STARLESS AND BIBLE BLACK

Ah, Starless and Bible Black!!! This is indeed a dark carnival of King Crimson's strangest musical wanderings. Nothing bars the King from their experimentation, not the constraints of sensible lyrics, or of the "let's take turns" principle of soloing! Indeed it is a dense album.

I love it all the same, because it strikes into the difficult and dark territory that "Larks Tongues in Aspic" touched upon without fully exploring. The title of this album is perfectly fitting, as this is some of Krim's darkest and most incomprehensible music. Even the soft and sweet sections ("The Night Watch" and "Trio") seem to be coming at you from utter blackness. "The Night Watch" conjures images of stars in a night sky in those first soft washes of percussion, and "Trio" seems to suggest a fragile dawn after an infinite nighttime.

As for the rest of the album, the emotions explored in the music are ones of fear, paranoia, even rage. The music, even at it's most bare and stripped down state, is unrelenting and immersive.

In conclusion, if you pick up Starless and Bible Black, you might be in for a challenge. This is not one for people who are shy in the face of experimentation.