King Crimson - Lizard (1970)
 

This album was homework in the Prog & Fusion Album Club in January 2011. This is it's discussion thread.

For those who don't know it, here's a description :)

So, whatcha think about it?

I personally didn't care much for the album as a whole. There are some beautiful flute playing on Lady of the Dancing Water that I enjoyed and other pretty little details scattered around, but on the whole, I don't get a sense that each song represents a unified whole of something that I really enjoyed.

The epic title track was quite good and the most enjoyable thing about it for me personally. It remedies the album somewhat and made me give it a good rating in the poll. However, for me personally, this is my least favourite KC album so far. Overall, the compositions lack charm I think.

Even amidst all of the Crims' other output, Lizard has always stood out a bit for me by how dark it is despite sounding so bright and brassy on the whole. The title track is amazing of course (Jon Anderson on vocals for the win!), but 'Cirkus' and 'Lady Of The Dancing Water' are two rather strong points in my opinion also.

Also Tore, do you really think that any of King Crimsons's post 70's albums be as splendidly performed/written as they are if they hadn't made Lizard first? ;)

It's a good album. It didn't really blow me away though. As for the songs the opening track "Cirkus" is one of the best openers on any Crimson album. Lady on the Water is a pretty piece and I dig it, but my favorite on here would have to be Happy Family. It's kind of neat how the whole song is a refrence to The Beatles breaking up. As for the weirdest as Boo's review says I disagree. Larks Tongues in Aspic is so far out there in there catelogue for the exception of "Beat" which I don't really want to discuss.

Took me a while to like at all, but even after I got into it. I voted it as mediocre. I do like Anderson's vocals on the Title track. I will also admit I like

I gave it a good, as well. I kind of fought over going for very good, but stopped short. I really enjoyed Happy Family as well. I liked it most. Indoor Games was a fun listen...I really enjoyed the mid to end bit of Lizard , and as it outro'd away. Cirkus was okay... Enjoyable at least. Not so much love here for Lady of the Dancing Water, even after a few runs through the album. It's just easiest to overlook.

Not their best, but not bad by any means. Still a fun, twisted listen.

I've never listened to this one. The only King Crimson album I've had a chance to listen to was Court of the Crimson King, which needless to say, is phenomenal. Based on what I've read here I'll have to give Lizard a listen though.

This is one disjointed piece of... no, I'm not gonna go that far but it's certainly not a highlight in the vast KC discography. First of all I'll have to give it a onethousandandoneth listen in order to even be able to write about it which speaks volumes about its memorability (even if that's not a primary criterion when talking about the Crimson King). Having gotten past the memory block I'll give it that "Cirkus" is fairly decent in terms of mood and probably my favourite track on the album, but thereafter the fun all falls apart, as does the music.

First of all, Gordon Haskell can't sing for s h i t, and noone will ever be able to convince me otherwise. Second of all, "Indoor games" AND "Happy family" are both piss-poor rewrites of the far superior "Cat food" from the previous album, one crappier than the other. Especially "Happy family" stinks like nothing else in the KC catalogue, sounding like an accidental recording of a truckload of instruments tumbling down a staircase. And where is Fripp? It's like his sole purpose on the album was to lend the studio keys to the others (and possibly ordering them to sound like retards being granted access to the local music school classroom for a day) and nothing more.

The closing title track at least begins on a clean note but not even all the king's Jon Andersons will be able to save it at the end of the day. The childish melody at the beginning sounds like a poor Yes parody at best and the subsequent passage that aims at being 'grand' doesn't do anything noteworthy either. Then come the trumpets, and trumpets generally piss me off so of course they had to make them hold court on here. And when it dies down that mother-copulator Haskell puts forth some inaudible vocals again, and I ask myself: Why? And why oh why does it continue with some deconstructed "Schizoid man"-put-on played at half speed? Fripp, take back those keys and throw these idiots out of the studio! (Thankfully he did thereafter).

So yes, I realize I am gonna go that far after all; It is little more than one disjointed piece of poorly digested feces, with all the amateurish playing that pretends to account for higher art. This may be the worst KC album ever made and one of the most obvious examples of artistic integrity gone bananas. And the fact that it's released by one of my otherwise favourite prog bands only adds to the embarassment.

