Lizard (1970)
Looks like Crimson managed to release two albums in one year six years before Genesis did the same, though at this point it seems Greg Lake has ****ed off to become the “L” in ELP, so we're left with a guy whose singing I have to say I don't much dig. Well, we'll see how he his. This is what they call a transitional album, they tell me.
1. Cirkus (Including Entry of the Chameleons): Starts off deceptively slow and relaxed but quickly kicks into life, and reminds me again very much of VDGG. Some really nice horns and what sounds like orchestral strings here. Pretty decent track but I wouldn't be raving about it.
2. Indoor Games: I may have pinpointed – at least with this album – why I'm finding it a little harder to get into Crimson than I expected, and it hinges on those jazzy horns. VDGG use this style a lot too, and though I do like them, there are a lot of their albums I can't get into because they're too jazz-slanted for me. This song is just ok, nothing special. A bit boring if I'm perfectly honest. The stupid laughing at the end is particularly annoying.
3. Happy Family: More discordant jazz, god damn it. I really do not like this guy singing. What's his name? Oh yeah: Gordon Haskell. Well, **** him. I've yet to hear anything on this album that's going to make me like it. At best this is a meh but it's verging towards a Hate.
4. Lady of the Dancing Water: At least we finally get a ballad, which is nice, but what the **** is with Haskell? It's like listening to a Gumby try to sing. Hope he ****ed off after this album. I doubt I'm going to enjoy anything here, even this, when the enormous drag factor of his singing has to be taken into account.
5. Lizard (a) Prince Rupert Awakes (b) Bolero – the Peacock's Tale (c) The Battle of Glass Tears (i) Dawn Song (ii) Last Skirmish (iii) Prince Rupert's Lament: This multi-part suite runs for a total of twenty-three minutes and change, and I assume took up the second side of the album, and I have to admit it's speaking to me a whole lot more than anything on this record previously. Maybe it can be salvaged after all. Yeah, this is not only streets but city blocks ahead of what has gone before. Much of that is, to be fair, down to the fact that most of it is instrumental so I don't have to listen to Haskell, though again to be fair, when he did sing on the opening part he wasn't bad. I prefer Lake though. As far as this track (side?) and the rest of the album go though, night and day.
Result: I'd have to say a pretty damn big disappointment. Although the second side/epic suite/last track saves the album, up to that point there's nothing really there for me. At all. The last track is good, but more in a sort of “at least it's not as bad as the rest of the album” way rather than a “**** me how have I been missing this for so long?” kind of way, which is what I'm pretty much still waiting for. Bar the debut, of course.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpZs...Itwu0kvN2AAn8n