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Larks' Tongues in Aspic

Remastered

King Crimson Format: Audio CD
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 620 ratings
$11.96
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Audio CD, Import, May 1, 2016
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Audio CD, Original recording remastered, October 17, 2000
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Track Listings

1 Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part One
2 Book Of Saturday
3 Exiles
4 Easy Money
5 The Talking Drum
6 Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part Two

Product details

  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 4.94 x 0.45 inches; 4 ounces
  • Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ E.G. Records
  • Date First Available ‏ : ‎ February 10, 2007
  • Label ‏ : ‎ E.G. Records
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000003S0I
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 620 ratings

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
620 global ratings
All You Need To Know About The LARK'S TOUNGES IN ASPIC Box Set......
5 Stars
All You Need To Know About The LARK'S TOUNGES IN ASPIC Box Set......
40th ANNIVERSARY 15 DISC (13CD, DVD-A & BLU-RAY) EDITION LIMITED TO 7000 COPIES WORLDWIDE !!! COMES IN A BEAUTIFUL 12 and a half SQUARE STURDY GLOSSY BOX, WITH A 12"x12" PRINT OF THE ORIGINAL SLEEVE, A 36 PAGE SAME SIZE INFO FILLED BOOKLET WITH A NEW ROBERT FRIPP INTERVIEW & ALL KINDS OF GREAT PHOTOS, BAND MEMBER POSTCARDS, REPRO OF U.K. TOUR HANDBILL, REPRO OF RAINBOW THEATRE TICKET STUB, AND THE REAL ICING, THE COMPLETE "BEAT CLUB" PERFORMANCE WITH THE AMAZING JAMIE MUIR, WHICH INCLUDES "IMPROV: THE RICH TAPESTRY OF LIFE" (28min.), "EXILES" (6min.), A BLUE SCREEN VERSION OF "LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC (Part I)" (7min.), AND AS A BONUS, THE ONLY SECTION ACTUALLY BROADCAST, THE SPECIAL EFFECTS LADEN VERSION OF "PART I" COMPLETE WITH CUTE FEMALE ANNOUNCER IN GERMAN! THE SET SOLD OUT COMPLETELY DURING PRE-ORDERS......8 CDs of live material from the German & UK Autumn 1972 tour, 1CD live in the studio, 4CDs based around album recordings, DVD-A with surround mixes & unseen film footage, Blu-Ray with additional Hi-Res content, 12" box with booklet, memorabilia, album print & concert download. Limited to 7,000 worldwide single pressing.David Cross: Violin, Viola, MellotronRobert Fripp: Guitar, Mellotron & DevicesJohn Wetton: Bass and VocalsBill Bruford: DrumsJamie Muir: Percussion & AllsortsThis boxed set contains every known live performanceand studio recording by that band.CD 1 & 2: October 13th 1972 Live at the Zoom Club, Frankfurt (audio restored bootleg)Previously only available as KCCC20CD 3: October 17th 1972 Live in the studio, Bremen (mono)Previously only available as KCCC3CD 4 & 5: November 10th 1972 Live at the Technical College, Hull (audio restored bootleg)Previously only available as a download from DGMLiveCD 6: November 13th 1972 Live at the Civic Hall, Guildford (audio restored soundboard)Previously only available as KCCC24CD 7: November 25th 1972 Live at New Theatre, Oxford (audio restored bootleg)Previously only available as a download from DGMLiveCD 8: December 1st 1972 Live at Green's Playhouse, Glasgow, (audio restored bootleg)Previously unreleasedCD 9: December 15th 1972 Live at the Guildhall, Portsmouth (audio restored bootleg)Previously unreleasedCD 10: January 1973: "Keep That One, Nick" - The Larks' Tongues In Aspic Recording Session Reels: Taking the form of an audio documentary & placing the listener in Command studios in early 1973 as the quintet maps out the material destined for the album produced by David Singleton. Featuring first takes of every piece recorded for the album interspersed with studio talk between band members & engineerCD 11: January/February 1973: The original album mix 30th Anniversary Edition, The US Promo EP (transferred from vinyl) and the US radio advertCD 12: January/February 1973: Alt Mixes and takes: Steven Wilson's alternate Larks' Tongues In Aspic plus Easy Money edited by David Singleton and Alex Mundy from Keep That One, Nick Session Reel EssentialsCD 13: January/February 1973: Larks' Tongues In Aspic, new stereo mix, mixed by Steven Wilson and Robert FrippDisc 14: DVD-A: Complete album in 5.1 MLP Lossless & DTS Surround Sound album mix.38 minutes film performance of the band never previously been released or screened, Original album 30th anniversary mix, 2012 alternate takes & mixes in 24/48 hi-res stereo, 2012 stereo mix in 24/48 & 24/96 hi-res stereoDisc 15: Blu-Ray: Content as per DVD-A with all stereo tracks in 24/96 hi-res plus hi-res stereo of "Keep That One Nick", hi-res mono tracks "Live in the studio", 24/96 transfer of original vinyl pressing, film footage of band performing "Larks' Tongues In Aspic Part I" as originally broadcast on Beat Club TV programmeplus36 page booklet with photos, timeline/diary, transcript of extensive Robert Fripp interview conducted by David Singleton (July 2012), new essay by King Crimson historian Sid Smith and more.Print of original album sleeve, individual band member postcards, reproduction of UK tour handbill, reproduction of Rainbow Theatre, London concert ticket stub.Downloadable Content: see back of reproduction of Rainbow Theatre London concert ticket to obtain the concert from that venue as an exclusive download - listener beware - audio for this show is of such poor quality as to be beyond meaningful restoration and is included solely for historic purposes.Following the dissolution of the "Islands" line-up Robert Fripp decided to assemble a new band to perform the sort of music he'd been hearing in his head over recent months. In the summer of 1972 the line-up of Fripp together with Bill Bruford (late of YES), John Wetton (from FAMILY), Jamie Muir (veteran of the British free jazz scene) and relative newcomer David Cross was announced, although it was not until September, after first full band rehearsals, that the decision was taken to call the group KING CRIMSON. By October the band was in Germany playing a handful of club dates and making a live in the studio recording that was (fortunately) filmed but for the most part never broadcast. An extensive UK tour in November and December followed, with unanimous rave reviews in the rock press setting up a sense of anticipation for the January/February studio recordings unmatched since that of the band's celebrated 1969 debut. Muir played one post recording gig at The Marquee club in London and took the decision not to remain with the group.Even by the standards of KING CRIMSON, the line-up was short-lived, but the legacy of that band has survived and thrived for four decades. The quintet helped to define possible new paths for rock music, the notion of an intelligent form of hard rock that was neither Prog nor Heavy Metal, one that made improvisation central to performance but was neither jazz nor jazz/rock. It was a legacy that was carried on by the quartet line-up both live and in subsequent studio recordings - with 1974's 'Red ' recorded by Bruford/Fripp/Wetton as a trio - and one that has resonated with, and influenced, generations of musicians over the ensuing forty years. 'Larks' Tongues In Aspic" and the concerts that preceded the album were the initial defining moments of that journey.
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Top reviews from the United States

