FEATURED CD: King Crimson - Lizard

[Poisoned Youth]

Lizard is a release that I always "sort of liked" for years, but over the last decade I return to it more and more almost as some sort of lost Crimson masterpiece (even though it's always been there). Relatively speaking, Wake, Lizard, and Island sometimes get lost between the iconic first album and the very popular Wetton era. Lost of great music in between.

Thoughts?




Review from ProgArchives:

This is probably the toughest Crimson album to get into (but what a superb artwork), but it is well worth the effort. As with Poseidon, Keith Tippet makes another appearance but this time he brings along the reed players from his own group - Charig, Miller, Evans etc... so the jazz-tinged prog developed in the present album is of course not easily that accessible. Very few of these tracks were played live and this line-up never toured. Circus is a fine opener but the Indoor Games is along with Happy Family some of the stranger tunes ever from Crimson. Lady is another tune in the mould of Cadence or Talk to the Wind. Of course everyone waits for LIZARD and its 23+ min. The first part most everybody knows because of the Yes-man on vocals and is quite fine. Comes a very delicate Bolero (a better version on the 4 cd box-set) that is the only one that does honour to Ravel and then comes the heart of the album - the Battle - savage war-like drumming flying reeds and mellotron layers making it my fave number from Crimson.

Lizard is definitely not easy album to master, but once you will, there is absolutely no doubt you'll find it one of Crimson's best album. By the time the album had been released, singer Gordon Haskell, pretending to hate this album, left the band and had returned to his solo career, prompting drummer Andy McCullough to follow suit. So for the second straight album Crimson was unable to tour to promote their album. - Sean Trane

[miamiscot]

Always loved it. Such a strange and beautiful work.

And Jon Anderson is a welcome change in the vocal department.

Simply wonderful and devilishly enchanting.

9/10

[Phlakaton]

The biggest challenge for me. I hated it at first. Shelved it. Years go by - my tastes change - more mature perhaps? Took me about 5 years before this really grabbed me. Just picked at it on occasion. I think its the most interesting of all the KC releases. I like the drums on this one too

[NogbadTheBad]

It seems like a bit of a weird outlier even for KC, I've grown to love it over the years and probably put it in my top 5 or 6 by the band. There's almost a weird poppy feel to the first three tracks that goes completely with Lady Of The Dancing Water and the side 2 epic. It definitely one I need to be in the mood for (much like VDGG & Beefheart) but when I am it's great.

[Pr33t]

Lizard is a release that I always "sort of liked" for years, but over the last decade I return to it more and more almost as some sort of lost Crimson masterpiece (even though it's always been there). Relatively speaking, Wake, Lizard, and Island sometimes get lost between the iconic first album and the very popular Wetton era. Lost of great music in between.

This was actually always my favorite Crimson. Whatever made this the outlier for everyone else who loved the band was must have been what appealed to me, as I didn't like the pre-Wetton stuff that much. I've totally come around to it now, and actually find Islands to be my favorite.

[chalkpie]

My Fav KC album since the day I got it. It has a mysterious and enchanting vibe that no other KC album has. I also love the acoustic moments from RF on it. Great drum sound, great playing, great tunes. 10/10.

[Buddhabreath]

^^^
Agree. I love the production and off-center feel. There was a progressive radio program on WGTB (Georgetown University in Washington DC) years ago called Indoor Games which used the theme song of the same name of course - that's where I heard it for he first time and it knocked my socks off. I had never heard anything like it and it seemed to teeter on the edge of insanity to me. Love it, love it, love it. BTW - they didn't play a thing from this album on their recent tour, did they?

[Mister Triscuits]

Not only my favorite Crimson--and I love everything they've put out--but one of my very favorite albums of all time.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

Lizard is my fav pre-Bruford album

the debut is quaint and they improve upon that formula with Wake but Islands is not very good

Lizard is the best

[Paulrus]

I'll never forget the first time hearing "Prince Rupert" and going "Holy crap -- that's Jon Anderson!" The rest of the album was definitely tough going for a budding teenage proghead, but there was always something magnetic about it. There were clearly trying hard not to be conventional or commercial and I immediately respected that, even if I had a hard time warming to Gordon Haskell's singing, or the brass parts and Keith Tippet's wacky piano.

I wouldn't ever recommend Lizard as an entry point to KC. For many it's going to be way too thorny and byzantine, but it's one of those early 70s albums that has so many great ideas laced throughout that it's always a rewarding listening experience. I'm really glad Fripp made sure this got the deluxe reissue treatment.

[Joe F.]

My favorite of the first 4.

I never had any struggle getting into it. It might have been all of the weed I was consuming in HS.

