KING CRIMSON — Larks' Tongues In Aspic (review)

KING CRIMSON — Larks' Tongues In Aspic album cover Album · 1973 · Jazz Related Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Sean Trane
Aspic's Lark on the Tongue!

This album for a long time was my least favourite of 70's Crimson albums because of Wetton's voice and totally weird sense of dynamic sound-levels - only Exiles seemed of interest as well as Talking Drum but for the rest...... I was simply not into it!!

And then one day, a friend put this album as I was arguing (politics) with a girlfriend at 2AM, and the spark came, with the music blaring out of the speakers at a very unreasonable loud volume for the time of that time of night. As I said , prior to this I only enjoyed Exile and to a lesser extent TD, but those crazy percussions that had turned me off in Easy Money started making extreme sense and I actually stopped in mid sentence (I was about to nail the coffin closed on the argument I was winning hands down) and yelled: YYYYEEESSSS!!!!!!!!. She looked at me and said: no King Crimson!! But I was now instantly hooked, and asked for a repeat of the track. Needless to say that after this repeat, this first thing I did was to go home with the borrowed album and played it twice before falling asleep. To this day, that famous coffin is still lacking a few nails, and I will gladly leave it that way!! ;-)

The 2 parts of Aspic became clear to me also but it is the incredible percussion from Muir on Easy Money that convinced me that this was probably the creative high point of this band. I still have a bit of a problem with Wetton's singing on Book Of Saturday but it is a thankfully short number. Still nowadays, Exiles and Taking Drum are my fave on the album, but almost every track is now a pure classic on my mind. Definitely one of Crimson's best oeuvre, even if it is not the most accessible.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Symphonic Blues No. 6 Third Stream
CORKY SIEGEL
Buy this album from MMA partners
Recut Jazz Related Electronica/Hip-Hop
SKALPEL
Buy this album from MMA partners
Yuval Cohen Quartet : Winter Poems Post-Fusion Contemporary
YUVAL COHEN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Just Nu Jazz
JIM HART
Buy this album from MMA partners
Skrifum Post-Fusion Contemporary
JON BALKE
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

SOLSTICE album release • Duo Russo - Holst
PAOLO RUSSO
js· 97 minutes ago
Akiko Yano & Hiromi - Kawarushi (Official Audio)
HIROMI
js· 1 day ago
All I Want For Christmas Is You
DAVID HAZELTINE
js· 1 day ago
Chicken
QUATUOR EBÈNE
js· 2 days ago
Det er en egen lomme
THE LEIF
js· 2 days ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed