Released 3 December 1971 | Recorded October, 1971 | |
Length 11:51 (full version)9:20 (without the hidden track) Label IslandAtlanticPolydorE.G.Virgin | ||
"Islands" is the title track of the album of the same name by the progressive rock band, King Crimson, released in 1971. It is the album's closing track.
The song's pastoral, mellow, and quiet feeling (the lyrics talk of a peaceful island) distinguish it from the album's first four tracks.
The fifth track on the album, "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" is a prelude for "Islands". There is also a reference to the track on the lyrics: gaunt granite climbs where gulls wheel and glide.
On the original vinyl of the album, as the song ends, it included a hidden track which in it the band is talking and doing rehearsal of the song. It ends when Robert Fripp counts.
On the 1999 CD versions, the hidden track was removed and ended on the ninth minute. In the 2010 remastered version of the album, the track was edited by and colleague Steven Wilson, the hidden track was returned but Fripp and Wilson added it the continue of the rehearsal, that in it there is a brass section of the song.
The song, along with others on the album, was performed live on the supporting tour to promote the album. The band stopped performing it after all band members left and Fripp hired new instrumentalists.
Personnel
with: