Customer Reviews

69 Plunderphonics 69

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've found that, every time I find something that I personally find to be absolutely wonderful, some other people will agree with me, but there are quite likely just as many people who have exactly the opposite opinion. When Smooth Earl (whose opinion you will find immediately below) says "I was doing stuff like that on my tape recorder back in '83 when I was in 4th grade, and I did a better job than this guy", it reminds me all those people who say their dog could make a better painting than Jackson Pollock (or Pablo Picasso).
In some cases these people really can't see the difference between a smudge and a Pollock. That's OK. Perhaps to Smooth Earl the entire oeuvre of John Oswald really does sound like something he did in the 4th grade (when are you going to release your album Earl, so we can compare?).
Poor hearing-deprived man, but still, everyone is entitled to have their opinion.
What I object to is Earl saying, "You will be severely disappointed just like me." What a stupid, narrow-minded statement. I obviously don't share your opinion Earl, and there others who don't think like you do - please check out the reviews at the bottom of the page.
I wish that there were listening samples for each of the 60 tracks in this box set, because, like it or not, there is undeniably more variety in this package than in any other musical offering I can think of. Sure there probably is something here for everyone to dislike, but for anyone with open ears, and a desire for surprises, this is a cornucopia of all kinds of music; each kind presented in a new way, sometimes subtly and sometimes brutally.
I suspect that neither Smooth Earl or "a music fan" listened any further than the first couple of tracks, because when they make their analogies to changing radio stations every two seconds they obviously haven't listened to Rainbow, which is an elegiac, glistening shifting of perfectly consonant chords played by the 101 String Orchestra like one big wave; or PreLieu where a live string quartet plays a sinuous, sensual variation of one of Beethoven's prettiest tunes; or Anon which is a chorus of the beautiful voice of Tim Buckley.
And then there is the fast-paced stuff. Perhaps Smooth Earl could edit in the 4th grade as well as Oswald, but I've never heard anyone who can dice and splice as intricately and precisely as can be found in any number of the cuts on Plunderphonic.
In addition to getting a lot of music in this box set, one will also discover a treasure chest of detailed notes (in the 40,000 word interview Oswald sometimes speaks as acrobatically as he composes) and a lot of often very funny visuals which are another way to get an idea of what the music is like. For example, look at the cover collage above: a group photo of U2 has been transformed into a band of Frankensteins, in which David Bowie and Barbra Streisand, or Boy George and Billy Gibbons get grafted into one person.
Oswald suggests that Power (composed in 1975) is perhaps the first Rap song. It was created independent of the concurrent experiments of Afrika Bambaataa and crew, predates Byrne and Eno's similar experiments by 5 years, and in its use of Led Zepplin riffs it predates the Beastie Boys by a decade. One of the reasons some of this music sounds so unusual is that it was created so much ahead of its time. It's kind of like the case of Trout Mask Replica (which also gets transformed by Oswald).
Unlike other commentators I won't presume to say whether you should get this set or not. But I think that any listener whose range of listening interests can go from Stravinsky to Metallica to Public Enemy might be intrigued. Or any one who wants to hear an Agatha Christie story as if it was transformed by James Joyce... or Dolly Parton slowly turn into a man... or Bill Frisell playing with Elvis Presley... Debussy sung by a bird... an almost brand new Doors song ... Anton Webern and the Beach Boys ... Fine Young Cannibals with Annie Lennox (ten years before mash-ups)... a cubist Count Basie... Madonna granulated... it's all here.

69/96 is perhaps the definitive set of John Oswald's experimental Plunderphonics, a two-disc retrospective covering most of his most famous and often brilliant work, from the entireity of the ultra rare Electrax (or Rubiyat, as Electra renamed it) EP to selections from Plexure, Grayfolded, the original (and highly illegal) Plunderphonics CD, and Discosphere.

For the uninformed, Plunderphonics is sampling taken to the next level, songs manipulated, sometimes beyond recognition and often to completely alter their meaning. Just to briefly list some of the tracks on this album would be difficult. There's Chuck Berry songs compressed down to 10 seconds or less (the Barely tracks), Dolly Parton singing a duet with a slowed-down version of herself (Pretender), the Kronos Quartet compared and contrasted with a generic heavy metal band (Mach), a mashup of the Carly Simon and Faster Pussycat renditions of "Vain" (Vane), a marathon of different singers and their renditions of the Phil Spector song "Ebb Tide" (Ebb), and many many more. It's extremely hard to describe half of these songs without making them sound like less than they are. It's popular music completely mutated into something completely above and beyond most anything pop music has to offer, and some of the tracks showcased were even ahead of their time (such as "Power," a combination of Led Zeppelin riffs and televangical ranting that could almost count as one of the first rap songs).

