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Starless and Bible Black

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This article is about the album. For the song which uses this album's title as lyrics, see Starless.

Starless and Bible Black is the sixth studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson, released in March 1974[2] by Island Records in the United Kingdom and by Atlantic Records in the United States. It features most of the personnel which appeared on the group's preceding album, Larks' Tongues in Aspic, with only percussionist Jamie Muir not returning, and is the band's final album with violinist David Cross as a member, although he would appear on one track on Red. Much of the album was recorded live and edited together with studio recordings and overdubs. The album includes multiple fully improvised pieces.

Starless and Bible Black
Studio album / Live album by
King Crimson
Released29 March 1974[1]
Recorded
  • 23 October, 15 and 23 November 1973 (live)
  • January 1974 (studio)
Venue
StudioAIR, London
Genre
Length46:41
Label
ProducerKing Crimson
King Crimson chronology
Larks' Tongues in Aspic
(1973) 		Starless and Bible Black
(1974) 		Red
(1974)

Background and production

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King Crimson in 1974. From left: John Wetton, David Cross, Robert Fripp and Bill Bruford.

King Crimson's previous album, Larks' Tongues in Aspic (on which they had moved decisively away from a more traditional progressive rock sound drawing on American jazz, and towards the influence of European free improvisation),[3][4] had been recorded by a quintet lineup including percussionist Jamie Muir. Early in 1973, Muir abruptly left the band, ostensibly due to an onstage injury, but in fact to retire from music and join a monastery (something that was not communicated to his bandmates at that time). Bill Bruford subsequently absorbed Muir's percussion role in addition to his own kit drumming, and the band continued to tour as a quartet.[5]

These upheavals and the pressure of touring left King Crimson short of new written material when it came to the time to record their next album. Having increased their level of onstage improvisation during recent tours, the band opted to take advantage of this to solve the problem.[5] New compositions tried out in concert and captured on several live recordings were presented as part of the new album material, alternating and in some cases blending with studio recordings.[5]

The only songs recorded entirely in the studio were "The Great Deceiver" and "Lament". "We'll Let You Know" was an entirely improvised piece recorded in Glasgow. "The Mincer" was a section of another improvised piece recorded in concert at the Volkshaus in Zurich, with Wetton's vocals later overdubbed.[6] The other parts of this improvisation were released on the box set The Great Deceiver as "The Law of Maximum Distress, Parts One & Two". "Trio", "Starless and Bible Black" and "Fracture", the last of which Robert Fripp has cited as one of the most difficult pieces he has ever played, were recorded live at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.[7] The introduction to "The Night Watch" was recorded at this same performance, but the band's Mellotron broke down during the performance, meaning that the remainder of the song needed to be recorded in the studio. Live applause was removed from the recordings wherever possible. The complete Amsterdam concert was released in 1997 as The Night Watch.

Bruford spent the entirety of "Trio" with his drumsticks crossed over his chest, waiting for the right moment to join in, but eventually realized that the piece was progressing better without him. His decision not to add any percussion was seen by the rest of the band as a crucial choice, and so he received co-writing credit.[8] "Trio" was later included on the 1975 compilation album A Young Person's Guide to King Crimson, the performance credits of which cite Bruford's contribution to the piece as "admirable restraint."[9]

The track "FraKctured" from the band's 2000 album The ConstruKction of Light serves as a sequel to "Fracture".[10]

Music and lyrics

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Only four tracks on the album have lyrics; as with Larks' Tongues in Aspic, these were written by John Wetton's friend Richard Palmer-James. "The Great Deceiver" refers to Satan and is an ironic comment on commercialism; Fripp contributed the line "cigarettes, ice cream, figurines of the Virgin Mary" after seeing souvenirs being marketed in Vatican City.[11] "Lament" is about fame. "The Night Watch" reflects on Rembrandt's painting of the same name.[11] "The Mincer" has more ambiguous lyrics, though lines such as "fingers reaching, linger shrieking", "you're all alone, baby's breathing", and the song's title could be references to a home invader or killer. Original issues of the album include the lyrics to "The Great Deceiver," "Lament" and "The Night Watch" on the album's inner sleeve.[12]

The phrase "Starless and Bible Black" is a quotation from the first two lines of Dylan Thomas' radio drama Under Milk Wood.[13] The band's next album, Red, contains a song called "Starless", which contains the phrase, whereas "Starless and Bible Black" from this album is an edit of an improvised instrumental from the Amsterdam performance.

The album art is by painter Tom Phillips. The phrase "this night wounds time", which appears on the back cover, is a quotation from Phillips' A Humument.

