Born as Robert Allen Zimmerman in 1941, now known as a titan in music as Bob Dylan. This giant of the industry has sold multiple millions of albums. He has written over 500 songs which have been recorded by more than 2000 artists. He essentially set a bar for lyric writing, he?s performed all over the world and in 2016 won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He?s got plenty of awards to his name, such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. 

Needless to say, he?s got an immensely impressive resume. And we didn?t even cover all of it! It?s no wonder his name is so legendary, but all legends have to start somewhere, don?t they? We?re going to have a quick dive into the history of Bob Dylan and look at some of his albums. 

Where It All Started

Dylan?s ventures into music started as early as high school. He formed multiple bands that played covers of songs by artists like Johnny Ray, Elvis Presley and Little Richard. One talent show performance being so loud that the principal apparently cut the mic cord. During this time is when he would have received his first guitar, in the year 1955.

Just before starting his further education at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, he spent a small amount of time as pianist for the rising star at the time, Bobby Vee. However during his time at university, he discovered a new connection to folk music and to a singer of the genre, Woody Guthrie. Guthrie at the time was in hospital in New Jersey, Dylan dropped out of his first year at university and moved to the East Coast in hopes of meeting him.

By this point he had adopted the last name of Dylan, with influence from the name of a Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas. He stated in an interview regarding his change of name: "You're born, you know, the wrong names, wrong parents. I mean, that happens. You call yourself what you want to call yourself. This is the land of the free.? 

While Dylan did get to meet Guthrie, he did have to endure a harsh New York winter in the process. He got by reasonably by charming the East Coast with his performances which provided him well with food and shelter. As well as visiting Guthrie, he also befriended Ramblin? Jack Elliot, Guthrie?s own student. 

Finding his feet, it only took four months for someone to reach out for Dylan for his musical talent. He played the harmonica during a Harry Belafonte recording session. Following this, a review of one of Dylan?s live shows got him found by John Hammond of Columbia Records in September 1961. Everything had fallen into place to make way for his first album. 

The History Behind the Music

Taking in his surroundings to learn from the artists around him while playing in clubs for a while to build up his material, Dylan came to release his first, self titled album Bob Dylan. It sold about 5000 units in a year and received mixed reviews from critics. They didn?t know what to really make of him at first. The turnaround was only just enough to come out positive. 

Come Dylan?s second album, The Free Wheelin? Bob Dylan, his name started getting out more as a singer and songwriter. A certain divide formed between generations regarding the messages of his songs, with their rebellious themes. In fact, these new songs were soon used as anthems for protests. Guthrie?s influence shined brightly here. ?Oxford Town? accounted the situation of James Meredith, the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. ?Blowin? in the Wind? gives reference to the slave song, ?No More Auction Block?. This album and its deep conscious songwriting marked Dylan?s name as a songwriter, and paved the way for meaningful and imagist lyrics fused with traditional folk song. It saw much better feedback and turnout than his first album. 

However at this point, Dylan?s untrained voice was a turnoff for some and an eye opener for others. His music quickly found itself played by other artists, including Joan Baez, who would later become Dylan?s lover. 

Dylan set his political profile in May of 1963, where he walked out on The Ed Sullivan Show. While rehearsing, he was advised against playing his song ?Talkin? John Birch Paranoid Blues? as it would possibly disrespect the John Bitch Society. Dylan walked out and refused to appear on the show after. 

?The Times They Are A-Changin?? swept onto the scene in August 1963. The album followed much more politically charged writing. Including ?Only a Pawn in Their Game? and ?The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll?, both of which directly addressed murders that happened close to the time as well as ?Ballad of Hollis Brown? and ?North Country Blues? which reflected on a looming depression of the state of both farming and mining communities. 

In June 1964, ?Another Side of Bob Dylan? came about after being recorded in just one evening. Compared to the previous album, it had a much lighter mood. It saw Dylan bring back his sense of humour into his music with ?Spanish Harlem Incident? and ?Motorpsycho Nightmare?. With more love songs too, interestingly, this album was the first hint of rock n? roll in Dylan?s music that would later be his predominant genre.

