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In the Wake of Poseidon

King Crimson - In the Wake of Poseidon Audio CD

A fair review of the King Crimson "In the Wake of Poseidon" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all King Crimson reviews here, or go back to the King Crimson tabs.

Band: King Crimson
Title: In the Wake of Poseidon
Rating:

Release Date: 2004-12-20
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Peace-A Beginning 2: Pictures of a City/42nd at Treadmill 3: Cadence and Cascade 4: In the Wake of Poseidon/Libra's Theme 5: Peace - A Theme 6: Cat Food 7: Devil's Triangle: Merday Morn/Hand of Sceiron/Garden of Worm 8: Peace - An End 9: Cat Food [Single Version][Edit][*] 10: Groon [Single B Side][*]

In the Wake of Ian's leaving...A man, a city

Within the context of "In the Wake of Poseidon" all of the songs work extremely well and have a basic coherency and flow but the inclusion of material from outside of the band and a fairly weak arrangment of Mars (even as stated by R.

The only real problem with this their second effort for the band would have to lie with the inclusion of 'The Devils' Triangle' which we all now know to be from Holsts' 'The Planets' and a pretty misguided rendering it is. Fripp) is even more puzzling when you hear what the band was playing during their first tour as evidenced by the DGM records release "Epitaph" in 1997.

The album starts with the truly tranquil 'Peace-A beginning' with just the beautiful voice of G. Lake and then plunges head first into the incredible 'A man, A city/retitled Pictures of a City' for the album. Apparently written while on tour in the USA back in '69. Even with the loss of I. McDonald this version of the song is served well by the remainder of the band for the studio/album adaptation, and with Mel Collins handling the reed instrumentation there is no real gap to fill.

'Cadence and Cascade' may well be one of the lovliest songs ever recorded by the beast King Crimson, rating on a par with 'One Time' or 'Starless' or even 'I talk to the wind'.

The title track to this album IMHO is one of the great lost King Crimson classics with P. Sinfield writing lyrics that are delivered with heart from G. Lake as in the classic sense of their first albums 'Epitaph' or even some of Gregs later material on the first ELP album like 'Knife-edge';

The album continues along the lines of its theme with 'Peace-A theme' this time with just acoustic guitar before the opening of that ominous bass line intro to 'Cat Food' undoubtably one of the greatest/meanest/cleverest songs pertaining to the state of societal affairs of the times(our time?).

With these songs and the underlying theme, the inclusion of 'Mars' or the 'Devil's Triangle' seems like it should fit the master plan but in fact takes away from what otherwise would have been an immediate hit maker. Had the powers that were included other selections from the above mentioned tour from which this album is a product like 'Mantra' or 'Trees' or maybe a contemporary songwriter like 'Get thy Bearings' by Donovan (with whom there was a friendship), which was actually on the song list as evidenced by the box set 'Epitaph', I believe the end product would have suprised even the band.

The album then ends with the final vocal/acoustic guitar reading of 'Peace-An end' by G. Lake/R. Fripp to leave the listener only yearning for more. At only 41 minutes this in an incredble chapter in the King Crimson catalog not to be missed by slight oversight or biased review. The 24-bit remastering only enhances what was/is an incredible work by two people trying to hold together a band that was disintergrating right before their eyes. Comment | Permalink

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An excellent followup to Court of the Crimson King
Heavy on the mellotron, soothing to the ear, with the exception of the raucous 'Cat Food'. I will go on record as saying that although 'In the Wake of Poseidon' does follow the style of 'In the Court of the Crimson King', it is still an excellent album. The extra tracks (single version of Cat Food and Groon) are nice although the former doesn't seem all that necessary. This was Greg Lake's last outing with Crimso as well as for Giles and MacDonald, and our last glimpse of what this combo is capable of.

The cd itself is rendered in high definition cd format and sounds wonderful. The liner notes are a nice glimpse of the band at the time of the recording, with the transition of 3 members out and the inclusion of Collins and Haskell.

I'm a long time King Crimson fan, so I am biased, but I think this cd is definitely worth your hard earned cash.
.

A Great Achievement!
Yes, ITWOP does somewhat follow the same format as "In The Court Of The Crimson King" including the song titling to a point, but that doesn't mean it's an exact "clone" of that album; not by a long shot. "In The Wake Of Poseidon" stands on it's own as a classic, especially considering that the original band lineup was fragmenting at the time of the recording. Upon repeated listens, you'll find a very different feel & vibe going down here, & I very much agree that it grows on you each time you hear it.

"Pictures Of A City/42nd & Treadmill" has a Frank Zappa feel to it with new member Mel Collins' sax phrasings mirroring Robert Fripp's guitar work leading up to a heavy, distorted vocal section. From there, it morphs into fusion territory with complex start/stop tempos to keep it interesting. Next comes the gentle "Cadence & Cascade" that blends into the title track with more mournful Mellotron work going on.

"Peace-A Theme" contains some of Fripp's most beautiful & intricate guitar work that fades out & picks up the pace again with the strange & jazzy "Cat Food". "The Devil's Triangle" is essentially a reworking of Holst's "Mars", which was also done by Dave Edmunds' group Love Sculpture around this same time, just in a shortened version. Among the bonus tracks are the single version of "Cat Food" & its' B-side "Groon".

The 24-bit remastering is excellent & brings out every nuance of the original recording with astounding clarity. Give this album a listen, actually, repeated listens & you'll discover some fantastic music.

In the Wake of Poseidon
It takes me back to the days when I listened to it over and over when in college. I love this CD. The band was so unique in terms of the lyrics, harmonic progressions, instrumentation, and in the ways they used the instruments. The drummer was more of a percussionist. I love it!!!.

decent, but the future was brighter
Four masterpieces. I guess this is an improvement over the debut album from this revolutionary progressive rock band, but I can think of four albums by King Crimson you should hear before this one because they're better- Lizard, Islands, Larks Tongue in Aspic, and Red.

In the Wake of Poseidon just has a few weak moments scattered through some highly memorable ones, but the thing is, there's no weak moments on the four albums I mention above. Those are four brilliant masterpieces that you must own as soon as you can.

"Pictures of a City" has some nice jazzy parts, but the vocals are horrible, and the sound quality is atrocious. "Cat Food" is probably the best song for being an atmospheric jazzy piece. The title song is just a rewrite of what was done better on the debut. Or maybe not (I like this song a lot despite not really being much different from the stuff the band had already done previously). "Devil's Triangle" has an atmosphere that really doesn't do anything for me except get under my skin a little bit for being WAY too long. The atmosphere never really goes anywhere.

Not one of the bands better albums, that's for sure.

You can see a complete list of all King Crimson discography, or go back to the King Crimson tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.