jessica p.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great music awesome for any fan.
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2024
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Great album loved the whole thing . Plays perfect and arrived fast.
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Andrew
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2017
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One of the most challenging and unusual records in the Crimson catalog, and ultimately one of the most rewarding. I did not understand "Larks Tongues in Aspic" when I first heard it, but even so I could not help but feel as if the deficiency was on my part. This was King Crimson, after all! But soon it all made sense.

Initially I was infuriated by the first three minutes of the record, which consist of repetitive but quiet percussive sounds that don't seem to be going anywhere. But then BANG! It explodes into pure chaos, and lets the listener know that the mad scientists are at work. There is such dynamic contrast here that is carried not only within individual tracks, but over the course of the entire record. There is a logical flow here, and the whole record feels like a big crescendo, culminating in one of Crimson's most well-loved tracks "Larks Tongues in Aspic Part Two."

There is beauty here too. "Book of Saturday" and "Exiles" are played with such incredible subtlety, you forget that they are a rock band at all. Given the high degree of creativity that was occurring in 1973, it is really an impressive feat that "Larks Tongues in Aspic" stands out as particularly imaginative. While, it was hinted at in Crimson's first four records, this was the first time that Fripp fully incorporated atonality into a rock framework. This alone is worthy of a great deal of attention. "Part Two" sounds like it is a direct homage to Bartok's String Quartet No. 4 (fifth movement). The use of post-tonal harmony within the texture of rock allows Crimson to achieve a musical affect that others have not. Now it's the twenty-first century, but we have still yet to come up with a good answer to this curious disc.
26 people found this helpful
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Mark D. Burgh
5.0 out of 5 stars End of Pastoral Crimson. Bring on the City
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2013
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LTIA represents a change in Fripp's aesthetics, turning from acoustic textures and orchestral gestures that made up the first four KC albums with decidedly diminished returns to a new, harder, more improvisational edge. The effect is electric, strange, and daunting. The new band consisted of Fripp, Wetton, Bruford, Cross and lunatic Jaime Muir whose stay was too brief. Influenced by the Mahavishnu Orchestra, this new band eschewed horns to take up the violin, a not wholly successful experiment. Where the MO never denied their Jazz origins, KC had to adhere to rock textures more surely.
Fripp's guitar dominates this album, as it all KC releases, but rather than using the instrument as running commentary (see Lizard), he now uses his black Les Paul to made strong declamations in favor of chaos. Admittedly, Fripp's history shows that he attempted to jam (see Moonchild) with mixed results. He lacked the players, or in this case, the minions to effect the jazz-rock compositions he now wanted to produce. Bruford especially fell under Fripp's thrall, leaving an up and coming commercial breakout with Yes, to mine the dark diamonds of KC. Now, working with the domineering perfectionist Fripp, Bruford could indulge his Jazz predilections without constraints. Wetton, a journeyman bassist and vocalist landed in KC and rose to the occasion. The other two players, Cross and Muir must've been in a state of shock. Essentially a power trio, the new KC's vision included dynamics, sudden musical shifts, and longer pieces.
The new KC lays down the gauntlet. I remember buying this album, expecting to hear something like "I Talk to the Wind," instead I stood at the gates of hell, gazing forthrightly into the abyss. I didn't know what to make of the music, but then I understood. KC was always the best of the Prog rock stream.
9 people found this helpful
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Solo Goodspeed
4.0 out of 5 stars A Most Forked Tongue
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2000
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This was one of those albums that made me realize how I could not trust my first impression, and how something very different could grow on you after awhile. I did not enjoy it at all the first time I heard it. I was used to the lush, almost symphonic sound of King Crimson's first three albums, and Larks' Tongues sounded very dry, sparse, and abraisive, and I could not stand John Wetton's singing.
