LIZARD

lizard is another imaginitive crimson album, similar to poseidon and islands. Greg lake is no longer our vocalist, but gordon haskel works well to add to the bizarre cirkus tone of the album. Somehow his voice is perfect for this album! It wouldn't have been the same with lake on vocals, though his basswork could have helped. Lets start with cirkus, the first track. Let me just say that this song is awesome! From the quiet mysterious intro, to the menacing melotron, to the cacaphonous entry of the chameleons, this song gives you a picture of the scariest, far off cirkus you could conceive! Indoor games continues the strange cirkus theme with some quirky saxophone lines and keyboard noodlings. Its about just what it sound like; running rampant around your house, making a fool of yourself, just as many of us did as children. I still do and i'm 19! I don't go as far as to light fireworks in my house though! Good, but not as good as the previous song. The next song, happy family is another good song, with some disturbing vocal distortion that kicks ass! maddening keyboards will also be found here, as well as some strange, jazzy flute lines. The entire album is very jazzy, just as a heads up in case that might annoy you less musically appreciative fellows out there. Well, we all have our preferences. It all works well though. For me, this song doesn't quite match cirkus, but it's pretty close!. Next we have lady of the dancing water, which is the calm before the storm, if you will. It has some good flute work and lulling horns that could put you to sleep in a good way if it were longer. Haskell's vocals are good here, but don't quite match cadence and cascade from poseidon. Next is the great finisher, lizard. this is a massive song, divided into more subsections than i've ever seen, though they're not really divided in an apparent way. Guess what, here comes jon anderson from yes to start us off! His vocals add the perfect touch to the song that i'm not sure haskell could have. This is a really dramatic song, with some jazzy sections that will eventually turn to jazzy madness at the end. after the 'bolero' section, haskel comes in on vocals to usher in the madness. The only problem I have with this song is that it is a little repetitive toward the end. Other than that it is very good. The song closes with big top, a sort of cap to the never ending lizard, that reminds you where you've just been; the king crimson cirkus from hell! If you're a crimson fan, you need to pick this one up! I can almost give this 5, but compared to some of their other works it doesn't quite hold up. Overall, very good, but not perfect, like larks' tongues in aspic is!