Programming note: It’s Drum Gods Week! I'm spotlighting some of my favorite records that serve as showcases for some of my favorite drummers (and drum performances) of all time. From rock to prog to some experimental crossover hits, I cover a bit of everything. All killer, no filler, as they say.
Hope you enjoy it!
Hello! 😊👋
Welcome to a new edition of the Daily Music Picks newsletter!
Drum Gods Week continues with the insanity of King Crimson’s signature tune, full of near-impossible tempo changes and drum fills.
Genre: Progressive Rock, Jazz Fusion
Label: Island
Release Date: October 12, 1969
Vibe: 🤯
“Dude, this s*** is going to blow your mind.”
That was the guarantee given to me by the twentysomething who worked in (now defunct) Music World store I frequented at the shopping mall not far from my house. He was referring to King Crimson’s 1969 masterpiece, In the Court of the Crimson King. One look at the cover and I knew I was in for something special. I didn’t quite know what, but, with that kind of artwork, how could it not be distinctive? Despite those high, admittedly half-baked expectations going in, the eponymous opener absolutely blew me away, mostly thanks to Crimson’s drummer, Michael Giles.
Long before it galvanized Kanye West stans and anime audiences alike, this song was on my shortlist as one of the most delirious, paranoid psychedelic compositions ever made. The contributions from other King Crimson legends, including Robert Fripp’s guitar solo and Ian McDonald’s saxophone playing, deserve credit as well, but every time I listen to this track, I can’t conceive of someone playing this on drums—not with only four limbs, anyway. Even professional musicians tend to cower in the song’s shadow. “We spent three months rehearsing [“Schizoid Man”], to be honest, to get it tight,” said saxist Mel Collins, referring to 1972 live performances captured on the 2002 Ladies of the Road archive release. “It’s a hell of a challenge.”
Giles reportedly helped guide the composition to its final form, suggesting the band speed up as they approached the mind-bending instrumental section titled “Mirrors” (you’ll know it when you hear it). As he told Rolling Stone, the section gave him “the freedom to improvise and experiment with a high speed 6/4 [time signature] in a semi-jazzy fashion alongside [the] pumping bass lines. I also enjoyed being triggered by, and going with Robert’s and Ian’s off-the-wall solos which were never self-indulgently overblown nor extended beyond their natural cycle.”
Influenced by everyone from the Beatles to John Coltrane and Duke Ellington, “Schizoid Man” has been referred to as everything from jazz fusion to prog rock to heavy metal. I prefer to think of it as impeccably well-orchestrated chaos, driven by some of the best rock drumming ever committed to tape.
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