STARLESS AND BIBLE BLACK

Scrolling through these reviews I'm not surprised at all Red is considered the masterpiece and Starless is the headed stepchild. I've found most of the masses go for the glossy streamlined product. Me, I'll take the rougher road less traveled any day of the week.

My history with this album is deep - I found a pirated cassette in a store in my hometown called Big Lots when I was seventeen. My curiousity for prog music was already there from having heard Roundabout many times on classic rock radio. Still, that was pretty much it as I didn't know anybody who liked or collected prog music as a youth. My friends and I used to go to this store to look for music, I remember discovering tapes by the Chi-Lites and the Blind Boys of Mississippi, things like that. Well, when I stumbled upon Starless and Bible Black and saw the name King Crimson, I snatched it up right away, remembering from the liner notes I had read in the Rush Chronicles CD I bought from a used CD store that Geddy's gang used to play King Crimson when they were starting.

If I remember correctly upon leaving the store I popped it straight into the tape player in my 1988 Pontiac Le Mans. The first side I was a bit confused, but upon hearing Starless and Bible Black and Fracture I was mindblown. I had never, ever, ever heard anything like those tracks.

Nobody else in the car thought as I did. I think they wanted me to put back the Jane's Addiction tape.

It took me a while to develop a healthy regard for side A, and while We'll Let You Know may be a throwaway, I still like the sound of it. Ironically, I still love side B, but my favorite song here and maybe (this is saying a lot) in the Crimson canon is Trio.

In my eyes, Red is the girl you take home to mom and Starless and Bible Black is the girl you go out with on the sly. I've come to the conclusion my prog tastes ultimately swing in the King Crimson direction and if I had to pick one of the many great albums I'd pick Starless and Bible Black. Any album that begins with the words "Health Food Faggot" deserves the top spot.