LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC

Deserves NOTHING but 5 stars, this! The true validation of what King Crimson stands for, the effort to justify its band's name and the first (out to three) not to have section whcih are overlong neither underdeveloped. Oh, and it sounds just like the title suggests: slowburning and alternating between a dream and a nightmare.

The process leading to this album also forever changed the outlooks its members previously held not least because of the influence of strangeman visionary Jamie Muir and his industrial kitchen utensils omnipresent in every soundscape here and whose echoes will continue until King Crimson's "ultimate" dissolution in 1974.

To descibe the music is ridiculous and there are no highlights in a Himalaia, but the listener must be warned to get ready for truly heavy metal music without bullsh*t and populism, this is music in the service of an aim and whatever happens during its course is serving it, keeping the tension from Muir's initial chant on the mbiras to Bruford's faint conversation.

Larks' Tongues In Aspic" is one of my favourite albums of all time: I can easily recall being scared of it the first time I experienced it (believe it or not, Trey Gunn, later to play in KC, felt the same), and it is an impression that keeps living inside me and is awakened every time I listen to this disc - with Red, I consider it essential Crimson and is highly recommended!