STARLESS AND BIBLE BLACK

Easily King Crimson's most underrated album. After reading all the reviews here I picked it up with some trepidation and was shocked at how good it is. It has since become my favorite of the John Wetton era records. The Great Deceiver opens the album with a frenzied power not achieved by the band since 21st Century Schizoid Man. John Wetton's vocals are in extremely fine form here, as is his bass on We'll Let You Know. I realize that most of this album is improv, but oh what improv it is! The Night Watch is fantastic and Trio sounds like it was carefully composed. Amazing that they made it up off the top of their heads. Fracture is as good as everyone says it is, and the title track is slightly better than everyone says IT is. The only track that disappoints is The Mincer, but it's only a little bit below the excellence of the rest of the record. If you've been holding out on buying this one due to negative reviews, you should reconsider. You may be pleasantly surprised (like me.)