King Crimson: In The Wake Of Poseidon

For every band that has been able to make a bit of a splash with its debut, at some point the big question awaits: "What to do on the second album?" Get harder? Become softer? Experiment more or less? Even an extraordinary band like King Crimson once faced this crossroads after the über-album "In The Court Of The Crimson King". They almost broke, like many before and after them, because of the challenge. Greg Lake, as well as Michael and Peter Giles had actually already left the band. But Robert Fripp, the band's great constant to this day, was determined to continue and brought his old colleagues back into the studio as session musicians, together with Gordon Haskett and Keith Tippett, who would also appear on later albums. In terms of personnel policy, King Crimson thus set completely new standards early on. However, the crucial question remains: what does the band, so thrown together, make of the difficult second album? Here they proved to be not as creative as in personnel matters, but just as effective. Fripp's slogan became the solution: Keep going! In many ways, "In The Wake Of Poseidon" is a remake of "In The Court Of The Crimson King." "Pictures Of A City" is the new "Schizoid Man," "Cadence and Cascade" is the new "I Talk To The Wind," etc. However, no piece is a copy of the predecessor, King Crimson manage to keep the high level and can even add something here and there. The best example: Cat Food. A wild and wild mixture of blues, rock, jazz and dada, with a Keith Tippett piano performance for eternity.