Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 Quiet and brooding release from King Crimson January 20, 2006
Jeffrey J.Park (Massachusetts, USA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
I really enjoy this 1971 release by King Crimson in spite of the fact that it is neither as wildly virtuosic nor heavy as the first album and the trio of brilliant albums released during 1973-1974. In contrast, Islands is largely quiet and brooding, with dark, low tones played on reed, brass, and string instruments, woodwinds, along with moody mellotron pads here and there. With respect to the new band members, bassist Boz Burrell's lack of familiarity with the electric bass and his admittedly simplistic approach to the instrument might not have worked in any other setting but works well in this stripped down context. Fortunately, his lack of playing ability is more than compensated for by his great vocal abilities, superior acoustic bassist Harry Miller (his bowed and plucked parts are featured on the first piece), and superb drumming by Ian Wallace. Fripp of course is excellent as both a composer/arranger and guitarist, although his guitar playing is not featured prominently on this album - in fact, with the exception of a single, frenzied guitar solo on Sailor's Tale, the electric guitar is pretty much absent. Keboardist extraordinaire Keith Tippett is another person that I wish there was more of on this album. The pieces including Formentara Lady/Sailor's Tale, The Letters, and Islands are more or less similarly sullen, quiet, and acoustic, while the classically influenced instrumental Song of the Gulls is hauntingly beautiful and features a wonderful string arrangement written by Robert Fripp. In stark contrast to these five pieces is Ladies of the Road, which is a brash and vulgar song (with Beatle-esque undertones) that pays homage to groupies and is not terribly good, although Mel Collins sax solo is perfectly "brash and vulgar". Although this album may not be a fan favorite and the lineup was pretty awful live (listen to Earthbound for proof), I find great pleasure in the overall darkness and gloom of the recording. Although King Crimson would go on to greater things following this album, I consider this an excellent addition to any King Crimson collection.
Waves sweep the sand from my eyelids... February 26, 2006
R. Recchia (Ithaca, ny)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Not nearly as weird and as jazzy as it's predecessor ' Lizard ' and not as heavy as it's studio successor ' Lark's Tongue ', 'Islands ' is to me an underrated classic by King Crimson. The arrangements are sparse, the mellow moments (which there are a bunch of here) are absolutely beautiful, the band rock out a few times (though maybe not enough), and the production nearly flawless.
As one other reviewer pointed out, Boz Burrell is given relatively simple bass lines, probably due to the fact that he didn't even PLAY bass before joining King Crimson...he was chosen as their bassist after Fripp heard him noodling around on a bass guitar and liked what he heard. Boz does play his bass parts well, however and also does a fine job singing. Saxist/flutist Mel Collins is his usual brilliant self, drummer Ian Wallace gives some underrated performances. As for Fripp himself, this album really was a showcase for his writing and arranging skills. He does get in some terrific guitar playing here and there, particularly on the very nasty and funny ode to groupies ' Ladies Of The Road ', especially during his solo, during which he seems to be fighting the rather awkward blues of the song itself! I also love Sinfield's naughty lyrics, Mel Collins entrance after the line " I smiled and just unzipped her.. ", the way Wallace comes in after the first verse, the refrain (done in 3/4 time), etc...
The only word to desribe the last two songs, ' Prelude: Song Of The Gulls ' and ' Islands ' is gorgeous. Actually, I CAN think of other words, like melodic, peaceful, tranquil, wonderful, sleep inducing, blah blah blah. My youngest brother and youngest sister thought that Boz sang ' eyelids ' instead of ' Islands '!
I like the second half better than the first, though that is certainly not a knock on the first half, which definitely has it's moments, like the opening song and Fripp's evil professor guitar playing during ' The Letters ', which gets my vote as the most depressing King Crimson ever..at least the lyrics.
This is a great album!
 so good May 13, 2007
B. E Jackson (Pennsylvania)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
What makes King Crimson so good is the fact that they write music in such a way where ANYTHING is possible. This means they can write music anyway they want. With that in mind, Islands continues with the enjoyable "weirdness" that Lizard did so well. The music on this album is only weird because it's unlike anything else I've heard.
I'm sure you'd agree that there's nothing more rewarding than being able to discover new things in music even after hearing the same songs over and over, a hundred times? That's what King Crimson did so well in the early days- they were apparently a band on a mission to toss in as many instruments and songwriting styles as possible, and putting songs together any way they felt like. The results are not only fantastic, but able to be played over and over, as you hear more sounds the more times you listen to the music. What a great band.
Islands doesn't quite remind me of an island, or outer space (well, except for Track 2). It's really a strange album. You'd be crazy if you went in expecting every note to click the first time you hear them. It doesn't happen that way. In fact, only the title track and that classical instrumental will be the only tunes you'll remember the first time you play the album. This is certainly an album that requires repeated listens.
