Larks' Tongues in Aspic

1	Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Pt. 1 13:35
2	Book of Saturday 2:55
3	Exiles 7:40
4	Easy Money 7:53
5	The Talking Drum 7:25
6	Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Pt. 2 7:07

Barnes & Noble

Every once in awhile, a band comes along that defies convention. A band that looks at what is popular, what is accessible, stares it in the face, and says, "We're not going to do that!" King Crimson are such a band, and this 1973 release is probably the best example of their musical defiance. Led by the fierce intellect of guitar virtuoso Robert Fripp, this second incarnation of the band includes Yes drummer Bill Bruford, bassist/vocalist John Wetton, violinist David Cross and the Rasputin-like mad monk percussionist Jamie Muir. Perhaps the best example of the band's scope is the album's first track, the instrumental "Lark's Tongues in Aspic: Part One," an artful amalgamation of African thumb piano, guitar fury, odd-time pyrotechnics, white noise, and violin cadenzas. "Book of Saturday" is a slice of melancholia featuring just guitar, violin, and voice, and "Easy Money" is an aggressive, epic tale of greed. It's this aggression that separates Crimson from other bands of their ilk. It's as if the band decided to fuse the inventiveness of classical music, the improvisation of jazz, and the power of rock -- and they succeeded. Steven DeLuca

All Music Guide

King Crimson reborn yet again -- the newly configured band makes its debut with a violin (courtesy of David Cross) sharing center stage with Robert Fripp's guitars and his Mellotron, which is pushed into the background. The music is the most experimental of Fripp's career up to this time -- though some of it actually dated (in embryonic form) back to the tail end of the Boz Burrell-Ian Wallace-Mel Collins lineup. And John Wetton was the group's strongest singer/bassist since Greg Lake's departure three years earlier. What's more, this lineup quickly established itself as a powerful performing unit working in a more purely experimental, less jazz-oriented vein than its immediate predecessor. "Outer Limits music" was how one reviewer referred to it, mixing Cross' demonic fiddling with shrieking electronics, Bill Bruford's astounding dexterity at the drum kit, Jamie Muir's melodic and usually understated percussion, Wetton's thundering (yet melodic) bass, and Fripp's guitar, which generated sounds ranging from traditional classical and soft pop-jazz licks to hair-curling electric flourishes. [The remastered edition, which appeared in the summer of 2000 in Europe and slightly later in America, features beautifully remastered sound -- among other advantages, it moves the finger cymbals opening the first section of the title track into sharp focus, with minimal hiss or noise to obscure them, exposes the multiple percussion instruments used on the opening of "Easy Money," and gives far more clarity to "The Talking Drum." This version is superior to any prior CD release of Larks' Tongues in Aspic, and contains a booklet reprinting period press clippings, session information, and production background on the album.] Bruce Eder