AMAZON
The second King Crimson album to feature the core line-up of guitarist Robert Fripp, bassist-singer John Wetton, and drummer Bill Bruford (plus violinist David Cross), 1974's Starless continues the complex structures and hard-edged grooves of Larks' Tongues In Aspic. It's a sound that's firmly departed from the mellotron-assisted psychedelic symphony approach of Lizard and In the Wake of Poseidon. The precursor to the landmark Red, Starless includes such Crimson classics as "The Great Deceiver", the eccentric ballad "Lament", the menacing 11-minute "Fracture" and the sprawling title track, an avant-rock "Bolero" that builds into a cacophony of abstract noise guitar, chattering percussion, fleshy funk bass lines and, yep, mellotron, this time in the service of dissonant harmonies and spooky sound bursts. A must for Crimson completists, and a great first bite for neophytes. --James Rotondi