This is my favorite King Crimson song, and is in my top 10 prog songs of all time. Bolero is a term for a Spanish marching snare pattern, which is why the drums hold that one snare pattern the whole section
Robert Fripp should forever be included in the pantheon of the greatest guitarists of all time, but I actually think his abilities as a composer is even more impressive and laudable...
Lizard was and is a "difficult" King Crimson album. It's their least accessible and most abstract effort in many ways. The principle singer and bassist, Gordon Haskell (a childhood friend of Fripp's), has famously disowned his participation, and was even a semi-unwilling participant during the sessions which is why Jon Anderson of Yes is heard on "Prince Rupert Awakes". Much of the jazziness and the brass arrangement are courtesy of pianist Kieth Tippett, a key figure of the British jazz avant-garde at the time. Drummer Andy McCulloch (yet another Bournemouth native) worked with a large range of British acts during the 70's, although I'm sure the brief here was to honor the style of original drummer Michael Giles. The ending "Big Top" is sort of a nod to the opening track "Cirkus".
Jon Anderson was asked to do Prince Rupert awakes, because Fripp had no confidence of Haskell's competence and vocal ability to hit the notes required, especially after Gordon's conduct during the recording process. I thought you were a lot more cyanical rather than critical on this, maybe because it was you're first listen. IDK, but the snare is beautiful and appropriate to me, thought you were far too harsh. I think this
I believer it is Peter Sinfield somewhere on his own webpage (which may or may no longer exist in its antique by internet standards form dating from the mid-90s) states that "Big Top" is indeed **not** part of the "Prince Rupert" suite, but serves with "Cirkus" however tangentially to bookend the album. A minor error in the setup for printing the jacket. Personally, I always heard it as such.
This (and their next album, Islands) were the two "black sheep" albums that separated the massive In the Court of the Crimson King (and its similar follow-up, In the Wake of Poseidon) of the late-60s, from the more hard rock-influenced albums that came with their mid-70s period. Supposedly, Fripp was never happy with the album, perhaps more due to the recording/mixing than the album itself. I think he said that after Wilson's surround mix he was inspired to reconsider its quality and the place in their discography. I've always thought both of these albums were fascinating, with Lizard especially being being their richest and most complex that really leaned into the classical and jazz influences. As famously "difficult" as the album is I always thought it (and this song especially) had some KC's most beautiful moments. Some of the melodies are just meltingly beautiful. FWIW, the Bolero is a nod to Ravel's famous composition.
I get Fripp's disappointment. It felt like two albums that were separately equalized and then played over each other. Especially the drums and horn section... Like they were recorded in a tiny closet and the mic was on the other side of the door.
Epic! Perfection. Totally expanded me brain and am grateful for the experience. Ya gotta look up Ravels Bolero(bet you’ll recognize it)and may make the drums make more sense as well. Luved when ya said wonder where the horns come in…cue horns, hahaa. The left/right/volume mixing is sooo damn good! Even liked the Big Top ending, they are so deft at changing directions in dynamics and phrasings, and even spanning centuries of diff styles, this seemed like such an ultimate odd turn that kinda seemed comically perfect. Such an awesome react, luved it🌿🌿🌿
You add so much value to this song, they should not only leave it up, but cut you a check. I've always loved this song, but had no clue about the double-tongued sax, and several other details you mentioned. In conclusion, you did not need to have a conclusion, as you intuited, because you covered it so well, and on the first hearing. Remarkable.
Yep, that was backwards attack on guitar. There's elements of this era of King Crimson that reminds me of Moody Blues, yet far more avant-guarde. That was Jon Anderson on vocals.
I think you're right that "Big Top" doesn't integrate into the Lizard Suite. For me the suite ends with "Prince Rupert's Lament." "Big Top" calls back to "Cirkus," the opening tune on Side 1, Critically speaking, I hear it as a misguided rounding gesture … But then without it the album ends in horrific desolation. The suite as a whole is an allegory of transgression (the Bolero) and retribution, (Battle and Lament). The Bolero is defined by the snare pattern, as in Ravel's eponymous piece. It's traditional. In case you didn't notice, the jazz section of the Bolero is based on the melody and progression of "Prince Rupert Awakes," and. the theme of the Battle, starting with the English Horn solo, loosely inverts motives from the same vocal melody. If you like wide dynamic range, the range on the album Larks' Tongues in Aspic is considerably wider than this, from deafening to a whisper.
Personally this is one of my favourite songs. I agree with your confusion about big top, I think it's really there as an end to the album as a whole rather than being a part of this song in particular. I can't relate to your issue with the snare, I've only recently learned a bit more about swing Vs straight drumming style and while I can tell the difference, it still doesn't sound bad to me. I actually think the chorus is the easiest to interpret part: "wake your reasons hollow vote" sounds to me like "listen to reason, even though you often ignore it", "wear your blizzard season coat" means preparing for hard times, and "burn a bridge and burn a boat" seems like a nice turn of phrase to go beyond just severing a relationship with someone. I'm less sure of what the lizard is supposed to represent though.
Lizard was mixed for listening to through speakers, not headphones. Through speakers the snare is less less separated and stands out less. Sounds pretty good to me.
@@CriticalReactions I would note the opening cut of the album is called "Cirkus" and I feel the close ties back to that reference. But if you have not heard side one of the album it seems particularly out of place.
Glad that you decided to react to the original version and not the remaster, cause the remaster gets rid of alot of elements, like the disonant chords at the beginning. I love this album, and it's quite a shame that Robert really doesn't think it's that good. Or maybe it was that becase the recording of it was just so rough Robert just doesn't have many good memories with it. At that point the bands only member from the original line-up was Robert Fripp after all and having to form a new band and basically writing most of the material was quite a feat. They brought in Gordon Haskell to do the vocals on the album here, who recently did vocals on their album before "in the wake of poseidon". But he really didn't like the lyrics and the vibe the band gave off to him made him think they were trying to write something diabolic. Also their new drummer Andy McCulloch was basically forced to play like Michael Giles, who was ambidextrous on both arms and feet, so it was an impossible feat. Robert and McCulloch even got into such a dissonance with Robert demanding so much of him that he quit the band right after the album was finished. Therefore there also was never a tour where they played the songs from this album, only with the next line-up including Boz Burell they played a few tracks of it. Funfact, when they started playing old songs live at around 2017, they also started playing parts of the lizard suite, which was very nice. Also the sweet piano playing you hear is Keith Tippett, who was "just" a session player for King Crimson, but added so much on songs like Cat food and most tracks here. I also want to point out how cool the album art is. Yes it's just the letters King Crimson, but the detail of what is in between the letters is just so fun to look at and makes you want to buy the vinyl just to do so. For example, there's the beatles in one image, in reference to the song Happy family, a circus performance in reference to cirkus obviously. Jimi Hendrix is on there as well afaik. and on the other side there is the whole story of the lizard suite painted in between the letters. Just a beautiful album art that in my opinion just adds to the album cause it makes me visualize it in a much more medieval time frame than if it was something else. Also i think the part starting at 19:20 is my favourite, where it just goes bonkers after that quiet section. In general my favourite part of the whole album is the bassline of Cirkus. It should also be mentioned that Haskell was both doing the vocals and the bass, but we could never really hear how that sounded live, since they never played live with that particular line-up, which is a shame. well that ended up longer than I thought. I just love the album and especially the suite. I always envisioned it as a medieval band playing for common folk that is being tasked to write an epic suite for the king, which they then play masterfully at the end. but that's just me ,lol. 25:10 and to be fair, the first track of the album is called cirkus and is about life being as weird as a cirkus, just traveling along, being absurd. so in a sense it just went back to the albums beginning. Also, a fun thing with the names of the tracks. Prince Rupert - a Rupert's drop is a glass shape that can only be shattered when hitting a specific part of the shape. And The battle of glass tears also is in reference to this, cause the Rupert's drop does look like a tear. Also Bolero is just a song made to dance, or waltz to I guess.
these long english prog rock songs were broken up into "movements" on the credits for publishing purposes. they got paid more that way. that's why bands like yes, kc, elp, etc had all those subtitles on the longer tunes. the drummer and bass player were under strict instructions to keep it off kilter and abstract-they weren't allowed to actually settle into a groove at any point to keep it surreal. that's why just when it seems like a groove is gonna start, it falls apart.
Wow what a great song, i could imagine people back then getting high as shit and listening to this lol. This is def one of the better tracks I've heard from KC. Very cool stuff.
This is the final track of an album that opened with what I consider to be, the most "King Crimson" King Crimson song, "Cirkus". This ties in the entire album, not just a song coda, it's importance is to continue the "life is a circus" theme.
Although one of my favorite bands, Lizard, is my favorite album.One main reason is the unique participation of Andrew Mcculloch with King Crimson who has my humble opinion is to this day the most inovative and exciting drummer. Unfortunately for us but excellent for him, McCulloch chose to pursue his other passion, sailing..
I remember hearing this for the first time. Head scratch city. I didn’t know what jazz was at the time. My dad stopped off at a bookstore on his way home from the pub and got a beaten up LP for $1.00. He put it on and it bounced off like a rubber ball off a statue. Took about 10 listens.
Your ears seem to be classically biased. If you really understood free jazz you would know EXACTLY what Crimson was doing in this song, specifically the drummer all the way through even when he was doing his "marching thing." I am old enough to be your father if not grandfather so when I was in the symphonic band in my high school in the early 70s, we covered Stravinsky, Hendrix, Captain Beefheart, and Ornette Coleman. I only bring that up because I’ve watched a lot of your reviews, and I wish you had a more open mind irrespective of you having relatively good ears for hearing certain things in certain types of music. Having said that, thanks for giving this amazing song and band a review. Peace and namaste.
My favorite King Crimson album. Side one is even better. Give it a listen. You should also listen to it 2 more times, then give another review after you've become accustomed to the piece. It's amazing! Oh, BTW, I don't think Big Top is part of the Lizard suite. It's just an extra thing added to the album. On the record, it's a separate track.
Thanks for helping me accomplish something I haven't been able to do in 45 years, listen to this straight through. I bought this album because I love both Yes and King Crimson. I listened to the first part with Jon Anderson and then kept picking up the needle and moving forward through the album. I like some soft music and instruments that aren't traditional to "Rock". Also other chaotic and polyrhythmic music from Crimson but this one is totally lost on me. Any other King Crimson album is something I'd return to in much less than 45 years.
Best KC song/piece. Other songs with massive horns: Pink Floyd - Atom heart mother (1970, the same year as KC), Frank Zappa - Peaches en regalia (1969), The grand wazoo (1972), Waka Jawaka (1972). Beatles - A day in a life(1967).
This was my least favorite album of theirs when I was young but now that I'm older and have heard more music, I like it a lot more. Thanks for the analysis.
I got this record for Christmas when it was released listened to the whole thing and thought Hmm not what I expected. Then I played it a thousand times. The vocalist thought the lyrics were so weird he didn't want to sing them he breaks out laughing at one point. The annoying snare is the Bolero. It is the rhythm you never heard of Ravel?
Most of those "reactions videos" are often so unpleasant to listen to. IMHO. But here, it is clear you listen and feel before you think/analyse. Then you think before you talk. Then you talk sense.. Cheers.
First of all, there are no violins on the album. What you're hearing is a Mellotron; an analogue keyboard with pre-recorded tape loops under the keys of real strings, choirs, brass, etc. But King Crimson are using the string section part of the instrument's sound package. Also, the lyrics don't end with "Prince Rupert Awakes." "The Battle Of Glass Tears" contain two verses before the cacophony. "Bolero: The Peacock's Tale" has the repeating military snare because that's what a bolero does. Listen to Ravel's Bolero. One of the other instruments used in "Bolero" is the oboe, at the beginning and end of that section. Jon Anderson of Yes sings "Prince Rupert" and Gordon Haskell, the normal vocalist for the album sings the two verses in "The Battle Of Glass Tears". "Big Top" has a typical calliope sound because on Side 1, the opening track "Cirkus" has a loose connection. If you look at the album artwork, it also includes a lot of circus imagery.
The album artwork for Lizard also includes the Beatles as a 'Happy Family'. Took years before someone told me about it. My favorite King Crimson. Lyrics by Pete Sinfield, who was not really that obscure, just very poetic.
Back again with more ramblings. This is one of my favourite King Crimson albums, I especially love this track "Lizard", with Jon Anderson's vocals (and Gordon Haskell's moving vocals, of course). I first to into this a few years after Bill Bruford joined them After Lark's Tongues in Aspic, I bought this and loved it. I must have been 19 when I first heard this. Peter SInfield's lyrics are stunning on all the early KC albums (and ELP albums). I love Robert Fripp's "backward" guitaring; stunning craftsmanship throughout the track, especially the "Bagpipe"-like dirge on the Lament, And the way that Bolero transitions from classical beauty into Jazz with Keith Tippett's stunning jazz piano playing, Mel Collins' Saxophone, Robin Miller's Oboe brings tears to your eyes with his emotionally beautiful playing, is phenomenal. How can you have a Bolero without a snare though? This is an absolute classic; one of their best tracks (and I'm a Red/Starless and Bible Black/Lark's Tongues in Aspic fan). This track, Lizard, was the last track on the album and "Big Top" is a reprise of the first track "Circus".
