ISLANDS

Probably King Crimson´s weakest release during their Golden Era (I mean, the 70´s). The frequently line up changes from album to album had a price on the final product, I guess. After the jazzy (and brilliant) Lizard, here comes Islands. A good LP, which I heard a lot at the time, but although it has many fine moments, it did not produce any classic stuff. Formentera Lady is the closest any song here came to that. Also there are the beautiful instrumental Prelude: Song Of The Gulls, which I love.

Boz Burrell was not even a bass player himself, being a studio singer. Legend goes that Robert Fripp taught him to play the bass. If he did so he was an excellent teacher, since Boz went on to become Bad Company´s original bass player (in which he did a fine job). Anyway, the other musicians are as skilful as anyone who played in the Crimson fold up to then, which is: brilliant or above that. Unfortunately the songwriting partnership of Fripp/Sinfield seemed cracked (they would parted ways, not long after Islands was released). The record is rather patchy and lacks focus. The muddy production also did not help matters much.

On the whole I must say I still like this CD a lot. Even at their lowest point so far, KC could deliver something quite superior to much of his competitors (and the competition was usually very strong in the 70´s). the band was clearly reaching crisis status (reflected on their chaotic and badly recorded Earthbound live LP) and it affected the music. Thus this is not the best CD to hear if you are new to King Crimson. But if you liked the previous works, Island s worth having, even if it lacks the strong sense of direction from Lizard. 3 stars.