Latest news with #KingCrimson
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
King Crimson's Manager Warns of ‘Premature' Excitement Following New Album Rumors
As rumors swirl regarding a new album from prog-rock icons King Crimson, the band's manager has urged fans not to get too excited about the prospect. News of a fresh record from the English outfit first came to light last week when guitarist Jakko Jakszyk spoke to Goldmine Magazine about his recent solo album, and his joining King Crimson back in 2013. More from Billboard Travis Scott & Cactus Jack Present 'JACKBOYS 2' Compilation Album: Stream It Now Backstreet Boys Kick Off Sphere Residency With Larger-Than-Life Show in Las Vegas Scooter Braun Shares His Opinion on Justin Bieber's 'Swag' 'It was an amazing thing to have done, and in a way, part of it's still happening. As we speak, we're doing a King Crimson studio album,' Jakszyk admitted. 'When that will come out and what format or how—that's beyond my brief. But yeah, we've been doing it piecemeal, and then a couple of months ago, the management said, 'Can we?' So, yeah. I've been recording that with a view to it coming out in some format at some point. But who knows when?' Word of a potential new album from the veteran group undoubtedly came as a surprise to many, especially given that King Crimson was viewed as having effectively come to an end following the completion of their 2021 tour dates. In the wake of mounting speculation, manager David Singleton took to social media to respond to the claims that King Crimson have been in the studio. 'Addressing this very question before he died, Bill Rieflin posed the excellent question 'why make a studio album? There are excellent live recordings of all the songs out there already,'' Singleton wrote. 'One possible answer would be an album the very sound of which no-one has ever heard before. A sound driven by the three drummers. And it is true that those drummers have now recorded studio versions of their parts – separately, so that there is perfect separation. 'So there is indeed the seed of a new recording,' he continued. 'Whether it is an album, whether it sees the light of day, whether it is something else is unknown. As is the outcome of any creative process. 'So yes, recordings have taken place. We are building a new studio, and when it is complete I am looking forward to seeing what may, or may not, exist. Getting excited about the possibility of a new album, as has been happening in some quarters, is however somewhat premature. Carts before horses.' King Crimson was initially formed in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Ian McDonald, Greg Lake, Michael Giles, and Peter Sinfiel, with the band releasing their debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King the following year. Initially disbanding in 1974 after seven albums, further reunions would take place throughout the '80s and '90s, with the group's most recent record, The Power to Believe, arriving in 2003. At the time of their last dissolution, in December 2021, Fripp remained the only continuous member from the original lineup, telling Rolling Stone the following year that future tours from the band would only take place 'If I knew for certainty that King Crimson touring was the only way to prevent World War III.' Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Daily Maverick
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
In the Walkman revolution we lost shared listening in an ever-narrowing world
I catch up to things late, always have done. I went, by way of example, from my transistor radio and those finickity cassettes that needed cumbersome cassette recorders to the smartphone with its ability to play music. I skipped over that breakthrough era of the Walkman and evaded the time of the Discman and the portable CD player. I even missed out on MP3 players. I still shake my head: what was I thinking? Why did I never acquaint myself with the latest technology and get myself a device that would have allowed me to hear music inside my head through those spindly, non-earpod but serviceable headphones? Probably the most important thing about the Walkman was that it revolutionised how we listened to music, changing the consumption of music – and all things auditory, such as audiobooks and podcasts. How? By giving us the chance to have a private listening experience, laying down the pathway for individual listening choice. It was a heady breakaway from the 'before' listening times, and took away the constant carping and complaining about whose turn it was. My teen years were hell, an endless negotiation around the inexplicable (to a truculent pre-adult) concept of sharing. I grew up in a family of six, all with particular musical tastes, all needing airtime. My mother liked classical music with religious themes: hymns, Gregorian chants, Handel's Easter music; the Ave Marias (the Bach and Schubert versions). 'Cross yourself music,' my brothers called it, mostly because my God-fearing mother often made the sign of the cross when she heard a particularly stirring liturgical piece. My father liked Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole, Buddy Holly, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald… played loudly (which annoyed my mother) so he could hear it while he cooked. There was only one turntable built into a cabinet with an open rack that held the long-playing records, or vinyl as they were known, and a radio with a fabric or mesh-fronted speaker and a large knob for a tuning dial. This was in a pride-of-place position in the lounge. Remember, there was no television set, so it was where we sat to listen to whatever was being played – record or radio. Antonette, my six-years-younger baby sister, listened to David Frost narrating fairy tales, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella. She'd happily sing along with the complaining Hamelin rats, resentful about being unloved, bitter about their treatment from humans. Anton came home from boarding school, superior in his new knowledge of the hip music scene, bringing with him the music of Jethro Tull, Shawn Phillips, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath… all the colours, my mother used to say. My musical choices included Elton John, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Phil