptation. A formidable work of forced nature and the benchmark of breaking conventional chains, you could call it the genesis but that name was used elsewhere. These guys just took it to a whole new level.”
1969 UK first issue 5-track stereo LP on the smooth pink Island label with white ‘i’ logo [A2/B4 matrices], matt gatefold picture sleeve with lyrics inside. The sleeve has a some minor scuffing to the edges but has no splits of rips, however the striking artwork is not compromised & the colours are still vibrant. The vinyl shows only minor evidence of play with some light surface scuffs, overall a very good example and an ideal play copy ILPS-9111
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- King Crimson - In The Court Of - 2nd - Palm Tree - VG - UK - vinyl LP - £35.00, $47.60, €39.20 (Back In Stock) (arrived 01-Mar-2021 18:46)
KING CRIMSON In The Court Of The Crimson King (1970 UK second issue of the 1969 debut 5-track vinyl LP on the pink rim palm tree label, iconic matt gatefold picture sleeve. The sleeve is graded as VG with a sticker tear and some paper loss at the top edge of the back cover, otherwise the sleeve shows minimal wear and the vinyl has just a little spindle wear to indicate play. Essential for any Progressive Rock collector ILPS9111)
- King Crimson - In The Wake Of Poseidon - 1st - VG/EX - UK - vinyl LP - £250.00, $340.00, €280.00 (Back In Stock) (arrived 01-Mar-2021 18:46)
KING CRIMSON In The Wake Of Poseidon (1970 UK first issue 10-track stereo LP on the pink with white 'i' logo Island label, textured gatefold picture sleeve. The cover is graded as VG with some spine wear and paper scuffing around the edges, but the easily worn sleeve retains rich & vivid colours. The vinyl is graded as EX with only a little spindle wear to indicate play ILPS9127)
- King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King - UK - vinyl LP - £35.00, $47.60, €39.20 (New Item) (arrived 26-Feb-2021 19:42)
KING CRIMSON In The Court Of The Crimson King (1989 UK issue of the 1969 5-track vinyl LP, barcoded gatefold picture sleeve. The sleeve shows minimal shelfwear with just a little edge scuffing & the vinyl remains in near 'as new' condition with few signs of play EGLP1)
- King Crimson - In The Wake Of Poseidon - 1st - VG/EX - UK - vinyl LP - £250.00, $340.00, €280.00 (New Item) (arrived 26-Feb-2021 16:38)
KING CRIMSON In The Wake Of Poseidon (1970 UK first issue 10-track stereo LP on the pink with white 'i' logo Island label, textured gatefold picture sleeve. The cover is graded as VG with some spine wear and paper scuffing around the edges, but the easily worn sleeve retains rich & vivid colours. The vinyl is graded as EX with only a little spindle wear to indicate play ILPS9127)
- King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King - UK - vinyl LP - £35.00, $47.60, €39.20 (New Item) (arrived 26-Feb-2021 14:22)
KING CRIMSON In The Court Of The Crimson King (1989 UK issue of the 1969 5-track vinyl LP, barcoded gatefold picture sleeve. The sleeve shows minimal shelfwear with just a little edge scuffing & the vinyl remains in near 'as new' condition with few signs of play EGLP1)
- King Crimson - Three Of A Perfect Pair - EX - UK - vinyl LP - £40.00, $54.40, €44.80 (Back In Stock) (arrived 26-Feb-2021 12:38)
KING CRIMSON Three Of A Perfect Pair (1984 UK 9-track vinyl LP, the final part in the trilogy from the newly vamped Adrian Belew period, picture sleeve with lyric inner. The sleeve displays some light scuff marks across the front and remains excellent, whilst the vinyl has only light signs of play, otherwise a really nice example priced advantageously EGLP55)
- King Crimson - In The Court Of - 2nd - Palm Tree - VG - UK - vinyl LP - £35.00, $47.60, €39.20 (New Item) (arrived 26-Feb-2021 10:12)
KING CRIMSON In The Court Of The Crimson King (1970 UK second issue of the 1969 debut 5-track vinyl LP on the pink rim palm tree label, iconic matt gatefold picture sleeve. The sleeve is graded as VG with a sticker tear and some paper loss at the top edge of the back cover, otherwise the sleeve shows minimal wear and the vinyl has just a little spindle wear to indicate play. Essential for any Progressive Rock collector ILPS9111)
- King Crimson - Three Of A Perfect Pair - EX - UK - vinyl LP - £40.00, $54.40, €44.80 (New Item) (arrived 25-Feb-2021 14:53)
KING CRIMSON Three Of A Perfect Pair (1984 UK 9-track vinyl LP, the final part in the trilogy from the newly vamped Adrian Belew period, picture sleeve with lyric inner. The sleeve displays some light scuff marks across the front and remains excellent, whilst the vinyl has only light signs of play, otherwise a really nice example priced advantageously EGLP55)
- King Crimson - In The Court Of - 2nd - Palm Tree - EX - UK - vinyl LP - £65.00, $88.40, €72.80 (New Item) (arrived 23-Feb-2021 11:31)
KING CRIMSON In The Court Of The Crimson King (1970 UK second issue of the debut 1969 5-track LP on the pink rim Island 'palm tree' label, housed in the iconic gatefold picture sleeve. The sleeve is Excellent & shows just some corner & edge wear. The vinyl remains in Excellent condition with only a few minor paper hairlines to show play. Essential for any Progressive Rock collector ILPS-9111)
- King Crimson - Earthbound - 1st - EX - UK - vinyl LP - £25.00, $34.00, €28.00 (Back In Stock) (arrived 26-Jan-2021 07:54)
KING CRIMSON Earthbound (1972 UK first press 5-track LP of live recordings on a black Island label with pink 'i' logo, matt title sleeve with original jet black die cut company inner. Due to the unforgiving nature of the design, the sleeve showssome light edgewear & noticeable ringwear with some scrapes, whilst the vinyl shows a few signs of play - a respectable play copy for a great price! HELP6)
It’s the first two Crimson lps for me; Crimson King and Poseidon. Love ’em, have so since they came out. Inventive, musical and pleasing tonality. Fripp, Lake, McDonald et. al. And don’t forget the awareness at the time of Pete Sinfield, his delivering of the lyrics.