Later on, I had acquired Starless & Bible Black, and Red, and found myself getting used to this new minimalist Crimson. That was when I came back to Larks' Tongues, and decided liked it better than anything Fripp's Crafty Crew had recorded in any incarnation.
The album opens with several minutes of African thumb piano music, creating a meditative setting. This fades off and is replaced by urgent, staccato violin music, intertwining ominously with some very distorted low guitar notes fading in. The energy builds quickly and relentlessly, culminating in a jarring high-volume instrumental, rhythmically complex, unapologetically dissonant, frantic, and quite savage - yet amazingly contained and precise.
"Book of Saturdays" and "Exiles" contrast the opener with two subdued and melodic vocal pieces, with lyrics by longtime (then) collaborator Pete Sinfield. I hate to say this, but John Wetton's singing on these works doesn't do them justice; his voice is strained on long notes, and could have benefitted from just a bit of production enhancement. But band visionary Robert Fripp was going for a more raw, natural sound (which he would later refer to as audio verite') in this reinvention of King Crimson, consequently a pleasing vocal sound was not an issue here.
Wetton's vocals serve him better on the louder, more edgy "Easy Money", which features eccentric noises by guest percussionist Jamie Muir. This segues into "The Talking Drum", primarily a percussive interlude by Bill Bruford that builds in rhythmic intensity, joined on bass by John Wetton, underscored by the ominous, diatonic freeform sustained distorted guitar of Robert Fripp. The piece concludes abruptly with a long, excruciating screeching noise, and slams right ahead into "Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part 2". If there was ever any doubt that a 5/4 instrumental could rock and rock HARD, that doubt is laid to rest here. Employing more of the dissonance and diatonics from Part 1, the energy lets up just long enough for a melodic section on violin to slowly build it back up again. Violinist David Cross is given a chance to wail in a brief improv section; otherwise the piece maintains structural economy right up to an almost too abrupt crashing finale, which fades away leisurely, leaving the listener in silence save for his fast beating heart.
What might have made this collection so difficult to listen to at the time of its release - an uncompromising, non-cosmetic in-your-face approach to recording and production - is exactly what makes it sound so fresh and alive nearly 30 years later. Freed of the pops and rumbles of vinyl records so intrusive in the quieter sections, Larks' Tongues in Aspic achieves its intended dynamic potential in digitally remastered form. And thus a work ahead of its time comes of age. If there were anything it could be compared to, Trent Reznor comes to mind, and perhaps some of Primus' work. Otherwise, this mighty dinosaur stands well on its own ..... with some still very sharp teeth.
15 people found this helpful
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Ross
5.0 out of 5 stars trippin' out
Reviewed in Canada on June 14, 2022
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Order arrived earlier than expected in fine condition. Great music. Zero complaints.
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Andreas Bach
5.0 out of 5 stars Tja!!
Reviewed in Germany on January 26, 2024
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Was soll ich schreiben? Mein Fehler - in meiner Jugendzeit glatt verpasst + ich habe keine n Begründung dafür. Unabhängig von meinen Fehlern - Spitzen Musik von engagierten, kreativen Musikern. Ich bin froh, dass es die noch gibt.
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Diego Gutierrez
5.0 out of 5 stars King Crimson
Reviewed in Spain on August 6, 2023
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Es un álbum muy elaborado que no tiene desperdicio
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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Prog
Reviewed in Italy on May 14, 2023
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Per appassionati
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Opinión de Larks' Tongues in Aspic
Reviewed in Mexico on February 23, 2018
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Este disco es una obra maestra, tal vez con uno de los contenidos musicales más interesantes y diversos de toda la historia del rock. Debe estar en la colección de todo aficionado al rock y la música en general.
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