The jazzy section always puts me in mind of Charles Mingus’s ‘Tijuana Moods’, which also (in certain parts) melds bolero rhythms with a swing arrangement. ‘Lizard’ is a brilliant and under-appreciated KC album. Great analysis, as always. Cheers.
The initial smoldering snare drum/trumpet section at the start had med thinking of certain segments of the album 'Sketches of Spain' by Miles Davis; my favorite jazz album of all time...
My favorite album from 1970, 53 years ago. No autotune, no digital processing, just pure creativity. Look at the other groups of the time. Zep was out, but doing nothing like this, Beatles are done, This was done on a 16 track, state of the art at the time.
You have to understand that albums were of a piece. "Big Top", as someone else mentioned, is a reprise of the first track on the record, "Cirkus" and acts as a coda.
I enjoyed hearing your commentary on Lizard. I think it is a wonderful elpee. My favorite song is the opening track, Circus. King Crimson was my favorite band from the late 60s/early 70s. I was blessed to see them in concert four times. Though not the Lizard configuration, my favorite ensemble was the Lark's Tongue in Aspic troupe.Thanks for taking me on your listening journey.
I'm sorry, but you lost me when you admitted that you didn't know what the word "Bolero" meant. Seriously? And you call yourself a composer? Self-taught, apparently. You've never heard of Ravel's Bolero? You didn't notice that the drumbeat during that section was playing Bolero? You have no credibility at all.
Robert Fripp's two least favorite albums I find to be pure genius and my favorite. Very experimental and pure prog. Lizard is midevil inspired jazz fusion and other dissonant oddities with Gordon Haskell on vocals (except Jon at the beginning of the track). While the follow up Islands with Boz Burrell on vocals has a Victorian poetry chamber music influenced jazz rock fusion. Islands is plagued by some recording/mixing volume issues but still so good. You should check it out. The Bolero rhythm is emphasizing the armies marching to the battlefield with all of their colors on full display. (The Peacocks Tale) The opposing leaders imposing their glory on each other. Then the Battle of Glass Tears (see Prince Ruperts drop definition not here) Ending it all with the dirge Prince Ruperts Lament where the death of battles aftermath is apparent. As noted by others Big Top is a coda to the first song of the album and not connected this specifically.
KING CRIMSON are jazz geniuses. All of them are excellent musicians. Robert Fripp is a guitar genius. They hold your attention hey? That's why they're king.
I was very intrigued by this post. I am a big KC fan, but I really don't care for this album despite trying so many times. I gave the Steven Wilson remix a go and felt I understood the music better but no matter how I slice it, it just doesn't offer anything that pulls me into music in general. Thus, I am always curious what the fans of this album make of it. Being that this is your first time hearing this piece and you seemed to have enjoyed it, I like to see other's appreciate things that I can't get into. Always love watching your breakdowns of music. Take care man!
@@janeg6759 And do go check out their later studio albums as well since I know you as a fan of technical prog (metal). They've been a huge influence to many more technical prog metal bands!
"Big Top" is not a part of the Lizard Suite. It's a separate track. This probably explains your difficulty with reconciling it with the suite that comes before it.
@@octo2539 My guess is because 1) it's so short, and 2) when listening to the album on vinyl, as released, it just sort of finished out side two (and the album), the most of which was Lizard. I bet Fripp decided to include it, rather than separate it out because that was easier.
Hearing Jon Anderson with King Crimson makes "Prince Rupert" one of the greatest tracks they ever did. His voice IS prog rock. Lizard is one of their best, densest and most difficult albums. Worth the effort.
the advantage of setting songs as theatrical musical operas is your acting-singers can go extreme in emotions, as opposed to love songs that have simple stories like "i'll never leave you", "Forgive me don't leave me", "why didya leave me" and "i can't live without you now that you left". Theatrical or fantasy settings also help for staging
For me Lizard is like a dream. You immersed in a crazy, strange world with fantastic adventures. In the end, you wake up with a smile and a blank stare. I hope you understand me.😏😳🤡
07^00 and around that, I didi not clearly got what you meant by melodic but not volumizing accent, was there anuthing deeper? Just not sure, I`m a lover, not profy. Though do play and listen. this was remeniscence to Raviele` Bolero with somethng elase, I know that, in the melody.
28:25 A composer doesn't understand "Bolero"? While he was listening I had a feeling he didn't get what was going on but a "composer" not knowing Bolero? How is he a composer? Basically Fripp had Dixieland style jazz parts playing over a bolero. Clearly King Crimson is over this guy's head. Here you go: "Maurice Ravel - Bolero" ua-cam.com/video/cmNEvSFWftc/v-deo.html
I havent heard this since the 70's. Very nice to hear Miles Davis 'sketches of Spain' in there, if you haven't heard it, that is a masterpiece .... KC opened me up to so many genres
Thanks for your reaction. Good job on it. You mentioned violins a few times. No one is credited for violin in the credits. Could it be mellotron you are referring to?
I hope you aren't one of those people that talk to every sentence of the vocals and every melodic change every 10 seconds so you can't develop the sense of the song without you dissecting it
One of my al time favorites. The hobo (or cor anglais in English I believe) at the end of the Bolero, going into the battle is holds an unbearable tension
Great comments on the instrumental clash before the Battle of Glass Tears and the rain like playing of the piano by Keith Tippett. Never thought of it that way and it certainly hits home. Just a couple of comments. The wail guitar at the conclusion of the battle is one of the most expressive solos by guitar that I've heard and is the sound I associate with the early 70s King Crimson. And Big Top. By itself it is out of place. As a conclusion to an album - given that an album is a collection of related songs - it's fitting. The lyrics and music in the first song of the album are nightmarish and congers up imagery that I would expect from a David Lynch series. Clowns have always been creepy to me, as is the circus or carnival show they are frequently linked to. Cirkus brings forth that imagery and sets the stage for the remaining tracks played in different rings of the Cirkus.
Also, Keith Tippett was definitely the huge reason this went the way it did on this track. Fripp was heavily into him at the time, he featured on their single, taken from the second album, Catfood.
King Crimson is just...Unique. I wonder if you did Larks Tongues in Aspic (all parts), Starless and some of their recent work. Yep, the band still produces. KG is like the world team of musicians.
