Lounge Lizards

Lounge Lizards | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 26, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Editions Eg Records
• ASIN: B000003S2C
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,531 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Incident on South Street

2. Harlem Nocturne

3. Do the Wrong Thing

4. Au Contrarie Arto

5. Well, You Needn't

6. Ballad

7. Wangling

8. Conquest of Rar

9. Demented

10. I Remember Coney Island

11. Fatty Walks

12. Epistrophy

13. You Haunt Me

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available.
Genre: Jazz Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 18-DEC-1990

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Debut, June 1, 2000

By 

Robert English (Independence, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lounge Lizards (Audio CD)

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.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the original and best, March 12, 2003

By 

bimwa (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lounge Lizards (Audio CD)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent music, July 14, 2008

By 

Steward Willons (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Lounge Lizards (Audio CD)

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.