A piece of history in a box. That’s how we could describe this double disc because even though the quality of the recording is below the standard level, this set is nevertheless an interesting release for the diehard prog lover. Released in a limited run of 600 copies, you get 140 minutes worth of long, stretched-out themes from a Swiss band that although their entire career remains an obscure matter (the material on this double disc was released on vinyl in the early eighties), perfectly connects with the big names from the underground. Especially a name like Gentle Giant can be heard all over the place in order to fill in the Lizard statement. Wonderful Hammond sounds blur the often below par singing of Dominique Schmid whilst guitarist Mathias Grob often has to battle with the bass of the Squire-in-waiting Peter Büttiker that pierces you to the very marrow. It looks like it has never been the intention to ever release these compositions on a commercial level because the recording suffers from over modulation yet the old layers of varnish on a piece of antiques often gives an extra amount of brilliance. A song like “Plus Qu’un Instant” includes a certain ELP atmosphere, whilst the French vocals obviously take the Ange direction. Keyboard player Kurt Widmer is given the opportunity to try out all of his synths, before guitarist Matthias Grob delivers a fair amount of smokin’ guitar during the improvisation. Once the electric piano is introduced in “Afterwards” it sounds as if the band creates a marriage between The Snow Goose, material from the band Flyte, the early albums by Machiavel, and the main melody from the Nazareth classic “Love Hurts." Guitar and synth are at their very best during “Bubble Brain” where the end gets rather funky, even including the almost obligatory drum solo hunted by a hurried bass guitar almost resulting in “The Fish” by Lizard! “Zèbre” has to be a poetic tour-de-force where the music becomes atonal whilst the Hammond organ is being attacked the Jon Lord way. The title of the next instrumental piece which almost stretches for half an hour is chosen in a very appropriate way. “Jam” is indeed a long jazzy piece which is build around a collection of compromises which give each single musician the opportunity to shine in his solo glory. The set closes with “Going On,” filled with loads of rhythm changes thereby extra underlying the typical analogue symphonic rock. Now and then Lizard had some pretty good ideas yet they had it difficult to keep that idea short and direct. Instead they delivered long pieces of music which didn’t keep the listener interested throughout. Their only feat of arms seems to be a concatenation of various live recordings recorded in 1980 and 1981 during their concerts in Switzerland. Because of the varying sound quality this album therefor remains reserved for the real prog diehard hence the run of 600 copies! Reviewed by : John 'Bobo' Bollenberg |
