LIZARD

With Lizard, King Crimson's third album, Robert Fripp has finally gotten rid of all that baggage weighing him down on the first two albums, save for lyricist Pete Sinfield (before I get flamed, that was a joke). Fripp somehow managed to create a work of brilliance with an all new cast of band members. This one to me ranks up there with the Wetton albums, but in a different way.

The songs are all quite lush, but also both delicate and ominous at the same time. A major reason for this is the unique piano style of Keith Tippett, who had added some of the best moments to In The Wake Of Poseidon. His piano and Fripp's guitar weave tapestries around each other, in compositions that walk a tightrope between symphonic prog and jazz fusion.

Special mention should also be given to Andy McCullogh, who's snare heavy drumming rolls the compositions along, and the ubiquitous Mel Collins, who has never sounded better than on this album.

The first half of the album is made up of shorter tunes, the best being Cirkus, with Fripp's guitar picking and fierce mellotron leading the ominous composition, and Happy Family, a thinly veiled tale of the Beatles' breakup. The latter appears to have been written around a riff that the original Crimson lineup would often play in their improvs (listen to the live collection Epitaph if you don't know what I mean).

The second half of the album is one long piece, Prince Rupert's Lament. This epic begins with some light opening vocal by a certain Jon Anderson, and then weaves it's way through what I would say is the finest pure symphonic prog Fripp has ever recorded.

There is not a bad moment on this masterpiece.