Released: 1970
Tracks: Cirkus; Indoor Games; Happy Family; Lady of the Dancing Water; Lizard (Prince Rupert Awakes; Bolero – The Peacock’s Tale; The Battle of Glass Tears; Big Top)
Best track: Prince Rupert Awakes
Track to skip: none
Strange album. This thing has caused so much controversy between Crimheads and band members alike. I think it’s safe to say that most Crimheads (including Robert Fripp) don’t care for this album very much. However, I’ve also talked to Crimheads who think that it’s their best work. Yes, this is a strange album. It’s really unlike any other Crimson album and it kinda sticks out in the KC canon. Not sticks out like a sore thumb, but it’s out there.
It’s probably the jazziest album that Crimson has put out. Mel Collins (flute and sax) is incredible on this and he is a severely underrated musician. Keith Tippett adds the crazy piano and there are also a few extra horn and reed players who add to the overall jazzyness. Fripp’s mellotron playing on Lizard is the most intense space-filling of any of the Crimson albums. Actually, all the musicians on this are just phenomenal and there’s often so much going on that you just get enveloped in the music.
If you get past the stupid layer of “strangeness”, you have a really good album. The only real negative thing I can say about the album is that Gordon Haskell’s voice is HORRIBLE. Why Fripp wanted him to sing on this is a mystery to me. I think he’s awful and almost ruins these songs. The songwriting manages to beat out the bad vocals, but they are a major distraction. Thankfully this was his last appearance in King Crimson.
The balance on this album between the weird jazzy stuff and the gorgeous melodic stuff is staggering. Most of the first half tends be louder and a bit more strange, while the 2nd half is mostly one big slab of beauty. Prince Rupert Awakes has a gorgeous chorus and has the only good vocals on the album, thanks to Yes’ Jon Anderson. Bolero is equally as beautiful with proof that Fripp writes some incredible melodies. For all the good qualities, I just keep going back to the bad vocals of Haskell. It’s kinda hard to give this album a grade in that regard, plus that it’s just so different makes it hard too. The good stuff is there, it’s just a bit buried.
Rating: 91
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