Pub triviologists love the fact that King Crimson lyricist Pete Sinfield later co-wrote Land Of Make Believe by Bucks Fizz – which for some is like swapping the Third Reich for the Sisterhood. Far from an act of turncoat opportunism, however, it is if anything testimony to Sinfield’s expert way with a lyric. A craftsman of the old school who actually bothers about scansion, metrical patterns and internal rhymes, Sinfield filled his only solo album – 1973’s Still – with vivid, memorable poesy, not least on little epics The Night People and Song Of The Sea Goat.
He was no one’s idea of a vocalist, though, as he ruefully hints on his absorbing website songsouponsea.com. The combination of elegant, eloquent verbiage and crisply precise enunciation suggests Peter Hammill; but only if Hammill were singing through a straw in a room filled with helium. Greg Lake, one of many guest Crims, assists on the title track, but a fine remastering job cannot salvage the song’s baggy and unfocused mix. (The first mix, on the bonus disc, is considerably more effective.) The Donovan-style simplicity of The Piper suits Sinfield’s voice best of all; while the bleak disillusionment of Envelopes Of Yesterday may entice King Crimson conspiracy theorists.
