Since none of you Looky-Lous have seen fit to post a reply, I'm just going to blather on a subject I have difficulty with: explaining my love of all things Crim.
The thing I love most about King Crimson is that it is always changing. They started out playing what was called progressive rock and then, when that form of music hit a temporary dead end, called it quits and went into hibernation.
When Crimson reemerged in 1981, their music reflected the influences of other prog-rock bands but also reminded me of Talking Heads, Brian Eno, Jimi Hendrix (esp. Adrian Belew's guitar playing.) I saw them for the first time that year and was absolutely blown away by the sheer power of their music and their virtuosity. Tony Levin is one of the best bass players period and one of the nicest people I've ever met. Bill Bruford: a jazz drummer who can play rock and jazz. Adrian Belew: one of the nicest guys on planet Earth who can make a guitar sound like almost anything. Robert Fripp: the center around which Crimson operates. A master guitarist who can play any kind of music with discipline and passion.
From 1981-1985, they made some of the most challenging music you'll ever hear. Not just in 4/4, but in 17/4, 21/8, and other even more difficult meters. But always enjoyable and never static.
Then, another hiatus for KC, re-re-emerging in 1994 as a sextet: two drummers (Bill Bruford and Pat Mastellotto), two bassists (Tony Levin, Trey Gunn), two guitarists (Ardian Belew, Robert Fripp). The drummers played acoustically and electronically. The bassists had 4, 5, 8 and 10 strings on their respective instruments. And Fripp and Belew soared above that foundation with near-unearthly sounds. (See, I told you it wasn't easy to describe.)
The latest and perhaps last statement of KC is The Power to Believe, released in 2004. If this is the capstone of Crimson's musicography, it is a fitting one: powerful and gentle, firm and yielding. Stripped back down to the quartet of Fripp, Belew, Gunn and Mastellotto, this is a group that is willing to take dangerous curves, is happy with what it has to be happy with, and believes in the power to believe. So I close with this quote from Mr. Belew:
"She carries me
Through days of apathy.
She watches over me.
She saved my life
In a manner of speaking
When she gave me back
The Power To Believe."
Further, deponent sayeth not.