The Evolution of King Crimson's Legendary Bassists

hey good people in this video we're going to take a deep dive into the low end of one of my favorite bands King Crimson we're talking about legendary Prague basist like Greg Lake John weton and one of my favorites studioa Tony Len to me King Crimson can be divided into four distinct versions of itself version one from 1969 to 1971 version two from 1972 to 1974 version three from 1981 to 1984 and version four from 1994 to the present King Crimson was officially formed in 1969 with band leader Robert FR on guitar Greg Lake on bass and vocals Ian McDonald on Woodwinds and keyboards and Michael Giles on drums this lineup would produce the band's first album in the court of the Crimson King and most consider that to be one of the most influential and groundbreaking progressive rock albums of that era Pete Townson of the who called it an uncanny Masterpiece brg Le's contributions to crimson's groundbreaking debut album cannot be understated not only as a co-writer producer and vocalist but his amazing bass playing which really grounded this wildly avanguard mix of rock Jazz and classical music Lake and frit both grew up up in Dorset England and shared the same guitar teacher who was strict about learning music notation and would use complex violin Pieces by Pagan as site reading lessons that sounds like another guitar virtuoso Lake was already an accomplished guitarist and vocalist when Frip asked him to join his new band King Crimson in the court of the Crimson King would be the first time Lake ever played bass he was known for playing a finer Jazz base during this era and later became known for playing Olympic bases some Greg Lake required listing includes in the court of the Crimson King by King Crimson Brain Salad Surgery by Emerson Lake and Palmer and his 1983 solo album Maneuvers with Gary guitar check out the description for links to all the albums I mentioned in this video while touring in support of the first album McDonald and Giles left the band leaving the door open for personnel changes on the band's second album in the wake of Poseidon Greg Lake was also leaving to form Emerson Lake and Palmer but agreed to stay to contribute vocals to most of the tracks fr's high school friend and co-member of his first group the league of gentlemen Gordon hasell contributed vocals to Cadence and Cascade while Michael Giles returned to play drums and his brother Peter took on the bass guitar for the departing Greg Lake Mel Collins stepped in on Woodwinds for Ian McDonald in 1970 PR again rebuilt the group for their third studio album lizard with drummer Andy mccullock replacing Michael Giles while Gordon Haskell returned as basist and vocalist as did Mel Collins on Woodwinds while touring for lizard the lineup changed once again as Frip and Mel Collins were joined by BOS barell on bass and vocals and Ian Wallace on drums like Greg Lake BOS barell also started out as a guitar player and was known for his Soulful vocals he was even briefly considered to replace Roger dalry as lead singer of The Who also like Lake he'd never played bass before joining King Crimson but it was his bass playing ability that led him to be a founding member of the superg group Bad Company where he was known for his Nimble fretless baselines this King Crimson lineup with bosom bass and vocals would record the fourth album Islands Frau with more lineup changes this would be the last studio album for King Crim version one in 1972 Frip rebuilt Crimson with a lineup that would last for several seminal albums this lineup consisted of drummer Bill bruford who had just left the group yes after completing their first five albums David Cross joined on violin and keyboards and the amazing John weton took on bass and vocals John weton was born in 1949 in Wellington England weton had a classic music upbringing and recalled how much he enjoyed learning box baselines which influenced him as a boy to pick up the bass guitar and start playing in rock bands also an accomplished guitar player wetton's classical and jazz influences showed in his incredible songwriting skills wetton's Bas and vocals propelled this version of King Crimson into a darker heavier version of itself his heavy-handed yet skillful technique on the thinder Precision base along with really loud highw amps and a jack fuzz wall pedal created an unmistakable bass tone weton would go on to play with Uriah Heap Roxy Music UK and the Prague super group Asia some John weton required listening includes R by King Crimson the self-titled debut album of Asia and UK featuring The Late Fusion guitar God Alan Holdsworth this lineup of crimson would produced three key albums over the next two years Lark's tongues and aspic starless and Bible black and red all receiving critical Acclaim red saw the departure of cross leaving the band as a trio for this lineup's final and heaviest studio album in September