Currently I am listening once again to King Crimson's LP "Larks Tongues In Aspic". It is difficult to over-estimate the impact that this LP had on me when I first listened to it back in 1976. With this LP, King Crimson had managed to place themselves in an area of musical endeavor that was impossible to classify. Was this rock? was it jazz? was it heavy metal? Ultimately, it didn't matter. "Larks Tongues" is an exemplification of the old saying that ultimately there are only two types of music - good and bad.
The origins of this line-up of the band and the evolution of "Larks Tongues" are described here in detail.
Robert Fripp deliberately created a band of disparate musicians with very different backgrounds, and then allowed a lot of playing freedom in a live setting. John Wetton, the bass player, was from the pop/rock band Family. Bill Bruford had, to general astonishment, left Yes just as they were reaching a commercial peak, but he was not interested in a profitable career, he wanted an interesting career. Violinist and keyboards player David Cross had been recommended to Fripp by his management company. The wild card was Scottish percussionist Jamie Muir, whose playing background was in free jazz and avant-garde, and whose percussion collection took up the most room of any of the band members. Muir had a startlingly energetic, almost manic stage presence.
Live, the band was fearless - their Beat Club performance in 1972 included a 30+ minute free improvisation, literally starting from nothing. Given King Crimson's initial history as a band that played highly-structured and often intricate music, this was artistically brave bordering on reckless. The new band's only link to the past was the inclusion of "21st Century Schizoid Man" as the encore. Everything else in the live set was new.
"Larks Tongues" as an LP has an extraordinary dynamic range, from the initially melodic then building free-form percussion wall of sound that starts the LP, through the delicate balladry of "Book of Saturday" to the heavy metal/industrial thunderings of the first and second title tracks. Along the way the band explores just about every modern music genre (with the possible exception of Celtic folk, which they did cover in live improvisations, but not on this LP).
Unfortunately, this LP was the only recorded testament of the five-man line-up. Within months, percussionist Jamie Muir had left the band. As a four piece band, King Crimson continued to make great music, through "Starless and Bible Black" and "Red", until Fripp abruptly disbanded the band in September 1974 after the completion of "Red". "Red" may be the best Heavy Metal LP of the early 1970's, being all the more notable in that it is almost entirely free of blues influences, owing more to avant-garde and classical music structures.