We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago….
I should probably let Fred Brennan write this review, as I believe he is a big King Crimson fan. I was never a huge fan of the band despite liking their debut record “In The Hall Of The Crimson King” from 1969. By 1971 though, the original incarnation of the band was down to Robert Fripp and lyricist Peter Sinfield who also painted the groovy LP cover for the groups fourth studio LP called “Islands”.
If you want to discover what King Crimson is all about…this is probably not the album to start with. It really is different than most of their other work and it was the first and last LP from this grouping which features Boz Burrell on bass (later to join Bad Company), Mel Collins on woodwinds and Ian Wallace on drums.
Islands is a hard album to describe. Is it fusion-rock? British folk-rock? Jazz? Maybe all of the above. Sinfield took his lyrics from some trips he took and also from reading The Odyssey. It has all kinds of musical digressions with guitars, mellotrons, saxaphones, flutes and drums all getting their moments. it’s also the only time the band worked with an orchestra.
I personally like Keith Tippet’s guest piano on Formentera Lady and the proggy instrumental “Sailors Tale” which includes some tasty drumming from Wallace.
Fripp fired Sinfield after this record and the rest of the band left when Fripp refused to include some of their songs on the next record. Its reported that one of the band members called some of this LP “airy-fairy shit”. While that’s probably true, if that were disqualifying,alot of late 60’s-early 70’s British music would have been sent to the rubbish bin.
Is it as good as their previous work? I would say no. Is it as good as what Fripp and company would produce later in the 70’s…once again I would say no. Fred, what would you say?
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