Label:
Editions EG – EGS 108
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: US Released: 1981
Style:
Avant-garde Jazz, No Wave, Free Improvisation
Recorded
at CBS Recording Studios in New York on July 21-22, 28-29 1980.
Mixed
at CBS Recording Studios in New York on August 6, 14-15 1980.
Design
– Peter Saville
Photography
By – Fran Pelzman
Engineer
– Frank Laico, Ted Brosman
Recorded
By – Teo Macero
Mastered
By – Gc
Mixed
By – Don Puluse
Producer
– Teo Macero
Pressed
By – Hub-Servall Record Mfg. Corp.
Matrix
/ Runout (Runout area side A Var.1): ESG - 108 - A STERLING HuB
Matrix
/ Runout (Runout area side B Var.1): ESG - 108 - B STERLING Gc HuBre
side1:
A1
- Incident on South Street (John Lurie)
.............................................................. 3:21
A2
- Harlem Nocturne (Earle Hagen)
...................................................................... 2:04
A3
- Do The Wrong Thing (John Lurie /
Steve Piccolo) .......................................... 2:40
A4
- Au Contraire Arto (John Lurie) .........................................................................
3:22
A5
- Well You Needn't (Thelonious Monk)
.............................................................. 1:55
A6
- Ballad (John Lurie) ..........................................................................................
3:25
A7
- Wangling (John Lurie) ......................................................................................2:58
side2:
B1
- Conquest of Rar (John Lurie / Evan
Lurie/ Anton Fier) ................................... 3:14
B2
- Demented (John Lurie) ...................................................................................
2:02
B3
- I Remember Coney Island (John Lurie)
.......................................................... 3:29
B4
- Fatty Walks (John Lurie) .................................................................................
2:52
B5
- Epistrophy (Thelonious Monk / Kenneth Clarke) ...........................................
4:15
B6
- You Haunt Me (John Lurie)
............................................................................. 3:40
Personnel:
John
Lurie – alto saxophone
Evan
Lurie – keyboards
Steve
Piccolo – bass
Arto
Lindsay – guitar
Anton
Fier – drums, percussion
The
Lounge Lizards is the first album by The Lounge Lizards. It features hectic
instrumental jazz. The songs are mostly composed by band leader and saxophone
player John Lurie. The album artwork was designed by the English graphic
designer Peter Saville.
The
Lounge Lizards were an eclectic musical group founded by saxophonist John Lurie
and his brother, pianist Evan Lurie, in 1978. Initially known for their ironic,
tongue-in-cheek take on jazz, The Lounge Lizards eventually became a showcase
for John Lurie's sophisticated compositions straddling jazz and many other
genres. They were active until about 1998 with the Lurie brothers as the only
constant members, though many leading New York City based musicians were
members of the group.
The
group's name was borrowed from American slang. A lounge lizard is typically
depicted as a well-dressed man who frequents the establishments in which the
rich gather with the intention of seducing a wealthy woman with his flattery
and deceptive charm.
At
its founding, the band consisted of John Lurie and Evan Lurie, guitarist Arto
Lindsay, bassist Steve Piccolo, and percussionist Anton Fier. They released a
self-titled album on EG Records in 1981. The album included two Thelonious Monk
covers, but as one critic noted, "the two aforementioned Monk covers seem a
strange choice when you actually hear the band, which has more in common with
sonic experimentalists like Ornette Coleman or Sun Ra."
By
the mid-1980s, a new line-up included bassist Erik Sanko, trombonist Curtis
Fowlkes, guitarist Marc Ribot, saxophonist Roy Nathanson, and percussionists
Dougie Bowne and E.J. Rodriguez. This group recorded various live and studio
albums and showcased John Lurie's increasingly sophisticated and multi-layered
compositions.
Note:
In
1998, the band released Queen of All Ears on John Lurie's Strange and Beautiful
Music label and had added Steven Bernstein, Michael Blake, Oren Bloedow, David
Tronzo, Calvin Weston, and Billy Martin. "The Lizards' music isn't
jazz," said Fred Bouchard of JazzTimes, "but it is intelligent and
rhythmically and harmonically interesting (it ain't rock either, in other
words) and, despite the ultra-hip trappings, it has an almost innocent
directness that can transcend stylistic prejudice."
Recent
years have found the Lounge Lizards less active. John Lurie has been occupied
with painting, while Evan has worked on The Backyardigans, a children's show
that highlights multiple musical genres.
If
you find it, buy this album!