?Bringing it All Back Home? in 1965 granted Dylan his first experience with electric instruments. The single ?Subterranean Homesick Blues? he found a lot of influence from his roots of interest in beat poetry as well as some inspirations from rap and hip-hop. This song received an early music video to celebrate Dylan?s 1965 London tour. Rather than mime in the video, Dylan threw cue cards on the ground with keywords from the song on them. It has since been imitated. 

?Like a Rolling Stone? hit the scene in July of 1965. A 6 minute long single that almost entirely shed Dylan?s folk music skin for the sound of some rock n? roll. This song saw his entrance into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as receiving praise from Bruce Springsteen. The next album ?Highway 61 Revisited? included the single as its opening song and smashing charts and sales. His previous history of protest songs had started to wash away. 

Fans didn?t accept the change well. Various performances such as at the Newport Folk Festival and Forest Hills New York saw he and his crew heckled and booed for their electric sound over their traditional folk sound. While ?Like a Rolling Stone? had dominated the charts, and even appeared to be well received in performance, it was followed by booing. These tours continued for a while, until in summer of 1966 Dylan suffered from injuries of a motorcycle crash and vanished from the scene for about two years. 

In 1967, Dylan?s band moved to Woodstock to be closer to him. They managed to convince him to play with them in their basement. Recordings of these sessions would later become ?The Basement Tapes'' in 1975. 

Dylan slowly emerged back into the eye of the public. His first recording back was of ?Nashville Skyline? 1969. It performed extremely well and reached number 3 in the charts, but Dylan continued to be met with criticism. His lyrics had lost their deeper meaning: People wondered, has he lost his old muse? 

From this point forward, Dylan?s recordings and tours became more randomly timed. Though between this, he was also in the process of writing his first book and exploring art. 

?Blood on the Tracks? from 1975 came in as a return to lyrical form. Questions of Dylan?s songwriting ability soon fizzled back out. It smashed the Billboard album chart, as did ?Desire? which was released in 1976. 

After a few more bumps in the road during the 80s he returned back to proper form in 1989 with ?Oh Mercy?. It easily became his most well received recent album at the time, and saw glowing praise for his previous talent of songwriting showing itself in full once more. 

There are a few more notable albums after this period such as ?Love and Theft? in September of 2001, which did exceptionally well and received glowing praised from critics and fans alike and even found itself nominated for several Grammy Awards. But this just about highlights most of the bigger moments and albums of Dylan?s career.

What are Bob Dylan?s Best Albums?

A subjective question, but we?ve made sure to look into plenty of people?s sources and opinions to pick some out. These aren?t really ordered, just some top picks from our own, and others consensus! 

Blood on the Tracks (1975)

While Dylan had some great luck with singles in the 70s, his albums weren?t performing well. Fans and critics saw a man who had lost his touch, a washed up star of the 60s. But then this album came along. A return to his lyrical genius and an emotional trip into the pain of lost love. The hurt in songs like ?You?re a Big Girl Now? is prevalent through Dylan?s performance. 

Blonde on Blonde (1966)

The 60s were a massive success for Dylan. Every album, every song, every show was a roaring success for him. Blonde on Blonde is absolutely no different. Dylan himself has stated that this album features a very particular sound that he could hear before he even made it. ?Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands? is reportedly a tribute to his at-the-time wife, whereas there are much more surreal and adventurous tracks on the album like ?Most Likely You Go Your Way And I?ll Go Mine?. 

Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

Kicking off with the legendary single ?Like a Rolling Stone?, this album was Dylan?s biggest footstep into the rock n? roll genre. Despite what seemed to be a failure of being booed by his crowds, he still finished up the album after performing ?Like a Rolling Stone? and even with criticisms, this record flew off the shelves and into the charts. 

Bringing it All Back Home (1965)

Dylan worked on this album during a transformative time for himself as a performer. This was around the time he?d started moving away from folk and stepping into the scenes of electric and rock music. Despite the cries of folk fans, ?Subterranean Homesick Blues? and its surreal theming found massive success with everyone else. The album also features ?Mr Tambourine Man?, one of Dylan?s most popular and important songs, and ends on ?It?s All Over Now, Baby Blue?. 

