There’s a certain type of person who becomes a serious fan of the Legendary Pink Dots. For starters, the band is insanely prolific  and it’s difficult to keep up with them. But doing so has its rewards–even if you lose touch with LPD for a while you’ll have fun catching up.

That’s what’s been happening at Turntabling lately–the last LPD purchase prior to this was Hallway of the Gods, so there is a definite gap that needs closing. All The King’s Men has some strange sonic connectivity on this record to the Liquid Sky soundtrack (that movie has been on the player a lot lately), and some Windowlicker-period Aphex Twin (however brief) and above all, it still sounds like the same LPD you know and love. The arrangements are a bit more sparse and minimal in places on this record, but to good effect.

All The King’s Men is a double LP and fits nicely in the LPD canon somewhere (sonically speaking) between the Malachai albums and Hallway of the Gods. That said there’s a more modern sensibility to this record–the group isn’t content to use the same old studio gear and keep re-tweezing the same old synth patches again and again. There’s plenty of evidence that the group’s sound has kept up with the times, at least to these ears.

All the King’s Men is a very solid effort by the LPD camp who could arguably just sit on their laurels after all these years and issue compilations, outtakes and other bits and pieces…but they refuse to and we are all the better for it. SO glad to catch up with them now. This is NOT a new record–it came out in 2004–but it sounds new and fresh ’round here because it’s been so long.

Have a look at a live version of The Brightest Star from this album at the end of the post…if you’re in any way inclined toward LPD, this one’s a no-brainer.

And yes, Turntabling has a single lovely copy of the Legendary Pink Dots All The King’s Men double vinyl album. It’s in near mint condition and the cover shows some minor wear in the lower right corner. This is the ROIR edition of the album.

Buy the Legendary Pink Dots All The King’s Men double vinyl LP from Turntabling for $29.00 plus shipping.