Since King Crimson’s 2025 “elemental” remix of Lizard was such a disaster, I wanted to go back to the prior year to check out the similar approach taken on Red, done to commemorate that album’s 50th anniversary and the second in this elemental series.
The conceit of these remixes is to strip away some of the instrumental sections, add or highlight others that weren’t a big part of the original mix, and offer an alternate idea of what the album could have sounded like (at least to producer David Singleton, who helms this projeKct). This wouldn’t work with all genres, of course, but doing it with intricate progressive rock is a neat idea for deconstruKction and very much in line with Robert Fripp’s overall ethos.
One runs the risk of fan backlash though due to the devotion to the original Red, the final album of the band’s second lineup and repeatedly a Top 3 contender for best KC effort (it was more popular stateside originally). But the ferocious instrumental title track that opens the album allays these fears; it sounds almost identical to the original. “Fallen Angel” also hews fairly close to its final mix, with the biggest change being the removal of the percussion from the initial two minutes and pushing the saxophone and oboe (or cornet? Not sure which) to the forefront, plus giving the song a proper ending.
“One More Red Nightmare” is also quite good, following the template of “Angel” by turning up some of the background instruments that were drowned out in the heavy original mix, so there are multiple solos going on at once. It’s chaos, and in the spirit of Red. So far, so good, halfway done.
Since “Providence” was a live improvisational piece, Singleton opts to remove it from the tracklist and replace it with some of Bill Bruford’s percussion overdubs. In the context of the song they make sense, but isolated it’s just some dude randomly hitting cymbals at random times, and it’s an utter waste of time.
And then, the grand opus “Starless,” which opens with… a 90-second oboe solo, just what we all wanted, before getting to the piece proper, which sounds like the original, but again pushes the woodwinds and horns to the front as equal instruments. The rest of the song is just fine, though, at least to my ears.
Other hardcore fans (the only KC fans there are, really) may take umbrage with the changes, and that’s fine. This elemental mix version isn’t meant to be an update on the album, but rather a different way to hear it and appreciate all that went into the songwriting, even if the final versions buried some of the collaborators’ efforts back in 1974. It probably won’t take anyone’s place over the original, but it’s a neat way to experience a prog-rock classic differently from time to time.