Summary

Bob Dylan has led a massive and long career, with plenty of ups and downs on the way. No success is linear after all, it comes in bumps and waves. Regardless, Dylan has done more than enough to cement himself as a legendary artist to this day. Whether you prefer his protesting, political folk music with direct and powerful lyrics or his ventures into rock n? roll with much more melodic songs, we can?t deny the legacy that Dylan has left behind. 

Birth Of Punk

Forming in London in 1972, working class teenagers Steve Joneson as vocalist, Paul Cook on drums and Wally Nightingale as guitarist started the band The Strand, unbenounced to the trio they had started what would come to be one of the most influential bands in modern music and starting a movement that still echos true today. 

The teenagers would hang out and congregate at two clothing shops on King?s Road Chelsea in West London Acme Attractions and Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood?s shop Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die which would become a hub of sorts for the rising punk scene in the UK. In early 1974 Jones spoke to Malcolm McLaren and asked if he would become the manager for The Strand and he agreed and would book them rehearsal spaces and recruited bass player Glen Mattlock who would become a permanent in the band. During this time McLaren had been unofficially managing the New York Dolls in America and had become inspired by the rising punk movement in Lower Manhattan with bands like the Ramones and Television catching his attention with radical visual style matched with their attitude and so upon his return to London McLaren took a bigger interest in The Strand. 

The Strand began rehearsing more frequently and had a series of line-up changes Nightingale was ejected from the band with Jones stepping down as frontman and becoming the band?s guitarist as well as looking for a new frontman The Strand were looking for a new name after toying with a few ideas the band settled on QT Jones And The Sex Pistols (later changed to just Sex Pistols) everything was set expect for one piece that would send Sex Pistols from being a part of the punk scene to the entire scene itself. 

From Lydon To Rotten 

It was August 1975 where a nineteen year old John Lydon was seen by important figure of the UK punk scene Bernard Rhodes, who had noticed Lydon wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt with holes where the band members eyes were scratched out and the words ?I HATE? crudely handwritten above the band name, paired with his striking green dyed hair meant that not long after this encounter Rhoades and McClaren set up a meeting between Lydon, Jones and Cook at nearby pub the three spoke until the pub closed and then they moved over to Too Fast to Live, Too Young To Die (Now renamed SEX, which provided some inspiration fo the benads name) and Lydon who had no thought about singing gave an audition after much convincing singing Alice Cooper?s ?I?m Eighteen? the performances left the band in fits of laughter McClaren still managed to convince the band to rehearse and stick with Lydon. After the line up was set Jones gave Lydon the name Johnny Rotten a name he would be known as for the foreseeable future with all the pieces in place it was time for anarchy to come to the UK. 

Rise Of The Sex Pistols

The Sex Pistols played their first gig opening for a band named Bazooka Joe at Saint Martins College, they used Bazooka Joe?s amps and drums having not yet acquired their own. The Pistols played a series of cover songs by the likes of The Who and Small Faces but before they could play any of their newly written original tracks their set was stopped as Bazooka Joe released the band were trashing the gear they had let them use. Following this somewhat istolsdisastrous start the fire would only be fueled as Sex Pistols would play more shows at colleges and school and their infamy and following started to grow and grow, a loyal group of followers that would become known as the Bromley Contingent formed with including members; Billy Idol, Siouxsie Sioux, Steven Severin, Soo Catwoman and Pamela Rooke (also known as Jordan) this group would attended alot of Sex Pistols early shows and their then cutting edge fashion and style which was provided by SEX was steadily adopted by new fans of the band. Another key factor to Sex Pistols success was their art style which was produced by a friend of McClaren called Jamie Reid who would ensign the bands logo and the iconic art work for the single ?God Save The Queen?. The Pistols would go on to play a series of more high profile gigs that would get them broader audience and scope among the industry which led to a small interview with NME in which Jones stated to the magazine ?Actually we?re not into music. We?re into chaos? this quote was read by two friends who were students at Bolton Institute of Technology named Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley who would be inspired by Sex Pistols and go on to form the punk band Buzzcocks.  

The influence of Sex Pistols was begining to be felt all over the UK and beyond having played their fist gig outside the UK, a show in Paris on the third of September 1976 around this new UK punk bands Buzzcokcs and The Clash were opening for Sex Pistols, the scene was growing at what seemed to be a break neck pace and Sex Pistols were at the forefront of it all with more and more positive show reviews from critics for their growing tighter and aggressive sound leading to an eventual signing to EMI Records on a two year deal as well as the recording of the bands first single ?Anarchy In The U.K?.

The Bill Grundy Interview 

On the 1st of December 1976 Sex Pistols were a last minute replacement interview on Thames Television?s Today programme as a replacement for Queen. The programme was hosted by English journalist Bill Grundy. Sex Pistols and members of Bromley Contingent were on set for the interview after having drinks while waiting to go on air. During the interview Jones and Rotten both swore which initially went unnoticed by Grundy as he claimed to be drunk as well as the band, Grundy turned his attention to Siouxsie Sioux and when she said she had ?Always Wanted To Meet? him, Grundy responded by saying ?Did You Really? We?ll Meet Afterwards, Shall We?? which Steve Jones did not take kindly to and led to an exchange of words between him and grundy that would make Sex Pistols fully fledged house hold names across the country. 

Jones: You dirty sod, You Dirty Old man. 

Grundy: Well going, chief, keep going. Go On. You?ve got another five seconds. Say Something outrageous! 

Jones: You dirty b*stard.

Grundy: Go on, again.

Jones: You dirty F*cker 

Grundy: What a clever boy!

Jones: What a f*cking rotter 

The programme at the time was only broadcast in London but tabloid news had the story occupying the papers for days with the famous headline ?The Filth And The Fury?. This led to the bands infamy growing to unimaginable levels and when they embarked on the Anarchy Tour of the UK the approximately intended twenty shows were reduced to around seven as the venue owners, organisers and local authorities were cancelling shows. 

A Vicious Edition To The Band 

In early 1977 rumours leaked that Glen Matlcock was set to be leaving Sex Pistols and by the 28th of Febuary McLaren had confirmed the split sending a telegram to the NME claiming Matlock was kicked out ?Because he went on about Paul McCartney? The Beatles was too much? this point was later reiterated by Jones who said Matlock was sacked because he ?Liked The Beatles''. While these claims were later found to be untrue, the band still had issue with the fact Matlock ?Didn?t Look Like A Sex Pistol? but his replacment was just around the corner in the form of on of Rottens friends a self-proclaimed ?Ultimate Sex Pistols fan? by the name of Sid Vicious. Vicious had been a drummer for two punk bands around the area, Siouxsie And The Banshees and The Flowers Of Romance, he was also a regular attendee of Sex Pistols shows making him the perfect fit for the job, for better or for worse. 

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here?s The Sex Pistols

On the 28th of OCtober 1977 Sex Pistols would release their one andonly album that would change the course of music and pop culture forever ?Never Mind The Bollocks, Here?s The Sex Pistols? was the perfect encapsulation of Sex Pistols built up imfamy, agression, bombast and raw energy in one album with eleven tracks of punk rock brilliance with the bands debut single ?Anarchy In The UK?, as well as the bands top ten UK singles ?Pretty Vacant? and ?Holiday In The Sun? and probably the most controversial track and lead single of sorts due to its infamy ?God Save The Queen? that was released during the hight of Queen Elizibeth?s silver jubilee celebration paired with the iconic single cover art by Jamie Reid of The Queen?s face obscured by the band name and song title, the song gained even further notoriety when it was played live on The River Thames sailing past Westminster Pier and the Houses Of Parliament and as per most things Sex Pistols did, ended in disaster which only fueld the success of the track and subsequently the album. ?Never Mind The Bollocks, Here?s The Sex Pistols? shot straight to number one upon release and became the best selling album of the year and went gold after selling 125,000 copies despite bans from being sold at major retailer. Ever since the albums released it sparked a rise in the Punk genre and movement but generally speaking started the beginning of the end for Sex Pistols. 

