Second post today, sorry for the late posting – it will be short 🙂
Lizard is the third studio album with King Crimson and second time they have an anniversary this year. First time was with In The Wake Of Poseidon, released May 15, 1970. Lizard is recorded from August to September 1970, at the Wessex Sound studio in London and released in UK today 50 years ago. Later, in January 1971 it was released in the US and Canada.
My personal experience with this album does not differ much from their past two albums. I acknowledge their importance for the Psych Rock genre, but I really don’t listen them much. Both sides on this album starts fine and melodic, but both end up in a mishmash of sounds and unstructured “melodies”. I like the psych genre, but I prefere listening to other musicians.
As the case with In The Wake Of Poseidon the conflicts obviously continued in the band and escalated with the release of this album. You can find the story yourself of cause, but here is a quote from Wikipedia. Take it with the famous grant of salt, since it’s written by users and seems not to be confirmed.
Haskell and McCulloch had an unhappy experience recording Lizard, finding it difficult to connect with the material, especially Haskell as a devotee of soul and Motown music. During rehearsals for a prospective tour following the album’s completion, Haskell left King Crimson. He sought legal redress for the next 19 years because he believed he had been cheated out of royalties owed him for the album. Shortly after Haskell left the group, McCulloch did likewise. The press release drafted by Sinfield to promote Lizard wryly quoted Max Ehrmann’s poem “Desiderata”, which contains advice on how to chart a true course through confusion.
Robert Fripp – guitar, Hammond organ, various devices
Peter Sinfield – lyrics
Mel Collins – saxophone, flute
Gordon Haskell – bass guitar, vocals
Andy McCulloch – drums
Additional musicians:
Keith Tippett – acoustic and electric pianos
Robin Miller – oboe, English horn
Mark Charig – cornet
Nick Evans – trombone
Jon Anderson – vocals
Tony Levin – bass guitar