BEAST IN THE MAZE

  This time on Beast in the Maze , we're finishing up our journey outside the maze with a look at a classic progressive rock album by the legendary and complicated King Crimson. The first of a trilogy of albums released with the same lineup (the other two being Starless and Bible Black  and Red ), the album replaces the woodwind/brass sounds heard on previous records with an all-string and percussion setup featuring violin alongside some interesting things like sheet metal and thumb pianos. Sometimes soft, sometimes heavy, always a step ahead of their own listeners, this album manages to rule while somehow remaining an enigma - on more than one occasion we found ourselves wondering exactly what instrument was producing a given sound on the album. It's also lyrically sparse, and much of its high-brow content comes from the music rather than the lyrics, which only appear on half of the album's six tracks, which are bookended by a two-part title track.  Join us as we discuss t