Queen of All Ears | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1998 | |||
Studio | Power Station, New York City | |||
Label | Strange & Beautiful Music [1] | |||
Producer | John Lurie, Pat Dillett | |||
The Lounge Lizards chronology | ||||
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Queen of All Ears is an album by the American band the Lounge Lizards, released in 1998. [2] [3] It was the band's final album. [4]
"The First and Royal Queen" was used at the end of episodes of Painting with John. [5] The band supported the album with an international tour. [6]
The album was produced by John Lurie and Pat Dillett. [7] The tracks were written by Lurie, with bass player Erik Sanko cowriting two. [8] Jane Scarpantoni played cello on Queen of All Ears; in total, nine musicians played on the album. [9] [10]
Released on Lurie's own label, it was originally intended for Luaka Bop; legal issues delayed the release for two years. [11] [12] Lurie considered writing a book about the ordeal, to be titled What Do You Know About Music? You're Not a Lawyer. [13] The account was told in Lurie's memoir The History of Bones (2021), in which he also apologized to David Tronzo, because a song intended as a showcase for Tronzo was cut from the album and thus the guitarist did not perform a solo on the recording. [14]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [15] |
Robert Christgau | [16] |
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | [17] |
JazzTimes wrote that "the music relies heavily on group improvisation in the highly colored riffs and patterns that form the basis of most of the proceedings." [18] Esquire determined that Lurie's "alto and soprano saxophoning has become something rather nice: plaintive, searching, Colemanesque, quite at home (soaring) in the upper registers." [19] The Boston Globe opined that "New York's fringe-crawlers mature with impressionistic etchings of chamber jazz and world music." [20]
The Guardian stated that "the Lounge Lizards roll from moments of prayer-like intensity— Coltranesque flourishes over African pulsing—to Charles Mingus doing the music for scary Czech cartoons, to blasting Dragnet rumbles." [21] The Chicago Tribune opined that the album "embarks on an Amer-Euro-Afro fake jazz cruise brimming with trans-global eclecticism, defanged Mingus/Monk moves and sometimes striking instrumental explosions." [22]
AllMusic wrote that "John Lurie's so-called 'non-jazz' approach is in full flower on this fascinating record." [15]
All tracks composed by John Lurie; except where noted.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "The First and Royal Queen" | 3:59 | |
2. | "The Birds Near Her House" | John Lurie, Erik Sanko | 11:40 |
3. | "Scary Children" | 4:07 | |
4. | "She Drove Me Mad" | 4:21 | |
5. | "Queen of All Ears" | 5:25 | |
6. | "Monsters Over Bangkok" | 10:13 | |
7. | "Three Crowns of Wood" | John Lurie, Erik Sanko | 4:01 |
8. | "John Zorn's S&M Circus" | 6:13 | |
9. | "Yak" | 5:41 | |
10. | "Queen Reprise" | 3:46 |