KING CRIMSON

King Crimson - In the Wake of Poseidon (1970)

Every band can try to copy the King Crimson sound... except for King Crimson itself..?

Like VdGG King Crimson did two albums in this important year for progressive music. The first (Poseidon) had a formula based on their famous début, the second (Lizard) with a total new approach with a lot of jazz and avant-garde elements. After there big shot In the Court of the Crimson King, KC had to proof themselves as a band that was to stay. Robert Fripp must have though that he could copy the formula of side one of the debut and do some experimentation on side two of the record. The record eventually got bashed for this naive idea, but I don't think it's a good reason to bash an otherwise great record.

Pictures of a City has that psychedelic jazz-rock feel with the screaming guitar-parts and the many rhythmical technical parts in the middle sections. Some wind instrument complete the jazzy landscape to create the second best rocking' jazz track ever made. Cadance and Cascade reflects the gentle side of KC. The composition is as warm as I talk to the Wind, but fails to be as magical. Still a great ballad that makes me feel very peaceful. I love to play it on the piano myself. In the Wake of Poseidon the track is a symphonic masterpiece on it's own. Such great mellotrons, melodies and vocals. This track touches me and is as magical as it's blueprint Epitaph.

On side two a more interesting, inventive style is created. Cat Food is a KC song that doesn't sound like any other they made. It's a dark jazzy track with screamy rhythmical vocals and a 'gone wild' piano, the baseline is the focus point in the song. This is true progressive thinking! The Devil's Triangle is a dark mellotron symphony without any concessions to their melodic sound. It's dissonant with a marching rhythm section. This could have been used for a horror-movie! With the finally Piece - an End we do come to peace after the worrying previous track. The melodies are nice and gentle, but the recording is a bit shy. It should have had more volume.

Conclusion. Side one isn't very inventive, but side two brakes all the rules. That's inventive enough for me. By the way... if KC is bashed because of this, we could bash 90% of all neo-prog and other symphonic prog ass well. It's one of my favourite KC's and the quality of the compositions is very high. I will give this five stars without a moment of doubt.

King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1973)

The big dilemma...

The progress Robert Fripp's Crimson made in just four years is unbelievable! First they've set the standard for symphonic prog, secondly they show how to use jazz influences in prog on Lizard. Now the time has come to make all the heavy metal bands of the seventies look like they are shy neighbourhood-friendly bands. This album has a lot of progressive elements; the first trash-metal riff, progressive music with a violin that play's solo parts, a strange guy playing a strange assortment of percussions and totally new harmonic interpretations of rock. Only for this varied combination of inventions this album should be listened to by every listener of progressive music.

Having that said, I don't really like this album very much. The Larks' Tongues in Aspic parts one and two are very good and ground-braking and the gentle song Exiles is worthwhile, but I can't get a kick out of the long violin solo's on side one of the record that seems to nowhere, I find Easy Money to be a bit simple, almost punk-like and can't appreciate the Talking Drum at all. It's just too boring! Some of the material presented is very important, but not every part is very interesting for me on this album. It's not like I have an urge to listen to it, I must talk myself into putting it on.

And there's a big dilemma: I recognise this album as being one of the founding fathers of progressive music, but I don't like it very much. It isn't that I didn't listen to it enough, but I keep getting tired on the middle section of side one and I really dislike the boredom of Talking Drum and partly of Easy Money.

Conclusion. I will give it three stars, for it just 'good' for me. This might have been more attractive for me if they would have replaced some repetitive material of both sided with more melodic structured compositions. Furthermore I would like to say again: This is essential listening!

If you think progressive as an attitude to the music, surely this is not the first progressive rock album. The Soft Machine, Moody Blues, The Family, The Nice, Pink Floyd had truly progressive approach to rock music before, but if think at all the stereotype of progressive rock, In the court of the crimson king is the first 100% prog album in rock history. Anyway, first or no first prog album is surely one the best album in rock history a masterpiece that everybody should own. 21st century is an incredible opener for this album, a song in advance of 30 years in rock history and in the following tracks KC codify the symphonic prog rock.

I don`t agree with the rating on this CD... For me it deserves 4 or 5 BECAUSE

Comparing this one to others works like RED or 21st.... it seems to be less creative and more pop-ish

BUT

according to its year of release IT IS A PERFECT DECENT ROCK POP ALBUM and it is PROGRESSIVE TOO!

songs like heartbeat are for those 80`s pop lovers

neil and jack and me is for ME.... I mean, I love that song =)

and the rest of the songs,, neurotica (the most progressive piece), waiting man, requiem are really nice and complex

I hope the rating will raise for this great CD

CHeers and sorry about my bad english

Deception of the Thrush: A Beginners Guide to ProjeKcts is a compilation album by UK progressive rock act King Crimson. The album features songs from the ProjeKct albums by the band. The ProjeKct concept is a concept the band invented to be able to tour and record music without having to gather all six members of the band, but rather work in smaller groups while still using the King Crimson name. Wether it be three or four members of the band playing together in different constellations Robert Fripp is the only constant. I haven´t heard the original ProjeKct albums so I don´t know how much you´re missing out on by only owning Deception of the Thrush: A Beginners Guide to ProjeKcts but for me this compilation is more than enough.

The music on the album is mostly instrumental improvisations, but there are what seems like some structured pieces and bits in the songs. The music is rather experimental rock/ fusion and the playing is very impressive at times. Personally I prefer more structured compositions and after a while I lose interest and even though the music is quite atonal and challenging it kind of becomes background music for me. Not because the music isn´t interesting, but because it lacks memorable hooks. That´s of course an aquired taste and I´m sure the more dedicated fans will enjoy this more than I do. The production and the musicianship on the compilation are excellent. A 3.5 star rating is deserved.

