In the Wake of Poseidon: Underrated?

Barbu wrote: It's crap compared to the début...read that somewhere, must be true.

 rof!

Kepler62 wrote: Who is the collective entity that rates things? Against what is it rated? Why don't people just listen to music anymore rather than  worrying about how it "rates". Who the f**k cares how something "rates". Doesn't anybody have a mind of their own ? Every KC album is different in some essential way. The first album they had with the same previous lineup was Beat and that was different from the previous one and so on.

But if we wer not to rate the music we like (or don't like), and discuss about it and which ones we like better, then what's the point of being in the forum. The fact that we discuss such things doesn't mean that we don't have a mind of our own, but that we want to express it and read what others think about the same things.

I sometimes go back and forth between preferring the original line up(and the one that did this one)and the Bruford Wetton line up. I think I prefer both equally. In some ways this line up is more under rated. I think they got really weird after Poseidon although there is some very weird stuff on here too(well Devils Triangle is anyway).

Who is the collective entity that rates things? Against what is it rated? Why don't people just listen to music anymore rather than  worrying about how it "rates". Who the f**k cares how something "rates". Doesn't anybody have a mind of their own ? Every KC album is different in some essential way. The first album they had with the same previous lineup was Beat and that was different from the previous one and so on.

Under-rated is obviously related to its older brother ITOTCK


First, ITWOP is a very strange album, and not really a Fripp album (neither was ITCOTCK) as Fripp didn't write any of the original tracks, except for the Peace thingies (where Sinfield can be cànsidered a totally equal songwriter partner) and some arrangements and guitar parts on the debut's t/t, which landed him a writing credits.

The A-side of Poseidon is very strangely similar to Court's A-side

Schizoid = Pictures
Wind = Cadence
Poseidon = Epitath or Court (pick either)

Not that it's bad (I'm not saying that they're total clones, but the repitition cannot be anything but intentional ) but nothing new under the sun (unlike the debut, which was a total revolution in music)

On the flipside , outside the Peace thingies, Cat Food is a Lake/McD composition, and TBH, the only really new thing on the album compared to the debut album. And it is so because of Tippett's piano, that it sounds so different.
As for the Holtz Devil's Triangle, it's a rearrangement of a classical thing, and can be considered a cover....


Sooooooooooooo, what's new on Poseidon? Cat Food (5 mins) and those Peace thingies (which I can personally do without), which add up to 4 mins.

Isn't that a little few to be considered as good as Lizard or Court?

Actually, come to think of it, Poseidon might actually be over-rated by most progheads

ItWoP has always seemed a bit more consistent and listenable over the debut. Side 1 is especially strong (first 4 tracks). Both have their weaker tracks, IMHO (the drum noodling in Moonchild, the weirdness of The Devil's Triangle).

Edited by Boojieboy - July 08 2017 at 20:45

^ Omg, I think that I'm actually speechless!

Rather underrated record, doesn’t equal though their first or even Red. Pictures of a City and especially the title track are some the finest KC moments IMO.

Edited by Blaqua - June 20 2017 at 17:33

Poseidon is a little ahead of it's time. Rather than being guided by the limited vinyl format I see it as part of the KC compositional process. I think they were the first band to include a sample...

Some criticisms are a bit odd. Pictures Of A City sounds nothing like 21st C Schizoid Man (can't figure where people get this idea and temporarily conclude they are overly influenced by some critic of the build 'em up knock 'em down fraternity).

I think it's best to be guided by the written and recorded work rather than ascribe ACDC values to King Crimson.

Question for those who think it is derivative of the first album - what did you expect to hear? A band developing ambitious compositions must undergo a process.

Supplementary question - are we happy that by 1981 when neither Crim bore that much of a resemblance to one another?

My second favourite KC album after Islands.