The Great Deceiver/Lament/We'll Let You Know/The Night Watch/Trio/The Mincer/Starless & Bible Black/ Fracture
Progressive group King Crimson’s Starless & Bible Black is half studio and half improvisational. The rather incongruous title is taken from the Dylan Thomas radio drama Under Milk Wood. (US:64 UK:28)
“Tight, precise, and full of surprises, the rockers, rock hard, while tunes like Trio are stunning in their beauty. Side two, which is largely improvisational is also a great musical trip. King Crimson are one of the few prog rock groups that can improvise, and truly stretch the boundaries without sounding pretentious and boring.”
“Mostly quite useless mock-progressive experimental art stuff, although The Night Watch is an honestly good song, and there is something appealing about Trio as well, especially knowing how the song was actually made. Primarily side two is, unfortunately, a waste of time. Fripp and company knew how to make music that is without question unconventional and innovative but still sounds slightly dodgy.”
“At this point I'm not sure if they are just messing around in the studio or if they are really trying to place some sort of direction into their long musical jams. The few scattered good moments in this album are too brief to make it an enjoyable listen. It’s chaotic but not in the good sense of the word.”
“The improvisations on this album tend to drag, building tension but not really managing to be all that interesting. The songs recorded in the studio are far better, probably among the best King Crimson ever recorded and are timeless classics.”
“Starless & Bible Black is an extremely confusing album. One half studio, one half live, with half the live stuff sounding so precise it sounds like it was done in the studio. Two of the live improvisations cut off suddenly without resolving themselves, leaving one side full of just-barely realized ideas and a second side of impressively massive improvisation and the horror-ride that is Fracture.”
“All of this line-up are virtuoso performers at their instruments, and the instrumental interplay between the group is amazing. Robert Fripp is in a league of his own. His guitar playing is absolutely stunning, and this is probably the Crimson album that best shows off his abilities. Bill Bruford’s style of drumming is very original and the only thing that keeps this album from being complete and total chaos.”
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