LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC

So this is actually where it began for me. I had listened to Vanilla Fudge (liked most of it), was a Doors fan (especially "Strange Days" and "When the Music's Over"), and considered Spirit's "Mechanical World" to be absolutely brilliant (still do). I had acquired and enjoyed ELP's first LP and although I enjoyed it immensely, it really wasn't "out there" enough for me. I remember reading a review of this album (don't remember where- probably "Rolling Stone" or "Stereo Review") and feeling I should seek this record out. I also remembered a conversation I had with a schoolmate in which we were discussing music- he was really into Deep Purple at that time (well before "Machine Head") and he asked if I'd heard "In the Court of the Crimson King". I had not. My loss I suppose, but as groundbreaking as that recording was ( I did eventually listen to it)-it didn't resonate with me like "Lark's Tongues" did. I have lurked about this site for years, taking advantage of the reviews and expanding my music collection, and noticing that the demographic seems to be of a younger vintage than me. I'm sure there are many members of my age group, but probably a minority. Anyway, I feel at an advantage somehow when appraising "Prog" recordings since I first listened to most of this stuff when it was first released and new. I only regret that I am not a musician, so my opinions are based solely on my personal response to what I'm hearing and not so much on musical construction or technical ability. At any rate, as good as I consider this recording to be, I won't award a 5 star to it. I have a hard time giving a 5 star to any recording, differentiating between a "Masterpiece" and a "Classic" recording. This is one of the few that I give serious consideration of a 5 star. It is most certainly more than a 4 and my personal favorite KC studio release. I feel no need to provide a song by song analysis or interpretation- there are other reviews that have more than adequately covered that ground. I can only say that if you haven't heard this, you need to. And if it doesn't appeal to you, then you will seriously curtail any exploration into a rich sub-genre. One might argue that Genesis or Pink Floyd have been the most influential, encouraged the most spin-offs and copy-cats (or maybe Led Zeppelin, ha ha), but I would vote Fripp and company. I believe they have induced more "What the hell was that? Play it again, please" and "That was so cool, how did they do that?" moments than any other band.