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Islands

King Crimson - Islands Audio CD

A fair review of the King Crimson "Islands" 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: Islands
Rating:

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

Tracks: 1: Formentera Lady 2: Sailor's Tale 3: Letters 4: Ladies of the Road 5: Prelude: Song of the Gulls 6: Islands

Excellent
Before going into the music on Islands, let's get a few things out of the way. This album gets a bad rap even among Crimheads, and music people in general.

First, this is a big target for know it all music critics who think "progressive" is a dirty word and that the Velvet Underground were better than the Beatles. Play a medlodic scale or a Strawberry Alarm Clock song, and they sneer over their glasses at your musical illiteracy. Screw them.

Second, I realize this is by far the least musically capable line up of King Crimson. But fans of Humble Pie I know knock the playing on this album as not being technically good enough, and that does not make a lot of sense to me either.

And if you take the two best tracks on Islands, "Sailors Tale" and "Ladies Of The Road," you have two unqualified Crimso classics' Fripp's work on the former is the first time in the band he truely got to open up on a solo, and his dampered, choppy playing here is incredible, at least by the standards of his early work. He stops and starts at just the right point, and shows he is just as effective using meaty bar chords as he is the sustian solos he invented early on, or the dense accrobatics he did later.

"Ladies Of The Road" could be a Beatles track, a funk number, and a pop single. Boz's playing--the beat shifts in a beautifully snakey way--is excellent, and the tracking of his voice here makes this worth the price of the album

"Letters" is a great example of free jamming if overdramatic, and "Formantera Lady" is worth it for the opening cello line. And if there is a gripe to be made about the extra players here, it is that Fripp underutalizes them, not that the music is overdone.

Ok. The title track is a sleeper. I'll concede that much

.

An overlooked progressive rock classic
A fantastic, eclectic album with dark swirling mellotron sounds, gorgeous melancholic melodies, obscure lyrics (". . impaled on nails of ice. . . "), strangely beautiful impressionistic piano passages, delicate guitar argeggios (that's where Genesis got their early sound) and even a pizzicato string quartet. There is also a jazz element more present than on previous albums, at times Coltrane-esque and at times, free. Ladies of the Road is a little racy and Beatle-ish detour, but then early King Crimson were all about such detours, weren't they. . . There is a hint of experimentalism that is to define their subsequent releases, particularly on Sailor's Tale, where Fripp seems to bounce a bow across the strings of his heavily distorted guitar, producing a strange roaring wall of sound. There is an overall sense of mystery, sort of reminds me of the John Fowles novel, The Magus. Images of pagan gods and sun-dried Greek islands and wild herbs. . . If you have a long atention span and a vivid imagination, this music will fire it up like nothing else, I guarantee. This album is nothing if not a masterpiece of progressive rock.

Overlooked and Underated
I never warmed up to Lizard. I'm mainly a fan of the Lark's Tongues, Starless and Red era, and the In The Court and Poseidon albums. I found that album harsh and not very listenable (for various reasons) but Islands is a very listenable and likable album. It's original USA release album artwork hints that Islands is a more pastoral and serene sounding approach. Although ironically this album is an island unto itself in the Crimson catalog, there are some connections to other albums. First, it's a big departure from Lizard in that the heavy and overblown concepts are gone, and the music itself is mellower and more approachable than Lizard. Islands has more in common with Lark's Tongues than it does with Lizard. So, to me, the stylistic break came between Lizard and Islands. Granted the musicianship on Islands isn't up to par with Lark's Tongues, and the compositions aren't as difficult either but Islands makes for a very easy and enjoyable listen. It's mellow, it has a groove and it's consistently listen-able from beginning to end. Islands tends to polarize fans much like Lizard does. I'm one of those fans who likes Islands very much but can't listen to Lizard.

Islands starts with Formentera Lady, a beautiful ballad that becomes a medium groove over a single bass note that features 'asian" sounding melodies played on flute and sung. A beautiful piece. The mellowness and hypnotic groove tones down the Peter Sienfeld lyrics, which is good and is something that Lizard could not do.

Next is the semi-classic Sailor's Tale. This is another track that has a simple but grooving bass line and is maybe the first example of then Fripp's new sustaining guitar style and his "dissonant" guitar solo, one that he begins to use a lot for the forthcoming albums and for his work with Eno. You can really hear the beginning of the Lark's Tongues - Red era in this track.

The Letters starts out as a very mellow piece but turns into a more chaotic piece that sounds more like earlier Crimson (almost Lizard like) but it's is an enjoyable track.

Ladies of The Road is the opener for side two (of the vinyl) and is an easy listen. Almost pop-like (for Crimson) and reminds me of Easy Money from Lark's Tongues (another track that opened side two on the Vinyl). Again, to me, a hint of where Fripp and Crimson were headed.

Prelude:Song of the Gulls is a classical style piece performed by a string quartet. It's ok - fits the mood of the album. Nothing special but doesn't get in the way too much.

Islands closes the album. It's a ballad, mellow for most of the track but ends in a nice mellow major key with a melodic trumpet solo. Not a bad piece.

Islands in general does these things: Where as Lizard is the end of the first part of Crimson, Island is a bit of a false start for the second part of the Crimson. It's definitely a sign of things to come, but in Crimson history Islands gets completely overrun by the sheer power, revolution and majesty of Larks's Tongues, Starless and Bible Black, and Red. So in retrospect it gets lost between the two great periods of 70's Crimson - In the Court and Poseidon, and the Lark's - Red periods. It probably doesn't help that the accompanying live album from the Islands' tour, Earthbound, is maybe the worst sounding and performed live albums I've ever heard.

But, Islands is a good album and a good listen, certainly much more so that Lizard. If you're in the mood for a mellow Crimson album, with some simpler performances that point towards what was to come next, then chances are you will enjoy Islands.

Only Earthbound is worse
Ladies Of The Road is OK, but it can be found on other compilations where you are spared the possibility of hearing any of the junk on this album. Welcome to the worst studio album in the King Crimson catalog. I could describe on what level each track sucks, but that would require me to actually listen to the album, and I refuse to ever do that again. This caused extra grief by leading to the unlistenable Earthbound.

The humblest, most beautiful Crimson
Does it break open new musical boundaries, like the debut? No. Islands stands alone among the rest of the King Crimson catalogue, which is saying something considering the many different line-ups (and differet sounds) the band has had over the decades. Is it as schizophrenic and untamed as Larks Tongues In Aspic, or as hard rocking as Red? No and no. Is it worth a listen? Yes. . . it is worth dozens.

Islands contains some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. Another reviewer called it progressive chamber music, which seems about right. It is slow paced and gentle. Don't listen with the idea that it should have rocked harder, listen with appreciation for what it is.

We all know Fripp has more technical proficiency than a machine, but this album finds him taking a break from those riffs only a computer could imitate. Here he just flows with the songs; "Sailors Tale" has some nice guitar work in it especially. There is also the hauntingly serene "Prelude: Song of the Gulls", a powerful instrumental that is like a balm for your mind, and "Islands" (the closing track) swooping down like a musical blanket to tuck you into a comforting sleep.

While it has some moments of blistering rock (great ones, I might add), this is mostly a quiet, delicate listening experience. It's like a story being whispered to you instead of read aloud. As such, don't throw this on in the afternoon while doing the dishes and expect to be blown away. Music is not a commodity and cannot all be treated the same, and Islands demands a different kind of attention. This is the album you put on in late evening with a glass of wine and a view of the stars, or the album you listen to an hour before the sun rises when the whole world is silent.

5/5. If Islands pales in comparison to other King Crimson releases, then it just shines all the more brightly on its own.

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.