Islands: 40th Anniversary Series (CD + DVD-A)

As a jazz fan this is my favourite kc album The extra tracks are very much appreciated. Mel Collins playing bass flute is wonderful, all the instruments are perfectly placed. A good quality cd

I've been driven to write this review in bed after the near religious experience I just had listening to the 40th anniversary remix of this album. It genuinely sounds like it has been rerecorded in a different studio with fully functioning microphones!! Unlike the 30th anniversary remaster, which I had to turn up to 12 o'clock and then only heard Boz Burrell's bass, here all the beautiful acoustic instruments and vocals are lifted into the heart of the mix and everything is crystal clear and well balanced. I am astonished that on other sites some have claimed the 40th is the same mix as the 30th! And none have commented on Amazon of the transformation in sound. Both must have 90% hearing loss. Do yourself a favour, convert the 30th anniversary remaster into the beer mat it sounds like and but this one.

Fabulous surround mix which is what I bought it for. Great job Steve Wilson.

Review of `Islands' 40th Anniversary CD plus MLP Lossless 5.1 & DTS digital surround DVD package.***`Islands' was released in December 1971, exactly one year after `Lizard'. This was the final studio release from the Fripp-Sinfield era, before Bob Fripp reconstituted the band in 1973 and ushered in the great Bruford-Wetton period.For `Islands', Boz Burrell took over on bass and vocals; a gutsier & more powerful singer than Gordon Haskell, & adequate-but-not-great bass player who Fripp taught the entire KC repertoire note-for-note. Ian Wallace (suggested to Fripp by Keith Emerson in whose house Wallace was living at the time) played drums. Collins, Fripp & Sinfield formed the remainder of the line-up, unchanged since the `Poseidon' project. A number of other musicians join the party, including once again Keith Tippett on piano, plus Robin & Harry Miller & Mark Charig on various wind instruments.The original album:Overall `Islands' is more of a jazz-rock album than `Lizard' but with an odd mix of just 6 songs, 2 of them purely instrumental. The theme running through the album is of islands & the sea, kicking off with the laid-back `Formentera Lady' evoking a languid summer love affair on a Mediterranean island; a slow cello starts things off, over which flute & Tippett's piano cadences lead into the main theme with other instruments gradually joining the party. `Sailor's Tale' follows, purely instrumental with a jazz-fusion feel and the whole band on top form, a perennial live-gig favourite for the band during this era which builds from a quiet start to a crescendo climax. `The Letters' is a dark song about a betrayed wife being taunted by her husband's lover in poison-pen letters, with great musical dynamics, screeching electric guitar from Fripp & powerful singing from Boz. 'Ladies of the Road' is a funky-jazz number about life on the road with groupies, with what would now be seen as highly misogynistic lyrics, some great sax playing from Mel Collins and a hilarious `guitar orgasm' from Fripp! `Prelude - Song of the Gulls' is another instrumental number with the melody provided by a soprano sax over orchestral strings, and the closer `Islands' rounds off the album with a laid-back oboe over mellotron, great sax from Collins & another fine vocal line from Boz.The 40th Anniversary offering.As with other Steven Wilson KC releases in this series, a CD plus audio-only DVD are presented in a gatefold sleeve decorated with the original album cover artwork, radio-telescope images of the Crab Nebula (in a genuine crimson colour). A 16-page colour booklet with all song lyrics, archive photos & story behind the music, written by Bob Fripp and Crimson biographer Sid Smith, completes the package.The DVD is the star of the show with the music offered in MLP Lossless 5.1 surround, DTS 5.1 digital surround, MLP Lossless stereo & PCM stereo 2.0. The DVD graphics are easy-on-the-eye & the menu easy to navigate. On the DVD you get:* the 2010 stereo mix* the original album* a stereo 16/48 `Alternate Album' including previously unreleased `A Peacemaking Stint Unrolls'* a section called `Routes to Islands' tracing the development of the music including the Islands line-up of the band rehearsing `Pictures of a City'* Several additional studio takes of `Ladies of the Road' & `Formentera Lady'Fripp and Wilson have once again produced a fine package, this time with even more extra material than usual. If you're a KC fan, buying this package should be a no-brainer: it will likely be the ultimate, all-time definitive `Islands.'

Islands is one of the best albums from KC. When you here this album you are already in peace

I bought the original vinyl and its great to listen to it without the scratches and pops :) although in a strange way they had become part of the music.

King Crimson The best

Excellent, very pleased with it. x

El sentit nou que queda una vegada feta la ramesterizació. Sense poder esvoltar eñ DVD 5-0

L'oeuvre est dépoussiérée, le son est clair, riche. Les pistes alternatives sont nombreuses. Je n'ai pas de système 5.1 donc pour cet aspect je ne peux pas juger.

Habe mir Anfang der 90-iger die erste CD-Version gekauft und mochte dieses Album nicht. Ganz anders diese 40th Anniversary-Edition. Supersound bei der ich erstmal die geniale Musik entdeckt habe.

５３年前、毎日１８時にステレオの前に鎮座し「FM大阪のビートオンプラザ」にチューナーを合わせ、テープレコーダーのスイッチを入れることが日課であった。ロック小僧がLPレコード丸々の情報を得ることができる唯一のすばらしい番組だった。今思うと、DJの田中正美氏は当時のロック小僧が大尊敬する神のような存在であった。このビートオンプラザでのオンエア、小僧の耳には斬新すぎたフォーメンテラ・レディの奇妙な音は半世紀以上経った今でも古さなど全く感じず魅惑の幽玄の世界へ誘ってくれるのである。当時、「水を得た魚」と表現されたクリムゾン。私にとってジャズの扉を開けるきっかけとなった大事な作品です。感謝の念と共にいつの日か必ずあの世に持って行くことでしょう。（追記）クリムゾンのCDは同じ作品でもとにかく多種類あり困ったものです。ファンの皆様、賛否あるとは思いますが、このCDに収録された陳腐なボーナストラックはいらないと思います。偉大な作品としての夢世界が少し欠けてしまうように思うのは私だけでしょうか。

An incredible disk (vinyl better though) and the quality of the discs much better than the original CD release. Definitely recommended for a King Crimson fan just for the slight variation in the mixes. If you enjoy progressive rock this is second (IMHO) only to "In The Court of the Crimson King".