Lizard - Limited Edition Digipak [Limited Edition]

The second half of the twentieth century included many pockets of intense innovation in music. Glenn Gould, John Coltrane and the Beatles, amongst many others, come to mind. One Holy Grail for musically ambitious musicians was (and remains) to find ways to create new kinds of music combining the strengths of the long tonal music tradition, mainstream popular music, and jazz. This proved hard to do well. It led to highpoints by, amongst others, Miles Davis, Soft Machine, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder and Radiohead (though the results were never to everyone’s taste). Lizard represents a magnificent and triumphantly successful original solution to this deep musical challenge, never achieved in anything like this form elsewhere. Despite many well-documented problems in making the album, the key elements are balanced in a way not achieved in any other Crimson album or indeed any other album. Harmonically, the songs are based around spines of carefully structured, mostly modal, harmonic sequences. The harmony is stated in textures which are often highly contrapuntal, with artfully inverted bass lines from famously disenchanted vocalist Gordon Haskell. As well as intricate and precise electric guitar from Fripp and emotionally compelling mellotron washes, it’s wonderful to hear Fripp playing a lot of deft acoustic guitar, and placing sparingly precise synth bleeps to great effect. Key contributions include the outstanding written and improvised saxophone and flute parts from Mel Collins. Keith Tippet’s improvised piano is compelling throughout. Tippet brings his long time top drawer collaborators on oboe, cor anglais, cornet and trombone. Despite any initial impression of chaos, and the startling and effective use of hocketing and freewheeling improvisation, it soon becomes clear that everything in this magnificently contrapuntal vision is always precisely in its right place,

The feeling of balance between precisely composed and improvised materials is exquisite. The modal harmonies and textures are deployed in ways I haven’t heard used elsewhere to phrase the entire album and build towering climaxes. Not everyone likes Gordon Haskell’s singing and Andy McCulloch’s drumming. Others, including me, think,they fit perfectly. Everyone agrees that Pete Sinfield’s artwork, lyrics and overall conception are extraordinary and highly memorable. How come so many Crimson heads, and indeed Fripp himself, don’t rate Lizard as their top Crimson album? I don’t know. But notice how highly a vocal, articulate and substantial minority of the sixty or so reviews on amazon.com do rate it. Lizard is too important just for Crimson heads – it’s an album that easily earns its place at the top table of popular music in the Twentieth Century. Musicians in particular stand to benefit from studying this original masterpiece in detail. Lizard should repay careful listening for every patient music lover too.

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»Lizard« is a piece of art. No doubt about that. Experimental jazz, tales, rock, orchestra, laughter. But even good art has not only got supporters. And this album is not my taste of art.

I bought »Lizard« because it's supposed to be King Crimson's best album - and because Jon Anderson sings on »Prince Ruperts Awakes« (the first part of the 23 minute title track) which is definitely the album's highlight, together with »Cirkus«. The rest is so much giggeling around and blowing horns to de-jazzability that it becomes kinda pretentious. It undoubtedly remains a piece of art, though.

If you can get hold of the paper sleeve instead of the jewelbox, then do so! This one is refreshingly provoking: it's simply the original vinyl album cover and inner covers reduced in size! Brilliant! And a needed provocation to all the drawbacks of the CD age!

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