December 3, 1971 - Islands

My last release of the year came out on December 3, 1971 when King Crimson released their fourth album "Islands". A year since "Lizard", King Crimson has -yet again- gone through some major line-up changes. They remain a 5-piece, with Robert Fripp on guitars and Mellotron, Peter Sinfield writing all lyrics, and Mel Collins playing saxophones and flutes. Both drummer Andy McCulloch and bassist/lead singer Gordon Haskell quit the band shortly after "Lizard", and they were replaced by new drummer Ian Wallace and new bassist/lead singer Boz Burrell. With their third singer in four albums, what will this incarnation of King Crimson sound like? Let's find out!

Side one begins with the over 10-minute "Formentera Lady" which has a dark Mellotron opening that sounds very low like a cello. A couple session musician are still here from previous albums including some cool oboe by Robin Miller as well as some great jazzy piano by Keith Tippett. Burrell's voice is alright, but it's nothing special. Fripp plays some trippy horn-like Mellotron that goes crazy, but there's not a whole lot else happening. Guest singer Paulina Lucas sings wordless vocals for the last few minutes, in a very odd progressive song that kinda leaves you wanting more. Track 2 is an instrumental titled "Sailor's Tale" that has a solid rhythm section, and is led by some slow Mellotron that sounds alright. They move to a new faster, pretty trippy part and the Mellotron really sounds like a trumpet. Cool stuff! Fripp switches to guitar and plays a really cool part before they slow it down like the beginning. It slowly speeds up to another cool guitar part to close it out. The side ends with "The Letters" which starts with slow acoustic guitar and soft singing by Burrell. Collins plays a saxophone riff that sounds great and starts slow. He speeds it up and it sounds pretty insane! They play one more verse that is much louder than the beginning but returns to quiet for the finish.

Side two opens with "Ladies Of The Road" which is a slow, very jazzy song with some great jazzy saxophone by Collins. Burrell's bass is decent, and I think this is his probably his best vocal performance, which isn't really saying that much. Fripp and Collins play guitar and saxophone solos respectively that both sound pretty good. Track 5 is an instrumental titled "Prelude: Song Of The Gulls". Fripp plays slow Mellotron with some beautiful strings backing by more session musicians. It really does sound like an orchestra, and it's very well done, although it doesn't sound like tour typical King Crimson. The album ends with the near 12-minute title track "Islands". Slow piano and bass flute by Collins opens the song nicely and Burrell's singing is decent, but just never jumps out, very average. Tippett plays beautiful stuff on piano and it switches to the same riff on saxophone. Collins delivers an extended saxophone solo that is pretty good and after 9 minutes it would appear the song is over. There's a minute of silence, then studio talk about how one more part and they're done for the evening. A trippy warming up of instruments plays until the end, a very odd bonus song to finish off a rather odd record.

That is the end of "Islands" and while it had some good parts to it, I think for the most part it was an underwhelming album. Collins saxophone playing is great and Fripp is making a varied use of the Mellotron, but it lacks the punch of their other material. How does it compare to their other albums? I don't think this new album was as good as last year's "Lizard" so it definitely won't be unseating either of their first two albums. I believe it's their worst effort yet, but with so many changes all the time it must have been hard to establish a good band relationship. Hopefully they can improve upon this with their next album, I will certainly be there to listen when they do. This also marks the end of 1971, and so begins the year-end wrap-up! With the same number of albums as last year, 14, there are certainly more tough decisions to be made, perhaps even tougher than last year!

Favourite song of the year: Once again there are several deserving candidates, but it's telling that the two that I can't decide between are on the same album. With an honourable mention to "Heart Of The Sunrise", I think the best song of the year was "Fragile"s opener "Roundabout". It has excellent playing from everyone and never lets up for an awesome 8 minute ride. It will come as no surprise then what album I believe topped this year...

Top 5 Albums of the year:

1. Fragile by Yes
2. Aqualung by Jethro Tull
3. Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin
4. Master Of Reality by Black Sabbath
5. Tarkus by Emerson, Lake & Palmer

While the top two are not new bands by any means (it is the 4th album by each) both Yes and Jethro Tull really stepped it up this year. "Fragile" is a masterpiece with so much great music on it, and there are other bands that made great improvements too, but just couldn't crack the top 5. What will next year bring? See you in '72 to find out!