ISLANDS

Okay, this is the third time that I've re-written this review, but I firmly believe that my sentiments this time will be final. Here goes. King Crimson's fourth release, "Islands", shows not a drop in quality from their first three masterpieces but, certainly a change in sound.

Sonically, the album follows the jazz-oriented focus of "Lizard" but takes it further, almost completely abandoning the symphonic elements that were present on the band's first three albums. If you've just discovered King Crimson, this isn't a starting point at all. In fact, I'd highly advise everyone to listen to "Court" or "Red" to exhaustion first, then fill in their cravings with other great albums like "Wake", "Lizard" or "Larks' Tongues". At long last, after a finely attuned palette for King Crimson, and other more experimental prog groups, I'd recommend to give this one a shot. At first I gave "Islands" 3 stars. I figured that, despite having some pretty moments, it focused too heavily on dissonance and open soloing, but that's just because I was more into symphonic prog at the time and hadn't really developed my ear for more unorthodox sounds.

After repeated listening I began to tolerate the album's first side, which prompted me to bump my rating up to 4 stars. But now, after revisiting "Islands" on numerous occasions, I've come to appreciate it as what it really is: an overlooked, but profoundly beautiful gem. And like any true gem, it will be difficult to access at first, but after time sands it down and weathers away its rough edges, it will shine brightly.

Others have commented on which tracks they prefer (I personally feel that the Prelude and the title track together account for one of the all time top 10 prog moments) and what the album's sounds entail, so I would just like to share a small anecdote. Hopefully it will provide just the right lens for either a new listener or a veteran King Crimson fan to come to appreciate the full beauty of "Islands".

In the 1920's, astronomers were debating the size of the universe. At this point, it was commonly accepted that the Milky Way was all that there ever was and that nothing existed beyond its reaches. Figures were flying about as to just how far it stretched, though; the astronomers had to be exact, after all. Conservative estimates believed that the universe stretched 10 000 light years. But others were steadfast that the value was closer to 30 000 light years. Around this time, Edwin Hubble was studying some strange objects in the sky; nebulae. At this point in time, nebula was a broad term assigned to just about anything that seemed fuzzy when they looked at it through telescopes, such as the Trifid Nebula, whose image adorns the cover of "Islands" and inspired me to talk about astronomy in this review in the first place. Anyhow, Edwin Hubble managed to make a major breakthrough by making use of finer and finer-focused telescopes, as well as the discovery by Henrietta Swan Leavitt that certain types of stars, Cepheid variables, have a direct relationship between their period of fluctuation in brightness and their absolute brightness. Leavitt's law, as it was called, was very important for astronomers as it let them gauge distances by comparing the apparent and absolute brightness of Cepheid variable stars just by observing their period.

Anyhow, back to the nebulae. Back in the 1920's, astronomers thought that these hazy-looking "nebulae" were just stars, like anything else that existed in the universe. But, as telescopes got better and able to see farther, Hubble noticed that these nebulae looked nothing like stars at all; he saw structure within them. Some looked like clouds, others had arms protruding from them. And one observation that he noticed was very profound; it looked like these nebulae contained little specks of light that changed their brightness at fixed intervals. They looked like Cepheid variable stars. Using Leavitt's law, Hubble was able to use these brightness periods to determine that distance of what he believed to be stars contained within a larger, nearby nebula. And what he discovered was that this nebula, Andromeda, was not only more than 10 000 light years away. In fact, not even the upper bound of a 30 000 light year universe could contain it. Andromeda was at least 2 MILLION light years away from us. This discovery was profound as Hubble realized that the Milky Way was not all that was, it was just one of countless galaxies with the cosmos, or, as they called them back then, island universes.

So perhaps what I'm trying to get across with this Hubble story is that, like the cloudy nebulae that littered the night sky, this album may seem hazy or unfocused at first. It may seem to lack depth or distinction, but surely, as an observer expands and improves their understanding, they too will gain clarity. So if you don't understand this album at first listen, don't write it off as unworthy. Look at it with a new lens and with any luck, its jewels will sweep like waves into your ears.