Sometimes I like to write about some of my favorite records and “Islands” by King Crimson is certainly one of them. I’ve actually been conversing on the social media about it with some other fans, and it’s unfortunate that so many of them just can’t wrap their brain around this record.
Before I get started, let me just say that I know for sure that several other fans feel the same way I do, so I’m not trying to say that “Islands” is either obscure and/or underrated.
It’s obvious though, that a music fan can be attracted to King Crimson via many different avenues.
The heavy metal fans certainly have plenty to like here. What head banger wouldn’t be attracted to the sheer power of “21st Century Schizoid Man”, perhaps their best known tune. Chicks dig the whole “warbling troubadour” shtick, and original vocalist Greg Lake is right up there with Justin Hayward from The Moody Blues in the sensitive department.
So it seems somewhat likely that other than the hardcore fan that just inhales everything, there’s a second tier of fandom that has one or two records and leaves it at that. Or they bought one record and then another one that didn’t live up to their expectations.
“Islands” certainly qualifies as potentially being one of those records. The opener, “Formentera Lady” can be a head scratcher, especially if you’re expecting crunching power chords or a faster tempo. The track references a woman from the island of Formentera, off the coast of Spain. Much like an island breeze, woodwind instruments flow across the track. Sometimes quiet, other times more abruptly.
Fans who were on board for all four Crimson records up to this point wouldn’t be too surprised. The band’s previous record “Lizard” was also more oblique than it’s predecessor, “In The Wake Of Poseidon”. Among the band’s many strong suits is their ability to experiment and improvise. With a line up of musicians that was almost in a constant state of flux, (By this time guitarist Robert Fripp and lyricist Peter Sinfield were the only remaining original members) King Crimson was becoming as Fripp would quote many years later, “a way of doing things”.
The second track, “A Sailor’s Tale” is among the all time favorites for many fans of the band. Propelled by a jazzy 6/8 time signature, guitar and saxophone double the same melodic part creating a unique, unsettling sound before it segue ways into the third track, “The Letters”. Here we get the albums most improvisational moments, with quiet and loud passages juxtaposed against each other.
The music fan in me wants to believe that “Ladies Of The Road” is at least partially inspired by Frank Zappa’s “Road Ladies”, released just a year earlier. While King Crimson up to this point was not a band you would expect to put forth a controversial lyric, this song is lyrically spattered with several instances of misogyny. Whereas Zappa would make it funny, here it’s just flat out creepy.
A flower lady's daughter
As sweet as holy water
Said: "I'm the school reporter
Please teach me", well I taught her.
Two fingered levi'd sister
Said, "Peace", I stopped I kissed her.
Said, "I'm a male resister",
I smiled and just unzipped her.
High diving Chinese trender
Black hair and black suspender
Said, "Please me no surrender
Just love to feel your Fender".
Stone-headed Frisco spacer
Ate all the meat I gave her
Said would I like to taste her
And even craved the flavor
All of you know that the girls of the road
Are like apples we stole in our youth.
All of you know that the girls of the road
Been around but are versed in the truth.
Again the saxophone and guitar are prominent here. These are wailing, caterwauling episodes of sound that paint the most extreme visuals in your mind.
“Prelude-Song Of The Gulls” is where “Islands” really hits it’s stride. Four minutes and fifteen seconds of the most achingly beautiful string quartet arrangement ever attempted on a pop record. The music itself lilts and pulsates like waves that kiss the shore. Water and the ocean seem to be a reoccurring theme over the course of the record, and while “A Sailor’s Tale” painted an aural soundscape of stormy seas, this track evokes a feeling of more peaceful, calmer weather.
We finish off with the title track. How is it even possible to convey my feelings about this song and how much it’s grown to mean to me over the years? It makes me feel both insignificant and larger than life, both temporary and eternal, all at the same time.
It reminds me of the friends and family that I’ve lost, how they left this earth holding everything they’ve ever felt near and dear to them close, clutching and hanging on until that very last moment. How we are all our own type of “island”, and how all islands eventually erode away.
Earth, stream and tree encircled by sea
Waves sweep the sand from my island.
Dark harbor quays like fingers of stone
Hungrily reach from my island.
Clutch sailor's words - pearls and gourds
Are strewn on my shore.
Equal in love, bound in circles.
Earth, stream and tree return to the sea
Waves sweep sand from my island,
from me.
Thank you for a perceptive review of this neglected masterpiece. It's one of those unclassifiable works that stymies even open-minded rock and jazz fans. I think of it as a work of programmatic chamber music. The more I listen to it, the more I see that Pete Sinfield's lyrics are central to the conception.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I am of the opinion that Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" cribbed a few ideas from this album. I think there is some commentary along these lines in Edward Macan's book on prog rock, "Rocking the Classics."
Thanks for reading, and I will check out that book and your many fine blogs as well!
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