KING CRIMSON/IN THE WAKE OF POSEIDON ILPS 9127 (-70) UK

For this league of gentlemen it's impossible to give some kind of brief introduction without missing important parts so I wont even try. If You don't know about them already, here's an OK link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Crimson . Through the period 1969-74 they issued seven studio LP:s, all varying in styles and settings - psych, art-rock, prog, rock, jazz - tied together by high quality ideas, top performances and Robert Fripp's unrivaled guitar play. This was their second. After first album "In The Court Of The Crimson King" and following touring the band broke up leaving Robert Fripp and Peter Sinfield as only remaining members. Greg Lake had already left for Emerson Lake & Palmer but was bribed with some audio equipment to participate. Michael Giles agreed to return for this recording only, also bringing his brother Peter - in a way making it the last "Giles, Giles & Fripp" pursuit. Other supporting musicians were Mel Collins, Gordon Haskell and Keith Tippett. It wasn't favoured by all critics at arrival and got some criticism for being a copy of the first. Listening to it today from a wider perspective it's more of a transition album, having both synth driven psych numbers as on ITCOTCK and ingenious prog leading to "Lizard" and further development. I've always thought the debute was good but hugely overrated, so my favs on this are the ones showing the new side of the group - "Cat Food", "Cadence & Cascade" and "Pictures Of A City". US first on Atlantic (SD 8266). Premiere UK had label as shown here and heavily structured fold/out cover. (KYK*)(ÖSÄP*)