STARLESS AND BIBLE BLACK

Starless and Bible Black usually gets less love than it's neighbors, Lark's Tongues and Red. Although they're all brilliant - it's King Crimson - I prefer Starless and Bible Black to Lark's Tongues. The latter is a little TOO free-jazz for me; it's too unstructured. Starless and Bible Black finds a great balance of elements.

One of the reasons I love Starless so much is the way the songs are arranged. Whatever reason the band had for grouping the short songs on side one and the two long ones on side two, it works for me. It emphasizes the variety of material on the album. The aggressiveness of later albums is here in "The Great Deceiver" and "We'll Let You Know".

The symphonic influence is here in "Starless" and " Trio". It's a real shame that David Cross' string playing didn't continue as part of the band's sound. "We'll Let You Know" is as funky as you could ask for. "Trio" could be the most beautiful song King Crimson ever produced. It's hard to find things to criticize here; this whole album is better than 95% of what you're going to hear on rock music radio. "Starless and Bible Black" gets 4 1/2 stars.