Collins, Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, Queen, Fleetwood Mac, the Bee Gees… And, embarrassing to the Naidoos, a deep love of country music: Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, John Denver. My brother Shaun, learning how to play the piano in those years, listened to everything – it is necessary, he'd say, to hear it all. Necessary, it seems, for the brilliant composer he would become before his untimely death at 49. Everyone had to have a turn. We had to listen to each other's choices – we had no choice. It was communal listening. My hero, John Denver, wrote a song about his grandma's feather bed that could 'hold eight kids and four hound dogs, And a piggy we stole from the shed' on which they 'didn't get much sleep but had a lot of fun'. It was a bit like that in the Naidoo family master bedroom. After dinner, when our teeth were brushed, our faces scrubbed and pyjamas donned, we – along with Timmy, the dog – climbed into my parents' bed to listen to the radio on my dad's bedside table. As the Lost Orchid from a print of Tretchikoff's famous weeping painting looked down on us, we feasted on programmes like Squad Cars, in which the police prowled the empty streets at night, waiting in fast cars and on foot…; The Creaking Door; Test the Team; Inspector Carr Investigates; No Place to Hide with Mark Saxon and Sergei Gromulko; The Mind of Tracy Dark. Family time, a sharing time. Happy squabbling time. And then came the Walkman and everything changed. We no longer had to share. We could plug in our music and listen to whatever we chose. It was always our turn. Over the past 50 years, individual choice has replaced things communal. On a visit to my family in Los Angeles I got sick enough to spend the day in bed. To make sure we still had family time, my sister-in-law, Ann, and nephew, Joe, piled onto my bed. Only each of us had our laptops, each our Airpods, each watched a television series (me), documentary (Ann) or music video (Joe) of our own choosing. In the end, nobody shared what they'd been watching or listening to, I think because we each had such specific personal taste that nobody thought our choice would interest the others. It struck me that because it's always our turn, the algorithm can track us and give us more and more of what it thinks we like or want to see or listen to. And so our world gets narrower and narrower, as do the chances of getting to know arcane religious tracts or becoming familiar with the songs of Bing Crosby or being able to sing along with the rats of Hamelin. You are left with a repertoire of only what you like. As I said, I come late to things and seem to catch on and catch up only when the trend is deeply entrenched. Embarrassingly, I have just discovered podcasts and am listening to a host of views and opinions with which I agree, to which I nod along. A case in point is The Rest Is Politics, hosted by former journalist-turned-strategist and spokesperson for Tony Blair and New Labour Alastair Campbell and British academic, broadcaster, writer and former diplomat and politician Rory Stewart. In a determined attempt to confuse the algorithm, I have resorted to forcing myself to listen to the extremely right-wing views of Donald Trump-supporting Joe Rogan, whose ravings are liberally interspersed with racist epithets. It's a grim business and I find myself vacillating between rage and despair at some of the things people (such as Kash Patel, Trump's director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation) say. But I genuinely believe that the only way to form opinions is to have the views of all sides. DM This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
Perth Now
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
King Crimson return to studio for first album in more than 20 years
King Crimson are working on their first new album in more than two decades. The prog rock legends' singer-and-guitarist Jakko Jakszyk has revealed he, Robert Fripp, Mel Collins, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harrison and Jeremy Stacey have been back in the studio gradually building their first studio effort since 2003's The Power to Believe. The news will come as a surprise to fans as it was assumed they were over after their last tour in 2021. Co-founder Ian McDonald passed away in February 2022, and the group's songwriter, lyricist and synth player Peter Sinfield died in December 2024. The group was hit with another death when ex-percussionist Jamie Muir passed this February. Speaking to Goldmine Magazine, Jakszyk said: 'It was an amazing thing to have done, and in a way, part of it's still happening. "As we speak, we're doing a King Crimson studio album.' As for when it will be released, he offered up: 'When that will come out and what format or how – that's beyond my brief.' He continued: 'But yeah, we've been doing it piecemeal, and then a couple of months ago, the management said, 'Can we?' So, yeah. I've been recording that with a view to it coming out in some format at some point. But who knows when?' The project will boast studio recordings of live releases, alongside "some other bits and pieces". Jakszyk also teased the release of his and Fripp's album, The Scarcity Of Miracles. He added: 'Plus, there's also an album I made with Robert before I joined Crimson called The Scarcity Of Miracles. There's a version of it that's about to come out with loads and loads of extra stuff.' Fripp - the longest-lasting member of the band - previously insisted King Crimson will end when he decides to retire. The 79-year-old guitarist is the only member of the band to have played in every line-up of the prog rock band since their formation in the late 1960s until now. Speaking at a media day attended by BANG Showbiz to announce King Crimson's 50th anniversary shows in 2019, the musician was asked: "Can King Crimson be King Crimson without Robert Fripp?" Which prompted the matter of fact reply from Fripp: "No." The next question was: "So when you stop performing, is that the end of King Crimson as a band?" Which Fripp answered with a straightforward: "Yes." In 2022, Levin casted doubt on a reunion when he told Metrograph: 'The sense I got from Robert [Fripp] was that it's over. Maybe King Crimson will speak to him in the future in some way, and will revive its head with who-knows-what line-up?'
