LIZARD

Third album by King Crimson and their first album done under serious lineup changes. Singer and bassist Greg Lake departed to join Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer to form ELP and the two Giles brothers quit the group to work on other projects. Lizard welcomes the addition of bassist/vocalist Gordon Haskell and drummer Andy McCullough.

This time, we can notice a change in the style and substance of the album. In the wake of Poseidon was particularily similar to its predecessor but Lizard is really different. There's not a really hard rocking number and they even thrown in an epic at the end.

This album is mostly enjoyable. Cirkus is a great opener. The way this song progresses makes it a little bit haunting. The next two songs are both really good, upbeat and pretty weird even when compared to the rest of the King Crimson catalogue. I particulary like these two songs. Then comes the only song which is reminiscent of the first two albums : Lady of the Dancing water. Once again, just like Cadence and Cascade, this number reminds me of I talk to the wind. It's a nice song overall anyway. Finally, the epic title tracks comes up. Jon Anderson of Yes contributes to make the intro really good. It would have been nice to hear more of him with Crimson. His voice is way ahead of what Haskell achieved on the other tracks. In fact, Haskell's voice is one of the downpoint of album. Back to Lizard, most of the songs is made up of individual instrumental parts which are mostly really interesting. The Battle of the glass tears is incredible with his crashing drums and powerful horns and guitars. It is by far the best moment of the album. However, some parts on Lizard are a bit boring and seem to have been thrown in just for fun.

In conclusion, this album is pretty good but not exceptionnal. Some parts are excellent but it's not an album I will rush to my CD collection to put in the stereo even though I enjoy the times when I play it. 3,5 (closer to 3 than 4) stars for this third album by KC.

Sincerely

-Bern