The Beatles set the gold standard by releasing 13 studio albums in 7 years from 1963 through to 1970. Contemporaries of theirs The Who released 11 studio albums in forty years from 1966 to 2006, Led Zeppelin released 8 from 1969 to 1979 and Paul Simon released 14 in the 53 years between 1965 and 2018. Billy Joel, who hasn’t recorded an album of pop music in 26 years, once famously quipped that upon matching The Beatles studio output of 13 albums in 30 years it was time for him to quit. And then there’s Australia’s King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard.
Partly named in homage to Jim Morrison of The Doors and his late tragically doomed poet shaman alter ego The Lizard King, these seven lads from Melbourne, Australia set a personal best in 2017 by releasing five albums in one year. Bandleader Stu Mackenzie explained to NME in a December 2017 interview:
“We had this random batch of songs. It was not a cohesive record at all. So we thought we’d split it up, and split again until it became five. We came close to burning ourselves out, or at least wringing each other’s necks. We took a break, and then all these random, disparate song ideas came out of that void of not recording for a little while. Then we worked on everything one album at a time.”
Remarkably their latest album Fishing For Fishies, released in late April 2019, is their 14th studio album in 7 years and most accessible to date. Staying true to their exploratory psychedelic raga riff melodic roots King Gizzard give the most straight ahead performance of their career throughout nine tracks and 42 minutes of Fishing For Fishies. In describing the album Mackenzie told Rolling Stone:
“We tried to make a blues record. A blues-boogie-shuffle-kinda-thing, but the songs kept fighting it, or maybe it was us fighting them. Ultimately though we let them have their own personalities and forge their own path.”
Showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, in addition to embarking on their latest world tour this past June 27, have already set a release date for their follow up to Fishing For Fishies. Their 15th album in 7 years Infest The Rats’ Nest is set to be released August 16th, 2019, the date curiously coinciding with the 50th Anniversary of the Woodstock Music And Art Fair held in Bethel, New York August 15-17, 1969, a dream headline gig to be sure if Woodstock 50 is ever to happen.
Rating: 8/10
Star Rating: 4/5
2019 Song Of The Day Club 21/52