I have to admit I was pretty stoked to see a new CD from The Lizards cross our promo desk here at Sea of Tranquility, although my excitement was slightly dampened when I figured out Archeology was not all-new original studio material, but instead a short collection of cover tunes. Still, anything by The Lizards is usually reason enough to celebrate, so I went into Archeology with an open mind. You know, we see so many 'covers' CD's these days that the novelty of the whole thing more than wore off years ago. However, this one was kind of fun, as the band picked out a batch of tunes that are by no ways obvious choices for covers, which made for an intriguing and satisfying listen. In fact, many of these tunes will probably not be familiar to the masses, and that in itself is a good thing. Probably the most well known tunes here are Free's bluesy hard rock stomp "Fire And Water" and Uriah Heep's majestic "The Wizard", both given royal treatment by The Lizards, singer Mike Dimeo really tearing it up on the Free classic alongside guitarist Patrick Klein, who by the way also slays on the blues-metal take on John Lee Hooker's "I'm Mad". A real party atmosphere is created on the uptempo Baby's track "Head First", and the band get back to crunchy blues-metal on Boomerang's "Juke It", complete with mean riffs and some tasty organ. Humble Pie's boogie anthem "Thunderbox" sees drummer Bobby Rondinelli really locked in, with Dimeo doing his best Steve Marriott impression and bassist Randy Pratt delivering the harmonica. The groove laden "Tramp" by Stray Dog features plenty of savage guitar licks from Klein, and Detective's "One More Heartache" is a lean & mean hard rocker, The Lizards giving this song an almost Led Zeppelin feel with some serious bottom end, powerhouse vocals, and nasty blues-rock riffs, including some white-hot slide guitar.
This band, when you get right down to it, is scary good, a throwback to the classic 70's hard rock acts who ruled the world for many years delivering kick ass music that will forever remains timeless. Though this is a covers set, it's still a blast and proof of the heavy rock muscle that The Lizards can crank out. Apparently another new CD of all new material is imminent, so this will have to hold us over till then. At roughly 36 minutes, you'll wish there were a few more tracks here when it's all said and done.
Track Listing
- Fire and Water (Free)
- Head First (The Babys)
- I'm Mad (John Lee Hooker)
- Juke It (Boomerang)
- Thunder Box (Humble Pie)
- Tramp (Stray Dog)
- The Wizard (Uriah Heep)
- One More Heartache (Detective)
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