“It was an awful mistake to overlook his album. But you could be excused for not sticking with it”: Fired by King Crimson, this prog poet assembled a group of A-list colleagues and took them on a trip into the unknown. They got lost – or so it seemed

(MANDATORY CREDIT Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images) Pete Sinfield interviewed at office in London, 1975, London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images).

Pete Sinfield was best known as lyricist during King Crimson’s early stages, and went on to write words for ELP and others. In 1973 he released his first and only solo album, Still, which was generally misunderstood and overlooked. In 2009 Prog argued for its re-evaluation.

The name Pete Sinfield may not mean much to the casual prog observer; but to aficionados his identity will always be linked to King Crimson. As the band’s lyricist and, to a degree, Robert Fripp’s artistic muse, Sinfield wrote the words for the first four Crimson albums – in a time where progressive rock bands could employ outside verbiage vendors without embarrassment.