review by daniel

This is great stuff. First you are literally run over by “21st Century Schizoid Man”, a great and energetic track with screaming saxes and distorted vocals, and then you have a chance to catch your breath during the calm beauty of “I Talk to the Wind”. After that comes the majestic and mellotron driven “Epitaph”, followed by the rather experimental “Moonchild” that ends with 10 minutes of (seemingly) improvised percussion playing. A lot of people find that objectionable, but I actually like it. The album concludes with the title track, a great track with gentle guitar picking in the verses that effectively contrasts the sublime sound of the mellotrons in the chorus. Greg Lake’s voice has never sounded better and the drumming and bass playing are top-notch. I actually prefer Michael Giles to any of the other Crimson drummers, not just because of his busy style, but more importantly because of his sound. This is the way that drums should sound like; crisp and direct like a punch in the face, as opposed to the belly, if you know what I mean. The mellotron is perhaps the main instrument on the album and the sound of it is sublime, in contrast to Robert Fripp’s guitar playing. Fripp plays like an anti-hero with subtle and gentle moves between the occasional outbursts of energy (like the incredible guitar solo on “Schizoid Man”). This is the place to start if you want to explore symphonic progressive rock at its best.