Great, but overrated.

You should listen to this album, you should own this album. But it's no masterpiece. I find it mildly amusing how people go around calling this the essential prog album, it's boring. It's not exiting, it's a boring and stiff record. The tracks by themselves aren't bad (besides I Talk to the Wind), three of them are great. Epitaph and the title track are both fairly similar, loaded with mellotron and bombastic in nature. It's stereotypical prog. It's basically mellotron music for mellotron enthusiasts. I like mellotron, but listening to these tracks is like being hit over the head with one, and those things are big and heavy. Great tracks, but I would personally cut down on the mellotron.

21st Century Schizoid Man perhaps is the best track on the album. That feels slightly wrong. Am I supposed to think so? It's such a non-complex thing to say. It's an hard rock track, while it's experimental, it's raw and it doesn't feel like some of the later King Crimson stuff. It's a full on hard rock track, and I love it. The vocals are slightly off, buzzy and rough. I can't find anything wrong with that.

Moonchild, I like this one. Some people seem to hate it. They absolutely trash it. "It's just pretentious gibberish". And yes, that's right. It is pretentious gibberish, but that's what great about it. It's random noises along with a mellow feel. It's awesome, without doubt one of the better tracks on the album. Yes I know only an avant-garde loving prog rocker would admit to random noises being better than Epitaph and In The Court of the Crimson King (song). If you happen to disalike Avant-Garde, you won't like it. Don't try and prove me wrong, that would be like for a rock to attempt flying.

I don't like I Talk to the Wind. I don't even want to spend my time writing about why I don't like it. It's just a boring track. I don't like it.

To sum it all up. It's a great album, it's overrated though. You should buy it, it's not the best Crimson album, it's not one of the essential prog albums. It's a great album, so, four stars. It's an excellent addition to any prog rock music collection.

Incredible experimental rock of King Crimson reaches its highest point.

Every time I put it on I get a shiver, however to get into this album I needed about half year. Not till than I realize how perfect and truly progressive "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" is. With this effort King Crimson made yet another revolution not only in progressive rock but also in experimental music as whole.

The improvisatory approach is most to see on the title song which first part opens and the second closes the album. Heavy guitar riff, using of electronic devices and percussion parts are only as example for innovative work on the record. Unmentionable would be also the finest Mellotron and violin play. Unless every track on the album is great, the outstanding highlight is "Easy Money", catchy, violent and heavy track, which will be for years the trademark of the band. Also the short ballad "Book of Saturday" plays its part, adding with Mellotron touch of magic.

King Crimson has so many faces that it's very hard to point out the first-rate album but this effort is undeniable one of their finest. Still impossible to compare with pastoral "Islands" or emotional "ITCOTCK" this album makes its own history. It's essential and still up-to-date.

A disturbing one. Really, REALLY disturbing. "Starless And Bible Black" is partly composed of live tracks ("The first part of "The Night Watch", and all the instrumental tracks) and some studio tracks ("Lament", "The Great Deceiver" and the remainder of "The Night Watch"). 6 tracks on side A, only 2 on side B. Radically, this is an album conceived for the vinyl format. On CD, there is a loss of its power. Just because, on vinyl, you have to return the disc, and to listen to 20 minuytes of terrifying and creepy music, to finish to listen to the entire album. There was a sense, in returning the black vinyl disc. Which sense disappeared with the CD reissue. (Sorry if I'm a little bit cryptic, my english is not as good as it would be, I'm French.)This album rocks. Rules. 8 tracks, no bad ones here. On the first side, 6 tracks from 3,40 minute to 5,40 minute-long. Short tracks, so. Very disturbing tracks, sometimes beautiful ("The Night Watch", "Trio"), sometimes eerie, creepy ("The Mincer", "We'll Let You Know"). A kind of step down right into Hell. Side B, "Starless And Bible Black", 9 minutes of pure experimental instrumental madness. And the 11 minutes of the great "Fracture", which is a very, very, very frightening performance. Violent and creepy. Like a dozen of chainsaws. Welcome to Hell. This album will tear you into small pieces. And you'll love it for that. Sacher-Masoch isn't far. In fact, this album is really in a SM mood. Crimso's complete and terminal masterpiece.

Really inferior to all the previous Crimso releases, and inferior to "Three Of A Perfect Pair" and "THRAK", but in no way a bad album. Too short (35 minutes, the shortest Crimso album), too poppy, but there are really great tracks here, like "Sartori In Tangier", "Neal And Jack And Me", "Requiem" or "The Howler" (4 out of 8 tracks, not bad innit ?). The remainder isn't as good, "Heartbeat" is too poppy, "Two Hands" is too quiet, "Neurotica", a little bit too strange, but musically, it's fantastic on the 8 tracks (splendid guitar duels). "Beat", partly dedicated to the Beat Generation, isn't a great album, but it's a very good one anyway. Horrible sleeve art, though.

First I didn't love this album (and this King Crimson era, the 80's), but now, even I'll never love this era more than the 1969-1974 era, I really love it. "Three Of A Perfect Pair" is as great as "Discipline", and much better than "Beat" (which is just good). One side is accessible, pop, perfect in this way ("Model Man", "Sleepless", and the very byrnian, talkingheadian "Man With An Open Heart"), the second side is better, and excessive, progressive, hard to get into ("No Warning", "Dig Me" which is terrifying, "Industry"). In its entirety, this is a cold, strange, hard album. Difficult to get into, but when you're in, it's truly fantastic. For me, the 80's version of "Starless And Bible Black".