King Crimson Starless and Bible Black

Released: 1974 on EG Records.

Lineup

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David Cross - Violin, Viola, Keyboards
Robert Fripp - Guitar, Mellotron, Devices
John Wetton - Bass and Voice
William Bruford - Percussives
Richard Palmer-James - Lyric

Tracklist

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The Great Deceiver
Lament
We'll Let you Know
The Night Watch
Trio
The Mincer
Starless and Bible Black
Fracture

The 6th studio album by various bands of the name King Crimson, after 73's Larks' Tongues in Aspic with almost identical band lineup (SaBB is missing Jamie Muir). Starless and Bible Black is very very heavy rock music, of course in the unique King Crimson idiom. This album is basically a live album, and according to the fans over at Elephant Talk, there were a few studio additions and overdubs that made this technically a studio album. The title is from a radio play by Dylan Tomas called "Under Milk Wood." Dylan Thomas is the poet who wrote the poem "Don't go silently into that long goodnight/rage rage into the dying of the light."

Opens abruptly and loudly with The Great Deceiver. This song, once you listen to it a half dozen times seems to be about the corruption and falseness in modern Christianity, one of Ian Anderson's (of Jethro Tull) popular themes. Unlike Anderson, Palmer-James does not quite have the right knack to pull off this sort of commentary and instead the song sounds like its a scathing attack on Jesus. This in turn has made many of my friends angry and I really can't blame them too much. Beyond the lyrics which some find offensive, this song is great. It seems faster than it actually is, due to the extreme amount of energy put into it. As typical of the entire album, they're not content to sit in one time signaure, and if roves all over the place, suprisingly well. Outro is very good, and the ending repetitive guitar .. blips sound like a b'tch to play, and they lead directly into

Lament: Incredibly good song. Wetton is at his best here, he can sing a sad song almost as well as the Beatles. Lyrics are a sharp contrast to the previous song, and Palmer-James does nicely capture the world of the has-been musician. Violin and guitar call-response is very effective as background to (in the second verse) Wetton's many layered vocals. Transition is good into some... other time signature (6/4?) as the band bops about for a moment before striking two chords and continuing into the third feel. After another verse there is a nicely restrained solo by Fripp along with some nice syncopated clapping that works well. Continues into a very odd 7/16 outro that really really makes me want to dance, if I only knew how. It's proper that it should make me want to dance, last words are "Just say when you want to go and dance all night."

After a long bit of silence, King Crimson does funk, We'll Let you Know. Interesting but lacks in attention span. However, there is some great interplay in this piece (which I believe to be all live improv). The song really picks up well when towards the end Bruford enters a solid funk beat with a great fill. Abruptly afterwards the entire grove ends, some trade of of isolated notes, and thats it.

This next piece is probably the closest thing to a hit off this album (as if Crimso ever had hits). The lyrics are based on a painting of the same name by Rembrandt. user posted image Opening comes very slowly and softly, cacophanous is a good word to describe it. The majority of the song is well restrained and guitar driven, Fripp on a heavy Leslie effect with many harmonics. Also is a fuzzboxed guitar part for each chorus, and a very busy solo in the midst of the song. I think the Leslied clean guitar was the studio addition but don't quote me on that. Interesting vocals by Wetton again, who in my opinion was a much better singer than bassist (average bassist and exceptional singer). Nice ending choice of words, and the band obviously responded well to the words in the music they wrote.

Trio is the prettiest thing King Crimson ever played and one of the pretiest songs ever recorded. Only problem is you can't hear it for the first half unless you have headphones on in a dead silent house. Classic Mellotron flute voice, Violin, and Bass guitar (emphasis on guitar, you'll hear why.) Bruford (drums) decided to not play at all for this when it was recorded live, and it was a very very wise choice. Every time I hear this song I have visions of a far cyan-and-green pasture land, quaint English countryside, and very blurry too, ethereal and dreamy. The interplay on this instrumental improv is almost perfect. It's impressive that Wetton didn't play his bass like a bass, and instead played it like a guitar, with plenty of descending bass with appregio. At the very very end of the song, Fripp keeps trying to play around with intervals on the Mellotron, and it does get a bit destracting when he lands on low tonal center (ahhh the end) hits the 5th below (wait nope its.. uhh) and then fumbles up to the 6th (??) but it doesn't really hurt the song. Overall, it's so beautiful. As far as I am concerned, everyone needs to hear this song, it's a magnificient gem that has unfortunately been buried in the past because no one listens to King Crimson.

