Lizard music

Tuesday night's Jesus Lizard show at Irving Plaza was a blast. My review -- accompanied by a slide show of excellent pics courtesy of Laal Shams, who also took the one above -- can be read over at the Volume.

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Bonus tracks: a Jesus Lizard set list at Brooklyn Vegan, and an interesting Ben Ratliff review of the same show I caught.

I enjoy the boldness of Ratliff's opening argument, though I've definitely done my share of griping re: bands that reunite without producing any new music. In the end, I guess I'd have to go with the old cop-out: It's a case-by-case situation. Was I happy to see the Lizard back onstage, and did I care whether they played any new material? Hell yes and hell no, respectively. On the other hand, I find it especially respectable that bands like Mission of Burma and Dinosaur Jr. have regrouped and made extremely good new albums.

What it really comes down to, I think, is whether or not you got to see the band in question the first time around. A strong case in point: Slint. Like many folks I know, I didn't have a clue who they were while they were still an active band. Their show (also at Irving Plaza) in March of '05 was a mindblower. Having said all this, it is certainly possible for a band to damage its legacy via a lackluster reunion. Judging by a late-night TV clip I recently watched, the Pixies have been doing just that for some time.