The snare is totally in context with the historical period you got it in the end. The snare is the reality of the Asian wars. You got it right in the end. Fripp who really composed this piece is a very deep thinker as was Sinfield the lyricist. You’ve hit the meaning on the head. Fripp will always find places for dissonance of both aural and moral themes in his music.
I love the lizard suite. And what perplexes me is that I’ve heard the band and the drummer himself criticize the drumming, especially the straight marching snare behind the swinging 3-way solo, but…. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THAT. For the drummer to keep that relentlessly robotic snare going for minutes, and not give in to the temptation to start swinging, is to my ears a thrilling juxtaposition. I agree that the circus ending was not a great choice. I suspect it was done for the same reason as the 20 seconds of gibberish at the end of Sgt Pepper - to wake up any listeners who dozed off.
So far as I'm aware, Jon Anderson didn't write lyrics, but I could be wrong. If he did, he's utterly renowned, even among his bandmates in Yes, for writing obscure lyrics.
I have never heard the fear and horror of war better represented than ‘The Battle Of Glass Tears’. ‘Prince Rupert’s Lament’ captures the desolation and grief amazingly well.
Sorry to go on, but I feel the whole thing you drew out of individual players heading their own way, independently, but concluding with a single resolution was very much in the frame of what the Beatles did with the orchestra on A Day In The Life. Chaos resolved in a final unison chord.
If Jon Anderson wrote the lyrics, he has said he often uses words that sound good together, not necessarily making any cognitive sense together. FYI, I listened to the END.
this was an interesting starting point for king crimson. it's an interesting album but King Crimson seemed to be trying to force the medieval aesthetic of early prog when i think mentally they'd moved away from it at that point. they needed to reset, and they made their best 70s work in their next three albums. i dont like how the snare pattern is so fixed, which they do i guess for thematic reasons, but the staticness of the rythm constrains the sense of movement in the jazz break down imo. i still like the piece a lot, especially the heavy breakdown where the horns are allowed to breath much more and the rockiness of the bass, drums and guitars are realised from the idea that this has to be story told in a specific antiquated style
A month late but since the whole story is based around an adventure and a battle, my perception is supposed to be the aftermath of the battle, I pictured soldiers going crazy and almost like a circus trying to cover that, ecpecially how in big top the beginning of it sounds more happy until the second time we hear the progression it sounds like the truth is leaking out.
Thank you so much for the reaction Bryan! I listened to this piece 100 of times, and its one of my favorites, so i appreciate it very much to experience it anew through your eyes and your analysis.
30:28 King Crimson's early albums up thru Red feature quite wide dynamic ranges. But again, what kind of composing is this guy doing that this kind of dynamic range surprises him?
Incidentally, Lizard is about the British civil war. Prince Rupert was a real Prince who led the battle. I can't say with certainty, but I've always thought that Big Top was meant to be a reference to the ludicrous, chaotic effect of the Civil war. It's a repetitive trend with Crim, in that they frequently highlight how ludicrous, even in the midst of tragedy, human behaviour manifests itself.
It’s not referring to the English Civil War, Roy (although there was a Prince Rupert - Charles I’s nephew who led the king’s forces at Bristol and elsewhere. This Prince Rupert (according to Sinfield) is a thirteenth century leader from an Eastern European conflict.
I absolutely love the album Lizard. Side one is really very good, especially Cirkus, Indoor Games and Happy Family. I got into this because Jon Anderson sang on this track. But I love the music, especially "Bolero - The Peacock's Tale" and the jazzy section, where Mel Collins (Saxophone) and Robin Miller (Oboe) are amazing. Keith tippet's piano playing is wonderful. "The Battle of Glass Tears": I "Dawn Song" (just beautiful - Peter Sinfield's lyrics are so good. "Night unfolds her cloak of holes"), II "Last Skirmish" is brilliant in its portrayal of battle, III "Prince Rupert's Lament" are excellent too. "Big Top" belongs elsewhere, but is relevant for the Clown World in which we now live. What an amazing album, I'm glad that I bought it back in 1973.
This is my favorite King Crimson song, and is in my top 10 prog songs of all time. Bolero is a term for a Spanish marching snare pattern, which is why the drums hold that one snare pattern the whole section
Robert Fripp should forever be included in the pantheon of the greatest guitarists of all time, but I actually think his abilities as a composer is even more impressive and laudable...
Really? What did he compose, other than his solos? How many demos did he bring in?
@@marthaworc7873 Welp he also plays the mellotron a few times in different songs. Idk if he did on this one
My favourite KC album.I bought it aged 19 and I still have it aged 72.
My favorite by them too!
Lizard was and is a "difficult" King Crimson album. It's their least accessible and most abstract effort in many ways. The principle singer and bassist, Gordon Haskell (a childhood friend of Fripp's), has famously disowned his participation, and was even a semi-unwilling participant during the sessions which is why Jon Anderson of Yes is heard on "Prince Rupert Awakes". Much of the jazziness and the brass arrangement are courtesy of pianist Kieth Tippett, a key figure of the British jazz avant-garde at the time. Drummer Andy McCulloch (yet another Bournemouth native) worked with a large range of British acts during the 70's, although I'm sure the brief here was to honor the style of original drummer Michael Giles. The ending "Big Top" is sort of a nod to the opening track "Cirkus".
Haskell famously called King Crimson "an experiment in musical fascism."
This is my favourite KC album. So much is happening here. For me the least intriguing is Ilands, Beat I can at least hate. 😂
Jon Anderson was asked to do Prince Rupert awakes, because Fripp had no confidence of Haskell's competence and vocal ability to hit the notes required, especially after Gordon's conduct during the recording process.
I thought you were a lot more cyanical rather than critical on this, maybe because it was you're first listen. IDK, but the snare is beautiful and appropriate to me, thought you were far too harsh. I think this
I believer it is Peter Sinfield somewhere on his own webpage (which may or may no longer exist in its antique by internet standards form dating from the mid-90s) states that "Big Top" is indeed **not** part of the "Prince Rupert" suite, but serves with "Cirkus" however tangentially to bookend the album. A minor error in the setup for printing the jacket. Personally, I always heard it as such.
It may have been difficult, but I enjoyed it.
