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King Crimson: Larks' Tongues in Aspic

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Virgin Records
Released: 1973
Time:
 46:37
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): See Artists ...
Rating: *********. (9/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.king-crimson.com
Appears with: Robert Fripp, Tony Levin
Purchase date: 2001.12.12
Price in €: 12,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part 1 (Bruford/Cross/Fripp/Muir/Palmer-James/Wetton) - 13:36
[2] Book of Saturday (Fripp/Palmer-James/Wetton) - 2:56
[3] Exiles (Cross/Fripp/Palmer-James) - 7:42
[4] Easy Money (Fripp/Palmer-James/Wetton) - 7:53
[5] The Talking Drum (Bruford/Cross/Fripp/Muir/Wetton) - 7:26
[6] Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part 2 (Fripp/Palmer-James) - 7:09

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


ROBERT FRIPP - Guitar, Keyboards, Mellotron, Remastering, Devices, Producer
BILL BRUFORD - Drums, Producer
JOHN WETTON - Bass, Vocals, Producer
DAVID CROSS - Violin, Keyboards, Viola, Mellotron, Producer
JAMIE MUIR - Percussion, Producer

NICK RYAN - Engineer
TONY ARNOLD - Remastering
SIMON HEYWORTH - Remastering
HUGH O'DONNELL - Design

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1973 LP Atlantic 7263
1995 LP EG EGLP-7
1995 CD EG EGCD-7
1995 CS EG EGMC-7
2001 CD Virgin 849935
2000 CD Plan 9/Caroline 1506
2000 CD Import 304720



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, All-Music Guide, © 1992 - 2001 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



Remember art rock? Well, it still lives. Every year or so Robert Fripp claws his way from a graveyard of past musical fads, emerging like something out of a Weird Tales Comic book, to snivel in an educated English accent that classicism in rock music lives on. He invariably brings with him a new band of recently interred English music veterans, a pretty new album cover, and a snide remark for the interviewer from Melody Maker. After a hastily conceived tour and small flurry of attention, he disappears for another year or so. Larks' Tongues in Aspic is nothing if not a real live return to this still-cherished genre. You can't dance to it, can't keep a beat to it, and it doesn't even make good background music for washing the dishes. To fully appreciate the album, you have to sit right up there with your head wedged in between the speakers, approach it with a completely open mind, and then try to decide whether it's a legitimate, near brilliant musical experience or just another whole trainload of rotting codfish. I'm still not sure, although I suppose the truth lies about smack-dab in the middle. Robert Fripp and King Crimson do not write or play songs—they perform compositions. The typical K.C. composition these days is a total study in contrasts, especially in moods and tempos—blazing and electric one moment, soft and intricate the next. Even the volume level is controlled for you. One moment you think your stereo is on the fritz because the Chinese wind chimes are tinkling so softly, the next the mellotron and guitar lurches half knock you out of your seat. Delicate interweavings pervade both sides of the album, with a tasteful John Wetton violin solo in the best classical tradition (sounding surprisingly competent to these admittedly untrained ears) juxtaposed against a screaming God-knows-what blast of white noise and staccato drumming. Does such a near-patchwork quilt of noise and technology amount to anything? The answer is yes, although one might get an argument from a diehard fan of Top 40 radio. I find myself often returning to this album that I hated the first three times I played it, and now merely dislike intensely. But I know I'll play the damn thing again sometime tomorrow, if for no other reason than that I've always found albums that are hard to enjoy in the beginning sometimes offer the most rewards and lasting pleasure in the long run.

ALAN NIESTER - RS 142
© Copyright 2001 RollingStone.com
 

 L y r i c s


LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC - PART 1

(Instrumental)


BOOK OF SATURDAY

If I only could deceive you
Forgetting the game
Every time I try to leave you
You laugh just the same

'Cause my wheels never touch the road
And the jumble of lies we told
Just returns to my back to weigh me down...

We lay cards upon the table
The backs of our hands
And I swear I like your people
The boys in the band

Reminiscences gone astray
Coming back to enjoy the fray
In a tangle of night and daylight sounds...

All completeness in the morning
Asleep on your side
I'll be waking up the crewmen
Banana-boat ride

She responds like a limousine
Brought alive on the silent screen
To the shuddering breath of yesterday...

There's the succour of the needy
Incredible scenes
I'll believe you in the future
Your life and death dreams

As the cavalry of despair
Takes a stand in the lady's hair
For the favour of making sweet sixteen...

You make my life and times
A book of bluesy Saturdays
And I have to chose...


EXILES

Now...in this faraway land
Strange...that the palms of my hands
Should be damp with expectancy

Spring...and the air's turning mild
City lights...and the glimpse of a child
Of the alleyway infantry

Friends...do they know what I mean
Rain...and the gathering green
Of an afternoon out-of-town

But Lord I had to go
My trail was laid too slow behind me
To face the call of fame
Or make a drunkard's name for me
Though now this other life
Has brought a different understanding
And from these endless days
Shall come a broader sympathy
And though I count the hours
To be alone's no injury...

My home...was a place near the sand
Cliffs...and a military band
Blew and air of normality


EASY MONEY

Your admirers on the street
Gotta hoot and stamp their feet
In the heat from your physique
As you twinkle by in moccasin sneakers

And I thought my heart would break
When you doubled up at the stake
With your fingers all a-shake
You could never tell a winner from a snake
but you always make money

Easy money

With your figure and your face
Strutting out at every race
Throw a glass around the place
Show the colour of your crimson suspenders

We would take the money home
Sit around the family throne
My old dog could chew his bone
For two weeks we could appease the Almighty

Easy money

Got no truck with the la-di-da
Keep my bread in an old fruit jar
Drive you out in a motor-car
Getting fat on your lucky star just making

Easy money.


THE TALKING DRUM

(Instrumental)


LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC - PART 2

(Instrumental)

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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