乐评 KC 岛
http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=1479343www.progarchives.com
After "In The Court Of The Crimson King" and "Red", this is my third review of a King Crimson's musical work. "Islands" is their fourth studio album and was released in 1971. All the music was written by Robert Fripp and all the lyrics were written by Peter Sinfield, as usual, while he was in the group.
在评论了《In The Court of The Crimson King》和《Red》之后，这是我对KC专辑的第三次评价。《Islands》是他们的第四张录音室专辑，发行于1971年。所有的音乐都是Robert Fripp创作的，歌词和往常一样由Peter Sinfield撰写，他当时还在乐队中。
The line up on the album is Robert Fripp (guitar, mellotron, and harmonium), Boz Burrell (lead vocals and bass guitar), Mel Collins (backing vocals, saxophones, flute and bass flute), Ian Wallace (backing vocals, drums and percussion) and Peter Sinfield (words). The album has also the participation of the following additional musicians: Paulina Lucas (soprano vocals), Keith Tippett (piano), Robin Miller (oboe), Mark Charing (cornet) and Harry Miller (double bass).
专辑的制作成员是：Robert Fripp (吉他, mellotron和簧风琴), Boz Burrell (主唱和贝司), Mel Collins (合声, 萨克斯, 长笛和低音长笛), Ian Wallace (合声，鼓和打击乐) 以及 Peter Sinfield (主题与歌词). 专辑也有以下音乐家参与制作: Paulina Lucas (女高音), Keith Tippett (键盘), Robin Miller (双簧管), Mark Charing (短号) 和Harry Miller (贝司).
When it was released, "Islands" wasn't particularly very well received by the critics, and neither had been much success among King Crimson's fans. However, "Islands" got to number 30 in England, and number 76 in America. Once more, in April of 1972, King Crimson's line up broke up after Burrell, Collins and Wallace, had left the band. It was also the last time that Sinfield featured his lyrics, on a King Crimson's album. Fripp phoned and told him, that he wouldn't work with him anymore, because their creative relationship was exhausted and had come to an end.
当《Islands》发行时，它并没有受到评论家的特别好评，并在KC的粉丝中也没取得多大成功。然而《Islands》当时在英国排行榜上名列30位，在美国排行榜上名列76位。在1972年4月，Burrell, Collins 和 Wallace离开乐队后，KC的阵容再一次破裂了。这也是Sinfield 最后一次在KC的专辑中展现他的歌词。Fripp 打电话告诉他，他不会再和他合作了，因为题目的创作关系已经精疲力尽，已经走到了尽头。
"Islands" has six tracks. Four tracks have lyrics, whose lyrics are about three women, and two are instrumental tracks. The first track "Formentera Lady" is one of the two lengthiest tracks on the album. It's a beautiful track that starts slowly with Burrell singing the Sinfield lyrics, well accompanied by several instruments like bass, flute, saxophone, piano, mellotron and guitar. Some say, this is a too big and a too boring track. Sincerely, I don't agree with that. Despite not being the best song on the album, it isn't really bad at all.
《Islands》有六首歌。四首歌有歌词，这些歌词关于三个女人，而两首歌是器乐作品。第一首歌"Formentera Lady"是专辑中最长的歌曲之一。这是一首美妙的歌曲，随着Burrell唱着Sinfield的歌词慢慢开始，伴随着贝斯，长笛，萨克斯，钢琴，mellotron和吉他等几种乐器。有人说这是一首漫长而无聊的歌曲，说真的我不同意。它尽管不是专辑中的最佳作品，但它真的不是很糟糕。
The second track "Sailor's Tale" is a kind of the second part of a lengthiest epic theme, which includes the two songs. For me, it's a notable piece of music in the King Crimson's style. It's one of my favourite songs on the album and it's also one of the most progressive musics too.
第二首歌"Sailor's Tale"是第一首最长史诗的主题的第二部分，其中包括两首歌。对我来说，这是KC音乐风格中最著名的作品。这也是我在专辑中最爱的歌曲，同样是我最爱的前卫摇滚作品之一。
The third track "The Letters" is a song dominated by the saxophone of Collins. It's a melancholic ballad and a pretty dark song, which reflects the sadness and anger, transmitted by Burrell's voice. Previously, it was known as "Drop In", and it was written during the Giles, Giles & Fripp days, in 1968.
第三首歌"The Letters"是一首由Collins的萨克斯主导的歌曲。这是一首忧郁的民谣和一首非常黑暗的歌曲，它由Burrell声音传达除了的悲伤和愤怒。在发行之前它被称为"Drop In"，它是在1968年时由Giles, Giles & Fripp创作的。
The fourth track "Ladies On The Road" is a theme with a lyrical tone and is a song playfully sexist. It seems to be the favourite theme of Fripp on the album. The vocal choir reminds me The Beatles. This is probably the nearest thing on the album capable to be a proverbial hit single.
