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]
Production
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]
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]
Track listing
All tracks composed by John Lurie; except where noted.
