IN THE WAKE OF POSEIDON

Even the first time I listened to this album--in my brother's dorm room--I was repelled by the familiarity, the feeling that it was nothing more than a little-inspired recapitulation of the sound and formulae of the previous album, the masterpiece and first big "storm" in the new "progressive rock" domain, "In The Court of The Crimson King." It is no wonder that previous collaborators like the Giles brothers and Greg Lake were to soon flee--I would not want to be stuck in such a rut--as good as ITCoTCK was, it did not need to be so closely imitated, it did not need to be rehashed--especially not less than a year after ITCoTCK's initial release! Luckily, RF was forced to rethink his musical direction by the mass exodus of his band mates and the inputs of new collaborators.