This (and their next album, Islands) were the two "black sheep" albums that separated the massive In the Court of the Crimson King (and its similar follow-up, In the Wake of Poseidon) of the late-60s, from the more hard rock-influenced albums that came with their mid-70s period. Supposedly, Fripp was never happy with the album, perhaps more due to the recording/mixing than the album itself. I think he said that after Wilson's surround mix he was inspired to reconsider its quality and the place in their discography. I've always thought both of these albums were fascinating, with Lizard especially being being their richest and most complex that really leaned into the classical and jazz influences. As famously "difficult" as the album is I always thought it (and this song especially) had some KC's most beautiful moments. Some of the melodies are just meltingly beautiful. FWIW, the Bolero is a nod to Ravel's famous composition.
I get Fripp's disappointment. It felt like two albums that were separately equalized and then played over each other. Especially the drums and horn section... Like they were recorded in a tiny closet and the mic was on the other side of the door.
Epic! Perfection. Totally expanded me brain and am grateful for the experience. Ya gotta look up Ravels Bolero(bet you’ll recognize it)and may make the drums make more sense as well. Luved when ya said wonder where the horns come in…cue horns, hahaa. The left/right/volume mixing is sooo damn good! Even liked the Big Top ending, they are so deft at changing directions in dynamics and phrasings, and even spanning centuries of diff styles, this seemed like such an ultimate odd turn that kinda seemed comically perfect. Such an awesome react, luved it🌿🌿🌿
You add so much value to this song, they should not only leave it up, but cut you a check. I've always loved this song, but had no clue about the double-tongued sax, and several other details you mentioned. In conclusion, you did not need to have a conclusion, as you intuited, because you covered it so well, and on the first hearing. Remarkable.
This Band has the music in their genes... In every single gene. Masterpiece.
Yep, that was backwards attack on guitar. There's elements of this era of King Crimson that reminds me of Moody Blues, yet far more avant-guarde. That was Jon Anderson on vocals.
The marvel that is Jon Anderson... what a voice... often emulated, never bettered... the quintessential prog rock voice? 👌
Anderson said that he went in to the studio and sang the track. Then Fripp asked him if he could sing it "straighter".
@@MisterLumpkin LMAO 😂
I think you're right that "Big Top" doesn't integrate into the Lizard Suite. For me the suite ends with "Prince Rupert's Lament." "Big Top" calls back to "Cirkus," the opening tune on Side 1, Critically speaking, I hear it as a misguided rounding gesture … But then without it the album ends in horrific desolation. The suite as a whole is an allegory of transgression (the Bolero) and retribution, (Battle and Lament). The Bolero is defined by the snare pattern, as in Ravel's eponymous piece. It's traditional. In case you didn't notice, the jazz section of the Bolero is based on the melody and progression of "Prince Rupert Awakes," and. the theme of the Battle, starting with the English Horn solo, loosely inverts motives from the same vocal melody.
If you like wide dynamic range, the range on the album Larks' Tongues in Aspic is considerably wider than this, from deafening to a whisper.
When Mel Colling did those parts from the album in recent concerts I was more than overwhelmed.
Search for Prince Rupert's Drop and you understand the context of the song.
Fascinating. Thanks for the clue.
Personally this is one of my favourite songs. I agree with your confusion about big top, I think it's really there as an end to the album as a whole rather than being a part of this song in particular. I can't relate to your issue with the snare, I've only recently learned a bit more about swing Vs straight drumming style and while I can tell the difference, it still doesn't sound bad to me. I actually think the chorus is the easiest to interpret part: "wake your reasons hollow vote" sounds to me like "listen to reason, even though you often ignore it", "wear your blizzard season coat" means preparing for hard times, and "burn a bridge and burn a boat" seems like a nice turn of phrase to go beyond just severing a relationship with someone. I'm less sure of what the lizard is supposed to represent though.
I don't think I knew this was the album closer. That certain sheds a little bit of light on Big Top.
Lizard was mixed for listening to through speakers, not headphones. Through speakers the snare is less less separated and stands out less. Sounds pretty good to me.
@@CriticalReactions I would note the opening cut of the album is called "Cirkus" and I feel the close ties back to that reference. But if you have not heard side one of the album it seems particularly out of place.
My favorite prog rock epic. The pinnacle of jazz rock and classical melding ❤
Glad that you decided to react to the original version and not the remaster, cause the remaster gets rid of alot of elements, like the disonant chords at the beginning.
I love this album, and it's quite a shame that Robert really doesn't think it's that good. Or maybe it was that becase the recording of it was just so rough Robert just doesn't have many good memories with it.
At that point the bands only member from the original line-up was Robert Fripp after all and having to form a new band and basically writing most of the material was quite a feat.
They brought in Gordon Haskell to do the vocals on the album here, who recently did vocals on their album before "in the wake of poseidon". But he really didn't like the lyrics and the vibe the band gave off to him made him think they were trying to write something diabolic.
Also their new drummer Andy McCulloch was basically forced to play like Michael Giles, who was ambidextrous on both arms and feet, so it was an impossible feat. Robert and McCulloch even got into such a dissonance with Robert demanding so much of him that he quit the band right after the album was finished. Therefore there also was never a tour where they played the songs from this album, only with the next line-up including Boz Burell they played a few tracks of it.
Funfact, when they started playing old songs live at around 2017, they also started playing parts of the lizard suite, which was very nice.
Also the sweet piano playing you hear is Keith Tippett, who was "just" a session player for King Crimson, but added so much on songs like Cat food and most tracks here.
I also want to point out how cool the album art is. Yes it's just the letters King Crimson, but the detail of what is in between the letters is just so fun to look at and makes you want to buy the vinyl just to do so.
For example, there's the beatles in one image, in reference to the song Happy family, a circus performance in reference to cirkus obviously. Jimi Hendrix is on there as well afaik.
and on the other side there is the whole story of the lizard suite painted in between the letters. Just a beautiful album art that in my opinion just adds to the album cause it makes me visualize it in a much more medieval time frame than if it was something else.
Also i think the part starting at 19:20 is my favourite, where it just goes bonkers after that quiet section.
In general my favourite part of the whole album is the bassline of Cirkus. It should also be mentioned that Haskell was both doing the vocals and the bass, but we could never really hear how that sounded live, since they never played live with that particular line-up, which is a shame.
well that ended up longer than I thought. I just love the album and especially the suite. I always envisioned it as a medieval band playing for common folk that is being tasked to write an epic suite for the king, which they then play masterfully at the end. but that's just me ,lol.
25:10 and to be fair, the first track of the album is called cirkus and is about life being as weird as a cirkus, just traveling along, being absurd. so in a sense it just went back to the albums beginning.
