King Crimson Album Poll: “Islands” (1971)

One of their best, essential listening. "Formentera Lady" and title track are favorites of mine.

 

Ladies of the Road really brings this album down a notch for me...The cringy lyrics and Beatlesesque harmonies don't really fit with the jazz/classsical feel of the rest of the album.

Plus the album could have benefited from a better tracklisting. Ladies of the Road going into Prelude and Islands really doesn't work for me.

Side 1:
1. Sailor's Tale
2. Formentera Lady
3. Ladies of the Road

Side 2:
4. The Letters
5. Prelude: Song of the Gulls
6. Islands

But besides that, Sailor's Tale and Islands are 2 of their best songs, and I love The Letters and Prelude, so I'll say it's a "pretty solid effort".

 

Boz had a difficult task learning bass and being the new vocalist. He did a good job all things considered.

Sailor's Tale and Islands are my favorites as well. This album is the Collins/Fripp showcase.

I like the live albums of this era much better than ISLANDS. 21stCSM from EARTHBOUND just might be the definitive version.

I'd say good rather than essential.

 

It seems to me that Prelude doesn't fit with the rest of the album. Who from the group plays on that one?

 

Fripp conducted?

 

I think it's a nice lead in to Islands, and fits with the classical feel on Islands or Formentera Lady. I don't believe anyone from the band plays on it though.

 

Solid effort. The Sailor's Tale however is a bloody masterpiece. The rest, very good to excellent. I suspect it would have benefited from more Sinfield involvement. Overall this lineup is better represented by live material, which fortunately has been the subject of collective reevaluation thanks to the archival releases.

 

DGM website is showing this up for preorder...and SOLD OUT!

 

Back up and valid.

 

I voted "lower tier" but on a good day may have voted it as "not bad". It really is about the weakest album they made in the 70s. I prefer the three previous albums and the 3 subsequent albums to this one. There are some good bits here and there, including Ladies of the Road and most of Sailor's Tale (the middle section with Fripp's guitar and the mellotron rules). The vocals are pretty rough going on most songs (sorry Boz, RIP). Song of The Gulls is nice orchestral music -but not what I want in King Crimson. Islands has the best vocal by Boz, but the song never seems to get going in spite of a nice melody -still the mellotron saves the song, so not a total loss. A real mess of an album, but some good bits a fan needs to hear -others approach with caution.

 

My least favourite of the 70s albums. Don't get me wrong, I love All Crimson. I just love this one slightly less.

 

I can't see "The Letters" fitting anywhere else but the end of an LP Side 1. And "Ladies of the Road" is a classic Side 2 opener. They did it again on the next album with "Easy Money".

 

"The Letters" is over dramatic and I tired of it after the first hearing!

"Formentera Lady" leading into "Sailor's Tale" is a lovely transition from a sleepys Spanish Island to the drama of Fripp with his demented banjo on acid guitar solo and Mel's whooping sax! Ian Wallace's drumming is superb!

The title track can be a dirge if you are not in the right mood and "Song of the Gulls" is nothing to write home about.

I like Boz's singing - his voice has a kind of purity on this album (unlike Earthbound!!!).

 

But a cheesy song like that leading into Prelude and Islands just doesn't work for me at all.

 

I have no interest in the lyrical content, but man Fripp and Collins burn it up.

 

I'm a Crimson fan but I couldn't get into this one, and I did try. Same with Lizard. May need to revisit these.

 

This album, perhaps more than any other studio album in Crim's discography, is a slow-grower. Most of their albums get better over time, but then most of them also make an immediate visceral impact. This album completely washed over me the first times I heard it. But it has grown on me so much since then.

The only thing dragging the album down is Song of the Gulls. I really don't get anything out of that piece. But everything else here is worthy of close consideration and many repeated listenings. The guitar solo on Ladies of the Road is unique in Fripp's oeuvre, and I was amused when Steven Wilson pointed out that the solo is a "negation" of traditional musicianship. Primo. Predictably, Sailor's Tale is my favorite.

 

After ITWOP, my second least favorite KC album, but at least the septet/octet has brought A Sailors Tale to life for me.

 

Crazy, I love every part of this album. A masterpiece in every way. Ladies is a great single for a hard rocking band in the time period. It's pure pop love.

Also bad vocals by Boz? What are you smoking lol?

 

I disagree with this in so many ways. Not leading off with Formentera Lady is absolutely not okay. Ladies is basically the one last hurrah before the exit. The Letters leaning into Prelude and Islands doesn't feel right to me at all. Honestly, I 100% support their official tracklisting for this album.

Having both "lady" songs right up one against each other also doesn't work for me. They did this album right the first time.

Prelude represents the clean break with normal society in some sense. It leads perfectly up into Islands. You absolutely need a break before the song or it doesn't even have any context. Islands is a masterpiece now matter how you have it. The singing is totally excellent throughout.

At the newest concerts Jakko is great but he doesn't have the same flare. It's just nice to hear those songs again.

 

Clearly one of their best. I'm basically voting that way for all of their releases.

That said, Islands has always been my favorite of the first 4 studio albums.
I love everything about it and the title track is my favorite King Crimson song
maybe only second to Starless.

 

I consider the first four albums their "first period," and Islands is probably my favorite of the four, with Lizard almost tied. After that I'd put In the Wake of Poseidon. And then the debut would be last. I'd actually put the debut at the bottom of my Crimson list period. Not that I hate it or even dislike it, but it's my least favorite (which makes it frustrating to me as a big Crimson fan that it's their most universally well-respected album).

 

Yeah, as I've commented in other rating threads, I'd say every album in an artist's discography is essential for fans. And then how much I'd recommend something to someone would be a matter of just how much they like the artist re what they've heard so far, where the assumption is that they're not a fan (yet), balanced by how much a particular album might fit with other stuff I know the person in question likes.

 

Meh I never really liked Formentera Lady as an opening track. And to me, the contrast between Ladies of the Road and Prelude is too strong...I prefer when things flow a little more.

 

Not bad, overall so so. I like "Ladies Of The Road" and "The Letters", some of "Sailor's Tale" but can't get into the rest of the album.