King Crimson: Islands

EG Records 1971

Lineup

CODE

Robert Fripp - Guitar, Mellotron, Peter's Pedal Harmonium, and Sundry Implements (what?)
Mel Collins - Flute, Bass Flute, Saxes and Vocals
Boz Burrel (You all know him from Bad Company) - Bass Guitar, Lead Vocals, and Choreography
Ian Wallace - Drums, Percussion, and Vocals
Peter Sinfield - Words, Sounds, and Visions

Featuring:

CODE

Keith Tippet - Piano
Paulina Lucas - Soprano
Robin Miller - Oboe
Mark Charig - Cornet
Harry Miller - String Bass

The fourth and final album of the original phase of King Crimson. After this album Fripp dropped the entire symphonic sound and gave "Sinfield the ejector seat." (as someone else has said). For it's own part this album seems (at least to me) on of King Crimson's weakest efforts, as it lacks any of the polish or self-assurance that was already expected of the band.

Formentera Lady has a very sparse opening with Miller's string bass. It mostly consists of poetry, and random and various dense noises by the band on what I'm assuming to be the "sundry implements." Harry Miller's string bass sounds would be later revisted heavily on the album Red, especially on the opening of the track "Fallen Angel." (probably due to the fact that Harry Miller returned for that) This song continues as sung poetry for quite sometime before breaking into the major pentatonic song. The groove is extremely happy, something very odd for King Crimson, but not bad. Overall the entire piece is disjointed in playing, sounding much like a young band trying to keep up with a metronome and not at all used to it. Also, most of the notes seem out of tune to some degree or another, making this not the most listenable song ever.

Without a true break we shift over (just before the ride cymbal goes from right to center) to the 12/8 jam "Sailor's Tale." This song finds it's lineage from the B section of "Twenty-frist Century Schizoid Man." which followed a similar pattern. However, Fripp soon takes off into directions that would later become the two seminal King Crimson jams "Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part II" and "Fracture." Also from many parts of this track later Crimson songs would be penned from. I have no doubt that the midsection with the constant thin mellotron and Fripp completely solo over the top of it became the solo in the middle of "Easy Money," and would not be suprised if that's where the whole song came from. There is also brief measure long quips that seem to point towards "Exiles." Not the best jam that King Crimson has ever played but certainly the birthplace of many musical ideas and themes, a very important track.

I'm not to sure what to say about "The Letters," it's a small bit of, as others have described it, melodrama. In the middle of it I thought that I spied a small string alternation of root, M3rd, root, b5, which has become a standard riff since it's first definite use by John Wetton in "Fracture."

Ladies of the Road is by far the bluesiest thing King Crimson has ever done, and not bad either. This is the only track that Boz Burrel seems at home on, and especially during the breakdown section (ladies of the road, ladies of the road, ladies of the road) it does sound very much like a Bad Company song. According to the snippets in the booklet that comes with the 2004 Remaster of this album, at the time this track wasn't particularly welcomed by fans, but I don't find it that unwanted. The general air and material of this song again points towards "Exiles" on Larks' Tongues in Aspic.

I find it very hard to come to any opinion on Prelude: Song of the Gulls. It seems more like an etude or classical excercise than any actual composition.

Islands itself plods lightly like the rest of the album, though better in tune and better in rythmic tightness than some of the other tracks. In the 2004 HDCD remaster I have encountered some horrible noises on the mastering that make this song hard for me to listen to on headphones. Besides a lot of crackling and other noise, there comes near the end during Charig's extended solo a horrible high pitched whine that causes me a lot of pain, and is ohhh so wonderfully, a half step off of the key signature. It's pain pain pain. I'm asuming the original masters are in pretty bad condition. There is also an Easter Egg at the end of this track if you forget to shut it off when it's done.

Overall, a weak King Crimson that I will rarely listen to. This album I'd expect to be the first King Crimson if I didn't know better, it has the sound of a fledgling band just breaking into the business, and I'm not sure why. It could have been an intentional experimentation with sound on their part, I don't know. If it was it's surely an example of what not to do. For it's own merit this album can be dealt entirely without, but if this album was never recorded I don't think we would have ever gotten to enjoy some later gems by King Crimson.

Many have said that 73's Larks' Tongues in Aspic was an entirely new break for King Crimson leaving behind all previous sounds. While the instrumentation and concious effort was different, it pulled on Islands almost as much as In the Wake of Poseidon pulled on In the Court of the Crimson King. For the most part I find that Fripp must have conciously or unconciously, during the 71-73 break, pulled Islands apart and rebuilt it as Larks' Tongues in Aspic, and whatever he did not use there found their way into Red. This album is very important for the progression of bands by the name King Crimson.

Contents

King Crimson: Islands

Lineup

Featuring:

Index