And because they can, they go from the prettiest song they ever recorded directly to the most evil song they have ever recorded. The Mincer, sounds intimidating right of the bat, with atonal violin scraping noises over a dreadful atmosphere. It builds and builds in forboding intensity with plenty of evil bass, drums, Fripped-out guitar evilness, and other atmospherics (they love improvs) until near the end (obvious studio addition) multi-layers of Wetton come in. Annoyingly the lyrics aren't in the cover insert so...

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Fingers reaching,
Fingers reaking,
Jump with a scream!
Goodnight, honey.
You're all alone,
Baby, breathing.
They come better looking,
But they don't come mannered.

Not conclusive but I've always felt this song was about Jack the Ripper, the music certainly fits that sort of demonic shredding of human flesh. At the very very very end after "mannered" the song literally disintergrates. On Elephant Talk.net I found a review on the song "One More Red Nightmare" on the next album that mentioned something about the song melting away because the tape fell off the end of the reel. Since this does not at all describe One More Red Nightmare, and it does perfectly describe The Mincer, I think they just stuck that in the wrong review.

Starless and Bible Black itself is a very long instrumental improv that is merely dark compared to The Mincer's demonicness. I never really could get into it myself, but it's not bad. The end of the track has some nice playing by Cross, root, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, root, b7, and down to the 5th. Almost sounds like a whole tone scale but it's not.

Fracture is a Fripp masterpiece. 11:12 in length and worth every bit of it. It's a total b'tch to play and may I say welcome to multiple-meter-hell. Song runs through a hell of a lot of time signatures, melody in 5/4. Has some running sections that follow a pattern of (measure each) 6/4 5/4 4/4 6/8, repeating, with variations. This song is supposed to be only a pre-planed guitar part, for mathematical preciseness, with the rest of the band improving over the top. I don't know about any other versions of Fracture, but I can say this album version is wonderful, I would never have guessed it to be improv, the band throws out so many and such strong musical ideas. It's a wonderful refinement of the already awesome musical ideas in Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part II from the previous album, only this song ascends in major 3rds as opposed to LTiA's minor 3rds. Speaking of major, here in Fracture, Fripp reprises his earlier melodic theme from Pictures of a City (In the Wake of Poseidon 1970) and Lizard (Lizard 1970) in a new variation. Those older albums featured a ascending then descending root, minor3rd, 4th, b5th, whereas Fracture features the same idea only root, major 3rd, b5th, 5th. Also the bass root, major3rd, b5th idea would become a staple of 90's King Crimson, especially prominent on Elektrik from Power to Believe (DMG 2003). Perfect closing to the album and full of incredible energy, never fails to pump me up, great motivator.

Overall this I think had the potential to be the best King Crimson album, but it did fall short. I chose to cite the fact that this was all live performances and as such weren't as musically tight, compared to Larks' Tongues in Aspic where the band did the tour first and then using that to perfect the songs, subsequently recorded the studio album. I don't know the whole backstory though. Also, because it is live the sound is a bit more drab than a good stuido engineering, and I'm sure that effects the mind's subtle impression, I'm not sure how the 2004 HDCD remaster changes this, I own the '89 "Definitive Edition." There is still something here in the music that despite it not ending up as great as In the Court of the Crimson King or Discipline, makes it my favourtie King Crimson album released. I of course, recommend it.

Additional Note

Woah, so I finally picked up the HDCD 30th Anniversary Edition. I am so glad I did.

Like I suspected this album was in dire need of a remaster. To my ears it's like a whole new album, especially with the extended bit range. Instead of one monotonous smothering sound the entire album each instrument is now clear and distinct, and Bruford's drumming is not just a sheet of crashing noises but now you can hear individual cymbals very clearly. Plus, bottom end has been increased in range, with lower frequencies (or at least sounding lower) than before. The only thing that seems to have been lost in the proccess is some of the ambiance of Trio. The flat drab sound of the 1989 Definitive Edition worked well for the Trio, giving it a mellow sleepy ethereal quality. This 2004 version cleans the track a bit, improves the levels (you can actually hear the mellotron in the begining without straining for it), and makes the track sound live. Unfortunately I feel this has killed the particular sound it had, it may be I was just used to that sound for that track. It doesn't however, destroy the song itself, it's still a jem.

This release to my ears is the most significant improvement of sound quality of any of the 30th Anniversary Editions I have bought, even over the improvement on In the Court of the Crimson King.

Seriously, if you want this album BUY THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION! (And bring your own figurine)