LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC

With the recent passing of Jamie Muir I felt inspired to write a review of what is one of my all time favorite albums and what I would have to say is my personal favorite King Crimson album.

Most of us probably know the back story of this album but I'll provide a brief summary anyway. In the summer of 1972 Bill Bruford decided to leave Yes and joined the rest of the latest iteration of King Crimson which also included Jamie Muir, John Wetton, David Cross and of course Robert Fripp. The previous incarnation had imploded after the Islands tour much like the lineup from the first album. Fripp was eager to explore darker music which was influenced by Bela Bartok and Igor Stravisky as well as music with a heavier edge such as what Jimi Hendrix was doing.

The album starts off with a thumb piano for "larks tongues in aspic part one" before a buzz saw sounding guitar is introduced giving the world an early taste of proto prog metal with a massive guitar riff that would make Tony Iommi and Ritchie Blackmore proud. The track is entirely instrumental and goes through various sections with each getting ostensibly more experimental until a lone violin is heard before a coda that contains unintelligible voices in the background. Next up is "book of saturday" which some might consider filler but to me is a very pleasant mellow track with clean and backwards guitar. After that we have "exiles" which also appeared on the USA live album. This is a rather pastoral sounding track that opens with what I always thought sounded like barnyard animals. I'm not really sure what thet sounds are (much like with other sounds on the album) but they fit in nicely. The track features a very fine vocal performance by John Wetton which showcases what a great singer he really was. "Exiles" also features some lovely acoustic guitar which harkens back to something you might hear on Lizard particularly "circus."

Side two opens up with Fripp's trademark distorted guitar again on "easy money" which features one of the best instrumental sections on the album complete with crazy background sounds. After the track ends we hear the sound of wind which introduces "the talking drum" which is a very rhythmic centric track focusing on the interplay between Wetton's bass and Bruford's drums with David Cross's violin and Fripp's guitar on top of them. At the end of the track we have what is probably the greatest segue in all of progressive rock (maybe rock in general too although "shooby doo" into "Candy O" by the Cars is up there also) when the screech sound finally gives way to Fripp's guitar for "larks tongues in aspic part two." To me this always sounded a bit like fusion mainly because of the violin. I don't know if Robert Fripp was listening to Mahavishnu Orchestra at the time but there are some similarities. The track ends with one of the longest and most climactic endings I think I've ever heard. It's almost as if the world is exploding and this is what it sounds like.

To sum it all up, this is one of the wildest albums I heard when I was still new to progressive rock. I'm sure there are weirder albums out there but this and relayer by Yes were very wild sounding to my ears when I first heard them in the mid 1980s and this one in particular still doesn't sound much like other stuff I heard (with few exceptions including the two King Crimson albums that came right after it). If you are brand new to progressive rock you might want to get your feet wet with In The Court of the Crimson King first but you should definitely hear this one soon after. If it doesn't blow your mind then quite simply nothing in the progressive rock genre will. One of my top five albums of all time and absolutely essential for any prog fan but espcially those who are ok with more adventurous material.

RIP Jamie Muir.

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