Finding an interesting way to salvage one of King Crimson’s worst albums is a daunting task, and it turns out this new “elemental mix” version is not the answer.

Brief recap: This is the fourth Crimson album that has been presented in this manner. The conceit is to take original parts for the album—some that made it to the final, and some that did not—and present it as an alternate release. So the producer may remove an instrument completely, or bring something in the background to the forefront, or omit certain sections, etc. For complex prog-rock albums, it’s certainly an interesting thought, bordering on potential sacrilege.

The approach worked well on Red and Larks’ Tongues in Aspic a couple years ago, but falls very short here—mostly because the source album was so lousy to begin with (don’t come at me, Robert Fripp said the same thing). I respect the decision to try and make something interesting out of this mess, but it’s safe to say this approach will not change anyone’s mind about Lizard.

“Happy Family” ditches the vocals entirely, and the resulting song is a plodding bore. “Cirkus,” a fan favorite, ditches the drums fully and therefore much of the atmosphere and sinister feel of the song. The awful “Indoor Games” also loses any sort of rhythm section and momentum in this stripped format, lurching awkwardly between sections, and “Lady of the Dancing Water” is mildly better because of the buried acoustic guitar now sharing space with the original piano.

The sidelong “Lizard” is now split into seven separate sections, which is nice, as it always felt like three separate songs anyway. The “Prince Rupert Awakes” section scales back the Mellotron and Yes frontman Jon Anderson’s guest vocal, opting for a long piano intro and hacking out about half of the original lyrics (not that they were missed). “Bolero,” which was driven before by the rat-a-tat snare drums, now dispenses with those for the first half in favor of the piano, but slowly adds in all the instruments into a sort of free-jazz piece.

“Last Skirmish” is probably the most successful here, not tampering as much with the original and as such retaining that signature combination of Crimson noise and jazz-rock atmosphere. It’s one of the few times where you can see maybe what the band was trying to accomplish here, and this remix doesn’t change that.

The most notable omission from this whole compilation is the drums, as noted; evidently someone felt Andy McCulloch was the issue with Lizard. Believe me, he was not. Some fans may maintain their devotion to this one, just as Yes fans who somehow love Tales From Topographic Oceans or Tormato as favorites, but all the remixes and new approaches can’t save an album that just wasn’t that interesting to begin with. Great new cover art, though.

Rating: D+

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