Queen of All Ears
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| Queen of All Ears | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 1998 | |||
| Studio | Power Station, New York City | |||
| Label | Strange & Beautiful Music[1] | |||
| Producer | John Lurie, Pat Dillett | |||
| The Lounge Lizards chronology | ||||
| ||||
Queen of All Ears is the fourth and final studio album[2] by the American band the Lounge Lizards, released in March 1998.[3][4][5]
"The First and Royal Queen" was used at the end of episodes of Painting with John.[6] The band supported the album with an international tour.[7]
The album was produced by John Lurie and Pat Dillett.[8] The tracks were written by Lurie, with bass player Erik Sanko cowriting two.[9] Jane Scarpantoni played cello on Queen of All Ears; in total, nine musicians played on the album.[10][11]
Released on Lurie's own label, it was originally intended for Luaka Bop; legal issues delayed the release for two years.[12][13] Lurie considered writing a book about the ordeal, to be titled What Do You Know About Music? You're Not a Lawyer.[14] 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.[15]
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [16] |
| Robert Christgau |  [17] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |  [18] |
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."[19] 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."[20] The Boston Globe opined that "New York's fringe-crawlers mature with impressionistic etchings of chamber jazz and world music."[21]
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."[22] 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."[23]
AllMusic wrote that "John Lurie's so-called 'non-jazz' approach is in full flower on this fascinating record."[16]