Breakup And Aftermath 

In early 1978 Sex Pistols set out on their US tour which was bogged down by the usual controversy and issues the band faced, with shows being cancelled due to members of the band having criminal records, there was also a lot of in fighting among the band withRotten becoming a complete ego maniac leading to him becoming distant from Cook and Jones while Vicious was spiraling out of control day by day with his drug misuse issues and fighting with audince members. The tour trudged on with no sign of anything getting better and on the 14 of January 1978 on their last date of the tour after playing The Stooges ?No Fun? once the song played out Rotten speaking to the audience directly said ?Ever get the feeling you?ve been cheated? Good night? he threw his mic down and walked off stage, four days later Rotten would announce Sex Pistols spilt ina news paper interview and just as quickly as the band had started it was over. 

In the following years there was the tragic passing of Nancy Spungen who was Sid Vicious' long time girlfriend via stab wound at a hotel party Vicious and herself hosted which sent Vicious down more of a spiral that lead to his untimely death of a drug overdose in 1979 The rest of the band stayed in the music scene and Johnny Rotten stayed a prevalent controversial figure in pop culture. 

Sex Pistols were game changers, to some one of the best punk bands in history to others angry teenages that just wanted chaos but regardless of both arguments, they were five normal people who made an other worldy difference to music and pop culture forever. 

The Specialist diecast model sale held on the 11^th of January included five private owner collections. Starting with The Welsh Collection, which featured Corgi models, including Heavy Haulage, buses and coaches, road and racing cars, farm vehicles, and gift sets, plus books, catalogues and reference material,  railway/steam related books, a ps4, Character Toys figures, Dr Who, James Bond, Gerry Anderson and Star Wars related items plus others. The sale also included Corgi, Dinky, Matchbox, and Hot Wheels vehicles in a Private Owner Collection, plus The Leicestershire Collection, The Tyne & Wear Collection, and The Kent Collection featured Johnny Lightening Topper Toys. Further items in the sale included Britains tractors, a large selection of cabinets, Minichamps models and a Mountain Bike.  

The Beginnings Of The King Crimson 

In the late 1960?s brothers Micheal and Peter Giles, the former a drummer the latter a bass player, were looking to form a band the two put an advertisement out for a ?singing orangist? to which they would get a reply from a someone named Robert Fripp who was also a musician from Dorset like the brothers, however Fripp had never played the organ he was also not a singer but despite that the three formed a group and went by Giles, Giles and Fripp. 

Giles, Giles and Fripp would release a solitary album in 1968 titled ?The Cheerful Insanity Of Giles, Giles and Fripp? while the album was somewhat successful and the band even making a television appearance the trio wanted to expand their sound so they went about finding new members to join, they first recruited Ian McDonald as keyboard player as well as woodwinds and reeds, soon after McDonald?s then girlfriend Judy Dyble would join the band but she was not in the group for long leaving after herself and McDonald split and lastly joining the group as a lyricist. As the pieces were beginning to fall in place Fripp was wanting to change the bands sound growing sick of the more quaint pop songs Peter Giles was writing istead wanting to use classically inspired melodies and improvisation for ideas, fripp would recommend his friend Greg Lake who was a guitarist to join the band a replace himself or Peter Giles and according to Micheal Giles before his brother was officially replaced he had become disenchanted with the band and had left just before the suggestion of him being replaced came about. 

Now the lineup was set; Robert Fripp on guitars, Greg Lake on bass and lead vocals, Ian Mcdonalds on woodwinds and keys, Micheal Giles on drums and percussion with Peter Sinfeild providing lyrics, King Crimson was officially born and after their first rehearsal on the 13th of January 1969 the band went about writing and recording their debut album.

Debut Masterpiece

On the 10th of October 1969 King Crimson would release ?In The Court Of The Crimson King?, The album upon initial release was a huge commercial success reaching number five in The UK Album Charts and to number twenty eight on The US Billboard 200 Charts and became certified gold. Nowadays the album is considered one if not the most influential progressive rock albums of all time with jazz and blues influences paired with the long and winding mature style of songwriting and instrumentation used throughout its fair to say  ?In The Court Of The Crimson King? has become a timeless album as synonymous with the band as it is the progressive rock genre even finding its way into modern popular culture in a completely different genre when the classic track ?21st Century Schizoid Man? was sampled by American rapper Kanye West in his song ?Power?. 

