King Crimson - "In the Wake of Poseidon" (double album version)

Despite a successful debut album, King Crimson splintered soon after its supporting tour. Singer and bassist Greg Lake co-formed Emerson, Lake and Palmer and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald and drummer Michael Giles formed the duo McDonald and Giles. That left only guitarist Robert Fripp and lyricist Pete Sinfield. Perhaps it was a case of too many chefs in the kitchen.

According to the liner notes of McDonald and Giles' sole album, much of it was written while they were in King Crimson. I'm not sure of Greg Lake's songs for the first ELP album, but it seems probable that they, too, were originally intended for King Crimson's sophomore effort.

With this in mind, I attempted to create a new version of King Crimson's second album In the Wake of Poseidon if the original band members had remained together.

SIDE A - 21:32

1. Peace - A Beginning (Fripp, Sinfield) - 0:51

2. The Devil’s Triangle (Fripp, McDonald) - 11:30

3. Cadence & Cascade (Lake vocals version) (Fripp, Sinfield) - 4:35

4. Lucky Man (solo version) (Lake) - 4:36

SIDE B - 20:00

1. Take a Pebble (Lake) - 12:32

2. Cat Food (Fripp, Sinfield, McDonald) - 4:52

3. Is She Waiting (McDonald) - 2:36

SIDE C - 21:22

1. Birdman (McDonald, Sinfield) - 21:22

SIDE D - 20:53

1. Groon (Fripp) - 3:35

2. Tomorrow’s People - The Children of Today (Giles) - 7:00

3. In the Wake of Poseidon (Fripp, Sinfield) - 8:24

4. Peace - An End (Fripp, Sinfield) - 1:54

As you might imagine, with three albums worth of material, there's a lot to choose from (plus, some tracks are really long), and trying to distill it down to a single disc just didn't seem reasonable.

But there are only two songs on ELP's debut album that were written solely by Lake so I used both. I used a true solo version of "Lucky Man" that appears as a bonus track on the 2012 reissue. So no Emerson and Palmer. And that's fine because I hate Emerson's annoying synthesizer at the end of the originally released version. We're not as fortunate with "Take a Pebble," but it is what it is - maybe think of Emerson and Palmer as "guests."

From McDonald and Giles, I took the full "Birdman" as McDonald co-wrote it with Sinfield, as well as McDonald's "Is She Waiting" and Giles' "Tomorrow's People."

From the actual In the Wake of Poseidon, I chose seven tracks. Two, "The Devil's Triangle" and "Cat Food" were co-written by McDonald before he left. In addition, the two "Peace" bookend tracks still begin and end the album, and the title track and the non-album b-side "Groon" are included. And finally, I also added a version of "Cascade & Cadence" that features Lake on vocals. It was a bonus track on the 40th anniversary version. That puts each side at about 20 to 21 1/2 minutes.

What's nice about this reimagined album, I think, is that every band member has at least one track. So now it's a band effort rather than a Robert Fripp show.