IN THE WAKE OF POSEIDON

I think it's a vast improvement over the previous record, regardless of Ian McDonald's departure. Ian is a virtuoso compared to Mel Collins, or at least in this album my point is taken; whilst Cadence and Cascade is a mellow, flowing and humble piece, Mel's execution, although not so horrible, is somehow weak, as if he felt overshadowed by Ian's virtuosity or simply went plain nervous playing with the same band that recorded the memorable Crimson King album. He improved a notch in the Lizard album, delivering that beautiful woodwind entry in the "Lady of the Dancing Water"; but no comparison with the marvelous talents of Mr. McDonald (if you have any shadow of a doubt, listen to him on Steve Hackett's "Tokyo Tapes" playing "I Talk to the Wind" and "The Court Of The Crimson King"... astonishing!). While the first album had an evident "gothic" feeling to it (considering that "King Crimson" was inspired by the german medieval character King Frederick, and that the title track of their debut album proves somehow to be a biographical piece of the same character), this album has more of a greco-roman imagery (obvious point!). Plus, I'm not sure about this, but I think that the similarities of both albums were intended, as Sinfield and Fripp suggested continuity; but mostly Sinfield, who wanted to show some kind of mirror or something of that sort between them.

Anyway, if you want me to sob and whine about the "copy-paste" job in this album's making, I won't please. Starting with the sound quality: the instruments sound more clearly and one could easily listen to each instrument as if they were playing separately and the sound and mastering overall is more fresh (despite of the irregular volume contrasts, between the 3rd and 4th track and, most of all, the 1st and the 2nd). Then, there's the themes involving the two albums: the first one involves themes concerning historical and political issues, while the second flirts with mythology (Poseidon, Mars). I do find certain similarities between them (as far as track sequence and song structure), but this album is lighter and less tight than it's predecessor, and the music seems to flow a bit more (maybe due to sound quality too); "Pictures Of A City" is less frantic than "21st Century Schizoid Man" and I consider "Poseidon" to be more embellished than "Epitaph", despite McDonald's absence with the woodwinds.

Now don't get me wrong, I consider Crimson King a very good album and one of the best debut albums of all time (and nothing can beat that title track, at least in the KC discography), but this is an improved version of the before mentioned, at least in the output sound and the subtle delivering, although they do share a certain commonness.

a 4 star