Robert Fripp's astounding chord solo on "Sailor's Tale" (from 1971)

[Willie G. Moseley]

A recent interview with Greg Lake prompted me to delve back into some early King Crimson material, and one of the forgotten gems that still blew me away was Robert Fripp's chord work on "Sailor's Tale", an instrumental on K.C.'s fourth album, Islands (1971). Such a reaction had also been the case when I first heard the album when it was released.

That album was unique in several ways besides the music (which was almost/always unique when it came to that band)---Islands was the album on which Boz Burrell played bass, and it was the last to feature the lyrics of Pete Sinfield. It was also the last of the "orchestral" albums, mainly due to an preponderance of Mellotrons, although that primitive keyboard gizmo would show up at times on later albums, in barely-discernable tidbits. It's fair to say, however, that Mellotrons were one of the key facets of the original King Crimson sound and legend.

But Robrt Fripp was one of the most innovative electric guitarists ever, and the second track was a definitive performance, particularly since the second half of the song features romping chord work with a unique tone, the likes of which I'd never heard, and I still haven't heard anything like it, over four decades after the album debuted.

The first part of "Sailor's Tale" starts with a decent groove from Burrell, and has (what sounds like) some harmony riffs between Fripp and sax player Mel Collins (or maybe it's two saxes, or maybe it's two guitars, but Fripp's "oozy" guitar sound back then was just about one-of-a-kind because it wasn't blues-based).

The chord solo (only way I know to describe it) is also, as noted earlier, one of a kind (for me, at least). It finally collides with Burrell's anchor riff again, this time accompanied by a signature Mellotron. The song reaches pretty much of a howling cacophany that somehow makes sense (another sonic signature of K.C.) before finally melting away with Fripp's chords. Whew!

If you're an electric guitarist (hopefully with a pro attitude) and are not familiar with this effort, you should be. It still holds up 42 years later.

[Rodan]

+1! Love that cut and that solo!

That Crimson lineup is often overlooked. They (with the exception of Mel Collins) were a little less chops-heavy than others and the prog/blues tug of war resulted in a bit of departure from the first 3 records... I never had a problem with them, though. In fact, I think Boz' voice is probly the best they've EVER had in their history.

On this ^ live-on-radio gig, they actually had no Mellotron with them! Nary a hiccup.