Pete Sinfield - Still 1973

As expected, Pete Sinfield's only solo attempt has the fingerprints of King Crimson covering every track, and the end result is an obvious but rather gratifying piece of early progressive rock. With fellow Crimsonites Greg Lake, Mel Collins, and John Wetton helping him out, Sinfield manages to capture a sturdy-enough progressive air across the length of the album, complemented by periodic injections of classical, rock, and jazz movements. While Sinfield's vocal contributions are a little uninviting, he makes up for it with the assistance of Greg Lake for the title track, which is a spoken-word poem set to Lake's singing. "The Song of the Sea Goat" is another well-crafted piece that applies classical tendencies borrowed from Vivaldi, and Collins comes alive with some exquisite flute playing throughout "The Piper," one of the album's strongest cuts. To Sinfield's credit, his surreal lyrics are mindful and well written, with a strong regard for prog rock's fantastical milieu, and because of this the album maintains its strength when the music itself begins to falter in some areas, such as on "Will It Be You" and "Envelopes of Yesterday." Tracks like "Wholefood Boogie" and "Under the Sky" are delightful emissions of keyboard-built progressive music that are wisely infused with mild doses of blues and synth-guided rock. Although the pieces that make up Still aren't as overwhelming as most of King Crimson's repertoire at the time, they do help illustrate Sinfield's talents as an individual, since his membership within his former band was seemingly overshadowed by the other personnel. Still isn't a crucial segment of progressive rock's uprising of the early '70s, but it does make for an entertaining sidebar for anyone interested in King Crimson's stock. The album was later reissued as Stillusion, with a different track sequence and revised liner notes. AMG.

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