March 23, 1973 - Larks' Tongues In Aspic

Three weeks since my last release, and 15 months since "Islands", King Crimson released their fifth album "Larks' Tongues In Aspic" on March 23, 1973. Their fifth album also comes with their fifth different line-up as the only remaining member from "Islands" is guitarist and founder Robert Fripp. Original member Peter Sinfield is gone, as well as Mel Collins, Ian Wallace, and Boz Burrell. Joining Fripp in this new incarnation is percussionist Jamie Muir, bassist and lead singer John Wetton, violinist, flutist (and sharing Mellotron duties with Fripp) David Cross and Bill Bruford, the drummer from Yes! After leaving Yes due to tensions with the other band members, Bruford wanted to play more jazzy, improvised music. What better band to join than King Crimson, as they really embrace the improvisational nature on this album. Let's check out an all-new King Crimson!

The album opens with "Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part One" and it's very quiet, interesting percussion that starts it off. Bells and chimes and other percussion by Muir. Around 3:00, some quick violin by Cross takes the lead that sounds really cool. Drone-y guitar leads into a heavy "chorus" with guitar and drums that sounds great! After a second, lovely chorus, a new riff starts led by some really good bass by Wetton. Fripp goes insane overtop with some wicked guitar as Muir plays more cool percussion in the background. Wetton plays some awesome trippy bass with Bruford going nuts on the drum kit! The guitar is so erratic, and it makes for a crazy, really cool part! It slows down again and we hear some haunting violin by Cross. It gets very quiet, then we hear a different violin-led part. Talking is the only form of lyrics in this 13-and-a-half minute song, as cool guitar backs a bit of an odd ending to an otherwise pretty good instrumental song. Track 2 is called "Book Of Saturday" and Fripp plays cool guitar as we hear Wetton sing finally. Similar to Greg Lake, I love it! Not quite as good as Lake, but it's definitely the kind of powerful voice that they've been lacking since Lake left. Cross adds some more cool violin and while this song never really jumps out, it is solid the whole way through. The side concludes with "Exiles" which has a very slow, drone-y opening. After 2 minutes, the song finally gets going with some cool guitar and violin. Cross plays flutes as well on this song and Wetton's singing is decent. He also plays piano on this one, and it sounds pretty good. Mellotron joins near the end and sounds pretty cool, and this song's a little long and slow, but still enjoyable.

Side two kicks off with "Easy Money" and has an interesting beat, with wordless vocals by Wetton. It's very offbeat and has different percussion and weird noises by Muir. I like Wetton's singing, and his cool bass carries the song. We hear an extended awesome guitar part by Fripp and he has lots of fun with this one! Everyone else is jamming really well to back him in a cool part. They play one last fantastic verse and it ends with some maniacal laughter. Track 5 is called "The Talking Drum" and it has another slow opening. Bruford plays the timbales and it sounds pretty cool, but quiet. Wetton's cool bass riff starts a new part led by Cross' violin. Now we're jamming as Fripp joins in as well on Mellotron. It gets even a little louder, and is really rockin by the finish. This instrumental song takes a bit to get going but once it does it's pretty good. The final song on the album is "Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part Two" which begins with an awesome heavy riff. It quiets down with cool violin by Cross leading, then return to the great guitar riff as Wetton plays some wicked bass! This starts a new heavy riff that sounds great with some absolutely nutty Mellotron! It sounds like a squealing saxophone, pretty crazy stuff! We're back to the catchy main riff, and there's lots of cool percussion in the background throughout the song. They play a nice rock and roll flourish that you'd think would be the ending, but there's a drawn out ending that is a little strange, an odd end to an otherwise fantastic song.

That is the end of "Larks' Tongues In Aspic", and I thought it was a pretty good album. John Wetton seems a much better fit for the King Crimson style than either of their last two singers, and Bill Bruford is most certainly a better drummer than what they've had for a few years. David Cross plays some great violin as well and I like this new line-up a lot. But how does it compare to their other albums? Well as I said, I think it passes both "Islands" and "Lizard" easily and I would even give it the nod over "In The Wake Of Poseidon". However, I don't think it was good enough to unseat their amazing debut album, so "Larks' Tongues" will have to settle for 2nd place. Not a bad effort by any means, and hopefully King Crimson can actually retain some form of consistent line-up!