Lark's Tongues in Aspic- King Crimson

King Crimson- Lark's Tongues in Aspic (1973)

Rating: 11

"And I Swear I Like Your People, The Boys in The Band"

Best Song: Lark's Tongues in Aspic Part 1 & 2

Worst Song: Book Of Saturday

Track Listing:

1. Lark's Tongues In Aspic Part 1

2. Book of Saturday

3. Exiles

4. Easy Money

5. The Talking Drum

6. Lark's Tongues In Aspic Part 2

     This is the first album in the trilogy of "Wetton/Bruford/Fripp/Cross" lineup, and this one includes a second percussionist, the strange Jamie Muir, who was only on this album. This is also the last album in the trilogy I have to review, so I pretty much went backwards! Most people either put this as the best or second best of the trilogy, but I have to put this as the worst, unfortunately. 1/3 of it is great, but 2/3 of it is just good. Fripp and Cross are the stars on this album, as Wetton wasn't a confident singer yet, and Bruford, while great, needed a bit to round out his style to the Crimson sound. Jamie is fit for the sound, and probably is better than Bruford on this one.

     The album kicks off with "Lark's Tongues in Aspic Pt. 1," which is one of the greatest songs they ever did, but is not as good as "Fracture" or "Starless". It however, does have their most epic and heavy riff about 3 minutes in. The only part of the song I could live without is the David Cross by himself solo section. On this album, he's always better when other people are playing, so that section in the middle could be better. But that's the only complaint. The next song, "Book of Saturday," is not so great, but not bad, and really, no song on this album is bad, just only the title tracks are Really Great. "Book of Saturday" is just a generic ballad with no real parts that stand out. And no, the guitar that's backwards does not stand out.

     The album then goes into "Exiles," which is slightly overlong, but good. Then "Easy Money," which is the best of the 4 songs in the middle, comes on and is pretty good, but very similar to Pink Floyd's "Money." The last song of the middle songs is "The Talking Drums," which is really really intense, but a bit long. A bunch of guitar feedback signals the other best song, which is the second part of the title track. It's a three part epic song, that makes me want to just yell "RAWK!", but I don't, cause if I do, the neighbors will probably get mad. So I don't do that. Now, as a special bonus, here's me trying to type the lyrics of "Book of Saturday" in time with his singing:

"if i onyls contnmd r for get thie  gam eevety ynbruin trokr ny olyou e kajkfbghtn rsnvjayh mr t ne the po rpndmmmifeios and  js 5to al t y,me dunw. you c-kayn the bkacs oifd poband to foab viaketn thr eponbngbs n bt9ikm n mtheb b an jrkemn e kjkj gklkn   jb ay ikm mthen   m gnafn ylmjgbajke  nfsouuuunnnnnnnnnnddddddddd *backwards solo* *David Cross Crying About How Bad This Song Is Through A Violin!* oooooooooooooooo  dooodododoodododooododoododoodododoododoododododooododdoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo *More Crying* *Backwards* onnyj  tinteh th aspleppe on jni ll th4 onbgi cojbkshe oikosize jaksthbgrkuio krjjto flljen and oyesdyreretsay dtheyee  as duhbcm jrthjemm sids skjrngnedrtnsisimt thdebrma and oss the sanht dejannlasys ahair ajfbjajmaking swwrt xsixteen. ooooooooooooooo do yki mik ylin   book of sytauhtkd,atys nand i have o schoooseoo *Ppirf*"

I really like my cats

*Dedicated to Mark Prindle (The Jukebox FORK)