Also, a fun thing with the names of the tracks. Prince Rupert - a Rupert's drop is a glass shape that can only be shattered when hitting a specific part of the shape. And The battle of glass tears also is in reference to this, cause the Rupert's drop does look like a tear. Also Bolero is just a song made to dance, or waltz to I guess.
btw crazy is been a year and this is not block lol. I don't really know why I'm so hook to this song
I'm surprised that you're unfamiliar with Ravel's Bolero. That would give you a lot of context for the the corresponding movement here.
these long english prog rock songs were broken up into "movements" on the credits for publishing purposes. they got paid more that way. that's why bands like yes, kc, elp, etc had all those subtitles on the longer tunes. the drummer and bass player were under strict instructions to keep it off kilter and abstract-they weren't allowed to actually settle into a groove at any point to keep it surreal. that's why just when it seems like a groove is gonna start, it falls apart.
Wow what a great song, i could imagine people back then getting high as shit and listening to this lol. This is def one of the better tracks I've heard from KC. Very cool stuff.
I was one of those people getting high, a long time ago.
The coda is the way it is because exists in the context of the whole album, not just this track. It rhymes with the first track.
Tarkus reaction please
This is the final track of an album that opened with what I consider to be, the most "King Crimson" King Crimson song, "Cirkus". This ties in the entire album, not just a song coda, it's importance is to continue the "life is a circus" theme.
Although one of my favorite bands, Lizard, is my favorite album.One main reason is the unique participation of Andrew Mcculloch with King Crimson who has my humble opinion is to this day the most inovative and exciting drummer. Unfortunately for us but excellent for him, McCulloch chose to pursue his other passion, sailing..
I remember hearing this for the first time. Head scratch city. I didn’t know what jazz was at the time. My dad stopped off at a bookstore on his way home from the pub and got a beaten up LP for $1.00. He put it on and it bounced off like a rubber ball off a statue. Took about 10 listens.
It's amazing that Fripp was only 24 when this record came out.
Your ears seem to be classically biased. If you really understood free jazz you would know EXACTLY what Crimson was doing in this song, specifically the drummer all the way through even when he was doing his "marching thing." I am old enough to be your father if not grandfather so when I was in the symphonic band in my high school in the early 70s, we covered Stravinsky, Hendrix, Captain Beefheart, and Ornette Coleman. I only bring that up because I’ve watched a lot of your reviews, and I wish you had a more open mind irrespective of you having relatively good ears for hearing certain things in certain types of music. Having said that, thanks for giving this amazing song and band a review. Peace and namaste.
First track is called "Cirkus", so the "Big Hat" makes sense in closeing the circle of side one.
brilliant reaction
My favorite King Crimson album. Side one is even better. Give it a listen. You should also listen to it 2 more times, then give another review after you've become accustomed to the piece. It's amazing! Oh, BTW, I don't think Big Top is part of the Lizard suite. It's just an extra thing added to the album. On the record, it's a separate track.
Thanks for helping me accomplish something I haven't been able to do in 45 years, listen to this straight through. I bought this album because I love both Yes and King Crimson. I listened to the first part with Jon Anderson and then kept picking up the needle and moving forward through the album. I like some soft music and instruments that aren't traditional to "Rock". Also other chaotic and polyrhythmic music from Crimson but this one is totally lost on me. Any other King Crimson album is something I'd return to in much less than 45 years.
Best KC song/piece. Other songs with massive horns: Pink Floyd - Atom heart mother (1970, the same year as KC), Frank Zappa - Peaches en regalia (1969), The grand wazoo (1972), Waka Jawaka (1972). Beatles - A day in a life(1967).
This was my least favorite album of theirs when I was young but now that I'm older and have heard more music, I like it a lot more. Thanks for the analysis.
I got this record for Christmas when it was released listened to the whole thing and thought Hmm not what I expected. Then I played it a thousand times. The vocalist thought the lyrics were so weird he didn't want to sing them he breaks out laughing at one point. The annoying snare is the Bolero. It is the rhythm you never heard of Ravel?
Most of those "reactions videos" are often so unpleasant to listen to. IMHO. But here, it is clear you listen and feel before you think/analyse. Then you think before you talk. Then you talk sense.. Cheers.
The voice of Yes, the music by King Crimson
First of all, there are no violins on the album. What you're hearing is a Mellotron; an analogue keyboard with pre-recorded tape loops under the keys of real strings, choirs, brass, etc. But King Crimson are using the string section part of the instrument's sound package. Also, the lyrics don't end with "Prince Rupert Awakes." "The Battle Of Glass Tears" contain two verses before the cacophony. "Bolero: The Peacock's Tale" has the repeating military snare because that's what a bolero does. Listen to Ravel's Bolero. One of the other instruments used in "Bolero" is the oboe, at the beginning and end of that section. Jon Anderson of Yes sings "Prince Rupert" and Gordon Haskell, the normal vocalist for the album sings the two verses in "The Battle Of Glass Tears". "Big Top" has a typical calliope sound because on Side 1, the opening track "Cirkus" has a loose connection. If you look at the album artwork, it also includes a lot of circus imagery.
The album artwork for Lizard also includes the Beatles as a 'Happy Family'. Took years before someone told me about it. My favorite King Crimson.
Lyrics by Pete Sinfield, who was not really that obscure, just very poetic.
Back again with more ramblings. This is one of my favourite King Crimson albums, I especially love this track "Lizard", with Jon Anderson's vocals (and Gordon Haskell's moving vocals, of course). I first to into this a few years after Bill Bruford joined them After Lark's Tongues in Aspic, I bought this and loved it. I must have been 19 when I first heard this.
Peter SInfield's lyrics are stunning on all the early KC albums (and ELP albums).
I love Robert Fripp's "backward" guitaring; stunning craftsmanship throughout the track, especially the "Bagpipe"-like dirge on the Lament,
And the way that Bolero transitions from classical beauty into Jazz with Keith Tippett's stunning jazz piano playing, Mel Collins' Saxophone, Robin Miller's Oboe brings tears to your eyes with his emotionally beautiful playing, is phenomenal. How can you have a Bolero without a snare though?
This is an absolute classic; one of their best tracks (and I'm a Red/Starless and Bible Black/Lark's Tongues in Aspic fan).
This track, Lizard, was the last track on the album and "Big Top" is a reprise of the first track "Circus".
The jazzy section always puts me in mind of Charles Mingus’s ‘Tijuana Moods’, which also (in certain parts) melds bolero rhythms with a swing arrangement. ‘Lizard’ is a brilliant and under-appreciated KC album. Great analysis, as always. Cheers.
Seeing the Charles Mingus big band live is how I first was able to understand this album. Luckily both happened mostly simultaneously.