So if you're new to King Crimson: Beware! Do NOT make this your first listen or you will be forever put off and probably end up spending the rest of your life a Green Day devotee (and make the world a slightly more unhealthy place).

^This was my first Crimson album (prog album in fact) and I stuck with it. ^_^

But at this point, this falls a bit flat. I don't much like this album compared to most of the rest of their work. Haskell is one of my least favorite vocalists ever. And the stretch of Indoor Games and Happy Family is truly one of the worst in 70's progressive rock if I have my say. I cannot stand either track for any reason save the accidental humor they provide.

But Lady of the Dancing Water doesn't actively offend, and I can enjoy the other two. Cirkus is particularly neat, with Fripp actually playing electric guitar for an epic tritone-y instrumental chorus. And I really like Lizard through the Bolero, I cannot stress how amazing Keith Tippet's piano is on both of these sections. Anderson's vocals aren't spectacular (way better than Haskell's though) but in the first section the folky chorus is memorable and the verses are pretty neat. I really really really like the mellotron break connecting Bolero and Prince Rupert Awakes, and the solos are really beautiful (especially both Oboe solos, which I can be found drooling over). The jazz breakdown in the middle doesn't grab me, but at 8:48 (which I skip to a lot), the minor progression does. The ballad after that does nothing for me, but the dark and weird jazz breakdown is sorta neat after it. Then I just turn the album off, I don't care for Fripp's noodly solo or the disjointed ending.

I don't hate Lizard, but to me it's not Crimson's strongest by any means. 3/5, 9/15 for me.

Lizard is ****in awesome, but tbh I listen to it just for the chorus bit in the first 10 minutes or so "burn a bridge and burn a boat, wear your blizzard season coat...stake a lizard by the throat" and so forth. That should have come up near the end again at least one more time, it would have capped off the noise inbetween.

I like Cirkus on the same album for the bit at the start when he says "squuezes me to her breasts". Good imagery I feel like I'm getting squeezed to breasts.

all in all 8/10.

I betcha no one here knows what this concept is really about.

(That is, of course, WITHOUT looking it up on the web.)

i am always curious about this particular one, due to the mixed responses

have yet to check it out, though

the song "Lizard" is just the sound of my childhood. my father always listens to King Crimson and he exposed my to one of the greatest minds in the prog music, Fripp...

This is one of my favorite Crim albums, with Court of the Crimson King and In the Wake of Poseidon being my top favorites.

A great album! my favourite will always be RED. But this one is f**king awesome as well

A brilliant album!

second worst crimson album after islands

I've not heard it but I've just read the wiki. It says During the next 19 years after it was released G>haskell sought legal redress, because he believed that he had been cheated out of royalties owed to him for the album. I guess he's be owed about 19p!

downloaded it but haven't heard it yet

i put is as "good"

i don't really understand the contempt for this and "Islands"

yes, both drop from the usual quality of KC releases, but they're at least interesting failures

i hear they are tools biggest influence

^^if they are, it's more probably due to stuff like Red and not this one

yes, I can hear KC is tool's songs

I think KC is one of Tool's many influences. I wish I could have seen some of the shows they played together around the "Power to Believe" era.

In regard to Lizard, it was the 2nd KC album that I picked up. I was just getting into prog, and I was looking for the prog releases from the primary prog bands that had side-long pieces. While the title track doesn't stand up to "Close to the Edge," "Suppers Read," or many of the other 20-minute epics. I still liked it at the time, but my enjoyment of it somewhat diminished as my music library grew.

I think Lizard is nearly a great track. It has some very good ideas and tunes, but is ruined to a degree by some self indulgent improvisations. I would love Fripp and the current Crimson revisit it and tighten it up. Except for Cirkus, I rarely listen to side one.

Absolutely the best KC album in my view. They never played this album live back then.

Correct, nothing quite beats Lizard, was listening to my favourite KC albums all in a row the other day and Lizard is still what stands out the most.