Starless And Bible Black: 30th Anniversary Edition [Remaster]

Performer: King Crimson
Producer: King Crimson
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: The initial pressing of STARLESS AND BIBLE BLACK is packaged in a cardboard-stock gatefold sleeve. King Crimson: John Wetton (vocals, bass); Robert Fripp (guitar, mellotron); David Cross (violin, viola, keyboards); William Bruford (percussion). Digitally remastered by Robert Fripp. King Crimson: John Wetton (vocals, bass guitar); Robert Fripp (guitar, Mellotron); David Cross (violin, viola, keyboards); Bill Bruford (drums, percussion). After the transitional ISLANDS, LARK'S TONGUES began the third Crimson phase that continued with STARLESS and ended with RED. The quartet of David Cross, John Wetton, Robert Fripp and Bill Bruford (augmented on LARK'S TONGUES by madman percussionist Jamie Muir) is regarded as the most innovative of Crimson's many lineups, offering hard-edged improvisations on an unprecedented level. With founding member/lyricist Pete Sinfield departed, Robert Palmer-James stepped in with a more cutting, concise lyrical approach that matched the group's uncompromising instrumental precision. STARLESS takes the furious improvisational style inaugurated by it's predecessor and takes it to new heights. Tunes like "We'll Let You Know" and "Fracture," while based around typically devilish Fripp guitar figures and complicated time signatures, lean heavily on the spontaneity of the band's no-holds-barred interaction for their fireworks. The drumless "Trio" is 100 percent improvisation and inspiration. "The Great Deceiver" is about as close to a standard "rock" tune as STARLESS gets, Wetton's throaty vocals leading the charge. Even on this, one of Crimson's pointiest, nastiest efforts, there's room for a poignant ballad, "The Night Watch," which ranks among the band's best.

Q (11/00, p.129) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...A stolid affair - proof of the band's road-hardened discipline....envincing a lofty...ambition which they rarely, if ever, matched again." The Wire (10/00, p.77) - "...Mostly recorded live, it ranges from isolation tank bliss to monolithic rock heaviness of the closing 11 minutes of 'Fracture'..."

Led by innovative guitarist/conceptualist Robert Fripp, King Crimson went through countless changes in style and personnel. They moved from early symphonic/progressive rock to angular, experimental improv to a mixture of hard rock and fusion before breaking up in the mid-'70s. Revived in the '80s, the group modernized its approach by incorporating Gamelan-like polyrhythms and an almost danceable Talking Heads-influenced sound into their approach. Always the coolest of the art-rockers, Crimson was also one of the most influential of the early-'70s prog crowd.

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