[Birdy]

This and Larks Tongues are my 2 faves. Absolutely brilliant, mysterious, enchanting every time I hear it.

[Poisoned Youth]

I think Islands is the album that many KC fans entering in struggle with. In my case, I didn't own anything from Crimson until the I got the Sleepless compilation in a used CD bin in like '94 I think. I was primarily interested because of the John Wetton connection, but that compilation is all over the place. I'm sure those like me who approached Crimson music "after the fact" have a story much different from those who lived through it.

Ultimately I went for the Wetton era albums first along with Court. When I got to Lizard (which I bought next because of the Jon Anderson connection), it caught me off guard (note there is no track from Lizard on the Sleepless comp). It's only in the last 5-10 years I have really given it its due.

My favorite of the first 4.

I never had any struggle getting into it. It might have been all of the weed I was consuming in HS.

Hey Joe!

[Poisoned Youth]

This was actually always my favorite Crimson. Whatever made this the outlier for everyone else who loved the band was must have been what appealed to me, as I didn't like the pre-Wetton stuff that much. I've totally come around to it now, and actually find Islands to be my favorite.

When I got the 30th anniversary of Islands, it was the first time I'd heard it in years. Because my tastes had matured, it rose high up on my list. It was like the missing piece of the puzzle.

[g.bremer]

This one's is a real mixed bag for me. IMO, the Lizard suite is by far the best of all pre-Larks stuff, but I lost interest in the rest pretty quickly. Even the Wilson re-mix couldn't get me back into the other tracks.

[mogrooves]

A demented masterwork, particularly the first three pieces (kudos to Haskell's vocals). Kaleidoscopically textured and timbrally expansive, I only wish Peter Giles had played bass and that McCulloch's drums had been recorded more prominently. KC when KC was KC.

[battema]

This one has never really done much for me; there are moments that are interesting (and the 30th anniversary edition does engage me a bit more overall) but on the whole this just doesn't connect with me as compared to the material before or after. Probably because on the whole, dark/heavy/metal resonates with me more strongly than jazzier fare.

Just IMHO of course.

[grego]

Favorite KC album.... mysterious and unique...First side is outstanding...This album has a psychedelic vibe...Lizard suite is sort of jazz/rock/classical strange fusion, brilliant, one of a kind piece of art...

[Zeuhlmate]

One of the best covers ever!

Its an aquired taste. Sometimes i'm in the mood for it.

[happytheman]

I rate this one very high.. particularly Anderson's contribution to Prince Rupert Awakes.. Great album cover..

[Sputnik]

Just gave this a fresh listen. Lizard has never been a top favorite of mine, but I like most of it.

Overall, I'd say the first three pieces are the ones I like best, and the latter part of the Lizard suite. The Anderson section of Lizard leaves me totally cold, much as I love Anderson. It just seems banal and cliche to me in comparison with the other material. But the rest of the album is pretty interesting. Not my favorite KC by any means, but an interesting diversion along the journey.

I do not like Islands at all. I've tried many times but I just don't like it, and don't even own it anymore.

Bill

[Dave (in MA)]

I do not like Islands at all. I've tried many times but I just don't like it, and don't even own it anymore.

Bill

I can totally see not being a fan of the end of Formentera, or Ladies of the Road, but the rest is a masterpiece.

[Mister Triscuits]

I totally love Islands. I kind of like it better than the first two. I can understand why people don't like it, though. In a way, it's the antithesis of Lizard, despite some similarities (the guest jazz/chamber music guys, notably Tippett and Charig, the fragile vocals). But while Lizard is riotously colorful and extravagant, Islands is stark and subtle. Lizard is fantastical, Islands is earthy. Lizard is a vast and brilliantly colored mural; Islands is a classical Japanese painting in muted tones. I've always loved the U.S. cover for Islands: lots of blank space for the little islands of color to inhabit. Much more fitting than the ironic outer space cover.

[Progbear]

The most underrated of the early LPs, maybe of KC’s entire discography. For me it came as a breath of fresh air between ITWOP (inferior rehash of their debut) and Islands (stuffy chamber music). It’s most definitely odd but that’s what I like about it. I can definitely understand people not getting into it, it’s absolutely not an “immediate” album. Some of the most rewarding listens have been albums I didn’t “get” at first (Megalázottak és megszomorítottak by After Crying also comes to mind).

[notallwhowander]

Kaleidoscopically textured and timbrally expansive...

"Kaleidoscopic" is the word I settled on for this album too.

IMO, the album is definitely of its time, of a piece, and a particularly iridescent scale on the long beast that is King Crimson. Pointing to this as a definition of progressive rock, you wouldn't be far off.