My favourite King Crimson albums have always been the early ones, and "In the Wake of Poseidon" is an amazing trip for me. Prog pundits have often criticised the album, calling it a clone of their debut, but I think "In the Wake of Poseidon" has its own unique personality and some amazing King Crimson musical moments. "Cadence and Cascade" is still, in my opinion, one of the most reminiscent and delicate melodies ever written in our beloved genre. One of my all-time favourite King Crimson songs is the title tune, "In the Wake of Poseidon." Greg Lake as singer was fantastic in King Crimson, as can be heard in "Pictures of a City," which is a great song as well.

It features a tonne of mellotrons as well as some elaborate melodic moments. Pete Sinfield's ethereal ideas from "In the Wake of Poseidon" will forever remind true dreamers that the early phase of King Crimson was and remains its best.

I'll make a point of listening to it ... hardly remember the album!

I like it, especially what was originally Side 1.

An album that more than holds its own against ITCOTCC!

Unfairly under appreciated!

Mirror image (say what have you), its musical contents are just as good if not better

Love the peace themes, Pictures - what a banger! Cadence is one of the most beautiful songs I ever heard! Title track is one of their best! Cat Food is a snarky little oddball, but great. Devil's Triangle drags just a bit, but I quite like it. 

Need I say more??

I love every second of In the Wake of Poseidon - and the McDonald & Giles-Lp too. I really like the singing on the latter album. And I'm far too busy enjoying the drumming and basslines to miss any "impressive guitarplaying". It was a wonderful bonus discovering it a decade or two later, and I'm just happy that these two albums exist in the versions they do. 

-but I can understand that those of you who were alive - or rather a young person, in 1970 - experienced Crimson's second outing differntly. Me, I first heard/bought In the Court... and in some strange way it felt like coming home. Lifechanging. As soon as I could afford more albums Lizard and In the Wake of Poseidon were to follow on the same day I think. I noticed strong similarities as well as huge differences. To me they offered a perfect mix of familiar and new. Did I welcome a couple more songs in the style of the best music I had ever heard? Yes, please. Did I welcome something unexpected and new? Yes of course. For me "The Devil's Triangle" opened musical portals in my mind in similar ways as the "Lizard-suite" did (like their debut had done before). I simply immersed myself in all this fantastic music from the near past, which felt more exiting than everything I had heard up till then. No questions asked, no what if's. Just: Where have you been all my life? I think Red was next and (needless to say) for a while there KC were my one favorite band. They're still a favorite of mine and will always be, but I have so many.

I can't imagine Crimson's discography without Wake, but it's probably one of their least useful albums; though it has many charms, if not considering the historical context and issues and not compared to its predecessor (Court).

well to be honest, I don't find Wake's A-side as particularly original: it's more of a carbon copy (ancestor of a Xerox photocopy) of the A-side of Court. 

Picture = Schizoid

Cadence = Wind

Poseidon = Epitaph

Indeed since all three major tracks on the A-side are rewriting of Court's A-side (and Fripp doesn't have a writing credit in those - look it up on the first pressings of ITCOTCK >> revisionism from Fripp happened),  and for the flipside, Cat Food and Mars: Bringer Of War rewriting should not bear Fripp's name either.

probably my fave Hammill track, but not sure it works when too deep

 

TBH, I thought Frippy had more class than to let that through the film montage and release it. 

It goes somewhat against the more joyous and happy-go-lucky image he's recently built-up via Toyah's more goofy approach to mass media 

 I never thought of it that way, but you are right. A KC Documentary featuring a lineup that had little to do with their heyday, save for Fripp, Hired gun Tony, and Mel...  But they did lend some time to a few older living bandmembers to be fair.

  Personally speaking, I consider Jakko a decent "Stand in" but that's just me. Gavin Harrison is fantastic and lives up to the KC "Aura", if you will. If anyone decides to carry it on any further, I'd hope to see him involved.  Pat is a very creative drummer who drummed in my least favorite lineup.  Bill and Jeremy... I Dunno. 

What aced this final edition of KC for me was Mel's contributions.  Bravo !  I bought these CDs mainly to hear him wail...  Brass and wind and piano made Lizard and Poseidon my favorites.

Hi,

The KC film has some information on this, and Robert makes it clear that has regrets about how it happened.

As for the album, I don't know ... just heard it again, and did not find it to have the importance and the creative forces that were present in the first album ... my take is, sort of, that they had already said all there was to say about the time and the place, and now ... what do we do? A half hearted return to the original appeared as the opening and closing of the album. In between? Not sure it was as important and clear. 

I fell out of KC during this time, as the imports from Europe were better and more valuable all around, and were quite far and away more original and very strong. And its history ended up giving us TD, KS, Can, AD2 and many others ... whose legacy is amazing. 

I returned to KC with Lark's ... when Bill Bruford joined KC ... somehow I thought that would be interesting, and it was ... massive set of albums coming up! However, by that time, I was already invested in the European scene, and in general, only PF and KC remained in my plate, as Genesis was nice, but not as adventurous and strong as Banco, Ange, PFM and the Germans for me, in those days.

As for ITWOP, Mike Giles is much better on it than on the debut and it kicks some serious ass (side one at least). However Cat Food is not my ..um.. cup of tea but it's a fun track that Lake kinda of took into ELP (idea wise anyway). The Devils Triangle is pretty bad, possibly the worst KC track ever and badly damages the album. Otherwise it would be one of their best IMO.

Regarding TDT, I didn't like it at first but it grew on me. I defy anyone to find a prog track that has mellotrons blaring out the speakers like that one. The so called "noise" is actually (imo) musical deconstruction. That took me a while to get into but there's really nothing like it and if it is improv then I like it better than some of their other improv pieces.

And yes, Keith Tippett's piano playing, Michael Giles' drumming, and even Fripp's classical guitar portion in the last seconds of the suite give me chills. Just amazing.

Right. It's actually not the first example of someone sampling themselves. Simon and Garfunkel did it two years earlier on their Bookends album. Not sure if KC got the idea from them though. Anyway, yes it does fit the eerie tone of that track. I can understand some people not liking it the same way some people don't like revolution 9. 

Des larmes de crocodile, IMHO

And yet he assassinates 

richardh wrote: There was always some strange sh*t going on between Lake and Fripp. They both grew up in the same town and had the same guitar teacher. Fripp claimed he only picked Lake for the KC line up because he was a good looking young man. Fripp later turned up at an ELP gig, tried to stay anonymous but Lake spotted him and asked to see him. Apparently there were more words and a big fall out. Yep those 2 were never going to be in the same band together for long. Lake could surely have not believed his good luck when Emerson approached him with the idea to form a new band. As for ITWOP, Mike Giles is much better on it than on the debut and it kicks some serious ass (side one at least). However Cat Food is not my ..um.. cup of tea but it's a fun track that Lake kinda of took into ELP (idea wise anyway). The Devils Triangle is pretty bad, possibly the worst KC track ever and badly damages the album. Otherwise it would be one of their best IMO.

I thought he went to school with John Wetton, the next singing bassist. Didn't know (or forgot) for Lake. 

Agreed with Cat Food being more ELP-esque than a full Crimson-colored song, too. 

Yes, the Mars "hidden cover" is certainly a bit cringe-inducing as a physical means of protecting my eardrums from it. I exaggerate , of course, cos it's not that bad, but I'm sure they could've brought something else from their live sets rather than this one.

Thanks to Svetonio for the additional info on Devil's Martian Triangle. 

Fair enough, though I do think if Moonchild had developed into a normal song (define normal in a crimson frame of mind, though) instead of this quagmire jam, we'd probably love it as much as the rest of the album.

I'll relisten tonight the TDT track to see if I can see anything "improvised". 

.

It's maybe a bit like Discipline and Beat - Discipline was a groundbreaking and super fresh album, Beat was more exploration of the same territory, and therefore a disappointment to some. I think Beat is great and Wake very good, but these two clearly don't have the rank of Court or Discipline (or Lizard for that matter). That said, the previous albums opened such a big territory that there was for sure enough space to be explored by another album or more, so I'm positive on these anyway. 

By the way, we can't really assess the personal relationships from the outside, but Mr Fripp himself surely hasn't always been Mr Nice Guy...

Hi,

I moved on, because the English scene became boring and smelly. And many of the bands did not have any idea of how to do a 2nd album, after a successful 1st, which made me think that the record company was the problem putting on the pressure, which might have killed a few things ... like, the new album had to have a loud composition with the mellotron ... and the like! And I think this adds pressure to what to say, and sometimes, it ends up being a 2nd rate affair. 

I don't think this album stands up well to the first one, which is a documentary and bunch of snapshots of the time and place, complete with folks not listening, or giving a damn (I Talk to the Wind), all the way to the corruption of the child (Moonchild -- kinda taken off the AC novel) as the image of the corruption of the "hippie" girl, specially as seen with flowers in the hair ... so, we can look at another example, in the early film by The Incredible String Band, how folks laughed it all off as stupid and just stoned stuff. Because of the dope idea, there was no connection to the artistic form of the poetry Mike and Robin were doing. I guess the girls were just commodities for them ... sickening, considering how the ladies added so much to the music of the ISB.

Dang Steve!!!  Thanks for this post, I can't remember the last time I spun this record and will for sure add to the Friday night play list once my work day ends.

It's not my fav KC album, but for sure it is a trippy listen.....Luv me some Cat Food.

It Would have passed as, and made, a killer double album nowadays, but in 69 too much material for a debut.  Just conjecture but.... Maybe.

Am I stating the obvious?

Not sure I'll subscribe to the heavy rotation plan , but I'll give a very intense listen....

Hi,

You can imagine how I feel since 1972 or so when I started with what is now known as "progressive".

I, however, can not complaint much ... saw Nektar in their first 2 tours ... Tangerine Dream in their first 2 tours and later twice more ... Gong which I kinda travelled with and took many pictures, some of which they used for at least one poster and tour ... Hawkwind in the original Space Ritual ... Man in LA with Hawkwind (2nd time -- 1999 Party) ... Pink Floyd 4 times in 1972 at the Hollywood Bowl in their heyday of Quadraphonic Sound ... then original DSOTM and then the Anaheim Stadium with the really bad fans, and Roger getting mad ... and finally The Wall tour in LA where 714 people got busted outside before going in for getting stoned, and the cops walking around the hall during the show and taking more people out ... totally fudged and ridiculous ... yeah ... I've seen some nice things, including KC in Seattle with the 3 drummers, and my only "regret" is that I will never see PH/VdGG, and I wish I had been able to catch Vangelis.

But all in all, Damo's band in a bar, was a sad affair, good but sad ... I did not feel the band was that good or knew how to improvise, beyond some chord structures and progressions ... other than that spending time with Daevid and Gilly was enough for me ... some really strong friends and shared a lot of fun stuff ... and no dope! 

As for the progressive thing, I think the last 20 years has been sad, specially as some of the venues that were running progressive things got tired and died, and in 1999 Sean Ahearn took a massive loss in SF for the festival that needed twice as many folks to just break even.

My thoughts are that places like PA help some, but the "fans" not posting to new bands and works, is really sad, and I guess I wish the collaborators and admins posted more on the different stuff and less on the favorite bullmerde ... but that's my thought ... and they are still doing, likely too much for no pay as it is ... but I think of is as a closed circle that won't add folks that mean it and certainly write good stuff and reviews of a lot of work ... cold day in hell they will even think about me as a person for krautrock, for example, being that I am one of the few that discusses the whole thing as an art scene instead of just some rock bands ... 

I think that people in the know are not doing enough, but I don't think it fair of me to suggest they don't do enough work ... but adding a few people that make a difference i words, might help and add some value to "progressive" instead of folks not caring much and only finding a reason to not say anything.

It's tough and the media, in general is not helping, but then art scenes are something that come and go ... as T. S. Eliot would say ... and few people care about the arts in America!