of 1974 GP announced that King Crimson had disbanded forever after a few side and solo projects GP started started a new group in 1981 initially called discipline with former Crimson drummer Bill bruford along with Adrien blo on guitar and vocals Frip had met beloo while recording with David Bowie renowned session A's Tony 11 was recruited for Bass and by the time the group's first studio album was ready for release the band had convinced FIP to drop the name discipline and return to the name King Crimson Tony L was born in Boston Massachusetts in June of 1946 he began playing double bass at the age of 10 and studied music at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester New York Levan was a successful Studio musician and composer by the time he joined Peter Gabriel's band in 1977 Frip had met Tony while working on Gabriel's first album and hired him to play base on his own solo effort exposure in 1980 Levan notably played on John Lennon's last album double fantasy Tony is known for playing upright Bass Music Man Stingray bases and the Chapman Stick he's also the inventor of the funk fingers which he used with Peter Gabriel Tony continues to be a sought-after session musician lending his base to thousands of recordings some required listening for Tony include discipline by King Crimson Prague Noir by Stickman and so by Peter Gabriel this new lineup was creating contemporary Sonic Landscapes with Levan introducing the world to the two-handed tapping technique of the Chapman Stick bruford's hexagonal Simmons electronic drums and both buo and Frip using early guitar synthesizers and loss of effect pedals fr's continually evolving and complicated rack of effects and tape Loops would become known as freetronics King Crimson version 3 produced a Trilogy of groundbreaking albums in the 1980s discipline beat and three of a perfect pair as with previous incarnations of crimson this lineup was disbanded in 1984 and Crimson would not be seen again for another 10 years in researching this video I started to see patterns of three in King Crimson either in the number of years a certain version was together or in the number of albums a certain version created I'm not sure if this was deliberate or Divine but I sure did find it peculiar in 1994 frit beloo Levan and bruford were joined by a second basis stick player Trey gun and a second drummer Pat melato from the 80s band Mr Mister this lineup called the double Trio would go on to release the EP vom and crimson's 11th studio album thrak after a few years of touring Levan and bruford DEP parted the group leaving Frip beloo melato and try gun to record the construction of light happy with what you have to be happy with and the 13th and seemingly final Crimson album the power to believe released in 2003 in the years that followed there was a revolving lineup That toured extensively releasing live albums but no original material Tony Len would rejoin the group replacing Trey gun Gavin Harrison of Porcupine Tree would replace bruford alongside Pat melato and session drummer Jeremy Stacy to create a new three-piece drum section Jacko jaxi replaced Belo on guitar and vocals and Mel Collins would rejoin the group on Woodwinds and keyboards during the touring phase along with ex- Ministry drummer bill rlin on keyboards besides the studio albums and extensive live discography there's also a wonderful documentary in the court of the Crimson King King Crimson at 50 this film is a snapshot of the ban on tour in its 50th year with intimate and sometimes emotional interviews the film also Chronicles the untimely death of keyboardist bill rlin as he lost his battle with colon cancer in March of 2020 at the time time of recording this video Kem Crimson is not touring but you can catch Robert Frip and his wild actress singer wife Toya Wilcox on tour and I have my tickets and I'm super excited to see beat a new touring band that will be performing songs from the 80s Trilogy of crimson albums the members of beat are Adrien blue Steve VI Tony Levan and tul drummer extraordinaire Danny Cary I can't tell you how much I enjoy it all the time and research involved in making this video about one of my all-time favorite bands and the basis that propelled this group into rock history thanks so much for watching please like And subscribe and I hope to see you soon take care

Channel: Dave Porter

Views: 29,989

Keywords: king crimson, robert fripp, Greg Lake, John Wetton, Michael Giles, Ian McDonald, Peter Giles, Gordon Haskell, Andy McColluch, Ian Wallace, Boz Burrell, Bill Bruford, David Cross, Adrian Belew, Trey Gunn, Bill Rieflin, Mel Collins, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harrison, Jakko Jakszyk, Jeremy Stacey, emerson lake and palmer, Asia, UK, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, bass players, bass guitar, legends

Id: D15uEzU9yt8

Length: 11min 14sec (674 seconds)

Published: Thu May 02 2024