Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: King Crimson
Label: Discipline Global Mobile
Release: 1970
Rating: 5/5
In mid-1970, King Crimson were still stuck in the unenviable position left by the breakup of the original lineup that recorded the legendary debut “In the Court of The Crimson King” (1969). By then only two of the originals remained: guitar oddball Robert Fripp and poet, computer and visual technician Peter Sinfield, who were also the (informal) co-leaders of the band. Fripp took care of the main musical ideas, compositions and motifs, while Sinfield watched over the lyrical and visual side of the band, though he too started trying his hand as a musician on this album with his new “toy” – the VCS3 analog synthesizer. It’s on “Lizard” that the collaboration between the two peaked and bore some of the best fruit in the band’s history. Luckily, they didn’t stay on their own for long, and a bunch of top-notch musicians rushed to help, among them Fripp’s former schoolmate Gordon Haskell, who replaced Greg Lake on vocals and bass guitar and who had already worked with the band on the previous album “In The Wake Of Poseidon” (1970) as the singer on the esoteric ballad “Cadence And Cascade”. Mel Collins on saxophone and flute, who had also already played on the previous album as a session musician, and the excellent jazz fusion drummer Andy McCulloch (ex-Manfred Mann) were also on board as new official members. The orchestral, jazzy arrangements on the album were superbly played by the supporting musicians Robin Miller (oboe, English horn), Mark Charig (cornet) and Nick Evans (trombone), led by jazz keyboardist Keith Tippett (piano), who had likewise worked with the band on the previous album. All these fine musicians formed a glorious framework for the band’s new face, but, as so often in its history, this incarnation didn’t last long, and Haskell and McCulloch left before the record even came out, reportedly unhappy with the band’s further musical direction.
“Lizard” is without a doubt the most jazz-flavored album the band ever made. In my view it’s also their most overlooked and misunderstood album among most fans, mainly thanks to the incredibly varied jazz fusion arrangements that make the record extremely complex, even by the band’s standards. That’s exactly why “Lizard” may well be their most complex album, and a pretty demanding one for the average listener. This combination of jazz fusion, Canterbury and authentic pastoral Celtic atmosphere (especially on the title track) was never repeated on any later album, which is exactly why “Lizard” stands out in their catalog as something special, a masterpiece that only got its proper recognition, and its place among the band’s best albums, years later. Jazz fusion elements take up a big chunk of this album, and fans of the genre will be thrilled with it, no less than symphonic prog rock fans. Sinfield’s lyrics here are among his best and include some of his most imaginative metaphysical work. The whole album has a mysterious atmosphere, like some medieval scriptorium full of mystical books, each telling its own story.
The energetic opener “Cirkus” is the best-known track on the album. It opens with Haskell’s mysterious, almost whispering vocals before tipping over into a, mood-wise, almost “villainous” and creepy motif played on Fripp’s mellotron. The verses weave dramatically around that motif, and Fripp backs it all up with some of his finest acoustic guitar picking. Then comes Collins’ unrestrained sax solo, and the whole mood gets tense until the very end. With Sinfield’s metaphysical yet extremely sarcastic lyrics about a circus, clowns and chameleons, which are a metaphor for the corruption of innocence (the song says that “life is really one big “circus” full of all kinds of clowns who constantly wear and swap masks”), and an ending in a cacophonous climax of instruments, this track is undoubtedly one of the band’s classics.
The next two tracks are built on a scattered jazzy rhythm. Both are full of sarcastic humor in the lyrics, and Haskell’s vocals are distorted through a VCS3 effect on both. “Indoor Games”, which rests on an excellent jazz fusion groove, has brilliant Sinfield lyrics that allude to the hedonism of modern British aristocratic society. Haskell’s manic laughter at the end of the track is fun, but after repeated listens it can start to irritate plenty of people who can’t stand genuine ”Zappa-esque” humor. He later explained that his laughter came from not being able to make sense of Sinfield’s lyrics, and so from having to sing the closing “hey ho” line, which got on his nerves.
“Happy Family” is another avant-garde jazz fusion track, even by this band’s standards. It’s dedicated to the breakup of The Beatles, which is obvious both from Sinfield’s cheeky lyrics and from the album cover (look at the letter I on the front). They appear in the lyrics as “Judas” (Paul McCartney), “Rufus” (Ringo Starr), “Silas” (George Harrison), and “Jonah” (John Lennon). Haskell’s vocals are completely soaked in the VCS3 effect here and are almost unrecognizable. It’s a track that’s kindred in spirit to some of Frank Zappa’s jazzier works.
The lovely, romantic, medieval-troubadour ballad “Lady Of the Dancing Water” is a real stylistic contrast to the previous track and is surely the brightest song on the record, with dreamy, romantic vocals from Haskell, Fripp’s acoustic guitar and Collins’ gorgeous, melodic flute. It’s one of the most beautiful ballads in the band’s history and a welcome warm-up for the grand finale that follows. I personally think Haskell was a very good singer on songs that don’t demand so much technical skill as warmth and emotional expressiveness. He simply never got a real chance with the band, and didn’t stick around long enough to establish himself as a bassist and singer. His voice has improved a lot technically over the years, and in recent years he’s even been enjoying commercial success with his solo career.
