King Crimson: Islands (200g, MP3 download code) [PANEGYRIC]

Why you'll love it

This 200g pressing carries the original 1971 stereo mix, newly cut from masters approved by Robert Fripp, with a 4-page insert and an MP3 download code. The album reached No. 30 on the UK Albums Chart.

This edition

• 200g vinyl
• Original 1971 stereo mix
• Newly cut from masters approved by Robert Fripp
• 4-page insert
• Pressed in England
• MP3 download code
• Remastered
• Booklet included

About the album

The cover is a photograph of the Trifid Nebula, with no band name and no title, which tells you roughly how far out King Crimson were prepared to go in 1971. Islands is the sole studio album by the lineup of Robert Fripp, lyricist Peter Sinfield, saxophonist Mel Collins, bassist and singer Boz Burrell and drummer Ian Wallace, recorded at Command Studios in Piccadilly.

Like Lizard before it, the record leans into jazz improvisation and chamber music. "Formentera Lady" drifts in slowly, "Sailor's Tale" is the instrumental The Rough Guide to Rock called "masterful" and one of Fripp's finest moments, and "The Letters" grew out of an old Giles, Giles and Fripp tune. "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" brings in strings and oboe, and the title song closes the album in hushed, gorgeous slow motion.

Stay put after "Islands" fades: the original vinyl hid a snatch of studio chatter at the end of side two, Fripp talking the players through one more take. Since 2014 the band has walked on stage to it, which must make it the most heavily rehearsed outtake in prog.

Also at Kops: more King Crimson on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Discipline Global Mobile / Panegyric (cat# KCLP4), a reissue of the 1971 album.