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King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic CD (album) cover

LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC

King Crimson

 

Eclectic Prog

4.42 | 3247 ratings

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volta3
5 stars Not unlike most King Crimson albums, Larks' Tongues in Aspic is an extremely forward-thinking and influential masterpiece of rock music. You can hear the jazz-metal riffage and percussive arrangements of bands like the Mars Volta on the first title track alone (now that's influential)! Without Larks' Tongues... and the magnificent Red, prog metal may not even exist. But that's beside the point: Larks' Tongues... is pretty much the only album of its kind and pushed the boundaries of rock in ways not previously imaginable. The first instrument one hears as they pop the disc into their CD player is an mbira (a.k.a. finger piano) played by the one and only Jamie Muir. After a while, other sounds such as bells and maybe some squeaky violin join the mix and it builds to a heavy as $#!@ riff courtesy of Robert Fripp. That is only the beginning of part one of the title track. Next is Book of Saturday a short jazzy-rock-pop ballad with some cool backward guitar. The following track is Exiles which I don't much care for but it features mellotron and David Cross' violin. After that is my favorite song on the album Easy Money which shows off the amazing improvisational skills of the dual percussion section (prog drum legend Bill Bruford and the aforementioned Jamie Muir). A pair of mindblowing instrumental tracks close the album: The Talking Drum and Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part Two. The former number builds over a sinister but grooving bass line and a solid drum beat with Cross and Fripp playing off each other and interweaving until a climax of what sounds like shrieking saxophones. Then the intense Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part Two begins. This song is full of catchy distorted guitar riffs, complex drumming, and the clunking and clanging of sheet metal. It is probably one of the best Crimson instrumentals in their entire catalog and is a more than appropriate close to an album that is beyond exceptional. Any fan of music should listen to Larks' Tongues in Aspic for its inventiveness, ground-braking improvisations, and eclectic blend of musical genres.
volta3 | 5/5 |

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