Line-Up Changes, Line-Up Changes, Line-Up Changes!

While ?In The Court Of The Crimson King? was a success for the band, for some members the rising success became a huge problem, with Giles and McDonald worried that the musical direction of the band wouldn?t provide continued success and wanting to go down a more nuanced and lighter romantic sound whereas Fripp was pushing the abdn to a darker and more musically intense sound, so as the US tour came to a close Ian McDonald and Micheal Giles would leave King Crimson and the first line up would play their last show on the 16th of December 1969 in San Francisco just over a year after the band has formed. 

Upon returning to the UK, singer and bass player Greg Lake also decided to leave the band forming the band Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) after this it left Fripp the only active musician in the band and a huge uncertainty for the future of King Crimson giving which is why this period of the bands history gets the ?Interregnum? name. Despite setbacks Robert Fripp and Peter Sinfeild would continue on and start writing the band's second album, Sinfeild would take on the role of operating synthesisers as well as lyricist for the recording of the album Fripp would hire Michael Giles as a session musician drummer as well as Mel Collins as a session musician to play saxophone and Greg Lake agreed to record vocals for the album.

With a makeshift band of sorts put together, recording for King Crimson's second album ?In The Wake Of Poseidon? would start in the January of 1970, after four months of recording the album would be released on the 15th of May 1970 and got to number four in The UK Album Charts becoming the bands highest ever in the UK to date but once the dust had settled on the albums release and generally favourable reception Fripp and Sinfeild were still left without a band to take any of their new material on tour so the pair began looking for new members to permanently join King Crimson. 

After asking around friends and featured musicians from ?In The Wake Of Poseidon? they had a full band again comprised of; Robert Fripp on guitar, Peter Sinfeild providing lyrics, Mel Collins on saxophone, Gordon Haskell on bass and providing vocals and Andy McCulloch on drums, so it was time for the band to start writing their third album but that wasn?t quite the case. When writing for King Crimson's third studio album ?Lizard? took place only Fripp and Sinfeild did any of the writing while the other three members had zero say in the process. 

?Lizard? would release on the 10th of December 1970 the album had far heavier and prominent jazz influence than the bands previous two albums something that did not resonate well with members of the band especially Haskell and McCulloch who were rhythm and blues players by trade so very much struggled to relate to the musical material on top of this Fripp and Haskell hated the lyrics that Sinfeild was writing, all these extensions rising once again led to Haskal calling it a day with the band first with McCulloch following suit shortly after, this left Fripp in a state of giving up on King Crimson and with Sinfield not being a musician it left Collins to pick up the pieces and search for new members. 

In 1971 the third line-up of King Crimson was formed. Fripp, Sinfeild and Collins had the same roles as before with the addition of Ian Wallace on drums and percussion and Raymond ?Boz? Burrell on bass and providing vocals and with another line up put together King Crimson went on tour for the first since 1969 the shows and concerts were well received among fans but band tension reared its ulgy head again with Fripp having different outlook musically and personally with his bandmates, with Collins, Wallace and Barrel all living rather eccentric and wild lifes while Fripp was drug free leading him to become socially distant from all of them. 

But despite the somewhat fractured relationship between the band they would go on to record King Crimson?s fourth studio album ?Islands?. The album did moderately well commercially in the UK but had a mixed reception from critics who sighted the songs to be the weakest that the band had ever produced with the band members feeling the same sentiment, Fripp still hating Sinfield?s lighter lyrics as well as other band members not liking some of the tracks that were more delicate, ?Lizard? would get to number thirty in the UK and number seventy six in the US becoming the lowest overall performing King Crimson record which led to Fripp telling Sinfield he could no longer work with him and asked him to leave the band after a US tour in December 1971, following closely on from this incident the band would bitterly split up during a rehearsal in January 1972 due to Fripp having huge musical riffs with the rest of the band but they had to fulfil touring duties in the United States so they begrudgingly stayed together to complete the tour and once the tour had concluded Fripp split from the three other members still holding the opinion they wouldn't want to be of the musical direction he envisaged. 

