King Crimson - Islands

King Crimson — Islands Elemental Mixes

Lacquers cut by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering

200-gram vinyl edition 

Producer David Singleton's 2026 Elemental Mix of the band's classic Islands album

The King Crimson — Islands Elemental Mixes are a fresh take on the band's atmospheric 1971 album. Curated by producer David Singleton, these mixes utilize original session multi-tracks to strip away layers of the familiar, offering a revealing alternate account of the classic record.

Singleton uses the full spectrum of available studio sessions for each album to produce very different takes on the familiar songs and pieces.

Speaking about the Elemental Mix approach, David Singleton said: "Ever since the concept of an Elemental mix was first suggested, I have approached these with equal measures of hate, dread and love.

"Dread and hate because you are, in effect, staring at a perfect jigsaw (the finished version of the Mona Lisa) wondering how you might roll back the years and get closer to the moment of creation — often by finding hints of alternative routes that were never followed, allowing you to perceive the familiar in an unfamiliar way — presenting the pieces not in a 'perfect mix,' but unadorned, as they would have been had you been sitting in the studio. A task which always seems utterly impossible. ....Until it isn't."

The Elemental Mix concept offers listeners a deeply immersive experience.

• Unused takes bring previously hidden instrumentation and unused parts from the recording sessions into the foreground.

• New mix recontextualizes familiar songs from entirely different angles

 

1. Formentera Lady

2. Sailor's Tale

3. The Letters

4. Ladies Of The Road

5. Prelude: Song Of The Gulls

6. Islands

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