King Crimson - Islands
I’ve recently completed remixing King Crimson’s Islands for its 2009 40th anniversary reissue, working alongside Robert Fripp to create new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes. Released in 1971, Islands is the only studio album from King Crimson’s second performing lineup, and it feels more like a snapshot of the band than a fully polished picture. To me, it’s a beautiful and often underappreciated part of their catalog, holding a unique spot in their discography. Unlike In the Wake of Poseidon and Lizard, which were purely studio creations, most of Islands was performed live, yet it retains the compositional depth of those earlier records while delivering the band’s signature intensity.
For this release, we dove into the original session tapes, and I kept processing light to let the music’s natural textures shine. The new stereo mix, crafted with Robert, brings out the clarity of pieces like the title track and Prelude: Song of the Gulls, where Fripp’s growth as a composer and arranger is evident, while amplifying the raw power of tracks like Sailor’s Tale, a piece that thrived in live performances and evolved with each show. The 5.1 surround mix opens up the album’s dynamics, letting listeners feel the interplay of the band and the guest musicians in a new way. Working on these tapes was a reminder of how skilled those early engineers were, capturing such vivid sounds with limited tracks.
The CD/DVD-A package is packed with extras, making this a definitive edition for fans. The CD includes the new stereo mix and a near-complete alternate album of studio takes, run-throughs, and mixes. The DVD-A features the 5.1 surround mix, a high-resolution stereo version of the new mix, and a high-resolution version of the original album mix from the 30th anniversary master. There’s also nearly 90 minutes of additional material, most of it previously unreleased, including early rehearsals of Pictures of a City from the 1969 lineup, a never-before-heard fragment called A Peacemaking Stint Unrolls that hints at ideas later developed on future albums, Fripp playing the Islands tune on Mellotron, and a searing live version of Sailor’s Tale from the Zoom Club. With Sid Smith’s sleeve notes providing context, this release offers a deeper look into a fascinating chapter of King Crimson’s history.
