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)

Starless And Bible Black- King Crimson

King Crimson- Starless and Bible Black (1973)

Rating: 12

"The Worthy Captain and His Squad of Troopers, Standing Fast"

Best Song: Fracture

Worst Song: Trio

     This has to be one of the most underrated albums I have ever reviewed. On every site I look at for reviews, it got 7/16, 4/10, 4/10, and 7/10. It's a really good album! Most people tend to talk about the fact that 5/8 songs are live, and that 4/5 of those are improvisations. But the King Crimson improvs are some of the best music they ever did. All of the improvisations (except for one) are great and it's really hard to believe they actually improvised on it. But let's do a track by track analysis.

     The album kicks off with a song called "The Great Deciever", which is a great song driven by an awesome electric violin line and an awesome bassline! The lyrics are funny, and the singing is top notch. The next song, "Lament," is not as good, but has two cool sections. The first one is quiet, but the second part is regular rockin' Crimson, lead by a cool bassline. The next song is the instrumental improv, "We'll Let You Know," which is the best improvisation on the album. Once again, the bass is amazing. And when the drum comes in... wow.

     The 4th song is called "The Night Watch," and it's pretty good, just a bit soft. The next song, "Trio," is waayyy too soft. It's frankly just a boring song. Then side one closes out with "The Mincer", which is really creepy, but is made even creepier by the random cutout. Then side 2 opens up with the final improvisation of the album, which is the title track. While it's not my favorite, its still pretty good!

      All of these songs however, do not compare to "Fracture," This is easily in my top 5 Crimson songs, and one of the greatest Heavy prog songs ever. It's 11 minutes, but not overlong in the slightest! The main guitar part is awesome, made awesome by the octave power of the guitar-bass playing the same thing. The violin's pretty great too! But wow, that bass. That amazing bass. John Wetton was a heck of a bass player.

     Overall, this album is vastly underrated, and if you don't have it, go pick it up as soon as possible!