Bob’s Jukebox – Off to See the Lizard

This one’s a little late for a tribute, but I’m on Margaritaville time, so I’m sure Jimmy won’t mind. I decided to do Off to See the Lizard as my first Jimmy Buffett album because it holds a special place in my heart. It wasn’t the first album of his I ever heard (I’ll get to that one eventually), nor is it my favorite (I’ll get to that one as well), but it does have the special distinction of being tied to the first concert I ever attended.

Yes folks, I was a big ol’ Parrothead when I was younger (as My Not So Humble Sister can attest to, much though she might wish otherwise), and when I was just about to turn 15 Jimmy released this album and came through my neck of the woods on tour. My dad took me to see him at Merriweather Post Pavilion, and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. If nothing else, I will always be grateful to Jimmy for giving me the memory of sharing my first concert with my Dad.

So what about the album itself? Well, I’ve already admitted it’s not my favorite Jimmy Buffett album, but I should probably qualify that. Mr. Buffett is one of those rare artists that I put into the category of “self-compare”. What I mean by that is that they have transcended their genre or are just in general too good to compare to other artists; it wouldn’t really be fair to those other artists. The best you can do is to compare them to their own work. That being said, do I like the album? Of course I do! But if I were to pick one Jimmy Buffett album to listen to, it wouldn’t be the first, or even third, I would reach for.

In some ways I feel like this is a good “introductory” Jimmy Buffett album. It has more of a contemporary pop sound than some of his other albums I have heard, which lean more into a country/reggae sound. I feel like that pop sensibility might make it more approachable for the casual listener who isn’t familiar with Jimmy’s work. Unfortunately for me, I feel like it dilutes his unique sound. Not overmuch, but it does take away somewhat from what I find enticing about his earlier albums. I also find some of the lyrics to be a little too “attempt to be clever” and “forced to fit” rather than actually clever or a good rhyme scheme and scansion. This probably has a lot to do with the album being paired with Jimmy’s first book of stories, Tales from Margaritaville, which I received for Christmas that year. If I’m being honest, I think I would recommend the book of fiction over the album, but not by much. Both are good, but not great, although I loved them both when I first experienced them.

Most of the songs I really enjoyed: Take Another Road, Gravity Storm, Boomerang Love (one of my favorites on the album, which is not surprising, since it is one of the ones most reminiscent of his earlier work), I Wish Lunch Could Last Forever (he makes it sound so perfectly decadent), The Pascagoula Run, and Changing Channels (the other one of my favorites on the album, which is also not surprising, since it is the other of the ones most reminiscent of his earlier work).

A few of the songs on the album I think are perfectly acceptable, I just don’t find them outstanding: Carnival World, Why the Things We Do, and Strange Bird.

And then there’s a few songs that I just skip past, because I feel like they exemplify all the flaws I talked about earlier: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It, Off to See the Lizard, and Mermaid in the Night.

When you consider the majority of the album is songs I enjoy, and even of the ones I’m not a huge fan of half of them I still listen to, that’s a solid album. Like I said before, if you haven’t heard much (or any) Jimmy Buffett (although how you’ve managed to completely escape him before now must be a miracle), this is a good album to start with.