Miami Herald
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Legendary Rock Star, 79, Performs Punk Classic Following Terrifying Health Scare
A heart attack hasn't slowed Robert Fripp down. Two months after the King Crimson co-founder underwent emergency surgery to have a pair of stents inserted, Fripp, 79, showed his heart was just fine by delivering a fast-paced rendition of the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated" alongside his wife, Toyah Willcox. In the YouTube video uploaded on June 29, Fripp sported a Ramones-esque wig while Wilcox, 67, rocked out in a red wig and some dark makeup. The two did a quick version of the Ramones' signature hit, released in 1978 off their Road to Ruin album (the band made a music video for the song in 1988 to promote their compilation, Ramones Mania; it became a staple of late '80s MTV). At the end of the performance, Fripp declared that he did not want to be sedated, but "present, engaged and entirely vigilant for the mayhem and absurdity of this kitchen." And Toyah added, "We now go boom boom." The video was part of the couple's Toyah and Robert's Sunday Lunch, a long-running YouTube series. Willcox-an icon in her own right, who fronted the eponymous punk band Toyah before launching a successful solo and acting career-performs with her husband in a variety of outrageous outfits in a delightful, sometimes scandalous display of rock and roll euphoria. The Ramones cover was the first Toyah and Robert's Sunday Lunch since they performed Rod Stewart's "Do You Think I'm Sexy" in April, right before Fripp's health scare. The prog rock legend revealed in mid-May that, while on a trip to Italy, he started to suffer chest pains. Though Fripp initially thought it was acid reflux, his friends took him to a hospital where the doctors discovered that he had suffered a heart attack without knowing it. He underwent five hours of emergency surgery before going under the knife for a second operation. Ultimately, the medical professionals diagnosed him with a trifurcated artery, and he had two stents put in. A day after going public with his health scare, Fripp expressed "gratitude to all the many good people who have sent good wishes, privately and publicly." Related: Classic Rock Guitarist, 74, Reveals He 'Actually Died' During Recent Operation Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The Herald Scotland
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
From the lute to electric guitar - 400 years of music
Various venues, Anstruther Journeys in the East Neuk Festival can be as short as a few hundred yards between venues, but encompass vast eras in time. Saturday's Shibe Trail in Anstruther was very localised, although the performance spaces had been carefully chosen to match the needs of the music. With lute, classical guitar and then an electric guitar, Sean Shibe took his audience through 400 years of music. In the Dreel Halls that exploration had very local beginnings, as some of the earliest manuscripts for lute come from the collections of country estates in Fife. They included French music as well as Scottish tunes, but little from England, speaking of the trade and political links of the time. As the musician wryly pointed out, the technical limitations of the lute present challenges for guitarists, but the day proved that Shibe is a master of those as much as of the sonic possibilities of contemporary technology. The French music he played was especially lyrical, rhythmic and romantic, and John Dowland's Frog Galliard was a more familiar song on which to end the first recital. Read More: At St Ayle, a step up from the shore, Shibe began his classical guitar set with a short French overture before playing his own arrangement of a Bach Cello Suite to preface a work composed for him by Thomas Ades. The six movements of Forgotten Dances clearly owe a debt to Bach, but the various movements range from the gently melodic through driving rhythms and Satie-esque eccentricity to a wistful, elegiac theme and variations over a ground bass. At an earlier East Neuk Festival, Shibe first unveiled his Soft/Loud project in the Dreel Halls, and it is fair to say that Anstruther's high-ceilinged Erskine Hall proved a more appropriate place for the volume of his electric guitar. This last concert was built around Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint, a work for which he is now internationally recognised, not least by the composer himself. If there is no-one playing that piece better, the compositions on either side of it were equally fascinating. Sasha Scott's Rush was also written specifically for Shibe and might remind listeners older than either the composer or the player of the solo excursions of King Crimson's Robert Fripp. Meredith Monk's Nightfall began life as wordless choral composition, and this multi-layered arrangement, incrementally assembled and then stripped down, preserved its essence while taking it in another direction. Ideally, perhaps, the sun would have been setting as it faded away, but it was yet too early in the sunny East Neuk and there was still more music to be enjoyed.
