I'm gonna try and get this back on track.
Starless And Bible Black - 1974
Personnel:
Rober Fripp - Guitar, Mellotron.
John Wetton - Bass, Vocals.
Bill Bruford - Drums, Percussion.
David Cross - Violin, Viola, Keyboards.
Richard Palmer-James - Lyrics.
George Chkiantz - Acoustic Coordinator.
Peter Henderson - Assistant Engineer.
1974 was a rough year for prog, most critics opinions on the genre shifted towards the negative side, and punk rock was already on the rise as important punk bands such as The Ramones began to form.
However, the kings of prog were not gonna give up without a fight, especially now that Fripp has finally found himself a suitable (and consistant) lineup to progress even further into unexplored musical territory, with a bulletproof ensemble of virtuoso musicians and Richard Palmer-James (who previously was one of the founding members of Supertramp, only to leave shortly after) whose lyrical skills greatly surpass that of his predecessor Peter Sinfield, the band had become an unstopable force... Even today Starless And Bible Black is considered by critics to be the most abrasive, vicious and darkly funny album of the bands career, and one of the most innovative works in progressive rock, thanks in most part to Wettons trademark smug vocals and Fripps mad guitar skillz... It's a shame that most prog bands today don't follow Crimsons example and instead choose to immitate bands like Marillion and Starcastle, which is counterproductive for bands who prefer to be called "progressive".
It should be noted that while this is considered a studio effort, only three songs were done in studio (Great Deceiver, Lament and Night Watch), all the other tracks were recorded live, with sounds of the audience edited out,
But enough ranting...
1. The Great Deceiver: Amazing opener, and it's one of the bands most memorable songs... Unusual song for Crimson in that it actually features what could classify as a "riff"... Though it's a violin riff... Here the violin and guitars are oddly tuned and distorted while sharing a very similar tone, and Fripps violin like techniques (or Frippertonics, as they are often known) makes it even harder to tell what is violin and what is guitar... While the riffs and guitars are fast, the bass is slow and melodic... Yet another Crimson trademark.... As it should be noted, this is the second Crimson album to not feature their original lyricist and conceptionist Peter Sinfield, and it's noticable here... Palmers lyrics do away with Sinfields upbeat fantasticism and instead offer a satrical observation of the bleakness and confusion of middle class society and "enough is never enough" consumerism and culture... And the music itself reflects that, in fact... All but 3 songs on this album are instrumentals, but the 3 lyrical/vocal pieces that make such a powerful statement it sets the mood for the whole album... Here, Palmer references materialism, greed, exploitation and religion... Almost all in a single instance... Lyrics like "Sing hymns make love get high fall dead, Hell bring his perfume to your bed, Hell charm your life til the cold winds blow, Then hell sell your dreams to a picture show" show improvement for the band, Sinfields departure was just what the band needed at this point... Finally Crimsons lyrical and thematic ideas were beginning to catch up with their actual music.
2. Lament: One of my favorite songs off this album, the song starts with a repetive chord while Wetton sings about the dreams of becoming a rock star, once the song kicks off into a metal-funk jam the lyrics become a stinging satire of rock n roll excess... The song itself is somewhat of a parody of Zeppelin-esque hard rock.
3. We'll Let You Know: Nice little bass heavy instrumental here... This one was recorded in Glasgow, Scotland.
4. The Night Watch: A King Crimson album wouldn't be complete without the token medieval-ish ballad now would it?... This song was inspired by the Rembrandt painting of the same name... This song at first dosen't seem to fit in with the other tracks, but it's a great track on it's own, with some of Fripps amazing guitar work stealing the spotlight... This song is actually two recordings spliced together, the intro was recorded live, the rest recorded in the studio.
5. Trio: While KC at this point are venturing further into more rock and jazz based teritory, their classical influences are still intact, evidenced here... This lovely little improv was recorded in Zürich, Switzerland and features what may very well be some of the best use of Mellotron ever put on record... It suggests many instruments that simply aren't there, very unreal... Oddly enough, Bruford was giving writing credit for this track dispite not actually playing on it.
6. The Mincer: Weird psychedelic little song, weird mix of KC style layers of guitar and bass with Beatles-esque vocal harmonies during the closer.
7. Starless And Bible Black: The final two tracks are pure chaos, this one mixes fusion with the combo of avant noise and ambience that King Crimson specialize in, like most of the songs off Larks, this one just builds and builds.
8. Fracture: Probably my favorite of all of KC's instrumentals, an extremely heavy, monsterious jam with complex guitar structures that would define Crimson's later work.