From: wildman@athena.mit.edu (Timothy Worsley)
Subject: Zorn, Naked City, etc.
Summary: babbling
Reply-To: eprice@sql.sybase.com
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 03:55:39 GMT

(I hope these ravings are not too incoherent...)

Got "heretic, jeux des dames cruelles" (Avant 1) at the Downtown Music
Gallery last weekend while visiting my brother in NYC.  Also picked up
"Buried Secrets", the second Pain Killer album (Zorn/Laswell/Harris
plus Justin Broadrick and G. C. Green on two of the tunes).  These two
CDs along with a $4 used LP added up to $80!  Yikes!  Apparently,
they've already sold 10 of the Naked City albums, so I guess I'm not
the only one to come up with rationalizations for it!  I will try not
to flinch when the time comes for Avant 2, 3, 4, and 5...

Anyway, "heretic" is great.  It's totally different from "Naked City"
or "Torturegarden"; as has been mentioned it is primarily different
configurations of the usual suspects.  My brother's favorite tune --
track #21, "Fire and Ice (Club Scene)" -- is the only one with
everyone playing, and it is *funky*.  My favorite track is probably
#17, "Slaughterhouse/Chase Sequence" with Frith, Baron and Frisell.

"Buried Secrets" is also great.  I've listened to it even more than
"heretic".  I wasn't too enthralled with "Guts of a Virgin" (although
I just listened to it again, and now I like it more, perhaps I just
didn't get Pain Killer at first?).  "Buried Secrets" is intense, I
have a serious urge to see Pain Killer live now!  Knowing what a
difference it makes with Naked City, I'm sure it would be the same in
this case.  I know someone that knows someone ... that saw them open
for Sonic Youth (I think at the Ritz in NYC) and was blown away --
even said that Pain Killer was more impressive than Sonic Youth
despite these people being big Sonic Youth fans or something.  Anyway,
for anyone that likes Naked City or Blind Idiot God, I recommend this
stuff too...

This reminds me, I was going to do a cross-posting to alt.cult-movies
and bring up the soundtrack question (with respect to "heretic") and
the "Heaven and Earth Magic" film and stuff, and also suggest that
Dario Argento should look into Pain Killer for some future project...
Heh.  Well, I decided not to do that -- but I will mention that Kim's
Video in NYC has a Harry Smith *section*, and I got "Heaven and Earth
Magic" there.  (for those who are confused about the relevance of all
this: "heretic" is dedicated to Harry Smith and describes "H&EM" as
one of the greatest films of all time.)  It is an hour-long animated
film made between 1957 and 1962 (I think).  Kind of surrealist I
guess (I'm no expert on these things).  One thing I did notice was
that the soundtrack was vaguely Zorn-like (*vaguely*, perhaps
"Spillane" is what I would relate it to the most).  Anyway, the film
didn't make a lot of sense to me, although it was interesting viewing.

Anyone else care to comment?  I'm still curious as to the real
"soundtrack issue" regarding "heretic" (obviously, it is not the
soundtrack to "Heaven and Earth Magic").

Other things I've been listening to:

Intergalactic Maiden Ballet: "Square Dance" (with Zorn on a few
tunes).  This is a fun album, heavily reminiscent to me of Zappa,
especially the band from the Helsinki concert (YCDTOSA, vol. 2 --
which is probably my favorite Zappa album).  This is safe, normal
music -- even Zorn doesn't get too carried away with the screeching.
Maybe it's a coicidence (or maybe I'm hallucinating) but I swear the
bass player is suggesting Hendrix's "Fire" on one of the tunes.

Friction: "Replicant Walk" (with Zorn on two tunes).  A little more
bizarre, but essentially straight ahead jazz/rock/whatever.  I like it.

I talked to a guy at Tower in Cambridge, MA and he said they would be
getting the Avant records, but he didn't know if they would be able to
find a distributor or if they would import them on their own.  He
claimed they would have them in "a few weeks".  (I went to NYC the
next day...)

And I would like to relate an anecdote I find amusing:

It had always been one of my goals in life to never have gone to the
Bluenote.  Unfortunately, earlier this summer I ended up at that very
establishment to see John McLaughlin.  See, I had been dragging my
brother to lots of concerts that he didn't necessarily have much
interest in (althouh usually he enjoyed them once there), so it only
seemed fair that I should reciprocate...  Oh well.  (BTW, this is one
of my rationalizations for spending $35 for a CD: it's cheaper than
seeing John McLaughlin at the Bluenote, and I did do that...)  In any
case, the other night, I was sitting around with my brother and his
two roommates in their apartment.  One of them had just returned to
NYC after spending most of the summer elsewhere, and he was also a big
McLaughlin fan.  He's hounding my brother to listen to this LP
"Shakti" or something, and Rob's having none of it, because we're all
too excited by the new Pain Killer and Naked City releases which we've
been listening to constantly since obtaining them.  Finally, my
brother just says "John McLaughlin sucks!" and proceeds to describe
how much more impressed he is with Bill Frisell!  His roommate is
horrified... (Perhaps a similar reaction was elicited from some other
visitors who were gaping in awe at my brother's Grateful Dead
collection, when he says "Oh, yeah, that rack is stuff I never listen
to -- the CDs next to the stereo are the cool ones" which of course
means Zorn, Frisell, Hendrix, Kevin Eubanks, Jarrett, and others...
Ouch!)

Anyway, I thought it was cool to see that from someone who would
complain that Frisell didn't have "chops" like McLaughlin (this after
seeing Motian/Lovano/Frisell at the Knitting Factory -- which was
fantastic!) some months ago.

(And hey, I'm not happy cuz my tastes have triumphed or something --
I'm almost as new to this music as my brother is, except I came in
from the jazz purist path and he came from the rock path, to
oversimplify a bit.  Now we're converging at the middle, or the edge,
or something...)

I should have mentioned: "Heaven and Earth Magic" is available from
Mystic Fire Video of NYC (I believe).  So if you don't live near a good
video store (I happen to be in that quiet suburb of New York City
known as Cambridge, MA...) that's where you can get it -- or you can
lean on the local Shlockmusters to get it.

BTW, it was mentioned that "heretic" need not be played at high volume
or something -- well, maybe it need not be, but it certainly sounds
great when it is!

That's it,
(sorry for all the mistakes, I'm dealing with some erratic and
frustrating equipment here...)

-Ed (not Tim), eprice@sql.sybase.com (not wildman@...)

Some excerpts from my brain reeling under the shock of being required
to justify $35 each for two CDs (the Pain Killer is only 27 minutes
too):

* If you save money by not being towed during street cleaning, you owe
yourself one (1) Avant CD.  [Oh well...  I can never remember when
it's the second Tuesday of the month...]

* If you save money by not seeing John McLaughlin at the Bluenote, you
owe yourself two (2) Avant CDs.  [Oh well...  owed my brother that one...]

* If you save money by not eating out for a month and buying food
efficiently, you owe yourself four (4) Avant CDs.  [Oh well...  Simply
impossible...]

* If you save money by not getting a speeding ticket on the way to
NYC, you owe yourself five (5) Avant CDs.  [Oh well...  from Central
Square to Washington Square in under 3 hours requires some speed on
the Turnpike, 91, 84, and -- yes! fun! -- the Meritt Parkway.
Actually I have been taking the bus recently instead.]

* If your car is stolen and you get all the insurance money and don't
need another car, you owe yourself at least thirteen (13) Avant CDs,
which is the entire catalog so far!  Hmm...  HMM....