Hi,

A lot of this reminds me of a day on the air for Guy Guden, and he was playing a long cut ... and in the middle of it, another DJ interrupted the song and said ... "it's not rock'n'roll" ... Guy immediately slowed the song down to a stop ... and said ... "who cares" ... and restarted up the piece. 

The irony of ironies is that the song was ... are you ready? "Are You Receiving Me?" by Golden Earring ... 

It's really hard to not think that some folks are only replying so they can be noticed. I reply to the posts, not to be noticed. As I said before, I'm into it for the music ... not the fan'ego that says I know more than the bands do, and I demand they play this or that song in concert. I liked it, when Edgar Froese stopped a concert and demanded a fan be taken out ... and in many ways, after DSOTM, the new PF fans, were the ones shouting "rock'n'roll" and not giving a darn about the music. Years earlier at the Hollywood Bowl you could hear a pin drop on the ground or maybe it was the sound of the speakers going around the whole place in their Quadraphonic sound show ... 

There is a huge difference ... and while I do not enjoy making comments about any specific member, I do think that more could be done for the music itself, not the commercial/propaganda aspect of it all ... my huge concern with the monthly numbers? Many bands and titles get lost in the shuffle, and less and less comments are made on them ... with the exception of the known stuff.

On a place that is about "Progressive Music" no less. 

But you got to remember that I love the "krautrock" thing more than others because I am very aware of the film, theater and the other arts at the time ... and this is the part of the music (I call it the soul) ... that is important and makes the German stuff valuable ... it's not just a favorite thing ... it's an artistic scene that deserves more than just thought of as rock music. 

IN all honesty, and I like KC a lot, the album in question did not have the strong value and imagination of the first album. The "snapshots" of the time and place was lost ... and it might not have been RF's idea, either, which makes the folks that left more important all along!

I find several songs to be too derivative of the original album. I do like the "Peace" trilogy and "Cat Food", but overall this release seems to be a lull between Itchycock and Lizard, which I consider far better albums. 

Yup, of all their 70's albums, Wake is the one I spin the least, including Earthbound and USA; second lest is SaBB.

Not a bad album per se, but Crimson's weakest, IMHO - though it's got plenty of attenuating circumstances.

But Lizard also had its own very difficult context and background, but it's sooooo much better (and groundbreaking)
 

I know and hear the reasons some people dismiss KC's second outing. But I'm rarely bothered by such things. 1001° Centigrades could easily have been the E and F-side on Magma's debut, Virtually I-VI from Soft Machine Fourth might have been a fifth side on Third... and I love them for it. NEU! 2's Für immer is basically Hallogallo over again (with a new melody) but no less hypnotic, and no less gorgeous. I love Guapo's Five Suns 1-5 and Black Oni 1-5 equally... I could go on, but I'm not going to. To create and finish a work or art you have to sacrify potenial, other directions that you might have taken the piece in question. That's why artists sometimes need to revisit a place or territory where they've already been once - or maybe even several times, before. I wouldn't hold against Van Gogh that he painted a whole series of sunflower-paintings. Although some of them are really similar. If I like them I like them. His sixth version might as well be my favorite over the very first. For me it's usually as simple as that.

same

Hi,

Hardly ... they were very nice, fun and communicative, although Daevid could be said to be having some fun, and sketching his way (at one place) and making many "certificates" for the folks that came to the show. It was hilarious and far out. Gilli, was "real", is the best I can say for her ... there was nothing fake or rock music fame thing about her ... we ended up going around a couple of Fred Meyer's (store) around Salem and Eugene, looking for some more Halloween fun stuff she could play with ... she was disgusted by how witches and what not were treated and thought of as bad and ... the effects of media and advertising ... which decides for people what is right or wrong ... and of course, what is number 1 and the rest not good enough!

I listened to the album again last weekend and it was a damn fine listen. Great album and maybe even more consistent than its predecessor: on Court the highs are maybe higher and the lows lower (still very high, though). But well, that one came first and made that big impression upon which this album continues.

And when listening to it I was thinking that if Cat Food hadn't ended up on this album it might have been included on the first ELP album (even if it wasn't Lake who wrote it): it has a kind of ELP vibe over it...