review by daniel

King Crimson’s third album is an improvement on the second, but not a complete success. It has a jazzier sound, dominated by a variety of horns (saxes played by Mel Collins and the rest played by members of the Keith Tippet Group). Unfortunately, the effort is an extremely uneven affair. The opening “Cirkus” is a great and dynamic track with the horns and the monotonous electric guitar contrasting Fripp’s amazing acoustic guitar picking and Haskell’s beautifully eerie vocals. The next track “Indoor Games” is a happy and pleasant horn-driven piece of music. Then comes “Happy Family”, which is ruined by the poorly performed electronic manipulation of Haskell’s voice, followed by the soft and meaningless “Lady of the Dancing Water”. The second side is occupied by the title suite. It has a vocal performance by none other than Jon Anderson of Yes. If “Cirkus” represents the highs of this uneven affair, the Anderson sung part of the title track surely represents the lows. You cannot blame Anderson because he does what one might expect from him and he didn’t write the song. There is nothing wrong with the verses, but when the chorus starts you cannot help thinking that your ears must deceive you. It is too catchy for most bands and way too catchy for King Crimson. Moreover, it is repeated three times and the last time with “lalalala” and handclap. Yes, handclap. If it's a joke, it's a bad one. The rest of the suite is however great. Intricate and beautiful arrangements gradually develop into noisy, horn driven, climaxes. Classically influenced jazz rock with mellotrons. If that teases your curiousity go ahead and buy the album.