King Crimson
In The Wake Of Poseidon
[EG]
The year after releasing the supreme 'In the Court of the Crimson King', the crumbling band see fit to make a record that's largely a reprise of the first. "Pictures of a City" is an overt sequel to "21st Century Schizoid Man". If anything, it's heavier and more frantic. The dynamics are even more extreme on this album overall and there's more of a hurried, neurotic feel to much of the material. "Pictures" in particular hustles along with noticeably busy Michael Giles drumming and jarring, black-and-white section contrasts.
"Cadence and Cascade" is spiritually akin to "I Talk to the Wind", and if anything is lovelier, despite the step down in vocal ability from Greg Lake to Gordon Haskell, who guests on this song in a foreshadowing of his lead role on the next album, 'Lizard'. New member Keith Tippett on piano adds the extra touch to the song.
The title track follows in the wake of "Epitaph" from the debut - a wrenchingly emotional, large-scale song with emphasis on the Mellotron. Peter Sinfield's lyrics are equally grave, and even more literary. An excellent poem (match the characters with those on the excellent cover painting, "12 Archetypes"). However, Lake's vocals aren't quite as commanding and I don't feel the song comes together as well as "Epitaph", and thus doesn't pack the same emotional gutpunch.
"Cat Food" is the first real departure from the 'Court' formula. It's a maniacal jazz fusion tune with the music and the ingenious lyrics coming together to paint a vivid picture of insanity. Tippett's piano is just off the charts. Brilliant song.
"The Devil's Triangle" is the epic finisher. The band since their beginnings had played around with Gustav Holst's "Mars" in the live setting, and here they finally lay an interpretation of it into wax. The album's classical music-inspired extreme dynamics are most evident here, as the "Mars" theme gradually builds from silence to a crashing crescendo over the course of several minutes. Additional ambient sounds and horns help to create the swirlingly chaotic, evil, nautical effect. The climax of the piece, called "Garden of Worm", is crazily cacophonous, with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in (including a sample from 'Court'). This might be the sound of dozens of musical ideas being sucked into a whirlpool.
It should be said that the similarities between this album and the first don't give the impression that there was a void of ideas or an attempt to capitalize on the success of 'Court' so much as that the band were just in flux and searching for identity. Where the first record was a band effort, this one seems like the work of a young Robert Fripp with several hired guns - and the writing credits bear this out. It is a classic, but to my ears it's too anxious, uncertain, and chaotic to match the first. Greater things were to come.
© 2001 j.s.
"Cadence and Cascade" is spiritually akin to "I Talk to the Wind", and if anything is lovelier, despite the step down in vocal ability from Greg Lake to Gordon Haskell, who guests on this song in a foreshadowing of his lead role on the next album, 'Lizard'. New member Keith Tippett on piano adds the extra touch to the song.
The title track follows in the wake of "Epitaph" from the debut - a wrenchingly emotional, large-scale song with emphasis on the Mellotron. Peter Sinfield's lyrics are equally grave, and even more literary. An excellent poem (match the characters with those on the excellent cover painting, "12 Archetypes"). However, Lake's vocals aren't quite as commanding and I don't feel the song comes together as well as "Epitaph", and thus doesn't pack the same emotional gutpunch.
"Cat Food" is the first real departure from the 'Court' formula. It's a maniacal jazz fusion tune with the music and the ingenious lyrics coming together to paint a vivid picture of insanity. Tippett's piano is just off the charts. Brilliant song.
"The Devil's Triangle" is the epic finisher. The band since their beginnings had played around with Gustav Holst's "Mars" in the live setting, and here they finally lay an interpretation of it into wax. The album's classical music-inspired extreme dynamics are most evident here, as the "Mars" theme gradually builds from silence to a crashing crescendo over the course of several minutes. Additional ambient sounds and horns help to create the swirlingly chaotic, evil, nautical effect. The climax of the piece, called "Garden of Worm", is crazily cacophonous, with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in (including a sample from 'Court'). This might be the sound of dozens of musical ideas being sucked into a whirlpool.
It should be said that the similarities between this album and the first don't give the impression that there was a void of ideas or an attempt to capitalize on the success of 'Court' so much as that the band were just in flux and searching for identity. Where the first record was a band effort, this one seems like the work of a young Robert Fripp with several hired guns - and the writing credits bear this out. It is a classic, but to my ears it's too anxious, uncertain, and chaotic to match the first. Greater things were to come.
© 2001 j.s.