Good call. Will have to re listen to the Mingus.
The initial smoldering snare drum/trumpet section at the start had med thinking of certain segments of the album 'Sketches of Spain' by Miles Davis; my favorite jazz album of all time...
My favorite album from 1970, 53 years ago. No autotune, no digital processing, just pure creativity. Look at the other groups of the time. Zep was out, but doing nothing like this, Beatles are done, This was done on a 16 track, state of the art at the time.
It's a miracle this is still up
You have to understand that albums were of a piece. "Big Top", as someone else mentioned, is a reprise of the first track on the record, "Cirkus" and acts as a coda.
I've always thought that the mourning march before Big Top refers to the losers of the battle with their grievances and the Big Top to its winners.
I enjoyed hearing your commentary on Lizard. I think it is a wonderful elpee. My favorite song is the opening track, Circus. King Crimson was my favorite band from the late 60s/early 70s. I was blessed to see them in concert four times. Though not the Lizard configuration, my favorite ensemble was the Lark's Tongue in Aspic troupe.Thanks for taking me on your listening journey.
Actually, Yesshead may be right in that Big Top may be a reference to the opening track on side one, Cirkus.
I'm sorry, but you lost me when you admitted that you didn't know what the word "Bolero" meant. Seriously? And you call yourself a composer? Self-taught, apparently. You've never heard of Ravel's Bolero? You didn't notice that the drumbeat during that section was playing Bolero? You have no credibility at all.
Robert Fripp's two least favorite albums I find to be pure genius and my favorite. Very experimental and pure prog. Lizard is midevil inspired jazz fusion and other dissonant oddities with Gordon Haskell on vocals (except Jon at the beginning of the track). While the follow up Islands with Boz Burrell on vocals has a Victorian poetry chamber music influenced jazz rock fusion. Islands is plagued by some recording/mixing volume issues but still so good. You should check it out.
The Bolero rhythm is emphasizing the armies marching to the battlefield with all of their colors on full display. (The Peacocks Tale) The opposing leaders imposing their glory on each other. Then the Battle of Glass Tears (see Prince Ruperts drop definition not here) Ending it all with the dirge Prince Ruperts Lament where the death of battles aftermath is apparent. As noted by others Big Top is a coda to the first song of the album and not connected this specifically.
5:20 no way
As usual, my timing is impeccable. 🤣
KING CRIMSON are jazz geniuses. All of them are excellent musicians. Robert Fripp is a guitar genius. They hold your attention hey? That's why they're king.
Wrong lineup on the thumbnail. That's lineup #1. Don't feel bad. The lineup changed constantly. You need a program to keep up.
Here's the correct lineup: i.pinimg.com/originals/1c/a3/5b/1ca35be13a1bbb2c8641254ee4755ee0.jpg
I was very intrigued by this post. I am a big KC fan, but I really don't care for this album despite trying so many times. I gave the Steven Wilson remix a go and felt I understood the music better but no matter how I slice it, it just doesn't offer anything that pulls me into music in general. Thus, I am always curious what the fans of this album make of it. Being that this is your first time hearing this piece and you seemed to have enjoyed it, I like to see other's appreciate things that I can't get into. Always love watching your breakdowns of music. Take care man!
I've only heard of King Crimson. I really enjoyed this.
You should check out his other KC reactions (one or two blocked featured on Vimeo as well)
@@progperljungman8218 will do
@@janeg6759 And do go check out their later studio albums as well since I know you as a fan of technical prog (metal). They've been a huge influence to many more technical prog metal bands!
So do I.
"Big Top" is not a part of the Lizard Suite. It's a separate track. This probably explains your difficulty with reconciling it with the suite that comes before it.
but then why is it in the suite?
@@octo2539 It's not in the suite.
@@ericarmstrong6540 i mean,why is it in the yt video of the lizard suite?
@@octo2539 Don't know. It's a separate track on the album, apart from the suite.
@@octo2539 My guess is because 1) it's so short, and 2) when listening to the album on vinyl, as released, it just sort of finished out side two (and the album), the most of which was Lizard. I bet Fripp decided to include it, rather than separate it out because that was easier.
How critical is the critical of the criticization let's see the development of the deployment of this cruciality
Hearing Jon Anderson with King Crimson makes "Prince Rupert" one of the greatest tracks they ever did. His voice IS prog rock. Lizard is one of their best, densest and most difficult albums. Worth the effort.
The snare is Bolero, that's the idea, and it works beautifully!!
the advantage of setting songs as theatrical musical operas is your acting-singers can go extreme in emotions, as opposed to love songs that have simple stories like "i'll never leave you", "Forgive me don't leave me", "why didya leave me" and "i can't live without you now that you left". Theatrical or fantasy settings also help for staging
This is the end of the album .. the album opens with a track called Cirkus, hence the postlude. This is the problem reviewing one song from an album 😊
For me Lizard is like a dream. You immersed in a crazy, strange world with fantastic adventures. In the end, you wake up with a smile and a blank stare. I hope you understand me.😏😳🤡
my ATF guitar solo. literally the first thing I learned when I picked up the extremely electric guitar at a relatively late age. :-)
I've always Jon Anderson of Yes in this piece.
07^00 and around that, I didi not clearly got what you meant by melodic but not volumizing accent, was there anuthing deeper? Just not sure, I`m a lover, not profy. Though do play and listen. this was remeniscence to Raviele` Bolero with somethng elase, I know that, in the melody.
28:25 A composer doesn't understand "Bolero"? While he was listening I had a feeling he didn't get what was going on but a "composer" not knowing Bolero? How is he a composer? Basically Fripp had Dixieland style jazz parts playing over a bolero. Clearly King Crimson is over this guy's head.
Here you go:
"Maurice Ravel - Bolero" ua-cam.com/video/cmNEvSFWftc/v-deo.html
I havent heard this since the 70's. Very nice to hear Miles Davis 'sketches of Spain' in there, if you haven't heard it, that is a masterpiece .... KC opened me up to so many genres
I think Bolero is beautiful. I get it but I don't exactly have the "green screen" feeling but the drums do take my attention away, I love the concept
Ref: “I don’t like what snare is doing”. Dude, it’s a bolero, check the credits 🎺🎷🥁🎸😀
Thanks for your reaction. Good job on it. You mentioned violins a few times. No one is credited for violin in the credits. Could it be mellotron you are referring to?
Awesome to see you react to King Crimson thank you. 🙌
King Crimson is beyond heavy metal.