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [14]
Christgau's Record GuideB[15]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music     [16]
The Great Rock Discography8/10[17]
Mojo     [18]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide     [19]
Rolling Stonefavourable[20]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide     [21]

Rolling Stone called the album "as stunningly powerful as In the Court of the Crimson King", particularly praising the performances of Bruford and Cross and the variety of tones and lengthy instrumental improvisations particularly impressive. They concluded: "Fripp has finally assembled the band of his dreams – hopefully it'll stay together long enough to continue producing albums as excellent as this one."[20]

Robert Christgau's review was more ambiguous, deeming it "as close as this chronically interesting group has ever come to a good album", though he would eventually give higher ratings to Red and the live album USA.[15]

AllMusic also praised the album's variety of tones in their retrospective review, and remarked that the album's second side "threw the group's hardest sounds right in the face of the listener, and gained some converts in the process."[14]

Legacy

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In 2004, Pitchfork ranked it at number 94 in their list of the "Top 100 Albums of the 1970s."[22]

The Japanese band Acid Mothers Temple recorded an album entitled Starless and Bible Black Sabbath in 2006, referencing Starless and Bible Black and Black Sabbath's 1970 self-titled album.

Track listing

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Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Great Deceiver"John Wetton, Robert Fripp, Richard Palmer-James4:02
2."Lament"Fripp, Wetton, Palmer-James4:00
3."We'll Let You Know" (instrumental)David Cross, Fripp, Wetton, Bill Bruford3:46
4."The Night Watch"Fripp, Wetton, Palmer-James4:37
5."Trio" (instrumental)Cross, Fripp, Wetton, Bruford5:41
6."The Mincer"Cross, Fripp, Wetton, Bruford, Palmer-James4:10
Total length:26:16
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Starless and Bible Black" (instrumental)Cross, Fripp, Wetton, Bruford9:11
2."Fracture" (instrumental)Fripp11:14
Total length:20:25

Personnel

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King Crimson
Additional personnel
Production personnel

Charts

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Chart (1974) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[23] 73
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[24] 75
French Albums (SNEP)[25] 8
Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)[26] 7
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[27] 38
UK Albums (OCC)[28] 28
US Billboard 200[29] 64
Chart (2011) Peak
position
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[30] 49

References

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  1. ^ Sid Smith (29 March 2024). "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SABB". Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  2. ^ King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic, retrieved 29 October 2023
  3. ^ The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal, 2003 Barnes & Noble Books
  4. ^ Bradley Smith. The Billboard Guide to Progressive Music, 1997, Billboard Books, p. 119
  5. ^ a b c Smith, Sid (29 March 2020). "The making of King Crimson's Starless And Bible Black". Louder. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Super Audio Mastering Monks Withecombe". DGM Live. 1 July 2011.
  7. ^ Fripp, Robert. "Diary, Wednesday, 16th September, 1998". DGM Live. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  8. ^ Fripp, Robert (November 1981). "The Diary of the Return of King Crimson". Musician, Player and Listener.
  9. ^ Island Records, catalog no. ISLD 7.
  10. ^ "The ConstruKction of FraKctured - from the diaries of Robert Fripp". Spaceward Records. Archived from the original on 7 May 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  11. ^ a b Palmer-James, Richard (26 November 1997). "Interview with Richard Palmer-James in Tylko Rock". Elephant Talk (Interview). Translated by Zlotkowski, Piotr.
  12. ^ Island Records cat. no. ILPS 9275 (UK), Atlantic Records cat. no. SD 7298 (United States).
  13. ^ Thomas, Dylan. "Under Milk Wood". gutenberg project. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  14. ^ a b Eder, Bruce (2011). "Starless and Bible Black – King Crimson | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  15. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: K". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved 28 February 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  16. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  17. ^ Martin C. Strong (1998). The Great Rock Discography (1st ed.). Canongate Books. ISBN 978-0-86241-827-4.
  18. ^ Mike Barnes. "The Crown Jewels". Mojo. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  19. ^ Gary Graff, ed. (1996). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (1st ed.). London: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-0-7876-1037-1.
  20. ^ a b Fletcher, Gordon (6 June 1974). "King Crimson: Starless and Bible Black : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 16 January 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2011.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  21. ^ Sheffield, Rob (1992). "King Crimson". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). London: Fireside Books. pp. 545–546. ISBN 978-0-6797-3729-2.
  22. ^ "Top 100 Albums of the 1970s | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. 23 June 2004. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  23. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 167. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  24. ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 4852". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  25. ^ "Le Détail des Albums de chaque Artiste – K". Infodisc.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2023. Select King Crimson from the menu, then press OK.
  26. ^ "Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 23 September 2023. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "King Crimson".
  27. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  28. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  29. ^ "King Crimson Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  30. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
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