The Trio?s Trilogy 

The next three years for Fripp and subsequently King Crimson were far more stable and fruitful as far as musical direction was considered as he recruited two musicians who specialised in a more free flowing jazz fusion sound, bassist and vocalist John Wetton and drummer Bill Bruford who, while Yes were at a career high commercially, left the band favouring the darker sound of King Crimson as well as percussionist Jamie Muir and keyboard player and violinist David Cross. 

Now a set band all on the same page musically they went about recording a fifth studio album to be titled ?Larks? Tongues In Aspic? that would be released on the 23rd of March 1973 the album was a mix of jazz fusion with European free improvisation throughout with a lot of instrumental textures provided by percussion as well as the use of a single violin with other harder hitting portions of tracks being reminiscent of heavy metal. The album was well received critically and commercially and is considered one of King Crimson's best pieces of work. 

King Crimson would tour with ?Larks? Tongues In Aspic? until late 1973 which upon completion Jamie Muir would depart from the band and quit the music industry all together, not to be thrown off by the departure, the four remaining members began work on their sixth studio album ?Starless And Bible Black?, for this album the band would use majority live recordings from improvisational passages they would try out during shows and blending them with studio recordings, the album was another hit with each members role in the sound praised and the albums long instrumental improvisations very impressive with the variety of tones they provide. 

After the release of ?Starless And Bible Black? King Crimson?s sound had somewhat been perfected with Fripp perfectly placed Brudford and Wetton?s immensely loud and powerful sound but this left one problem Cross?s amplified acoustic violin was getting progressively more and more drowned out which led to his frustrations rising and becoming distant from the rest of the band and with the situation never getting any better a vote was cast for if Cross should stay in the band and he was voted out. 

Now all that was left of King Crimson were the trio that began the new era in the first place they quickly got to work on the seventh studio album ?Red?  following many of the same recording tropes from their previous effort in using live improvisations from shows as tracks and adding studio parts where necessary, ?Red? was also the heaviest outing for King Crimson the three band members making a dense prog rock wall of sound thanks to layering of instruments and with an incredibly tight chemistry when playing. ?Red? was released on the 6th of October 1974 and is considered another of King Crimson?s greats like the other two records the trio of Fripp, Wetton and Bruford record together but it would be their third and final release together. 

Hiatus? And King Crimson In The 80?s, 90?s And Beyond

Around August time in 1974 two months before the release of ?Red? Fripp was becoming progressively more disillusioned with the band and the music industry as a whole, the album was still released on time and they did tour it but on the 25th of September 1974 the band officially disbanded with Fripp stating King Crimson ?ceased to exist? and was ?completely over for ever and ever?. 

From the end of King Crimson in 1974 till early 1980 Fripp was completely separated from music but in late 1980 he begun working with artists such as David Bowie, Daryl Hall and Peter Gabriel and had an urge to make a new project not under the King Crimson banner, Fripp was re acquainted with former drummer Bill Brudford and acquired singer and guitarist Adrian Belew and bassist Tony Levin they originally went by Discipline but by mid 1981 they King Crimson was back. 

For the next twenty two years this line up would stay the same and record six albums with editions of members Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto by the late 1990?s, the albums would vary in sound and style as King Crimson always did, their output in the 80?s featuring a new wave sound with elements of post punk amidst the classic progressive rock flavour, the band had another breakup and hiatus but came back in 1995 with ?THRAK? that was again praised for its innovation of two guitarists, two bass players and two drummers playing on the album and the double trio mixing they used for recording. 

To put it simply King Crimson although having one of the rockiest histories in music history as far as a consistent line up is concerned have never failed but to create music that leaves jaws dropped, with continuous reinvention and pushing the boundaries of the progressive rock genre it is clear to see why still today everything they have done from their first release ?In The Court Of The Crimson King? back in 1969 to their last release ?The Power To Believe? in 2003, is considered some of the best of all time.