IN THE WAKE OF POSEIDON

Not even one year into the existence of perhaps the most influential progressive rock band of all time, King Crimson already was on the brink of collapse due to a mass exodus of the band's musicians. Drummer Michael Giles, bassist/vocalist Greg Lake, and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald would all ceremonially leave the band following the release of the critically acclaimed "In the Court of the Crimson King". However, guitarist Robert Fripp would manage to keep the band together going into 1970, taking on the role of keyboardist in addition to guitars and managing to retain both Giles and Lake as session musicians, sacrificing the band's audio equipment to retain the latter. The band's sophomore effort "In the Wake of Poseidon" is considered to be an extension of the sound and structure of the first album.

The album opens up with a formal introduction in "Peace - A Beginning", the first of a trilogy of smaller compositions, before opening up into the heavily jazz-inspired and dissonant "Pictures of a City", considered to be the spiritual successor to the band's seminal "21st Century Schizoid Man". Indeed, the song follows not only a similar sound, but a similar structure to the song, something which occurs more than once on this album with a slew of different tracks. While many obviously view this as a criticism of King Crimson, I feel that this composition is strong enough to prevent from negatively hindering the album. This is still a very strong piece of music, although not necessarily as groundbreaking as the aforementioned "Schizoid Man". The band does experiment with quieter passages here, and the instrumental is markedly quieter on this song than the song it's trying to emulate, and the verses/choruses are still just as strong. Of note on this composition is the inclusion of saxophonist and future King Crimson member Mel Collins, who will appear on this album for this track and the following one, the acoustic "Cadence and Cascade", which is the only song on the album to feature vocalist Gordon Haskell instead of Lake. Haskell would end up being the lead vocalist for the band's third LP "Lizard", but makes a relatively minute appearance here. While there is more to talk about with Haskell and how he meshes into the band, I'll leave that for my review of "Lizard". For now, it can merely be summarized that Haskell has a deeper voice, that is much more blunt and less refined than Lake's. "Cadence" is a very beautiful ballad that, like "I Talk to the Wind" from ITCOTCK, serves as a calm and orderly rebuke to the frantic dissonance of the band's more heavy compositions. Once again, the flute (played by Collins) replaces the saxophone, resulting in a less abrasive atmosphere.

The title track, quite strikingly and blatantly, follows the same sound and structure as ITCOTCK's title track. It is here where the band stoically reintroduces the mellotron as a focal point of the band's progressive sound, with exotic surrealistic lyrics. While there are some very subtle differences between title tracks, like "Pictures of a City" I still have no problem with this song, even if it serves to retain rather than build upon the achievements of the band's last album. Definitely one of, if not the highlight, of the album.

Side two opens with the acoustic guitar solo "Peace - A Theme", a short emotive Fripp interlude before the band moves on into "Cat Food"; King Crimson's first attempt at writing a song that's remotely commercially appealing. It was the band's first single to be released, and unsurprisingly, it didn't chart (to my knowledge), but there is a lip- synced taped performance of this song performed for Dutch television that you can find out there. It is on this song that the brilliant pianist Keith Tippett, whose presence would be greater felt on "Lizard", would work his magic amidst an abridged form of the King Crimson sound, poppy but markedly progressive, with elements of psychedelia.

"The Devil's Triangle" is perhaps the most controversial addition to this album, foreshadowing Fripp's penchant for ambient music that would ultimately be elucidated in his collaborations with Brian Eno. In 1969, King Crimson often played their own cover of composer Gustav Holst's "Mars" suite from "The Planets". They originally intended to put that on this album, but due to legal issues, they were forced to write their own composition that resembled it. This track satisfies the improvisational elements found on "Moonchild", and just as that song was challenging to listen to on ITCOTCK, "The Devil's Triangle" is sure to alienate. Its theme of unsettling apprehension augmented by a prodding gradual build into utter musical chaos, similar to "A Sailor's Tale" from the band's 4th album "Islands", I'm sure piques one's progressive interest. This is the only song on ITWOP that I personally found challenging enough to be unable to listen to on a regular basis. Of note is the use of xenochrony - part of the chant from "In the Court of the Crimson King" is used near the end. Would be interesting if King Crimson, for all the bands they were inspired by, were partly inspired by Frank Zappa... perhaps we Americans can finally claim ourselves as the pioneers of progressive rock, even if Zappa himself didn't consider his music "progressive" and King Crimson's only "sometimes" progressive. Everything is then brought together with the finale "Peace - An End", which is a fitting farewell to Greg Lake and this incarnation of the band.

"In the Wake of Poseidon", mainly due to its emulation of ITCOTCK, cannot really be considered essential, even though it is a quality album, and fascinatingly enough, the highest charting album of the band's entire discography (#4 in the UK). King Crimson always had a penchant for writing incredible albums, and while many of the songs on this album are good, they pale in comparison to the band's greater discography. The band is still comfortable with playing songs from this album live; I've heard them play, among others, "Pictures of a City", "Cadence and Cascade", and even "Cat Food" live as recent as 2019. The band's sound would change quite radically by the release of their third studio album later that year, departing from the eclectic mellotron-driven psychedelic rock and changing with the times accordingly. I definitely think this is a great album to consider for your collection, even if it is a bit of an ITCOTCK clone.

OVERALL RATING: 4.1/5

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