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HISTORICAL FACTS: 4 - The Untold Story

“Jesus, that was hard! But I got it. I welcome the challenges”: Guitar hero Steve Vai reveals the difficulties of playing King Crimson music - and how he gets by with a little help from Robert Fripp

“I’m a fan and want to play the exact notes,” Vai says

MusicRadar

Former King Crimson bassist Peter Giles now a gold medal-winning athlete at the age of 80

How former Giles, Giles & Fripp and King Crimson bass player Peter Giles became a gold medal-winning athlete

Louder

“Almost overnight after the Sex Pistols, prog rock came to a halt”: 1977 was the supposedly the year punk killed prog. The truth is very different

Exploding the myth that progressive rock’s ‘dinosaurs’were finished off by punk

Louder

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“She blends her beloved characteristics with those of King Crimson, Genesis and Porcupine Tree”: Tori Amos’ From The Choirgirl Hotel is prog in its truest sense

1996 album opens with arguably her proggiest song then delivers figurative lyrics, rhythmic shifts and style change-ups

Louder

Steven Wilson's return to the prog fold features on the front cover of the new issue of Prog Magazine, which is on sale now!

Plus Bill Bruford, Dream Theater, Readers' Poll Results, Jon Camp, Neal Morse, Mogwai, Tiger Moth Tales, White Willow, Matt Berry, Marko Hietala, Ritual and loads more

Louder

Celebrating 50 years of Iron Maiden with exclusive all-new interviews - only in the new issue of Classic Rock

Also in this issue: Larkin Poe, Gillan, Manic Street Preachers, Thin Lizzy, The Pogues, King Crimson, The Knack, Ricky Warwick, Shaman's Harvest, Brian Fallon, Von Hertzen Brothers and more

Louder

“There was no way we would cancel the gig, but there were no guitars, amps, pedals, or anything. How am I going to make the show work for Steve Vai?” When Steve Vai’s gear got lost in transit, his tech stepped in to save the day

Incredibly, Doug MacArthur sourced a full live rig in just four hours so the show could go on

Guitar World

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Andy Summers and Robert Fripp's Complete Works 1981-1984 to be released in March

The four-disc Andy Summers and Robert Fripp's Complete Works 1981-1984 features previously unreleased material and new mixes

Louder

“Try playing Three Of A Perfect Pair without feeling your fingertips!”: Adrian Belew has carpal tunnel surgery following tour with prog supergroup BEAT

The former King Crimson guitarist was operated on by the surgeon responsible for the first successful human hand transplant in America

MusicRadar

“Throughout the Beat tour, my left hand kept going numb and burning like fire”: Adrian Belew recovering after undergoing carpal tunnel surgery

The “world-renowned” surgeon who took charge of the surgery is a King Crimson fan

Guitar World

At last! Toyah Willcox and Robert Fripp have unleashed their inner punk

Watch all the action unfold in Worcestershire's rowdiest kitchen

Louder

“Our producer chopped down the songs to four minutes… the originals were much longer and stretched out”: King Crimson fan and Saxon vocalist Biff Byford narrowly missed out on being a prog musician

Twists of fate prevented him from following his original ambitions – but his band still use Robert Fripp’s music at sound checks

Louder

“We get past our second show and I get an email from Robert. At the end, he said, ‘Can I make a suggestion?’” How Robert Fripp helped Steve Vai tailor his King Crimson playing on the BEAT tour with one piece of advice

After watching clips of one of the early BEAT shows, the King Crimson guitarist had some words of wisdom for his stand-in regarding an especially tricky track

Guitar World

“I thought it was just going to be a fun little party record, but my grief started leaching into the music”: Devin Townsend is slightly embarrassed by his new album, and that’s a good thing

PowerNerd, the first of three autobiographical albums, was transformed into something unexpected as he began feeling like a liar, and wound up facing his 15-year-old self

Metal Hammer

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MusicRadar

“A lot of the guitar parts were totally within my ability, but there were a couple that I just couldn’t navigate”: Steve Vai reveals the King Crimson riff that had him beat and the tip from Robert Fripp that helped him nail it

Celebrating the ‘80s material of prog trailblazers King Crimson, the BEAT Tour gave Vai a welcome fix of “high-information music” but some of Fripp’s material pushed him to the limit

Guitar World

“This is a guy who worked for Frank Zappa. Frank said to him, ‘Whatever you do, don’t learn how to read music.’ He's all-creative –he's a miracle, really”: Steve Vai on BEAT, being a virtuoso in his 60s – and the Fripp riff he just couldn’t master

He reflects on how Frank Zappa helped him and Adrian Belew, the value of learning from rather than competing with other players and changing rig for his tour with Joe Satriani. But who’s going to be in the SatchVai band?

Louder

"It's unlikely that I'll ever listen to any other Asia albums but only time will tell": Asia upset the prog purists and delight their bank managers on freakishly successful debut album

Featuring members of Yes, ELP and King Crimson, Asia were billed as a prog rock supergroup but kept it concise, to enormous success

Louder

"He’s basically a juvenile delinquent who’s out of control." Bass legend Tony Levin reveals which studio session was the most significant of his storied career

Bassist Tony Levin has played with John Lennon, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, David Bowie and more, but one studio session was more significant than the others

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Louder

We celebrate 50 years of Yes's Relayer on the cover of the new issue of Prog, which is on sale now!

Plus Marillion, Clannad, Pavlov's Dog, Klone, Swallow The Sun, Dilemma and more

Guitar World

“You can rehearse until you’re blue in the face, but once you hit the stage, all bets are off”: How King Crimson was reborn at the hands of Steve Vai and Adrian Belew

2024 Year in Review: The all-star Beat tour brought King Crimson’s music to thousands of eager prog fans

Louder

“I can’t say what it will feel like…I’m wise enough to know I’ve got to hear this before judging”: How King Crimson offshoot BEAT moved from an all-star dream to reality

When Adrian Belew failed to persuade the 80s line-up to reunite, he had to come up with another way of bringing that decade’s three albums back to life – and he did it

Louder

The official film of King Crimson's legendary 1982 Munich show is now free to watch online

Watch Robert Fripp, Bill Bruford, Adrian Belew and Tony Levin unleash the King Crimson beast

Louder

The 10 best King Crimson songs, by Jakko Jakszyk

King Crimson guitarist and singer Jakko Jakszyk picks his 10 favourite tracks by his favourite band

Louder

“The sort of thing which got prog a bad name, but which now seems increasingly bold and ambitious”: 10 essential Greg Lake songs

From King Crimson to ELP and beyond, he left a catalogue of impressive creations from an extraordinary musical journey which included that Christmas song

Guitar World

He's one of the most technically proficient of all prog rock guitarists, and his guitar parts would take several lifetimes to fully comprehend. Dare you enter the court of the Crimson King, Robert Fripp?

We delve into the mad, brilliant lead phrasing and fearsome alternate picking of one of guitar's true masters

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