LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC

The disbanding of the precious King Crimson lineup did wonders for the band's sound! Besides the five instrumentalists, the band also recruited a new lyricist to replace Peter Sinfield. This position became occupied by Richard Palmer-James who, among others, was previously a founding member of Supertramp where he performed and wrote the lyrics for the band's self-titled debut album.

The combination of Palmer-James' lyrics, John Wetton's gorgeous voice and creative bass guitar playing, David Cross' prominent violin and Bill Bruford's technical approach to drumming is considered to be the best combnation of individuals that would ever play with Robert Fripp. The first results of this collaboration brought about one of King Crimson's most hailed achievements outside of their debut album and Red. Larks' Tongues In Aspic features beloved classics like the short ballad Book of Saturday, a longer mellower piece Exiles and the weird piece like Easy Money, that's outside of the 20-minute two-part title track!

So, how can this release get 'only' the 4-star rating from this King Crimson fan? The reason is simply the fact that I consider both of it's followup releases to be even better! The material on this album lacks the perfect flow that I expect of a masterpiece album and instead I look at it more like a collection of great compositions from a collective that were still finding their sound. Larks' Tongues in Aspic is undeniably a very important part of many King Crimson-collections out there and even if this release definitely is among their top 10 albums, I still hesitate to award it anything more than the excellent addition rating that it undeniably deserves.

***** star songs: Book Of Saturdays (2:49) Exiles (7:40) Larks' Tongues In Aspic Part Two (7:12)

**** star songs: Larks' Tongues In Aspic Part One (13:36) Easy Money (7:54) The Talking Drum (7:26)