Lounge Lizards - Loung Lizards (13 tracks) +Album Reviews

The original and best

bimwa | Australia | 03/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Long before John Zorn's blend of hardcore and jazz in Naked City, John Lurie put together this intense jazz-punk hybrid. It has a sleazy, gritty sound that shows the early development and experimentation of the long-running institution that is The Lounge Lizards.Lurie's sax plays many of the melodies, but perhaps more of a feature is the insane scraping sounds of Arto Lindsay's guitar and Evan Lurie wildly tinkering on the electric piano. Drummer Anton Fier's style sounds a bit more rock than jazz, which also adds to the punkiness.The material is mostly by John Lurie, and falls somewhere between sexy, loungy jazz ("Ballad", "You Haunt Me" and a pretty straight reading of Earle Hagen's "Harlem Nocturne") and upbeat crazy pieces ("Wangling", Thelonius Monk's "Well You Needn't" and "Epistrophy"), at times somewhat Frank Zappa-ish, as another review mentioned.Later incarnations of The Lounge Lizards saw Lurie adding more and more horns, then other instruments and eventually creating a more layered sound, which incorporated some elements of classical and African musics (among countless others). All of their work has been great, but this, their debut album still remains the most fresh and exciting."

Brilliant Debut

Robert English | Independence, OR USA | 06/01/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"John Lurie has recorded good material since this was made, but this particular CD is unique; it captures the band while they were still developing, and is fascinating for that reason alone. Basically, I would recommend this CD to anyone who likes Frank Zappa's early 70's output ("Grand Wazoo", "Waka/Jawaka", "Weasels") and/or Henry Cow ("Leg End", etc.). If this is your first taste of this sort of music, it may take a while to grow on you. But once it does, you'll be listening to all music with different ears.Glad to see this is still available in some form; I bought this in '81, and still go back to it when I need to remember what experimental jazz can sound like when a sense of humor and history are present."

Free Jazz/No-Wave Collision

scott | Buffalo, NY | 05/29/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The debut Lounge Lizards here featured guitarist Arto Lindsay who along w/ Ikue Mori went on to form the legendary downtown NYC No-Wave band DNA and then worked with John Zorn, formed the Ambitious Lovers....and so on. Here he is in unique and profound form, blasting out oddly phrased tones from his infamous no-name (? ) red 12-string guitar..."

Excellent music

Steward Willons | Illinois | 07/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Lounge Lizards were an unusual band - they were a blend of jazz, punk, and no-wave with plenty of jagged edges. The range of influences creates considerable friction, which gives the music an almost violent quality. "Incident on South Street" starts thing out with a kick in the gut. It recalls gritty film noir of the 40s, but without using the traditional film noir language of wailing saxophones and sultry vocals. Here, the saxophone (under the control of John Lurie) is squawking and shouting, as if it's committing the act of musical violence all by itself.

Even standards like "Well You Needn't" feel more aggressive than normal. The tune is so overplayed (it seems everyone wants to do something "clever" with it), but this version is unique. It completely replaces the swing feel with straight 8ths, turning rounded edges into sharp corners.

There are a lot of contrasts at play, although I don't think all of them necessarily work. Anton Fier's drumming always seems out of place to me. I know they're mixing styles, but on the more jazzy numbers, it seems like he has no concept of how to swing. Not all the tunes require Fier to swing, but when they do, it's just stiff.

The other criticism concerns the sound quality. Normally I can forgive mediocre sound quality, but in this case, it hurts the music substantially. Everything is over-compressed and over-EQed to the point that this robust music becomes anemic. There's almost no bass presence and the cymbals sound shrill. I'm sure it was recorded to tape in this fashion, so remastering wouldn't help. It looks like this is the best we're going to get.

The Lounge Lizards' self-titled debut is pretty great. It's essential listening for fans of avant garde jazz or the NYC downtown scene. You could compare it to early Naked City, albeit without the humor and grindcore numbers. The album isn't perfect, but it's qualities far outweigh its faults."

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	Lounge Lizards Loung Lizards Genres: Dance & Electronic, Alternative Rock, Jazz, Pop, Rock Track Listings (13) - Disc #1 Incident On South Street Harlem Nocturne Do The Wrong Thing Au Contraire Arto Well You Needn't Ballad Wangling Conquest Of Rar Demented I Remember Coney Island Fatty Walks Epistrophy You Haunt Me
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