Mauro Picotto – Lizard

Mauro said that :VC : (Virgin) and FFRR were fighting over the rights to Lizard in this video: https://youtu.be/MzVmnBOXb-A?si=oL-EmORqu9cjdjx6

Lizard (Tea Mix) is confirmed the first reverse bass track in history. According to Mauro Picotto himself he first played it on 7th December 1997 at Ultimo Impero on Acetate. The track got quickly sampled by other producers such as Alex Castelli who then stole the sound.

One of my favourite tunes of the late 90’s, it was played on Radio 1 by Judge Jules and Dave Pearce so much before it’s release on :VC : that I couldn’t wait for it to appear in the shops.

It was always about the Megavoices Mix. The opening siren, ‘gonna get you’ refrain and stomping beats have always stuck in my head as a great opening to a track.

I was into aggressive-sounding dance music back then and this definitely has a dark foreboding mood to it. Hard trance with a hint of techno, it builds and builds before the big finish like any well-structured big room track should do for the hands in the air moment at the finale.

The mid-section breaks up the pace with some military-sounding snare rolls in the breakdowns before kicking off again with some high pitched synths added in the mid-section.

The best bit is yet to come in the final breakdown where the mood changes with an uplifting synth section that is reminiscent of Binary Finary’s ‘1998’.

It sounds all a bit dated now, however it has aged better than some of its contemporaries from the time.

*remastered* yeah right... this is the worst sounding release of Lizard. Totally brickwalled to the max. THX Sean Davis !

Montana's remix is a filthy Tech Trance take on the Megavoices mix (the one everyone knows from '99).

He cuts it up & dices it into very sharp pieces. This leads into the break, where we get...

No, it's not Binary Finary's 1998. It's Lizard!

...

...ok, yeah it's Binary Finary's 1998.

Hey, Montana worked with what he was given.

He brings it up & up into ravey Tech Trance. Very effective.

Some rare versions wich are hard to find. And not a brickwall-remaster. The tracks are just like in 1998/1999.

fab re-edit of legendary radio dj / dj (and Dj Pierre) collaborator Manny Cuevas. Re-Edits various mixes of this track and create a dj friendly long version.

Interesting concept, but the inclusion of the "Trance Mix" at the end is really out of place (it isn't even mixed in).
The main reason i can't recommend this, is the atrociously bad audio quality. Especially noticeable right after the intro. All the bass hits are reduced to a mushy sponge-sound.
Also, ommiting the melodic part of Lizard makes this just a boring 13min timewaster with nothing going for it.

fab set of remixes finally out on digital stores

Definitely contains the best version of Lizard, the incredible R.A.F. By Picotto Remix / UK Edit. It really makes you want to stand up and have a giant strobe fest lasershow in your room.

Somehow I think the mastering lacks a little base, but on an excusable level and you definitely forget once you this incredible tune.