Tracks
- Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part One)
- Book of Saturday
- Exiles
- Easy Money
- The Talking Drum
- Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part Two)
Larks' Tongues in Aspic is a violent album. The music is progressive rock. King Crimson, or rather, Robert Fripp likes to push the dynamic range within a song to the limit. And he likes to go from one extreme to another in a minimal about of time. It's as if he's trying to re-create the Big Bang in song. There's nothing more shocking then that burst of music nearly four minutes into the first song. I'm not sure what other bands make so much use of dynamic range.
This use of dynamic range also helps to make the band's extended instrumental jams, which occur on each song, more interesting. That there are moments of peaceful calm and frenzied chaos, makes the album seem sinister, aggressive, unpredictable and dangerous.
I think this album is absolutely stunning. King Crimson gets progressive rock right, just not all at once. The two key elements of prog rock to me are: a thematically unified album and extended instrumentals that are not overindulgent. The first two incarnations of King Crimson, from 1969 to 1972, succeed at the former. The third incarnation, which starts with this album, succeeds at the latter. Larks' Tongues is one of my personal favorites, so of course I think it's worth listening to. I also think it belongs in a serious record collection, especially one that is open to prog rock. I also believe this album deserves to be on the 1001 Albums list since it's one of the finest examples of prog rock.
All the songs are excellent. The stand outs are: Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part One), Book of Saturday, Exiles, Easy Money, The Talking Drum and Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part Two).
★★★★★★★★★★
