King Crimson: Larks' Tongues in Aspic

Larks’ Tongues in Aspic

Best song: Exiles

Worst song: Easy Money

Overall grade: 6

King Crimson, the World’s Most Inconsistent Band (trademark and copyright, Robert Fripp, 1969) return from what should have been a career-killing album with their first effort that truly matches up to the brilliance of ‘In the Court’. Between ‘Islands’ and this one, the group has changed beyond recognition, with Fripp rightfully firing everyone he’d previously worked with and bringing a bunch of replacements on board, most notably ex-Family bassist John Wetton and ex-Yes drummer Bill Bruford. And so this band, who have very little to do with King Crimson at all, both in personnel and in style, hop into the studio and record an album that is, ironically, very worthy of the King Crimson name.

In addition, this is the only one of the three Crimson greats (generally considered to be this, ‘Court’ and ‘Red’) that doesn’t have a completely rotten track. Seriously! The highs aren’t quite as high as the other two, but the lows aren’t even in sight of the lows on the others. It’s a fair payoff, and I’ll take it.

The title track is split into two parts, which bookend the album, and I’d guess they were conceived like this because I’ve tried listening to them side by side, and they don’t flow so well together. Separately they’re a delight, though. The first one is a full band composition, heavier than anything they’ve tackled before, rehearsed sections and improvised sections moving into one another with ease. David Cross’ violin fits perfectly into the mix and the idea of it being one of the ‘core’ instruments rather than having just a token part makes the song stand out from what other bands were doing at the time. It also features Bruford interacting with another percussionist, Jamie Muir, which is pretty awesome, so it’s not just unique in sound but also in the eclectic range of instruments used.

Its immediate followup is the more traditional ‘Book of Saturday’, which is less than half the length of any other song on the record, but still worthy of inclusion. As much as I’d like to reject any post-Lake singer for this band, I have to admit that Wetton’s decent, and it helps that I can actually listen to the lyrics of this song without cringing – hello, new lyricist Richard Palmer-James! From an instrumental point of view, Fripp plays a mean backwards guitar here.

But third track ‘Exiles’ is my pick for highlight: a halfway house between the crazy rulebreaking of ‘Larks Pt 1’ and the safe, unprogressive ‘Book’, and is based around a grand Mellotron intro and the stellar group of musicians using their talents to create a swirling atmosphere rather than a crushing wall of noise. It’s probably easier to get into than the band are generally considered, too. ‘Easy Money’, on the other hand, is my least favourite moment. I’m not completely sure why – in theory all the ingredients are there to make it a great song, and certainly nothing makes me dislike it, but it just doesn’t enthrall me like the other songs do.

‘The Talking Drum’ is a quiet, semi-ambient piece, essentially an extended introduction to the final track, and for these reasons it used to go over my head. It opens with a very, very quiet drum part, and builds in volume so gradually that you hardly notice it doing so. For the first couple of minutes there’s nothing much to grab onto, but with patience the other instruments do come in, violin and piano and guitar playing melodies at odds with one another. It’s an understated, restrained exercise in controlled buildup.

Then there’s a sudden return to the title track, which is the opposite – it’s incredibly in-your-face, fast and powerful. It’s credited solely to Fripp, but there’s no way one person could have come up with all of this. But seemingly he wasn’t content with inventing progressive rock as we know it, he had to do the same thing with progressive metal. It’s highly appropriate that Dream Theater covered the song thirty-six years later; its influence can be felt all over their work. Not built around any kind of melody, it twists and turns round a rollercoaster of guitar riffs and drum patterns until you don’t know which way is up.

Sometimes I can’t quite believe this band is made up of real people. The idea of having the ability to create something like this is overwhelming.