LIZARD

Again King Crimson amazes with great skills and masterfull compositions. Gordon Haskell has replaced Greg Lake on vocals and bass during the recording of In The Wake Of Poseidon, he didn't convince on that effort, but he does convince on Lizard. Again KC takes a frenetic approach, with jazzy symphonised pieces, alternating that with soft classicaly inspired soft ballads.

1. Cirkus(including Entry of the chameleons) (6:28) Soft tinkling keyboards, and nice singing start of the album. Great accoustic guitar with great orchestration. Just an awsomely great pandemonium of sounds and melodies. 2. Indoor games (5:41) A jazzy slow symphonic piece. A great instrumental section in the middle. 3. Happy family (4:16) Frantic jazzy rambling, with some nice piano. 4. Lady of the dancing water (2:44) A soft ballad, nicely sweet music very classicaly inspired, just beatifull.

5. Lizard: Epic-sized suite, a) Prince Rupert awakes (4:36) hears Jon Anderson softly singing on great classical piano music, some more powerfull chorus parts leads the music to a more heavy sound b) Bolero - The peacock's tale (6:39) Classical flutes (Oboe) piano and drums create a soft mood for daydreaming. c) The battle of the glass tears (10:58) The centre piece of Lizard, evolving from the Bolero to a more dark edgy piece, with slow dark singing, gloomy bass counterpointed with some nice flute melodies, getting more powerfull with every passing second. Great music. Big top (1:13) finishes the album with a visite to the Cirkus once more.

I really enjoyed this album. A great wonderfull effort, not a masterpiece, but close enough for me. 4 stars without a doubt. RECOMMENDED.