This Day in Music History: King Crimson/Red (10/06)

Red is the seventh studio album by progressive rock group King Crimson, released on this day in 1974. It was their last studio recording of the 1970's and the last before the lead member Robert Fripp temporarily disbanded the group.

Tours in 1974 had seen King Crimson's musical approach becoming louder and more brutal, an approach primarily driven by bass player John Wetton and drummer Bill Bruford (guitarist and group leader Robert Fripp once compared their powerful playing to "a flying brick wall"). This had had the effect of drowning out the band's fourth member, violinist and sometime keyboard player David Cross and led to tension within the band. Deemed not strong enough as a musical personality, Cross was ejected from King Crimson after the end of its tour in summer 1974, reducing the group to the trio of Fripp, Wetton and Bruford. Having already begun to record Red with Cross, King Crimson finished the album with the help of former band-members Ian McDonald and Mel Collins.