"Larks' Tongues In Aspic: 40th Anniversary Series" by KING CRIMSON - March 1973 UK Album on Island Records and April 1973 USA on Atlantic Records (October 2010 UK Panegyric CD and DVD-A Reissue - Robert Fripp and Steven Wilson Remasters) - A Review my Mark Barry...

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1973 was a strange year for Prog Rock. By all accounts the genre should have been stabbed in the Tolkien, kicked in the Third Eye and left for dead in a Topographic ditch. But it prevailed even more than it had done in 1971 and 1972 – the years of Yes, Genesis, ELP, Gentle Giant, Focus, Van Der Graaf Generator - the Vertigo Spiral, Harvest, Charisma and Deram Nova labels and of course – the mighty King Crimson over on Island Records (Atlantic in the US).

KC were already one of the most cultish of Progressive Rock bands to have ever spanked the planks - "Larks' Tongues In Aspic" managing a decent No. 20 spot on the UK LP charts in April 1973 when many other genre names couldn't get arrested. At the opposite end of the commercial abyss - Pink Floyd had unleashed the album monster "The Dark Side Of The Moon" a month earlier – a record that has virtually defined chart longevity for five decades straight (prisms and pyramids ahoy) - while Mike Oldfield was clanging on his "Tubular Bells" in May. The whole broody, moody and musically adventurous lot of them were huge albums – absolute global goliaths really. Hell - Yes would even put the sprawling and deeply challenging double-LP set "Tales from Topographic Oceans" on the No. 1 spot in Blighty in December – a staggering achievement in 1973 and quite probably impossible to achieve in 2018. Which brings us to this fifth platter from England’s defiantly different KC – a sextet of musical birds body parts in jelly...

The last Remaster stab at this so-so album came in 2000 for a 30th Anniversary Edition (Simon Heyworth and Robert Fripp did the honours) - but this '40th Anniversary Series' Edition has had the magic and nimble fingers of STEVE WILSON around it's sunny throat - and once again the Porcupine Tree boy wonder has brought forth nuances that I for one hadn't heard before (the DVD-A includes the 2000 Remaster and Flat Transfer versions too). Here are the Talking Drums...

UK released 22 October 2010 - "Larks' Tongues In Aspic: 40th Anniversary Series" by KING CRIMSON on Panegyric KCSP5 (Barcode 633367400529) is a CD and DVD-Audio Reissue and New Remaster that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 CD (68:02 minutes):

2012 Stereo Mix

1. Larks' Tongues In Aspic (Part I) [Side 1]

2. Book Of Saturday

3. Exiles

4. Easy Money [Side 2]

5. The Talking Drum

6. Larks' Tongues In Aspic (Part II)

Tracks 1 to 6 are their fifth studio album "Larks' Tongues In Aspic" - released March 1973 in the UK on Island ILPS 9230 and April 1973 in the USA on Atlantic SD 7263. Produced by King Crimson (Engineer Nick Ryan) - the LP peaked at No. 20 and No. 61 on the UK and US album charts.

BONUS TRACKS:

7. Larks' Tongues In Aspic (Part I) (Alternate Mix)

8. Book Of Saturday (Alternate Mix)

9. The Talking Drum (Alternate Mix)

Disc 2 DVD-AUDIO, NTSC, Region 0 (Code Exempt):

AUDIO CONTENT

1. Original Album Remixed In MPL Lossless 5.1 Surround

2. Original Album Remixed In DTS 5.1 Digital Surround

3. 2012 Stereo Album Mix In MPL Lossless Stereo (24/96)

4. 2012 Stereo Album Mix in PCM Stereo 2.0 (24/48)

5. Original Album Mix (30th Anniversary Edition from 1999)

6. Original Album Mix Alternate Takes and Mixes in PCM Stereo 2.0 (24/48)

VIDEO CONTENT (Dual Mono)

1. Improv: The Rich Tapestry Of Life

2. Exiles

3. Larks' Tongues In Aspic (Part i)

4. Larks' Tongues In Aspic (Part II) as Broadcast on Beat Club

KING CRIMSON was:

DAVID CROSS – Violin, Viola, Mellotron

ROBERT FRIPP – Guitars, Mellotron and Devices

JOHN WETTON – Bass, Vocals and Piano

BILL BRUFORD – Drums

JAMIE MUIR – Percussion and Allsorts

Like the other issues in this series the outer card slipcase and 2-disc foldout digipak contained within are aesthetically nice but only in a limited sort of way. The loose 16-page booklet leaves much to be desired despite a short and informative set of liner notes by noted writer and Prog music nut – SID SMITH. There's a snap of a 5-piece Crimson in London's Command Studios in January 1973 recording the album as well as other outtake photos - the stickered American LP artwork is pictured and the inner lyric bag that came with both UK and US issues is here too as - a live shot of the band on stage at The Rainbow Theatre in London in December 1973 (including a trade advert for the show) - a small shot of the Rare Promo-Only US EP on Atlantic Records and a Billboard advert for the 'new' LP and Tape of April 1973.

Downsides - the print is tiny and there are no photos or memorabilia pictured under the see-through CD trays (both sides lazily left blank) and the digipak itself has all the imagination of a common cold. Hardly exciting in any way and when you consider just how stunning the Jethro Tull 'Book Format' reissues are (I think there's eight now all of which have received universal fan worship and rightly so) – the presentation on all of these so called 'Definitive' 40th Anniversary Series Editions is staggeringly ordinary by comparison. But that's where the carping ends because on these babies - it's all about the sound...

All that 96 kHz and MPL Lossless techno jiggery-pokery mentioned on the card slipcase aside - the Audio is amazing right from the get go. For this Panegyric reissue ROBERT FRIPP and STEVE WILSON (of Porcupine Tree) carried out the 2012 multi-track mix from original tapes - whilst SIMON HEYWORTH (of Nick Drake fame), ROBERT FRIPP and ANDY MILES did the Stereo and 51. Surround Mastering at Super Audio Mastering Studios (DVD authoring by NEIL WILKES at Opus Productions). The DVD-A 'contains a complete album's worth of alternate takes and mixes, plus 43 minutes of previously unseen filmed performance of the band'. It all 'feels' clearer than the '30th Anniversary' reissue put out by Virgin in 2000.

From the moment that the percussive pinging of "Part I" of "Larks' Tongues In Aspic" kicks in - the sound is sweet and continues so for 13:35 minutes. When that huge riffage does emerge it may be time to turn this sucker down but you will of course want to turn it up again to catch those beautifully played violin passages (madness and sweetness in the same song). John Wetton's voice isn't the greatest for sure on the unreasonably short "Book Of Saturday" – a moment where Crimson sound closest to Yes (at least musically). Side 1 ends with 7:41 minutes of "Exiles" - again so clean during that building fade in. Without doubt one of my favourite tracks on an album I'm not that pushed on - the violin, acoustic guitars and Mellotron parts are beautifully present in this mix.

The cleverly structured "Easy Money" talks of suspect dudes in 'moccasin sneakers' - fabulous audio to that Bass break - but again for me Wetton's voice just let’s the side down a tad. "The Talking Drum" is another seven-minutes of whirling winds and far away electronic buzzing bees that soon emerge into a sly percussive pattern - violin taking the enjoyable romp home. Part II of the title track takes no prisoners and goes straight into that cool guitar grunge - returning to familiar sounds as it progresses - and again all of it so impress sonically. With "Exiles" it's my second fave-rave on the album.

I've listened to the 5.1 Surround Mix (on a friend's set up) and I can only describe it as 'powerful' with a capitol 'P'. I'm reminded of hearing those 'Quad' albums back in the Seventies - instruments coming out of speakers that you'd swear you've never heard before. As with all of these reissues - I can understand the completist reason for the Flat Transfer of the album but it’s just that - flat - and after the Wilson version - hard to go back to.

To sum up – their fifth studio outing "Larks' Tongues In Aspic" isn’t my fave-rave KC LP (never has been) - but this gorgeous CD and DVD-A Audio makeover by Steve Wilson and Robert Fripp has made me hear it again – and favourably. 

And despite my reservations about that so-so presentation – you keep coming back to the Audio – the best this Lark has ever sounded...and that's ultimately the best fan news...