Histórias à volta da mítica capa de "In the Court of the Crimsom King".

A página no final do post apresenta uma carta de Peter Sinfield, letrista do grupo, falando sobre o autor, que apenas fez esta capa de disco em toda a sua (curta, morreu com 24 anos), vida.

"A Letter from Peter Sinfield: Dear KJK, I know that face from somewhere....!!!! Barry Godber with his album coverJust to set the record (or to be sure, - its COVER) - straight!!! Barry was very ENGLISH. He was always an artist having studied at Chelsea Art School with the likes of now famous painters such as erm... Dougie Field. He was one of the most charming, beautiful, in face and spirit, mischievious souls I have ever met. A comparison - well a sort of Nick Drake ... but not as "obviously" profound and moody. He was a darlin' man. . . He got all the girls. . . I used to watch and follow him around with a mixture of admiration and envy. Now the great irony. Perhaps, tired of charming his way through the psychadelic puddles of swinging London instead of applying himself to his ART he decided to get a "real job". We will forever wonder why. Anyway he joined me at a company called at the time -"English Electric Computers" (later ICL) and become, as I had been for many years, a computer operator / programmer...this was a fantastic job to have at the time .... One - we were working, albeit with punched cards and paper tape and those big flicking backwards and forwards reels of tape that you see in old SF movies. Two - we worked shifts and thus having worked so many nights etc ... had days and days of freedom to get very very stoned. You are waiting for the irony ... OK here tis... not long after Mad Bad Barry decided to become less SO... Tired of being told to wear the suit and cut the hair. One day I walked into my bosses office ( Mr. Smith... no really) and handed in my resignation . . .and informed him I was leaving to be FREE and to become a songwriter. As I recall among his "are you sure" and other words he told me kindly that "my job would be here when I needed it back. . . . ." (Which certainly burnt that bridge!) - So thus my admired free-rogue of a friend Barry Godber joined and I, with much trepidation, left the grey stream. Anyway after the traditional year of starving I met an amazing man called Ian McDonald who said (and this is true) "well I don't think your band is much good but you write some interesting words - you wanna try and write....." He went on to join Giles Giles and Fripp -- me follow on as roadie . . light man.... lyricist ...rename/frame band person - er, the rest is 'istory. While finishing the first album , in need of a cover , I played some of the tracks to Barry (one of the few Artists I knew) and for some reason I had a feeling he would . . . . which he did!! (much to Michael Giles' horror) and then just after hundreds of record shop windows' were full of his art (his face incidentaly in a mirror) he went and died on us. Which to say the least: was inconsiderate of him. I miss him. And I don't much go in for regret and/or missing people. Very best wishes, Peter SinfieldUK14 July 1999

Duas versões alternativas da capa:

http://www.batguano.com/bgma/godber.html

A propósito, está já disponível na Amazon a edição do 40º aniversário, em stereo e 5.1, com Steven Wilson dos Porcupine Tree na mesa de mistura, com a benção e o respeito de Robert Fripp. Por cá ainda não a vi, bem como às edições de "Lizard" e "Red".

As palavras de Steven Wilson na página oficial do grupo:

“For me this is the birth of progressive rock. Yes there were other albums before that. You could say Sgt. Peppers or Moody Blues Days Of Future Passed have a claim to laying down a blueprint of progressive rock but ITCOTCK really is the first time you have such technical prowess allied to musical experiments, great songwriting, and a conceptual feeling all tied together in one record. I think musicianship is the key here. Bands like The Beatles and the Moody Blues attempted very ambitious psuedo-progressive albums before, but Crimson was the first time you had a band that were able to go that one step further in terms of their musicianship. They were young guys full of ideas and ambition and I really think you have to say that this is the true point at which progressive rock is born, and some would say never bettered. Some people snigger at the idea of progressive rock but for me when progressive rock was at its peak in the 69 - 74 period it was the most experimental, most credible, most ambitious music that has ever been made. The guys were reaching for the stars and very often got there."