Lizard (studio album) by King Crimson

The title track alone already makes this album a must-listen. I like Cirkus and Indoor Games too. The other tracks appeal to me a tiny bit less.

Many, including Fripp, regarded this album as a step down compared to the two first records. But I must wholeheartedly disagree. Yes, we see some lesser tracks, but they are still very good. And the highs are extremely high.

Highlights: Lizard and Indoor Games, Cirkus.

Definitely one of my favorite 3 favorite King Crimson albums, along with Starless and Bible Black and Discipline. This has some of their most pastoral work. Lady of the Dancing Water is beyond elegant. The sidelong suite is absolutely mesmerizing, and Jon Anderson helps take the track to a whole other level, atmospherically.

This could very well become my favourite King Crimson album, I certainly put it above 'Larks' for musicality. For me this one has the slight edge over 'In the Wake of Poseidon' but not by a lot. There is much more flute and sax and overall it has a much more jazzy light feel than 'Larks'. A prog masterpiece in its own right and still with lashings of Mellotron to drool over!

This is a really quirky and unique album in the Crimson catalogue. Jon Anderson is perfect to sing the Lizard song! Lady of the Dancing water is also a real beautiful gem.

Beautiful and underrated album. Staying in the shadow of debiut, Red and Discipline rhis record contains few nice shorter songs and a 20 minutes lobg jazzrock masterpiece.

The most underrated Crimson album. Everything in it is so weird, unexpected and challenging, but at the same time so beautiful and rewarding, I just love it. It's also the only King Crimson album other than In The Court Of The Crimson King that has that same indescribable medieval and magic atmosphere that makes these two albums such an unique experience. I love the unsettling and avant-garde sounds and production, especially on the tracks Indoor Games and Happy Family, and I love how these weird tracks make a contrast with the beautiful and deeply touching moments of the album, such has Lady Of The Dancing Water, my favorite track of the album, and the beginning of the title track. It's not a perfect album, the composition is not as strong as in their debut, but it's a unique album that will grow on you if you give it the time. 95/100

Another absorbing and rewarding album from King Crimson. Easily in their top five.

From nitomano 04/12/2017 18:09

Another great album by King Crimson

Lizard and Islands were both recorded during a shift in personnel, in particular the vocalist which would be the most recognisable difference and this bridged the gap between the Greg Lake era and the John Wetton era which was to follow.

Lizard featured Gordon Haskell who went on to have a big hit with "How Wonderful You Are" many years later in 2001, he had also taken the vocals on "Cadence And Cascade" on the previous album.

Jon Anderson from Yes makes a wonderful cameo on the title track which could've been so much better if it wasn't 23 minutes long and mostly instrumental.

"Lizard" is King Crimson's third album, originally released in 1971. Although there had been some lineup changes, not least the departure of lead-singer Greg Lake, most of the original King Crimson psychedelia sound remains intact.

The new singer Gordon Haskell can glimpsewise sound like Peter Gabriel, and when instrumentation on several tracks is very similar to Genesis, you'll easily come to think this group in their heyday.

Lyricist Pete Sinfield is still with the group and the lyrical themes are still influenced by medieval romance. Musically some songs are relatively easy to go to, being both melodic and fairly subdued - this kind of numbers have always been my favorites in the group.

Both "Circus" and "Indoor Games" belong to this category - fine numbers, which both challenge and please; not least with a very melodious acoustic guitar. "Happy Family" is somewhat harder to go to; fortunately this track is relatively short, while the subdued "Lady of the Dancing Water" is almost "folk"; with its acoustic instrumentation - very much Genesis style here.

The long "Lizard" suite, which originally formed side two of the album, begins beautifully with a guest appearance of Jon Anderson of Yes, handling the lead-vocals. This piece, "Prince Rupert Awakes", is one of the album's highlights; actually it's a shame of you can not hear this number seperately from the rest of "Lizard" which can be rather tough listening; not least the final part with some extreme saxphone sounds.

The sound is generally great, and as mentioned before, the acoustic guitars sound crisp and clear - sheer pleasure.