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King Crimson: Starless and Bible Black | Extended Play Lounge Episode 57 (Patreon)

Published:
2023-12-05 00:19:50
Edited:
2024-06-10 02:35:24
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

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Content

For our next King Crimson album review, we're listening to Starless and Bible Black. This album won our poll by a healthy margin, and I'm pleased to get back to another King Crimson album before the end of the year. I hadn't heard any of these tracks previously...it's quite a fun ride!

Files

King Crimson: Starless and Bible Black | Extended Play Lounge Episode 57

Comments

Ford H. Cotton III

When you got towards the end of "Trio", you said that it was "unusually beautiful". That's way I think of the entire album. To have an album of mostly improv that comes from the mind of Robert Fripp et al is always unusually beautiful. It's so in the moment - that's what makes it so special to me. And that's what makes King Crimson so special to me. Thanks for the review - I enjoyed listening to it with you - even if it was like the 100th time for me :-) Just in closing, I would agree that LTIA is my favorite Crimson album. SABB is definitely up there, just not quite sure. But I love it anyway.

BRIAN MILLER

Thanks. I own this (and all Crimson) but it had been forever since I listened to it and I didn't remember the music really. Just watched your video and appreciated your reactions. I personally prefer ITCOTCK, Red, Discipline, THRAK

Lashers

To contextualise the phrase "Starless and Bible Black", the play "Under Milk Wood" starts : To begin at the beginning It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters’-and-rabbits’ wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat- bobbing sea.

Bill Coonley

SABB is not an everyday listen for everyone, to be sure, but it will certainly take you where no others will. Improvisation is a great tool for taking composition skills to new areas of learning, beyond the usual mathematics of Music Theory.

David Edinborough

Fracture is arguably Crimson’s peak of creativity - 1974 was a good year for music.

Frits van Voorst

The abrupt ending of The Mincer was simply caused by the recording machine, running out of tape. Trio is really a favorite of mine. And Doug, you did promise to do Asbury Park, which also is a fantastic improvisation. There are two versions, a shorter one, from the original USA album, and a longer one. The decision to cut the last part, was a good one (and necessary to fit on that side of the record)

Don Mal 1

For improv, top on my list, but not one I would listen to very often, thankx again Doug...great job...dk

Jim Reeves

Thanks for getting this one out of the way Doug, you reminded me why I didn't hang on to my copy.

MrWondrous David Beckwith

"Sing hymns, make love, get high, fall dead." was a bit of an anthem at the time. Fascinating commentary. I never knew most of it was live and improvised. Big fan of improv and so grateful to have learned the skill. Check out "Make Weird Music" (MWM)'s video on Fracture. He wrote the book on it. Charlotte radio played "Night Watch" back in the day. Great album. A fave...along with the timely "In the Wake of Poseidon".

Allen

"Is that the chorus?" Haha--classic Doug!

Steve Hartke

I’m sure the songs end that way, because they are live improvisations, and they meander on forever… and due to time constraints on vinyl records at the time, they had to trim the songs somehow…

Allen

Yes, I have a mixed reaction to this album. It seems like they had the talent/finances to go into a studio and produce something planned. Pieces like "Lament" and "Fracture" were slivers of something more interesting that could have been wrought.

Steve Hartke

Getting into King Crimson, this album was one that caught my ear, so it does hold a special place, with the debut and Lizard… Then I heard Red and that jumped to the top! Of this era, I’d rank them Red, Starless and Bible Black, Larks’ Tongues in Aspic… Though also listening tonight to the Larks’ EPL, that one is pretty strong, especially side two, and I’ve had that album for a long time… My personal faves off of S&BB are The Great Deceiver, The Night Watch & Fracture… always great watching these with you Doug!! ✌️

Bill Brinkmoeller

Doug, I would 100% agree with you that this isn't my favorite King Crimson album. However, if you were to pin me down to one favorite piece of music from the band, I would say "Fracture" without hesitation - a monumental composition, and a mind-boggling performance. In fact, I would almost say that this album exists as a vehicle for "Fracture". It is the climax of this collection, in every sense of the word. In the almost fifty years since this album's release, I know that I've listened to it hundreds of times, and I never get tired of it. I know I'll listen to many, many more times before I'm finished on this planet. Every time, I get caught up in the relentless energy of it as it builds and builds and builds, until those shattering final notes that Fripp plays at the very end. Thank you, Doug, for this one, and for your insights into the music.

Hetfield Ninno Davide

Fracture is one of the hardest guitar tunes of all times , the "Moto Perpetuo" section (a la Paganini) required Fripp to basically create a specific technique in order to play it properly and fluidly , he called it the "Alexander technique". Great video Doug as always , not the easiest Crim album to get into but it represents the essence of this incarnation the best.

David Bole

The 72-74 lineup was savage, nimble, and unmatched. My favorite "band" ever. Fearless improvisers, virtuosic instrumentalists, and purveyors of a singular form of evil writ music that has never been matched. Their intensity makes Slayer sound like Britney Spears. KC had an embarrassment of riches in terms of musicians in their camp over the years, but these 4 gentlemen made KC into its most potent form of beast. This album is an excellent snapshot of them doing what they do, at their peak. The improvisations are fascinating but aren't pieces I revisit often. Fun in the moment, but not memorable. But Fracture, (alongside Starless), is the absolute pinnacle of this band throughout its 50 year span. Fripp is a madman but in this lineup he found compatriots able to not only match his insane ferocity, but to force the man to up his own game. John Wetton's bass playing is inspirational, and it's difficult for me to wrap my head around the fact that this guy, in this lineup, also fronted the milquetoast Asia, singing Heat of the Moment. Wow.

Martin Broten

This was my first KC album. Bought when I was 14 or so. Loved it (especially side 2). About 10 years ago KC put out a boxed set called "Starless" that included 20 CDs of live shows, including those that made up the "Starless..." album. I believe they included one or two improvs each night. Bruford's percussion work on the album is remarkable.

George Davis-Stewart

I started with KC when they were touring LTinA just prior to the album's release, with not too much knowledge of the band's previous recordings. With pre-show music being the Heavenly Music Corporation by Fripp and Eno, that album seemed pretty astounding, revelatory. Following on with Starless And Bible Black struck me as a more than agreeable experience. [It is, incidentally, quite an achievement to be allowed to quote even that phrase from a Dylan Thomas work, knowing how fiercely the poet's estate guards his works.] That's not to say that I did not have reservations about the substance and structure of some of the tracks, but the whole aural and emotional texture of light and shade, delicacy and ferocity, was still enough to make it an album that I prize even now.

SteveT

King Crimson released a CD of some of their THRAK live performances, all of which are completely improvised (other than the intro and outtro). It's not for everyone, but I love it. I'm pretty sure that none of it is available on YouTube. The CD is called "THRaKaTTaK" and was released in 1996. If you can find a copy, I highly recommend giving it a listen. Interestingly, they named all of the improv tracks. Who wouldn't want to listen to a track named "Mother Hold the Candle Steady While I Shave the Chicken's Lip"?

John Schroeder

Anybody notice the similarity between Crimson's "The Night Watch" and the end of Iron Maiden's "Lost In a Lost World". Check it out.