King Crimson – In The Court Of The Crimson King (An Observation By King Crimson)

I have three pressing of this album: 1st Uk pink Island, MFSL and 1st US pressing on Atlantic Monarch.

I rank the UK 1st press far superior.....just a more organic sound than all others in my ears. The MFSL is clean nice sounding pressing but a bit compressed to my ears and not as open as the UK press....or even the US pressing. Closer you are to the original pressing better off you are. for original sound quality. I know this will start a bit of a fuss but some new pressings are cleaned up and digitally transferred and not fully analogue which I know is NOT always better BUT I prefer it. These are musical artifacts to me!! It really comes down to personal preference BUT since many are post CD and digital era listeners ...they expect silent sterile sounding recordings. IT is all opinionated anyway. Lets enjoy

The claim of original master recording of this album has been dubious in the past claims. Fripp admitted the original masters werent discovered until 2003 ..thought to be lost as previously stated by another poster.

A great release by MFSL solid quiet, nice separation wide soundstage. However, nothing to go ooh ahh about, still on par with the quality of pressing as expected by a MFSL offering. In essence they did not screw it up nor did they issue anything magical... just solid quality pressing.

I have a few MFSL pressings, and enjoy them greatly. However, their edition of King Crimson's debut is faulted by a glaring fact that most people seem to ignore. The original master tapes to "In the Court of the Crimson King" were lost until 2003, so for MFSL to label this as an "original master recording" is a blatant lie. It was sourced, like all other reissues, from back-up tapes. So this pressing is at least one generation removed from the master tapes, and thus suffers from a loss in sound quality. I recently compared this edition to the 2019 50th anniversary edition that was done by Steven Wilson. Up until this point, I would've given the edge to the MFSL issue over the 40th anniversary that Steven did, simply because he had just started his practice at remastering classic prog albums. However, ten years of mastering experience played into Steven's favor. The 2019 remaster is the best I've ever heard this album perform. This is only the second time I'd admit that the MFSL edition is not the best. In my opinion, the best editions are as follows:

1. 2019 Steven Wilson Remix
2. MFSL
3. 2009 Steven Wilson Remix = Original UK Pink Island

After a back to back comparison, the 2010 re issue is excellent if you're looking to fill a spot in your shelf with an occasional play, but if this LP is one of your desert island picks, get the MFSL, it wins over the re issue. Now to find a nice 1st UK to audition, based on other reviews, I'm looking foward to it. [hopefully I won't have to spend what the MFSL cost]

My two cents.... I own several versions and this is the best one I have heard. The output is slightly lower than most pressings but the spacial quality and inner detail is much improved. If you have an audio system capable of the highest resolution, it is worth it. If your set up is not, save your money and enjoy the music. After all, enjoying the music is the point, no?

Question to anyone who owns this release: how does this sound?