Record Reviews

LIZARD ~ HALF-LIFE AUDIO CAVE 2018/012 (Barcode: 5905669566650) ~ POLAND ~ Progressive Rock Recorded: 2018 Released: 2018 This is the seventh studio album by Polish Progressive Rock group LizardFind albums by this artist, which consists of vocalist / guitarist / composer / lyricist Damian BydlinskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Janusz TanistraFind albums by this artist, guitarist Daniel KurtykaFind albums by this artist, keyboardist Pawel FabrowiczFind albums by this artist and drummer Mariusz SzulakowskiFind albums by this artist. Violinist Dominika RusinowskaFind albums by this artist appears as guest artist. The album presents just one, forty four minutes long track, composed and written (in Polish language) by Bydlinski. The music takes off with a lengthy instrumental intro which makes an attempt to leave the classic symphonic Neo-Prog format behind and partly cross over towards Jazz-Rock / Fusion, but once the vocals enter the stage, the Prog sound and feel are back at the helm. The concept album framework and slowly developing and repeating themes are deeply rooted in Prog and as a result the album offers a slick, melodic continuity, full of typical riffs and hooks, with some Fusion oriented instrumental passages. Overall the album is a pleasant, unchallenging musical journey into nostalgia, which is in complete contrast to the morose apocalyptic lyrics. The performances are all very professional and the production is exactly right for this kind of music and the album emerges as a typical Neo-Prog work, no different than hundreds of similar offerings recorded all over the world since the 1990s. Of course Prog Heads will find this album as good as Prog albums go, and people from outside of Poland might find it interesting to hear what is happing in Prog in Poland and surely won´t be disappointed, as this is after all a solid, well put together piece of music, which delivers exactly what is expected. This is definitely nothing to be ashamed of, but sadly neither something to be really proud of? Sadly Polish Prog is unable to shake off its past and develop a new direction, after spending the last few decades in a zombie vegetative state musically, supported by a shrinking, but fanatic fan base, in complete contrast to Polish Jazz, which is exploding with talent and creativity and serving as a beacon for the rest of the world. I´m just too old for this by now… been there… heard it all…

Updated: 21/09/2021Posted: 16/12/2018

CD 1 Digipak Recommend To A Friend

LIZARD ~ MASTER & M (REMASTERED) AUDIO CAVE 2019/014 (Barcode: 5905669566896) ~ POLAND ~ Progressive Rock Recorded: 2012 - 2013 Released: 2019 This is a reissue of the fifth studio album by the Polish Prog group LizardFind albums by this artist, released originally in 2013. The band is led by the charismatic vocalist / guitarist / songwriter Damian BydlinskiFind albums by this artist, who composed all the music and wrote all the lyrics (in Polish), and includes also bassist Janusz TanistraFind albums by this artist, guitarist Daniel KurtykaFind albums by this artist, keyboardist Pawel FabrowiczFind albums by this artist and drummer Aleksander SzalajkoFind albums by this artist. The album presents just one concept suite, divided into five "chapters" loosely based on the influential Mikhail BulgakovFind albums by this artist´s novel "The Master and Margarita". This edition was newly remastered and adds one bonus track recorded live in 2015 during the bands 25th Anniversary celebration concert, which features drummer Mariusz SzulakowskiFind albums by this artist, who replaced Szalajko. The music is everything a Neo-Prog enthusiast dares to expect, including lush melodic themes, strong heavy riffs, lengthy instrumental improvisations and theatrical vocals – in short heaven on Prog earth. Everything works perfectly with no margin for error, with the instrumental parts perfectly stitched together and the vocals leading the proceedings being expressive enough to easily cross any language barriers, meaning that Prog lovers not speaking Polish can still fully enjoy the music as well. Like all Neo-Prog albums the music gets a bit repetitious in time, which is great if one enters the trans like state of mind that many Prog albums require in order to fully enjoy the music, but is luckily dynamic enough to keep the listener awake, in spite of the fact that rhythmically the music is completely uniform. But the instrumental performances and the vocal parts are all as good as one might expect within the genre´s limitations and overall the album is really great fun to listen to. With the vastly improved sound quality and clarity of the remaster, this is definitely worth investigating, especially in view of the fact that Prog sadly is a dying species these days.

Updated: 21/09/2021Posted: 17/01/2020

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LIZARD ~ TALES OF THE ARTICHOKE WOOD AUDIO CAVE 2021/007 (Barcode: 5908298549261) ~ POLAND ~ Progressive Rock Recorded: 2004 - 2005 Released: 2021 This is a reissue of the third album by Polish Prog group LizardFind albums by this artist, originally released in 2005. The group comprised at the time of vocalist / guitarist / leader and principal author of music and lyrics Damian BydlinskiFind albums by this artist, violinist / keyboardist Krzysztof MaciejowskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Janusz TanistraFind albums by this artist and drummer Mariusz SzulakowskiFind albums by this artist. The album offers ten tracks, which constitute an intro, two three-part suites, one two-part suite and finally an outro, obviously a concept album, this time presenting the idea of “painting by sounds”, with the three suites dedicated to three pivotal painters: Vincent van GoghFind albums by this artist, Salvador DaliFind albums by this artist and Pablo PicassoFind albums by this artist. The album was subtly remastered / remixed and the new edition offers (hidden) bonus tracks that originate from the group’s second album “PsychopulsFind albums with this title”, recorded live during the band’s 25th Anniversary concert, with a different lineup, as well as a new graphic design. As I have already stated several times, Lizard are one of the few Neo-Prog bands that are able to create consistently coherent and meaningful Progressive Rock, which combines great melodies, intelligent lyrics, great riffs and above all manages not to be repetitive and boring ten minutes into the music. Their success is largely due to the strong and very creative personality of the group’s leader; apparently in some situations strong leadership is probably the most effective way to achieve success. Lizard offer lyrics in Polish, but to be honest most Prog lovers should be perfectly able to enjoy their music without the verbal layer, same as they can enjoy Italian Prog or South American Prog. Of course for those listeners who are native Polish language speakers, the lyrics contain messages, which encourage thought and reflection, sadly a non-existent characteristic in other genres of today’s popular music. Overall, this is a classic Neo-Prog album, which is great fun to listen to and which stands well the test of time. For Prog lovers the world over, this is a great opportunity to grab a copy of this, long time out of print album, with some bonus material and excellent sound quality. If you have to listen to Neo-Prog, at least try to listen to some of the best out there!

Updated: 21/09/2021Posted: 21/09/2021

CD 1 Digipak Remastered Bonus Tracks Recommend To A Friend

LIZARD ~ W GALERII CZASU (21ST ANNIVERSARY EDITION) AUDIO CAVE 2018/003 (Barcode: 5905669566469) ~ POLAND ~ Progressive Rock Recorded: 1996 Released: 2018 This is a reissue of the debut album by the Polish Progressive Rock group LizardFind albums by this artist, newly remastered for this edition. At the time of the recording the lineup of the group included vocalist Damian BydlinskiFind albums by this artist, guitarist Miroslaw WorekFind albums by this artist, keyboardist Andrzej JanczaFind albums by this artist, bassist Janusz TanistraFind albums by this artist and drummer Mariusz SzulakowskiFind albums by this artist. The album presents six original compositions, three of which are multi-part mini suites. The music is composed by Bydlinski or co-composed / composed by him and / or other band members and all lyrics (in Polish) are by Bydlinski. This album was already reissued before with added bonus tracks. Since Prog by definition includes a layer of improvisation it is therefore closely related musically to the Jazz / Fusion idioms. However, in contrast to Polish Jazz, which is a flourishing genre and often considered as perhaps the most creative on the international scale in the last two decades, Polish Prog never achieved the same success. The "original" wave of Prog (1960 / 1970s) almost completely missed Poland except for the Fusion oriented SBBFind albums by this artist and Pop / Rock oriented SkaldowieFind albums by this artist making fairly significant statements. The Neo-Prog (starting in 1990s) didn´t do much better overall, and with the exception of QuidamFind albums by this artist (debut album released in 1996), Lizard (debut album released in 1997) and RiversideFind albums by this artist (debut album released in 2004), not much else happened. All the above mentioned bands produced a series of albums, which over time showed a deterioration in their quality, and in time either disbanded or left the Prog idiom completely. Over time there were quite a few other bands out there, none of which made a truly significant statement, on the world scale. To be perfectly honest, the Neo-Prog genre was a bad idea to start with anyway. It was a priori derivative, almost completely unoriginal and often criminally boring. The idea of bringing back to life a musical genre that burnt itself out during its original period of activity is by definition absurd. Having said all that, the early albums by the three abovementioned groups (Quidam, Lizard, Riverside), including this one, have their merits. Musically "W Galerii Czasu" is an archetypal Neo-Prog album, with lengthy multi-part tracks, which offer several melody lines within one track and theatrical vocals. In this case the melodies are solid and interesting enough to make the album quite listenable. The instrumental work is fine, but not exceptional, well balanced and overall coherent. The vocals are somewhat monotonous and the vocal range is limited, but at least the vocalist sticks to singing in Polish, so the listener is not subjected to the bad English accent torture. The album aged well and lost nothing of its initial fine form, but again Neo-Prog did not move an inch since its conception, so this is not surprising. Overall it is still a very good listening experience, especially for the Prog Heads that are still around. For the sake of nostalgia and the great remastered sound, I can wholeheartedly recommend it!

Updated: 21/09/2021Posted: 04/07/2018

CD 1 Digipak Remastered Recommend To A Friend