Side one of King Crimson's third Lp seems to me to be a logical extension of In the Wake of Poseidon and a higher level of abstraction is reached. Sinfield, noted for his highly condensed lyrics, has eased slightly on this record and the abstraction seems to have been passed on to the music. His lyrics though still partially contracted arc understandable:

Cleaned my feel of mud, followed the empty
Zebra ride to the Crikus,
Past a painted eagle, spoke to the pay box
Glove which wrote on my tongue —
Pushed me down a slide to the arena
Megaphonian fanfare
In his cloak of words strode the ringmaster
Bid me join the parade. . .

The instrumentals and vocals, however, are very harsh and disjointed and develop a sort of jarring condensed abstract quality. Fripp's mellotron is once again dominant, almost to the point that one gets to hate the sound of the instrument. Side Two of the LP comes up as a complete surprise this is the actual "lizard" part of the record and almost marks a return to the simple and musical notes of In the Court of the Crimson Kings. The music sort of flows along smoothly theough Prince Rupert Awakes, Bolero - The Peacock's Tale ending in The Battle of Class Tears which concludes with Prince Rupert's Lament:

Burt with dream and taut with fear
Dawn's misty shawl upon them
Three Hills apart great armies stir
Spit oath and curse as dawn breaks.
Forming lines of horse and steel
By even yards march forward