KING CRIMSON — Lizard (review)

KING CRIMSON — Lizard album cover Album · 1970 · Proto-Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Lizard" is the third full-length studio album by UK progressive rock act King Crimson. The album was released through Island Records (UK) and Atlantic Records (US) in December 1970. It´s the successor to "In The Wake Of Poseidon" from May 1970, and as the band released their debut album "In the Court of the Crimson King" in October 1969, "Lizard" is the third album released by King Crimson in just little over a year. Considering the instability of the early King Crimson lineup that´s actually quite an achivement.

Guitarist Robert Fripp is the only remaining member of the lineup who recorded "In The Wake Of Poseidon (1970)", although lyricist/producer Peter Sinfield and bassist/vocalist Gordon Haskell, were also to a degree involved in the recording of the predecessor (the former more than the latter). Mel Collins (saxophone, flute), who did session work on "In The Wake Of Poseidon (1970)" has become a permanent member of the lineup on "Lizard", so the only truly new member is actually drummer Andy McCulloch.

While "In The Wake Of Poseidon" (1970) in many ways is a similar sounding album to "In the Court of the Crimson King" (1969), "Lizard" shows a lot more progression of King Crimson´s sound. Their will to experiment and incorporate quirky moments are audible here (Fripp´s time with Giles, Giles and Fripp shines through a couple of times, when the band are most positive and silly), and "Lizard" is overall a highly progressive and varied rock album.

"Lizard" opens with the trio of tracks "Cirkus", "Indoor Games", and "Happy Family", which are all experimental and progressive rock tracks of a high caliber. "Lady Of The Dancing Water" is a mellow and atmospheric ballad type progressive folk rock track featuring flute (and some brass too). The 23:22 minutes long title track closes the album and it´s a track featuring many great sections, but also many simplistic (often sounding improvised) experimental/avant-garde sections, which aren´t really that interesting. The first six minutes are brilliant and again from the thirteenth minute of the song the band plays a dark and heavy section, which works really well, but overall I´d say at least half of the song features sections which don´t make my blood boil. It´s worth noting that Jon Anderson from Yes sings on the title track and his distinct sounding voice as always lifts anything he touches to a higher state.

"Lizard" features a well sounding production job, and overall it´s arguably a high quality progressive rock release, but the longer sections of the title track, which feels like they go nowhere, and the relatively unremarkable "Lady Of The Dancing Water" do drag my rating down. On the other hand I can listen to that opening trio of tracks all day, every day. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed