ISLANDS

Having lost most of its original members, King Crimson (aka Fripp) decided to battle on with some (relatively) subpar musicians, creating this meandering directionless album. The first three tracks on here sound most aimless at first, with very soft feel, soft vocals, sparse drumming, slow development and a lot of improvisation. But there is incredible beauty to them, the free rhythms, flute flourishes, fripp guitar insanity, musicians interacting over repetitive hypnotic rhythms (think krautrock). "Formentera Lady" especially is very underrated and beautiful, and as someone else mentioned before, After Crying's first album sounds clearly inspired by this side of the record. The second side is more composed, and is far more compact and seemingly thought out, but to me it feels like they just dumped a few odds and ends on it that don't have much to do with each other. "Ladies of the Road" is heavily influenced by late 60s Beatles, with its cliched chorus. "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" is a pleasing classical composition in the style of Elgar, but honestly it has little to do with King Crimson and feels out of place. "Islands" is a piano based tune that is more similar to the first side and is simply gorgeous! It has a very soft feel similar to many jazz artists on ECM, and it features the best cornet solo in prog rock ever! If you want music to carry you away like a dream, then this is album is perfect!