Despite  the crumbling of the original King Crimson lineup at the end of their American tour in December of '69, and thus, starting a trend of interchanging lineups with every proceeding Crimson release thereafter, In the Wake of Poseidon is proven as a superior follow-up to the classic, groundbreaking release of In the Court of the Crimson King.  Although, its been compared as a vastly inferior and almost identical companion to the debut album, as it does follow somewhat of a formula throughout its duration, the musicianship is impeccable, and Robert Fripp manages to hold the glue together on this release with interesting tracks like Cadence and Cascade(featuring lead vocals from Gordon Haskell, whom turns up on the follow-up Lizard), Cat Food and The Devil's Triangle. Devil's Triangle is interesting as it began life as an improvisational number, adopted from composer, Gustav Holst's "The Planets" classical piece and was arranged  by Ian McDonald and Robert Fripp, known as "Mars" in its early stages.  With the help of Mel Collins' assistance on sax and flute, coupled with piano contributions  from Keith Tippet and Fripp's innovative usage of mellotron and guitar passages, this piece stands out as another early Crimson classic realized.

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The record would also prove to be Greg Lake's farewell album as he would move onto bigger and better things with Carl Palmer and Keith Emerson; yet his vocalizing is definitive on the album's centerpieces, Pictures of a City, the title track and the hyperactive, pop/jazz of Cat Food, which is aided by the structured, yet ramshackle, ivory tinklings of Keith Tippet, along with Fripp's acoustic guitar rhythm melody and advant-garde electric guitar parts adding color and texture to this quirky number. The record is accentuated by 3 quiet interludes in the beginning, middle and end of the album's duration into Peace-A Beginning, Peace-A Theme and Peace-An End, adding more of a cohesiveness to the record as a whole and are driven by Lake's vocals and simple sparse acoustic parts courtesy of Fripp; it makes the listening experience even more desirable amid further rotations, despite the similarity to its predecessor in certain parts. Poseidon certainly carries a more consistency than its follow up, Lizard, would display, as well as into the fourth release, Islands. I give Poseidon praise for its courage, consistency and musical intelligence as it displays the power that still existed within the entity known as King Crimson.

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Rating Grade- B+