I hope you aren't one of those people that talk to every sentence of the vocals and every melodic change every 10 seconds so you can't develop the sense of the song without you dissecting it
"Cirkus" is the first song, so "Big Top" the coda.
One of my al time favorites. The hobo (or cor anglais in English I believe) at the end of the Bolero, going into the battle is holds an unbearable tension
Woah. This didn’t get blocked? What deal did you make with the Devil, Bryan?
This didn't get blocked but an old Katatonia video randomly did. I don't even pretend to understand the system anymore 😄
Ans I didn`t pay any attention to the base, until I started to look for reactions. Weird. Why.
Great comments on the instrumental clash before the Battle of Glass Tears and the rain like playing of the piano by Keith Tippett. Never thought of it that way and it certainly hits home. Just a couple of comments. The wail guitar at the conclusion of the battle is one of the most expressive solos by guitar that I've heard and is the sound I associate with the early 70s King Crimson. And Big Top. By itself it is out of place. As a conclusion to an album - given that an album is a collection of related songs - it's fitting. The lyrics and music in the first song of the album are nightmarish and congers up imagery that I would expect from a David Lynch series. Clowns have always been creepy to me, as is the circus or carnival show they are frequently linked to. Cirkus brings forth that imagery and sets the stage for the remaining tracks played in different rings of the Cirkus.
Also, Keith Tippett was definitely the huge reason this went the way it did on this track. Fripp was heavily into him at the time, he featured on their single, taken from the second album, Catfood.
TRY RETURN TO FOREVER ALDIMEOLA ROMANTIC WARRIOR
It sounds a tad slowed down.
Great record.
King Crimson is just...Unique. I wonder if you did Larks Tongues in Aspic (all parts), Starless and some of their recent work. Yep, the band still produces. KG is like the world team of musicians.
Bolero - Revel - that one
The snare is totally in context with the historical period you got it in the end. The snare is the reality of the Asian wars. You got it right in the end. Fripp who really composed this piece is a very deep thinker as was Sinfield the lyricist. You’ve hit the meaning on the head. Fripp will always find places for dissonance of both aural and moral themes in his music.
🤘🏻
Oh, ‘Big Top’ is the antithesis of ‘Prince Rupert’s Lament.’ I see people laughing and kids with big eyes away from the battle, unaware.
I love the lizard suite. And what perplexes me is that I’ve heard the band and the drummer himself criticize the drumming, especially the straight marching snare behind the swinging 3-way solo, but…. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THAT. For the drummer to keep that relentlessly robotic snare going for minutes, and not give in to the temptation to start swinging, is to my ears a thrilling juxtaposition.
I agree that the circus ending was not a great choice. I suspect it was done for the same reason as the 20 seconds of gibberish at the end of Sgt Pepper - to wake up any listeners who dozed off.
Let's Roll
So far as I'm aware, Jon Anderson didn't write lyrics, but I could be wrong. If he did, he's utterly renowned, even among his bandmates in Yes, for writing obscure lyrics.
I have never heard the fear and horror of war better represented than ‘The Battle Of Glass Tears’. ‘Prince Rupert’s Lament’ captures the desolation and grief amazingly well.
Please check their later stuff namely Construkctuon of Light pt 1&2
Sorry to go on, but I feel the whole thing you drew out of individual players heading their own way, independently, but concluding with a single resolution was very much in the frame of what the Beatles did with the orchestra on A Day In The Life. Chaos resolved in a final unison chord.
Lizard is such an underrated album
If Jon Anderson wrote the lyrics, he has said he often uses words that sound good together, not necessarily making any cognitive sense together. FYI, I listened to the END.
great! thank you so much. maybe do "Thrak" by King Crimson? completely different, you'll be surprised: KC drifting in kind of metal territory
Yeah big top is a “what?” from me too lmao but holy hell dude this suite is a magnum opus for me.
this was an interesting starting point for king crimson. it's an interesting album but King Crimson seemed to be trying to force the medieval aesthetic of early prog when i think mentally they'd moved away from it at that point. they needed to reset, and they made their best 70s work in their next three albums. i dont like how the snare pattern is so fixed, which they do i guess for thematic reasons, but the staticness of the rythm constrains the sense of movement in the jazz break down imo. i still like the piece a lot, especially the heavy breakdown where the horns are allowed to breath much more and the rockiness of the bass, drums and guitars are realised from the idea that this has to be story told in a specific antiquated style
A month late but since the whole story is based around an adventure and a battle, my perception is supposed to be the aftermath of the battle, I pictured soldiers going crazy and almost like a circus trying to cover that, ecpecially how in big top the beginning of it sounds more happy until the second time we hear the progression it sounds like the truth is leaking out.
try listen to the drums and bass isolated tracks, there wasn't just snare drums on the bolero part
Thank you so much for the reaction Bryan! I listened to this piece 100 of times, and its one of my favorites, so i appreciate it very much to experience it anew through your eyes and your analysis.
30:28 King Crimson's early albums up thru Red feature quite wide dynamic ranges. But again, what kind of composing is this guy doing that this kind of dynamic range surprises him?
I think he's comparing it to rock, which it ain't and, especially to modern era recording which seems to have forgotten dynamic range.
Incidentally, Lizard is about the British civil war. Prince Rupert was a real Prince who led the battle.
I can't say with certainty, but I've always thought that Big Top was meant to be a reference to the ludicrous, chaotic effect of the Civil war. It's a repetitive trend with Crim, in that they frequently highlight how ludicrous, even in the midst of tragedy, human behaviour manifests itself.
It’s not referring to the English Civil War, Roy (although there was a Prince Rupert - Charles I’s nephew who led the king’s forces at Bristol and elsewhere. This Prince Rupert (according to Sinfield) is a thirteenth century leader from an Eastern European conflict.
I absolutely love the album Lizard. Side one is really very good, especially Cirkus, Indoor Games and Happy Family.
I got into this because Jon Anderson sang on this track. But I love the music, especially "Bolero - The Peacock's Tale" and the jazzy section, where Mel Collins (Saxophone) and Robin Miller (Oboe) are amazing. Keith tippet's piano playing is wonderful.
"The Battle of Glass Tears": I "Dawn Song" (just beautiful - Peter Sinfield's lyrics are so good. "Night unfolds her cloak of holes"), II "Last Skirmish" is brilliant in its portrayal of battle, III "Prince Rupert's Lament" are excellent too.
"Big Top" belongs elsewhere, but is relevant for the Clown World in which we now live.
What an amazing album, I'm glad that I bought it back in 1973.
Bryan, You're a phenomenon!!!❤