ISLANDS

King Crimson´s fourth album Islands was the only album from King Crimson that I had never listened to prior to visiting Prog Archives. A couple of months ago I purchased Islands because I had a King Crimson revival where I listened to all King Crimson album from an end and ups there was a hole in the discography. To be quite honest I didn´t know Islands existed as I have never been a devoted fan of King Crimson. I must say though that it is an error on my part that I haven´t purchased Island before as it is a really excellent album.

The music is generally a bit softer than on the previous album Lizard, and the sound is very different. Islands has a much softer sound and the music is nice and subtle most of the time. Formentera Lady which starts the album is not my favorite as I think it is too long and that there are too much trivial noodling that closes the song. There are some good parts in the song though. Sailor's Tale is a much better song with nice instrumentation and The Letters is also a good song. But it´s with the last three songs that Islands go from 3 stars to 4 stars. Ladies Of The Road is a great humorous song with some almost Beatesque harmony vocals. It´s a unique song in King Crimson´s discography and a real treat.

Prelude: Song Of The Gulls is a classical and pleasant intro to the title track which is the best song here. Really melodic and beautiful. It´s not very complex but symphonic in a subtle way. So you can say Islands starts a bit weak and ends with a bang.

The musicians play some great things and especially Mel Collins gets to show of his skills. Boz is a new vocalist and he does a fine job without ever reaching excellent. His voice is too generic for that.

The production has an earthy sound and I picture the colour brown every time I listen to Islands. I realize this is a very subjective view but lets just say the production is very organic.

I think Islands is a good album that has excellent moments and I think a 3 star rating is too little but the 4 star rating I´m gonna give is a small 4 star rating. After Islands King Crimson didn´t release a studio album for 2 years and at that time their style and approach had changed radically. Islands is the end of phase one for King Crimson.