Lizard

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Customer reviews

review by: Of the Earth date: 2009-02-20 rating:
Sheer Magic
Stick this on, lie back and let it blow your mind. This album is a blast of rock, jazz and mind melting ethereal mellotron to die for. Nobody can claim to have finished their music education without this being in their collection. If you want something different, rich, melodic and cosy, get this now!

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review by: date: 2009-01-19 rating:
The Greatest Crimson Album
Lizard is without doubt the most fully realised, perfectly executed and mysterious of all Crimson albums from their many pre-1974 line-ups. It takes many dozens of repeated listenings to reveal its manifest treasures and I'm still staggered at the sheer musicality and unflinching experimentation on this masterpiece. There's an all-pervading atmosphere of strangeness that colours this album and every track is genuinely a true work of art, as was the original gatefold sleeve of the vinyl LP, that I bought 2nd hand in the late 70s in my early teens and is something that I still treasure today (having bought the CD version as soon as it came out). br / br /Having first been captivated by 'In the Court of the Crimson King', 'Islands' and 'In the Wake of Poseidon', I must confess being utterly lost the first half a dozen times I played it! There are almost TOO many musical ideas jostling for position in most of the songs and this can be disorientating at first. Apart from 'Lady of the Dancing Water' which is a beautiful, tender, almost madrigal-like ballad, every other track contains odd time signatures, impenetrable lyrics and astonishing non-linear structures where much of the instrumental passages are more reminiscent of free-form jazz than rock music. However, with some patience and an open mind, the beauty of this album and its long term rewards will surely be revealed to any true music lover. br / br /There is little point on trying to describe the individual songs or comparing this to any other album created in the 1970s by ANY band, let alone Crimson themselves who were always trying to set the bar ridiculously high because of their leader Robert Fripp. Of course there are elements of the earlier Crimson here: gorgeous waves of Mellotron, Fripp's subtle guitar playing, Sinfield's mystical, almost overblown poetry fueling the lyrics and the sheer grandeur and eccentricity of the themes explored (from the acrimonious breakup of The Beatles to a manic David Lynch-esque vision of a neo-Victorian circus to the sex games of the upper classes to a gigantic battle between good and evil in a faraway Tolkien inspired universe). However, the whole album when taken as a self-contained piece of work is an astonishingly original and never-bettered example of progressive rock at its most daring and uncompromising. It's also hugely enjoyable and that is what makes it such a special album. All the songs are extraordinary mood pieces that go off at odd tangents yet remain totally and logically part of the whole. Once you've invested time to really listen to music and see the wood for the trees that is! The songs are so choc full of ideas I'm still blown away 30 years after first hearing this record and always discovering something new. br / br /Highlights for me are Gordon Haskell's detached, plaintive, sometimes almost hysterical vocals, Mel Collins' magnificent improvisations on sax and cor anglais, stunningly melodic swathes of mellotron, choir and crystalline piano playing on parts of 'Lizard' (the gigantic title track), the brilliance of the darkly caustic lyrics of 'Happy Family' and the masterstroke to use Jon Anderson's haunting falsetto on the opening verses of 'Lizard' with shimmering, echoey mellotron augmenting his singing. br / br /This is a rare Crimson album where everything came together despite the upheavals in the personnel and the virtually impossible heights that the obsessive perfectionist Robert Fripp was always striving for. A beautiful, gigantic, unique work of art that gets better with age and is King Crimson's finest moment.

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review by: Progdave date: 2007-08-25 rating:
Better than i remember
When this came out i remember being really dissappointed. After all, there was no Greg Lake vocal, no Ian McDonald flute/keyboards and most importantly songwriting skills and also none of the brilliant drumming of Michael Giles which so characterised In The Court of The Crimson King. br /So revisiting the re-mastered 30th Anniversary cd today , i am pleasantly surprised to note that the third album is actually quite good and certainly has some good moments. Cirkus and Lady of the Dancing Water stand out as being the most accessible tracks. Mel Collins flute playing is sublime throughtout - as is Fripp's guitar work. br /This is still predominantly a songs album - the free-form jazz was to come later. Whilst not as strong as In The court of the Crimson King - its not a bad album and I am glad i bought it (at last) br /Having said that - if anyone has'nt heard it, the brilliant McDonald and Giles album tantalisingly points to the direction Crimson might have gone in, if Ian McDonald and Michael Giles remained in the band

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review by: date: 2007-05-07 rating:
Beguiling masterpiece
Gordon Haskells vocals on Cirkus is one of the many high points to this brilliant album. also the brass instruments that gives cirkus an almost sinister feel, but mainly down the lines of bizarre, remarkable, intriguing, peculiar, odd, strange, and unusual. Would you go to this Circus? br / br /This album does have a jazz feel, but at times a northern brass band feel. So it doesn't disappear too far into that annoying free form stuff. The ending of Indoor Games is quiet disturbing and it might be the first time He-Hoy has been heard on record. Years ahead of it's time. br / br /Then you have the brilliant Jon Anderson singing away with the baleful and ominous King Crimson supplying the darkest mood. Never knew that drums could sound so threatening and intimidating, and the haunting trumpet. br / br /I think this album might be the poorer relation to the In The Court Of The Crimson King, but in many ways has so much more to offer. Granted it is not as easy accessible as the ITCOTCK, so it might need the odd play. But the song Lady Of The Dancing Water is so moving and enchanting. The flute playing is so good that it could put James Galway to shame. The voice is great, the whole package is Arthurian in nature. br / br /Just buy it, close the curtains and open your mind and find out what you have been missing all these years. Be afraid, be very afraid at times......... br / br /


review by: Nomates date: 2007-01-29 rating:
Crimson at their Best???
I think not. This does not match "Court" or "Posiedon" for either lyric or musical composition. I was truly disappointed when I bought and listened to this. The best thing about it is the cover!

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