This is the second musical guide in an occasional series by Andrew Keeling, the first being a guide to King Crimson’s “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic” album. For those of you who have already seen that CD-ROM production, you are in store for very much of the same, for those of you who haven’t, I shall presently elucidate.
Mark Graham at Spaceward Graphics has taken Keeling’s work and transformed them into an interactive CD-ROM generated entirely in Macromedia Flash. You are presented with an historical overview of the events surrounding the creation of the album and there is also a lot of musical theory to wade through too, which might be a little daunting to those of you who think a crotchet is something you scratch first thing in the morning. But seriously, the musical stuff will be a revelation if you listen and watch the animations.
There are even a couple of vocal performances from Jakko Jakszyk, which allows the music to breath a little. You see, one of my main problems with the CD-ROM is that the majority of music is presented via the MIDI chip in your PC, so you are presented with a warbling, OK Computer-type voice rendering the vocals. I understand that this is a limitation of the technology, but it would have been nice to have more “real music”, for example, more MP3 samples replacing the tinny MIDI stuff. But this is a minor quibble.
What you do get is a pretty exhaustive study of one of King Crimson’s lesser albums. For me, this was a much more fulfilling journey than the Larks’ Tongue release, as I walked away with some knowledge that wasn’t previously there. You also get a chance to see some of the writings of Tammo de Jongh (the artist responsible for the sleeve) and get a closer understanding of the cultural context Peter Sinfield was drawing from in his lyrics. It is a real eye-opener.
I thought that the Larks’ Tongues edition was very good, but this feels a lot more complete in terms of information. It is an essential item if you want to understand the motivations and symbolism behind the album. For me, it has completely changed the way I listen and appreciate “In the Wake of Poseidon” and so therefore it is a purchase you may want to consider if you are a fan of early King Crimson. However, fans of the later incarnations might not find it so enlightening.
More details: http://www.inthewakeofposeidon.ukf.net/

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