Released: 1970
Tracks: Peace – A Beginning; Pictures of a City; Cadence and Cascade; In the Wake of Poseidon; Peace – A Theme; Cat Food; The Devil’s Triangle; Peace – An End
Best track: Peace – A Theme
Track to skip: Peace – A Beginning, if you care to skip a 15-second song
Along with Lizard, one of the more ignored Crimson albums. That’s too bad since there’s some really good material on here. Ian McDonald’s presence is obviously missed, but new member Mel Collins fills in the sax and flute work beautifully. This album is a lot more scattered/varied than In the Court and that throws one for a shock a bit. A lot of Crim-heads think that this is In the Court, Part II, but I really don’t see it like that. True the middle section of Pictures of a City is a total rip-off from Schizoid Man’s, but the rest of the album really doesn’t have that much to do with the first album.
I picked Peace – A Theme as my fave track since it’s absurdly beautiful. I’ve always wanted to learn how to play it but it’s something I’ve never tackled. Fripp made humanity better by composing that piece of music. Cat Food is also a favorite on the disc and one of the most different sounding tracks Crimson ever recorded. Keith Tippett does some great piano work on here and the whole thing is a highlight of Crimson’s cannon.
Devil’s Triangle is very evil. I guess the band didn’t want to credit Holst for it (it’s basically Mars) so they just re-wrote it and added some things. Still a good track with great use of the mellotron. All in all Poseidon is a good album, even though it’s a let down from the debut (what isn’t though?). I think I like this more than most Crim-heads so if you have an open mind you might dig it too.
Rating: 91
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