King Crimson- In The Wake of Poseidon (1970)

In The Wake of Poseidon is a Dark, dreary album, cast from the same mold as its predecessor, In the Court of the Crimson King. The prior album of 1969 was a triumph that defined the entire Prog Rock Genre, and how and if King Crimson would continue to contribute to the budding genre in the new decade was up in the air. Beginning a long tradition of lineup turnover (all King Crimson albums before the 80s have a different lineup), Greg Lake, Ian McDonald, and Michael Giles formally left the group. Despite this, Lake and Giles, along with Giles' brother Michael, performed on this album on a session-only bassist. The mastermind behind King Crimson, Robert Fripp, remained on as the guitarist, and lyricist Peter Sinfield also remained with the group. Singer Gordon Haskell and woodwinds man Mel Collins rounded out the album's performers. The stopgap nature of this album does reflect in the work.

One thing In The Wake of Poseidon is not is original. I can rarely think of a non-pop act, certainty not a prog act, who so blatantly re-hashed a prior work than here. This is In the Court part two, at least on its A side. "Pictures of a City" is a re-hash of "21st Century Schizoid Man", almost down to the last note. Same tempo, same acid guitar, same distorted scratch vocal from Lake, even the same stop start section (and I mean the same stops and starts TO A TEE). Unbelievable. While "Cadence and Cascade" and "In the Wake of Poseidon" are also pretty clear rip-offs of  their prior "I Talk to the Wind" and "Epitaph" respectivly, they do deviate more. These three pieces all serve the same functions: rocking, battering, spiteful attack of sound, followed by a pastoral, flute driven cool down, and then followed by midevilish epic. Side two does chart new territory. "Cat Food" is a mix of themes seen elsewhere: Lake's vocals are again warped into a scratching, tortured noise, but the instrumentation is much quieter  It is in fact a rather popish song, with a clear melody and something like a verse-chorus musical structure. Then you have the 11 minute epic "The Devil's Triangle". Inspired by the classical composer Gustav Holst's "Mars: Bringer of War" from the planets suite, it builds slowly like a marching army which culminates in a slogging thunder of mellotron, snare drum beats, and bass guitar before stopping, and then re-staring even more chaotically. These two B side tracks build upon prior Crimson works instead of treading water.

Nowhere on In The Wake of Poseidon, however, does the spark of passion that so dominated In the Court come through. That lineup had burned out too fast, other opportunities opening up for the non-Fripp members (particularly Lake, now the L in ELP). King Crimson was rescued by hiring these departed members as studio musicians, but a masterwork could not come out under such conditions. If you like their first album, you'll get more of the exact same here, but watered down. I think In The Wake of Poseidon is ok, probably being the 5th best 60's/70's KC album.

Grade: C+