LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC

My experience of King Crimson was limited to their debut album for years. While I enjoyed their post-Moodies organ rock, I was never able to reconcile their reputation as musical explorers and visionaries with what I heard on that record. A few weeks ago I picked up Larks' Tongues in Aspic on a hunch, mainly based on a review here that Anglagard's sound was at least partly based on the music of this album. I am so glad I followed that hunch, because this album fits so perfectly with the reputation KC has on this site and elsewhere. It is so much more adventurous and challenging than ITCOTCK, you'd think it was a different band. Of course, with the exception of bandleader Robert Fripp, it is.

This is a classic album with many reviews, so I think the main role of my review is this: for those like me who didn't really buy in to the hype of the debut album, explore the band a bit more. Unlike the symphonic debut, this album truly is eclectic prog and resembles more a mixture of Mahavishnu Orchestra and Gentle Giant than Genesis or Yes. Especially for those with a taste for a little more avant music, this is truly a masterpiece album. The intro and outro tracks are especially experimental, starting with a bell solo and evolving through heavy riffing, interweaving thematic lines, and plenty of dissonance. Nicely, I almost never get the feeling that we're descending into free form chaos. I like my avant music with a sense of structure and this album is a perfect example of that. John Wetton's vocals are more than adequate, though secondary and certainly not what you buy the album for.

For more detail, see the many other reviews of the album. Just know that this is the album to buy when you're looking for the eclectic KC, an almost completely different sound from the symphonic debut.

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