STILL

It was interesting to listen what kind of result comes from the musical vision of King Crimson's court lyricist and its musicians without the presence of Robert Fripp. Peter had left the group in bad circumstances, and I believe the lyrics of the fine song "Envelopes of Yesterday" are about this event. John Wetton also played bass on that song, so maybe during the touring and recording breaks of Larks' Tongues in Aspic he secretly visited Command Studios and played on song criticizing Mr. Fripp. I had slightly contradictory feelings about this album, as it has many really wonderful tracks in it, but also some quite terrible among them. Luckily there's only three in my opinion poorer songs against six really excellent tracks, so the scales turn to favorable direction.

The A-side of the album begins with the "Song of The Sea Goat", which is an arrangement of Antonio Vivaldi's "Largo" movement on the famous concerto for guitar & string orchestra in D major. Also Steve Howe has been playing this tune on his solo record and at concerts of Yes. The arrangement here is also successful, and Peter's lyrics are truly astonishing; He is really a master in creating intelligent metaphors and beautiful poetry, and it's a pleasure to even just read his lyrics from the gatefold sleeve without listening to the music. The following "Under The Sky" is also a nice song, tumbling carefully upon ethereally shimmering divine pastures. The album's title song has Peter dictating a poem and Greg Lake singing in the verses, these gentlemen uniting in deep philosophical contemplations.

The B-side starts with earlier mentioned "Envelopes of Yesterday", a minor key moody piece growing with power, perhaps even frustrated anger. Following "The Piper" is a quiet folk music oriented pastoral, painting a portrait of kind little elf with an acoustic guitar and a flute. "A House of Hopes and Dreams" is also a fine and emotional song with great lyrics, which synthesizing perfectly to the dramatics of the music. The last track "Night People" sounded quite irritating to my own ears, though the message of it possibly has a point. Peter is not a very good singer, and especially this tune shows it up quite clearly. But his voice fits well on the more tender tracks, and I admire his courage to put himself front honestly to his creation. "To sleep calmly with confidence among the jaws of the beast", like it could be seen from the album cover illustrations.

I would recommend this to the fans of the jazzy phase of King Crimson, and I consider it a worthwhile album to check out for those with different kind of tastes too. I got my vinyl copy of this with blue colored borders. I have read somewhere that Peter changed his mind on the original pink color when the pressings had already begun, so there are copies with both colors in the markets.