Pick up Lizard first, then Islands. Two great albums.
King Crimson's "black sheep" August 15, 2007
Humberto Mejia (Perth, Australia)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Luis Mejia (son) - King Crimson had surely went through a musical career full of complexity, experimentation, beauty, culture and devotion at the time the infamous Islands was released, and while the album does keep all this traits, its surely their worst IN COMPARING IT within the albums from their first era. The album may lack of complex arrangements or extremely cultural and imaginative moments, but the album could have sounded better if it weren't for the convulsive lineup at the time; Boz Burrell has the voice but easy bass lines (as he was a beginer taught by Fripp), Mel Collins' saxes and flute are played along with cornet and oboe but the playing is forgetable and unremarkable, Fripp's guitar is almost muted, Peter Sinfield lyrics are the worst that I've read (and appreciated) from his works, and Ian Wallace wasn't too much of a virtuos drummer in the album. Despite, Islands still keeps the last of King Crimson's "traditional" progressive rock sound, and this is still appreciateable in the album's pieces, Islands keep a very subtle dark atmosphere and a silent, poetic, and very melodic mood; this is in part due to the memorable melodies of the songs, as you may recognize melodies from "The Letters" and "Islands". The most pivotal point of the album is that it keeps King Crimson's best use of mellotron throughout their whole career, many may have been quite confused of the truly orchestral sounds through the songs even when there wasn't an orchestra credited, and this is in fact all produced by Fripp's mellotron. "Formentera Lady" stands as a common and quiet song, which is not an original composition its roots go from previous works, but the soprano female singer gives it a fantastic touch. "Sailor's Tale" is certainly the most potent and hard song in the album, while "The Letters" may be the best song in the album, as it keeps moods that change from serene to brutal, and the song may keep a quiet and depressing atmosphere but it possess an incredible theme which gets even more incredible with the perfect verses sang by Boz Burrell, also a very poetical piece. "Ladies Of The Road" keeps a great masculine sense of humor, related to groupies and stuff, which leads to pleasent instrumentation and emotion, even Robert Fripp has stated that this song was (at that time) "the most enjoyable piece he's ever been envolved with in studio". "Prelude: Song Of The Gulls" is the most beautiful and gorgeous piece King Crimson ever wrote, its a symphonic instrumental all arranged by mellotron so if you want to hear the most perfect use of mellotron in progressive rock you must hear it, and the title track "Islands" is their second most beautiful song, featuring an outrageous piano piece and oboe touches, its a serene, very melodic and enjoyable piece (remember that the song lasts 11:51 minutes, as there is a secret piece after the music stops playing). All in all, Islands keeps, instead of remarkable album aspects, extremely high rating compositions that may surprise any previous KC listener, but despite maybe we're being too hard with this album because King Crimson is a band from wich we had always expected the most out of this world material, so we can cool down just a little bit these expectatives and just listen, sit back and enjoy the album's most beautiful mellotron in history, or the most beautiful melodies throughout their career.
 Crimso Mk. I Broke Up After This One November 26, 2006
William Polhemus (Katy, TX United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
By the time "Islands" was recorded, Mr. Fripp's inability to keep a bassist/lead vocalist apparently had gotten around, and Fripp had to settle for "Boz" Burrell - who would go on to fame and fortune with Bad Company - and who had prior to his "gig" with KC, never played bass before.
His voice is pleasant enough, but he's certainly no Greg Lake, and even a notch below Gordon Haskell, whom he succeeded.
Not to speak ill of the dead - Burrell passed away in September of this year due to heart disease - but Burrell was hardly a great solution to Crimson's vocal woes. The entire album seems to meander, not really knowing where it wants to go. The biggest strike against it is the decidedly unclever and downright foul-mouthed "Ladies of the Road." Why Fripp and Co. wanted such a public statement of their participation in rock 'n' roll's "wretched excess" is beyond me. Fripp has always been rock's intellectual anti-hero. Maybe just a bit of male braggadocio?
The record has moments of beauty, but considering many of the same sidemen as appear on the sublime "Lizard," including wind-player Mel Collins and pianist Keith Tippett, I really expected better. I admit that I purchased this one last of all the early Crimson records when I was an active fan during high-school, even after I already had "Larks' Tongues in Aspic," "Red," and "Starless and Bible Black" in my collection, and did so only with a view toward completism.
I would not recommend this record as an introduction to the neophyte. There is some good material, but I suggest doing as I did originally, and listening to this one after you're done sampling the rest of the 60s-70s output of King Crimson.
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