第四首歌"Ladies On The Road"是一个带有抒情调子的主题，是一首俏皮的性爱歌曲。这似乎是这张专辑中Fripp最喜欢的主题了。合唱团的声音让我想起甲壳虫乐队。这或许是专辑中最有可能被当做热门单曲的东西了。
The fifth track "Prelude: Song Of The Gulls" is the smallest song on the album but, for me, is their best song. This is a notable piece of symphonic and classical music, one of the best I've ever heard before. It seems to have an unknown string ensemble quartet, accompanied with a wonderful flute. It's a track without any kind of free improvisation, very beautiful, extremely very well composed and arranged which contrasts with the usual King Crimson's music. The track reminds me the classical period of the Baroque Music, particularly the oeuvre of J. S. Bach.
第五首歌"Prelude: Song Of The Gulls"是专辑中最短的歌曲，但对我来说却是最好的歌曲。这是一首值得关注的交响乐和古典音乐，是我曾听过的最好的音乐之一。它似乎有一个身份不明的弦乐合奏四重奏，伴随着一个美妙的长笛。这是一首没有任何自由即兴创作的曲目，非常漂亮，非常精心编排，与通常的King Crimson音乐形成鲜明对比。这条赛道让我想起了巴洛克音乐的古典时期，特别是J. S. Bach的作品。
The sixth track "Islands" is the title track. It's the lengthiest track on the album. It's a very calm and beautiful song, with great instrumental arrangements, and full of continuous solos of various musical instruments. It's also one of my favourite tracks on the album. "Islands" ends the album nicely as it bookends, with "Formentera Lady", both in content and style.
第六首歌"Islands"是主题曲，是专辑中最长的歌曲。这是非常安静和美丽的歌曲，有伟大的器乐安排，并且充满了各种乐器的连续独奏。这也是我在专辑中最喜欢的曲目之一。 "Islands"以"Formentera Lady"为内容和风格，完美地结束了这张专辑。
The King Crimson releases are renowned for their artwork, and "Islands" isn't an exception. The original UK and European cover of the album depicts the Trifid Nebula in the Sagittarius constellation and displays neither the name of the band or its title. The original US or Canadian album cover is a Sinfield's painting, of off-white with coloured islands.
KC的作品也以其封面艺术而闻名，《Islands》也不例外。该专辑的原始英国和欧洲版封面描绘了射手座星座中的三裂星云，并且既没有显示乐队的名称，也没有显示其专辑名。最初的美国或加拿大版专辑封面是Sinfield的画作，灰白色背景和彩色岛屿。
Conclusion: As all we know, King Crimson is a very experimental band, which incorporates diverse musical influences and instrumentation, during their long musical career. It always was very impressive to me, the radical changes in the band's music, from album to album. Just only mention the three albums reviewed by me until now: "In The Court Of The Crimson King" is an album that received more influences from symphonic rock, "Red" received more influences from hard and heavy rock and "Islands" received more influences from jazz. Many have seen "Islands" as the weakest of all King Crimson's studio albums released in the 70's, the less innovative, somewhat restrained and uneven sounding, and awkwardly a pretentious work. That is an argument that I can't accept. "Islands" is in reality an album with many facets. It's a laid back album that reveals its charm gradually and only occasionally decides that the listener needs to be beaten over the head, with the full power of the group. "Islands" is one of my first vinyl purchases, in the distant 70's, and I always loved it. It remains, for me, as one of the lost classic albums of the 70's.
结论：众所周知，KC是一支非常有实验性的乐队，在漫长的音乐生涯中融入了各种音乐影响和乐器使用。对我来说，乐队的音乐其每一张专辑间的激进变化总是让我印象深刻。直到现在我评论的三张专辑中：《The Crimson King The Court》是一张受到交响摇滚影响的专辑，《Red》受到来自硬摇滚和重型摇滚的影响，《Islands》则更多受到来自爵士乐的影响。很多人都把《Islands》看作是70年代King Crimson所有的录音室专辑中最薄弱的一部，创新性较低，有些内敛和不均匀的声音，以及拙劣的自命不凡的作品。这是一个我无法接受的论点。《Islands》实际上是一张有很多方面特点的专辑。这是一张悠闲的专辑，将逐渐展现出它的魅力，那时乐队所有的力量将重击听者的头部。《Islands》是我在遥远70年代够来的第一批黑胶唱片之一，我一直很喜欢它。对我来说，它仍然是70年代失落的经典专辑之一。
