"The Great Deceiver" refers to The Devil and is an ironic commentary on commercialism (Fripp contributed the line "cigarettes, ice cream, figurines of the Virgin Mary" after seeing souvenirs being marketed in Vatican City). As had been the case with Larks' Tongues in Aspic, these were written by John Wetton's friend Richard Palmer-James (the former Supertramp guitarist who'd left the band after its first, self-titled album). Only four tracks on the album have lyrics. "Trio" was later included on the 1975 compilation album A Young Person's Guide to King Crimson, the performance credits of which cite Bruford's contribution to the piece as having been "admirable restraint." Ī sequel or related piece to "Fracture" was released by a different King Crimson lineup in 2000 on The ConstruKction of Light, titled "FraKctured". His decision not to add any percussion was seen by the rest of the band as a crucial choice, and he received co-writing credit for the piece. Bruford spent the entire piece with his drumsticks crossed over his chest, waiting for the right moment to join in but eventually realized that the improvised piece was progressing better without him. "Trio" was notable for being a quartet piece with only three active players – John Wetton on bass guitar, David Cross on viola and Robert Fripp on "flute" Mellotron. The complete Amsterdam Concertgebouw concert was eventually released by the band in 1997 as The Night Watch. In all cases, live applause was removed from the recordings wherever possible (although the remains of it can be heard by an attentive listener). Also recorded at the Concertgebouw was the introduction to "The Night Watch" (the band's Mellotron broke down at the start of the next section, meaning that the remainder of the song needed to be recorded in the studio and dubbed in later). "Trio", "Starless and Bible Black" and "Fracture" (the last of which Robert Fripp has cited as one of the most difficult guitar pieces he has ever played ) were recorded live at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The other parts were released on The Great Deceiver as "The Law of Maximum Distress, Parts One & Two". "The Mincer" was another improvised piece, originally recorded in concert at the Volkshaus in Zürich but overdubbed with Wetton's vocals in the studio The track was the edited-out middle section of a longer improvisation, in which the tape ran out mid-performance, with which "The Mincer" ends. "We'll Let You Know" was an entirely improvised piece recorded in Glasgow. The only songs recorded entirely in the studio were the first two tracks, "The Great Deceiver" and "Lament". New compositions tried out in concert and captured on several live recordings were presented as part of the new album material, alternating and in some cases blending with studio recordings. Having increased their level of onstage improvisation during recent tours, the band opted to take advantage of this to solve the problem. These upheavals and the pressure of touring left King Crimson short of new written material when it came to the time to record their next album. The band's drummer, Bill Bruford, absorbed Muir's percussion role in addition to his own kit drumming, and the band continued to tour as a quartet. Early in 1973, Muir abruptly left the band, ostensibly due to an onstage injury, but in fact due to an overwhelming spiritual need which led him to retreat from music and join a monastery (something which was not communicated to his bandmates at that time). King Crimson's previous album, Larks' Tongues in Aspic (on which they had moved decisively away from a more traditional progressive rock sound drawing on American jazz, and towards the influence of European free improvisation ), had been recorded by a quintet lineup of the band, including experimental percussionist Jamie Muir. From left: John Wetton, David Cross, Robert Fripp, and Bill Bruford In order to more faithfully capture the band's live energy, much of the material on this album was tracked in concert and edited together with studio recordings.īackground and production King Crimson in 1974. It carries over most of the same lineup which appeared on the preceding album, Larks' Tongues in Aspic, with only percussionist Jamie Muir not returning. Starless and Bible Black is the sixth studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson, released in March 1974 by Island Records in the United Kingdom and by Atlantic Records in the United States.
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