''Islands'' is the fourth studio album by English band

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

, released in December 1971 on the record label

Island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

. ''Islands'' is the only studio album to feature the 1971-1972 touring line-up of

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...

Mel Collins Melvyn Desmond Collins (born 5 September 1947, Isle of Man) is a British saxophonist, flautist and session musician. Collins has played in several progressive rock groups, having been a member of King Crimson on two occasions (the first from ...

Boz Burrell Raymond "Boz" Burrell (1 August 1946 – 21 September 2006) was an English musician. Originally a vocalist and guitarist, Burrell is best known for his singing with King Crimson (1971–1972) and bass playing in Bad Company (1973–1982, 1998� ...

and Ian Wallace. This would be the last album before an entirely new group (except for Fripp) would record the trilogy of ''

Larks' Tongues in Aspic ''Larks' Tongues in Aspic'' is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock group King Crimson, released on 23 March 1973 through Island Records in the UK and Atlantic Records in the United States and Canada. This album is the debut ...

'', '' Starless and Bible Black'' and ''

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

'' between 1973-1974. This is also the last album to feature the lyrics of co-founding member

Peter Sinfield Peter John Sinfield (born 27 December 1943) is an English poet and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder and former lyricist of King Crimson, whose debut album '' In the Court of the Crimson King'' is considered one of the first and mo ...

. Musically, the album expands on the improvisational

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

leanings of King Crimson's previous album, ''

Lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...

''. It received a mixed response from critics and fans.

Content

The harmonic basis for the tune "The Letters" is derived from the

Giles, Giles and Fripp Giles, Giles and Fripp were an English rock group, formed in Bournemouth, Dorset in August 1967. It featured brothers Michael Giles on drums and vocals and Peter Giles on bass guitar and vocals, and Robert Fripp on guitar. The band's music sh ...

song "Why Don't You Just Drop In", available on ''The Brondesbury Tapes'' compilation. The bridge section is also taken from the King Crimson version of the song, performed by the original line-up, titled simply "Drop In" and later released on the live-album ''

Epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

''. The lyrics to "Ladies of the Road" are a series of male

sexual fantasies A sexual fantasy or erotic fantasy is a mental image or pattern of thought that stirs a person's sexuality and can create or enhance sexual arousal. A sexual fantasy can be created by the person's imagination or memory, and may be triggered aut ...

revolving around "girls of the road", i.e.

groupie The term groupie is a slang word that refers to a fan of a particular musical group who follows the band around while they are on tour or who attends as many of their public appearances as possible, with the hope of meeting them. The term is usu ...

s. Lyricist

later commented on the song: "... everybody writes at least one groupie song. We shouldn't. But we do. It is the ultimate sexist lyric ''of all time''. I couldn't imagine anyone taking it too seriously, because in those days you were still able to say things like 'my lady' with a capital M and a capital L." mphasis in original The original basis for the song "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" is derived from the Giles, Giles and Fripp song "Suite No. 1". The first vinyl release of the album features a

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

. At the end of side two there is a recording of studio chatter followed by Fripp saying, among other things, "...What we're going to do, umm... do it twice more, once with the oboe, once without it, and then... we finish." This was included on the initial CD release but was accidentally left off the first pressings of the 1989 Definitive Edition CD remaster. It was restored on all subsequent reissues, and has been used as "walk on" music for all shows starting in 2014.

Album cover

The original United Kingdom and European cover depicts the

Trifid Nebula The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region in the north-west of Sagittarius in a star-forming region in the Milky Way's Scutum-Centaurus Arm. It was discovered by Charles Messier on June 5, 1764. It ...

in Sagittarius and displays neither the name of the band nor the title. The original United States and Canadian album cover (as released by

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

) was a Peter Sinfield painting of off-white with coloured "islands". This was used as an internal gatefold sleeve in the UK. When the King Crimson catalogue was re-issued by EG, they standardised on the "Trifid Nebula" cover worldwide.

Release

Released on 3 December 1971, ''Islands'' reached number 30 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. The album was re-released in 2010 as the fifth release in King Crimson's 40th Anniversary series, featuring new stereo and 5.1 surround mixes by

Steven Wilson Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosio ...

and

, Sid Smith sleeve notes and extra tracks and alternative versions. The DVD-A presents a 5.1 surround sound mix by Wilson, a hi-res stereo version of the 2010 mix, a hi-res stereo version of the original album mix taken from the 30th anniversary master source and previously unreleased material, including studio takes mixed from the original recording sessions.

Reception

Retrospective reviews have been mixed, with critics generally praising the band's performances while finding the compositions and album structure aimless.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

called it "the weakest Crimson studio album from their first era" that "is only a real disappointment in relation to the extraordinarily high quality of the group's earlier efforts." Conversely,

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

described the album as a "well-conceived, tremendously executed and perfectly sequenced collection", and complimented Fripp's utilization of "a more sophisticated jazz vernacular" in a rock context.

Track listing

All songs written by

and

, except where noted.

Personnel

;King Crimson *

– guitar,

mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

(6),

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

– lyrics, cover design and painting, production *

– saxophones, flute, bass flute (6), backing vocals, production * Ian Wallace – drums, percussion, backing vocals, production * Boz – bass, lead vocals, production ;Additional personnel *Paulina Lucas – soprano vocals (1) *

Keith Tippett Keith Graham Tippetts (25 August 1947 – 14 June 2020), known professionally as Keith Tippett, was a British jazz pianist and composer. According to AllMusic, Tippett's career "..spanned jazz-rock, progressive rock, improvised and contemporary ...

– piano *Robin Miller – oboe *

Mark Charig Mark Charig (born 22 February 1944 in London) is a British trumpeter and cornetist. He was particularly active in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when he played in settings as diverse as Long John Baldry's group, Bluesology, Soft Machine, and ...

– cornet * Harry Miller – double bass (1, 6) *

Wilf Gibson Wilfred Gibson (28 February 1942 — 21 October 2014) was an English violinist, session musician, and early member of the Electric Light Orchestra. Early life Wilfred Gibson was born on 28 February 1942 in Dilston, Northumberland. He received ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

(1), string orchestra leader (5, 6) (uncredited) *Uncredited musicians – strings (2, 5, 6) *Andy Hendrikson – recording,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

*Tony Arnold – mastering *Vick & Mike – equipment *Robert Ellis – photography ;2009 40th Anniversary Series re-issue personnel *

– mixing, production, compilation and coordination input and suggestions *Simon Heyworth (Super Audio Mastering) – stereo file preparation, 5.1 mastering *Claire Bidwell (Opus Productions) – DVD design and layout *Neil Wilkes (Opus Productions) – DVD authoring and assembly *Jon Urban, Bob Romano, Bob Squires, Patrick Cleasby, Tim McDonnell & Chris Gerhard – DVD QC testing *Kevin Vanbergen (FX Copyroom) – multitrack tape restoration and transfers *Alex R. Mundy – DGM tape archiving *Hugh O'Donnell – package art and design *Declan Colgan (DGM) – compilation, coordination * Sid Smith – liner notes, compilation and coordination input and suggestions *John Kimber – US vinyl record sleeve scan

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Islands (King Crimson Album) King Crimson albums 1971 albums Island Records albums Atlantic Records albums Polydor Records albums E.G. Records albums Virgin Records albums Albums produced by Robert Fripp Albums produced by Peter Sinfield