'Larks' Tongues In Aspic' is the fifth studio album by the progressive rock band King Crimson, released on 23 March 1973, through Island Records in the UK and Atlantic Records in the United States and Canada. It marked the debut of a new incarnation of King Crimson, featuring co-founder and guitarist Robert Fripp along with four new members: bass guitarist and vocalist John Wetton, violinist and keyboardist David Cross, drummer Bill Bruford, and percussionist Jamie Muir. At the end of the tour to promote King Crimson's previous album, 'Islands', Fripp parted company with the three other members of the band (Mel Collins, Boz Burrell and Ian Wallace), after the previous year had seen the ousting of the band's lyricist and artistic co-director Peter Sinfield. 'Larks' Tongues In Aspic' showed several significant changes in King Crimson's sound, as having previously relied on woodwinds as significant melodic and textural instruments, the band now replaced them with Cross' violin, while Muir's percussion rig featured eccentric instrumentation including chimes, bells, musical saw, shakers, rattles, and miscellaneous drums and chains. The Mellotron was retained for this new phase, played by Fripp and Cross, and instrumental pieces carried strong jazz fusion and European free-improvisation influences, as well as some aggressive portions verging on heavy metal. The centre-piece of the album was the title track, split into two parts, and book-ending the record, and the band re-visited this track a few more times during their career, with 'Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part III' appearing on 'Three Of A Perfect Pair' in 1984, 'Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part IV' featuring on 2000's 'The Construction Of Light', and the final part being included on the 'Level Five' live album under that title. What we have here is all five parts of the opus, but instead of being performed by King Crimson themselves, these are version by ex-members of the band, who have then gone on the form their own groups, and who have featured parts of the 'Larks' Tongues' suite in their live sets. I thought that this would sound better as a "studio" album, so I've removed the audience from the recordings, and the pieces now flow together so well that you'd hardly know that they were performed by five different groups.
Track listing
01 Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part I
02 Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part II
03 Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part III
04 Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part IV
05 Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part V
The bands are:
Track 01 - The David Cross Band
David Cross - Electric Violin
John MItchell - Vocals, Guitar
Sheila Maloney - Keyboards
Mick Paul - Bass Guitar and Vocals
Jack Summerfield - Drums
Track 02 - The Crimson ProjeKCt
Adrian Belew
Julie Slick
Tobias Ralph
Tony Levin
Pat Masteletto
Markus Reuter
Track 03 - BEAT
Adrian Belew
Steve Vai
Tony Levin
Danny Carey
Track 04 - Tu-Ner
Markus Reuter
Pat Masteletto
Trey Gunn
Track 05 - Stick Men Featuring Mel Collins
Markus Reuter
Pat Masteletto
Tony Levin
Mel Collins
Thanks to geofmcm for the concept and the music.
