In The Court of the Crimson King was my introduction to King Crimson. An awe-inducing, addicting, inspirational introduction. Did I make it clear I liked that album a lot?
Well... so, after listening to it at its entirety for the 40th time, I decided it was time for me to buy more Crimson music.

I was fearful, though, of being disappointed with their later stuff if it didn’t live up to the enormous expectations I had built after ITCOTCK. After making some research on progreviews.com and on the King Crimson Usenet newsgroup, I decided to go for one of the albums of the second King Crimson era. After a quick trip to the music store, the only cd from King Crimson II available was Starless and Bible Black. I bought it right away.

As I stated above, the album I’m reviewing was created by the second incarnation of King Crimson. This time, the lineup was:

Robert Fripp - Guitar, Mellotron, Devices.
John Wetton - Bass, Vocals.
Bill Bruford - Drums, Percussion.
David Cross - Violin, Viola, Keyboards.

These guys, with Robert Fripp and his iron fist (you can’t deny – he is just everywhere on this album) on the creative lead and the spiritual guidance of Richard Palmer-James (sort of Pete Sinfield’s successor) produced 3 marvelous albums that represent the zenith of King Crimson’s music: Larks’ Tongues In Aspic, Starless and Bible Black, and Red.

The second of them, which is the subject of this particular review (for if my drivel has already distracted you from the main point), features King Crimson’s rawest sound. This is characterized by a respectable quantity of improvisational tracks (6 out of this album’s 8 tracks are improvs), and the inclusion of an incomplete musical idea (The Mincer) that wasn’t even recorded properly. This can lead one to expect a disorganized work with little cohesion – and yeah, that’s just what it is. And that’s were resides that little “charm” (yeah I know how utterly cheesy it sounds) that makes it stand out among all the King Crimson albums.

Immediately after you start playing this CD, you’ll be abruptly dragged into The Great Deceiver by its abrupt introduction. John Wetton’s aggressive singing (and the caustic lyrics – watch out for lots of unpolitically correct stuff!), and the structure of the song sound at times like some weird arena rock, but this unusual evocation is hastily erased by the reprise of the same “alarmed” guitar riffs from the intro. After a good dose of chorus repetition, the song dies out...

...giving way to Lament, the second (and last) composed track of the album. Again, a song with a very visceral approach, this time against the money-grubbing record label executives (yes, that filthy scum prowled around since way before 2002). Wetton’s vocals are rather poor in this Lament (was he drunk when they recorded it? He sounds like a 70 years-old teporocho), but you can forgive that after listening to all the frenzy solos that come after the vocal part. Bruford is a monster on this song.

The improvisational tracks, which make up for 88% of the album, are quite irregular in terms of quality. You’ll barely note The Night Watch wasn’t carefully composed and written before it was played live, since it sounds so beautifully complex and flowing. Trio is also a good effort by Fripp, Cross and Wetton, that resembles some kind of Japanese ancient music. Too bad it is barely audible due to the terrible sound quality. We’ll Let You Know is considerably weaker than the 2 previous ones, but it’s still decent, thanks to the funky bass lines delivered by Wetton (in some parts it sounds a lot like Seinfeld’s opening theme).

The two disappointing tunes of Starless and Bible Black are tracks #6 and #7: The Mincer and the title track, respectively. Both are fairly uneventful, but The Mincer takes the cake for the most boring song of the album. It lacks any type of real direction and consists in just a few loose riffs here and there and a dull vocal part... the master tape ended before they finished recording the song so it isn’t even complete.

Starless and Bible Black (the song) tries too hard to be ambiental and does half of the job well before falling into tedium and lethargy. It starts with some bass sounds and crystals with the rest of the instruments gradually joining in. The problem with all of this is that it builds lots of tension that it never releases (it builds, and builds, and builds, and then it just ends), leaving you with the feeling that the song is incomplete. I think the best thing about the title track is that it ends – and gives way to the album closer...

...which is also the best King Crimson song (in my opinion, anyway): Fracture. This all-Fripp epic is among my favorite songs of all time, and its definitely my top King Crimson song. Why? Well, first of all there’s the thrill factor: unlike the title track, this song manages to create thousands of Newtons (the Metric system unit!) of tension before releasing them with its crushing ending. Bruford is a monster again. Cross gets the violin to not sound wimpy compared to the rest of the music and Wetton does a formidable job in keeping the rhythm with his dynamic bass playing. All in all, Fracture is completely flawless and its probably the best instrumental in prog rock history. Or at least it ranks pretty close to the top spot.

Just Adding...

Starless and Bible Black was the album that got me hooked to King Crimson after In the Court of the Crimson King stimulated my curiosity. Really, give this one a try. Don’t just dismiss this one as “dated dung” – it’ll probably refresh your ears more than most of the derivative mainstream crap you get on MTV every day.

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Going to Sleep