Next comes a real fairy tale for all lovers of good jazz fusion: the title track, a more than 23-minute bombastic super epic, “Lizard”, which is surely the most ambitious work in the band’s history and also the longest track they ever recorded. It’s split into four sections and three subsections. Sinfield’s metaphysical lyrics tell of the ordeal of a legendary prince in the service of the “crimson king” Frederick II (a historical figure), who sets off with the crusaders for a bloody clash with the Mongols, and before the fighting even starts, deals with the “lizard” (that is, a dragon) in passing. The opening section of the epic, “Prince Rupert Awakes”, has an excellent main chorus with a special guest on lead vocals, none other than Jon Anderson (Yes), who was at that very time trying, unsuccessfully, to lure Fripp into filling the empty guitarist slot in Yes. Anderson’s voice sounds different here from what we’re used to with Yes. It’s a bit more mysterious and pitched lower, and by his standards even slightly dark, not at all angelic, but no less esoteric for it. This way of singing fits the whole section perfectly. Anderson’s great chorus “Burn the bridges, burn the water-stake the lizard by the throat” is undoubtedly one of the most striking in the band’s history. Then a “folky” chorus kicks in, with hand claps and playful Anderson vocals that instantly conjure up the celebration of Yes’s “eternal merrymakers and children of the sun” (compared to King Crimson). No doubt about it, this part of “Prince Rupert Awakes” will please fans of both bands. Soon comes the exit on mellotron and woodwinds, and the atmosphere turns less optimistic and mysterious again. Robin Miller’s horn announces the second section of the epic, called “Bolero-The Peacock’s Tale”, which is my personal favorite part of the whole composition. Wonderful orchestral atmosphere and jazz fusion arrangements that can compete with the best of the genre. This part of the epic is a playground where the other artists, that is the guest musicians Tippett, Miller, Charig and Evans, show off their talents in the best light. As they play over McCulloch’s drum rhythm, which is based on bolero elements, the woodwinds take up a lot of space and create excellent jazzy solos around the central theme. Then the third section starts, “The Battle Of Glass Tears”, which is split into three subsections (Dawn Song, Last Skirmish, Prince Rupert’s Lament). “Dawn Song” opens with Robin Miller’s English horn, soon joined by Haskell’s melancholic, dark vocals. A mysterious, tense atmosphere builds, heralding the start of the battle. The next subsection, “Last Skirmish”, is a true battle of the woodwinds (Collins plays the flute masterfully), Fripp’s mellotron and McCulloch’s drums, and it’s surely the instrumental high point of the epic, during which we can even hear the central motif from “Cirkus”. If “Last Skirmish” was the clash, then “Prince Rupert’s Lamnet” is the depiction of its end, with corpses rotting across the field and the whole senselessness of the battle laid bare. A funeral rhythm section, backed by woodwinds, suits that mood, and when Fripp finally plays electric guitar after sticking to acoustic for most of the album, it’s clear the composition is nearing its end. Fripp is an excellent acoustic guitarist, and in a way it’s a real shame that in the years after this album he started to drop the acoustic guitar, and today doesn’t use it at all anymore. “Big Top” is the closing of the suite and at the same time the closing of the album. It has a properly sarcastic, carnival-like outro, as if someone were deliberately making fun of the whole epic and it’s already based on self-parody. Maybe this closing parody is aimed at the senselessness of the whole battle and serves as an instrumental sneer at human stupidity. This carnival motif is actually an altered, reworked version of the motif that opens “Cirkus”, and so the circle is closed.
The album cover is once again excellent. The lettering on the front and back of the album forms the band’s name in medieval ornaments: the word “King” on the back of the album and “Crimson” on the front. Each artwork theme within a letter represents one of Sinfield’s lyrical concepts, that is, an individual track on the album.
“Lizard” is one of my favorite albums, not just by King Crimson but in prog rock in general, and it’ll reward you with something new every time you spin it again. It’s the band’s most ambitious and one of its best albums, and one that pays off hugely after repeated listens. There are so many arrangements, and they’re so varied, that you only catch many of them after several listens. Compared with the band’s first two records, which were still pretty similar to each other stylistically, there’s a huge stylistic leap here. “Lizard” is an album that’s completely different from the first two albums and completely different from everything the band released after it. It took many years for the full greatness of this monumental work to show. If Richard Wagner and Miles Davis were still alive today and ever worked together, they’d surely pick this version of King Crimson as their backing band.
Lineup
Gordon Haskell – bass guitar & vocals
Robert Fripp – guitar, mellotron, electric keyboards & devices
Mel Collins – flute & saxophone
Andy McCulloch – drums
Peter Sinfield – lyrics, VCS3 & graphic concept
Guest musicians:
Robin Miller – oboe & English horn
Mark Charig – cornet
Nick Evans – trombone
Keith Tippet – piano & electric piano
Jon Anderson (Yes) – guest vocals on “Prince Rupert Awakes”
Production
Robert Fripp & Peter Sinfield
Tracklist
1. Cirkus(including Entry of the chameleons) (6:28)
2. Indoor games (5:41)
3. Happy family (4:16)
4. Lady of the dancing water (2:44)
5. Lizard: a) Prince Rupert awakes (4:36)
6. b) Bolero – The peacock’s tale (6:39)
7. c) The battle of the glass tears (10:58)
i) dawn song
ii) last skirmish
iii) Prince Rupert’s lament
8. Big top (1:13)
Running time: 42:35
