Lizard, King Crimson's third studio album and second release of 1970, was, like its predecessor In the Wake of Poseidon, the product of a studio band. It was also the first Crimson album for which Robert Fripp provided all of the music. Remarkably self-contained & sounding somewhat atypical for a King Crimson album, even by the standards of a band that rarely sounded similar from album to album, Lizard is an often overlooked and under-appreciated gem from the band's early years. Certainly at the time of release, anyone expecting an extension of the soundscapes introduced & explored on the band's earlier two albums was in for a surprise. 

 

Lizard featured a lighter, more delicate sound than the earlier albums - an approach perhaps necessitated by an extended instrumental lineup. The expanded range of instruments allowed for intricately interwoven instrumental passages -  with Fripp's guitar & Tippett's piano pleasingly to the fore - and this combination, along with the prominence afforded to Mel Collins & the guest players on the album's main title suite, led some to believe that Fripp was guiding Crimson towards the world of Jazz & away from Rock altogether. But such claims were misguided. Crimson was, as ever, seeking to expand the vocabulary of rock music & Lizard was, in some ways, the band's most ambitious album to date. 

 

As this lineup never toured, very little of the material was performed live & Lizard remained a product of the studio environment & the musicians who performed on it (amongst other things, Lizard includes a beautiful Jon Anderson cameo). 

 

Lizard's standalone nature makes it difficult even to compile in context next to Crimson's other material - with only Bolero featuring on the box sets covering Crimson's extensive history. Lizard remains a fascinating, intriguing album - an album only a band called King Crimson could make - even if it was a very different King Crimson to that which had gone before or would come after.   

 

Now completely remixed from the original multitrack recording tapes by Steven Wilson for 5.1 Surround Sound & featuring a new stereo mix from the same source tapes by Robert Fripp & Steven Wilson, Lizard finally reveals its true beauty.  

 

Steven Wilson - "I've always felt that if presented in the right way, I could make a case for this being the most experimental rock record ever made. It's extraordinary what they're doing on this album. In terms of fusing free-jazz with progressive rock for me there's almost no parallel."