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!