STARLESS AND BIBLE BLACK

Here is my first-ever ProgArchives review! And how fitting that it be, at one point, my favorite, and the second release I believe I'd ever heard [from them], from the great music collective that is and was King Crimson.

As many feel, for me, this is my absolute favorite lineup, David Cross here included. The counterpoint that he has with Robert Fripp here is excellent and a necessary function for what makes this album so great and interesting (especially given its majorly improvised nature). There are times of amazingly virtuosic bass playing from John Wetton, I would think an underrated bassist in the context of the Pillars of Prog; some of the most interesting percussive elements, all of which are performed by Bill Bruford, and some of the more interesting moments that Bill had ever put to tape, in my opinion; some of the most exquisite experimentation from Fripp; and, for me, some of the best lyrics in all of Progressive Rock (see "Lament" and "The Night Watch" for the best of the best from this release).

It is no secret to those who know me how utterly baffled I've been by Larks' Tongues in Aspic and its undeniable status as beloved and critically acclaimed. "Larks...", the two-part title track, is really the only thing that does it for me. This, though, Starless and Bible Black, is in great competition, alongside Red and ITCOTCK for me, as the best output King Crimson has to offer. [Full disclosure: it is at this present time, though it shall be remedied very soon, that I have only heard a handful off of Discipline and Beat in particular. Forgive me.] [Indeed, this has since been remedied.]