Augmenting the 62 tracks found in this collection is a comprehensive interview with John Oswald that gives key insight into most of the tracks on the discs: how they were made, what they were made for, the history of Plunderphonics, and much much more. Almost no stone is unturned, and some of the songs he mentions in passing that didn't make the cut for this set also serve to pique one's interest. Maybe another Plunderphonics box set will eventually see the light of day if we're lucky.

All told, this is an extremely well done and exceptionally brilliant package, and should be essential for fans of experimental music or to those who would like to know exactly what sort of possibilities sampling can hold as a medium in and of itself. I'd recommend getting this as soon as you can. While the copyright lawyers haven't made a fuss over this album yet, who knows when they might.

Get this CD box set. Pop it in your CD player. Grab your headphones. Press Play. Smile.

Yes, a modern audio release can be simultaneously original and derivative. Unless your idea of unique musical expression is listening to N-Sync, you will be thrilled by every track.

Challenging? Yes. This won't be for everyone, but for those who have ears, Listen!

Was this review helpful to you?

Get it before it's too late! If Amazon is out of stock, get it somewhere else, there are plenty of online options.

This is an amazingly packaged and programmed 25+ year retrospective of the ingenious sampling "outlaw" art of Canadian composer and manipulator John Oswald. It includes all the tracks (many in updated versions) from the notorious "Plunderphonic" CD destroyed by the Canadian government (with the unforgettable Michael Jackson image on the cover), all the "Electrax" tunes from the very hard to find "Rubiyat" CD, a few selections from "Plexure", unreleased stuff written for various dance projects and the Kronos quartet, the legendary 1975 "Power" track... and much much more! It's all here folks, over 2 hours, about 60 tracks.

Everything from Stravinsky to Jim Morrision to Erik Satie to Count Basie to Carly Simon to beloved Jacko himself manipulated and transformed into unforgettable new works of strange and beautiful sonic art... all lavishly illustrated with extensive notes in the form of interviews with John Oswald.

This is your one stop Plunderphonics shop. Buy it, dub it, burn it, steal it... just get it before the copyright lawyers do!

In my opinion, the best release of 2001. You won't be able to stop listening or smiling. Oswald's mastery at tape manipulation and digital dubbing is obvious in this compilation. Drawing from a wide range of sources, 69 Plunderphonics 96 is post-modern tribute to the pop music of the 20th century. The accompanying literature (a q&a with John Oswald) provides an exciting insight to his own creation process, publication problems, and the status of pop music today.

It's both! At the same time!

Is this what creative music is supposed to be? Or just America wallowing in its own filth? You decide - it just depends from which angle you look at!

People on the street wonder why I've got an ear-to-ear grin coming off my headphones. I haven't been this excited about an album since I was 14 and discovered Sgt. Pepper!

Naked City, Don Van Vliet, Bing Crosby and Beethoven on the same album! Not to mention Dally Proton! James Brown! Agatha Christie!

These are the Original hits! These are the Original stars!

Order by midnight tonite!!!

Yes,this set has all sorts of crazy ,cut-up,mix sequences and wild ideas galore! It is a landslide of madness and imagination......incredible stuff. Almost an overdose of sounds.

BUT ,when I first got the album of CDs ,.....my one CD player had a very hard time reading disc #2. You see in all the lust for an "art piece" the disc is made to start playing at something like track #50,and carry on from that number to "blow your mind" ,I'd guess, in an arty fashion. Sadly,some disc players refuse to start at such a high number and just sit there "hung-up" and computer stunned(I'd like to call it).I'd guess it blew more CD players minds? So,you just might not be able to play disc 2 in this set......or maybe you might? You have a better chance at it if you have a few players,and can give it a try in a bunch of 'em. Barring that "art" disaster.....this is a fine set of sounds from a master.

Plunderphonics, coined by John Oswald in his 1985 essay, refers to the act of creating songs by arranging samples of one or more pre-existing songs. While very similar to sampling, or "mash-ups," in the realm of hip-hop, Plunderphonics only uses what is extracted from the original musical source of a piece and does not attempt to add any other real or synthesized signs. Oswald wanted his music to have a certain sense of familiarity so that people would be able to recognize the source, regardless of whether it was changed in pitch, speed, or direction. Plunderphonics 69/96 is an album comprised of Oswald's most famous musical creations, with his pop and rock based tracks on the first disc,"Songs," and his classical, jazz, and other instrumental influenced pieces on the second disc, "Tunes." While both discs belong to the same album and belong to the "musique concrete" school of music, they are aimed at different audiences.

Plunderphonics is set within the "musique concrete" school of the technosonic music. Musique concrete, literally concrete music, focuses on creating music through pre-existing sounds, from as simple as everyday objects making noises to as complex as established songs. "Songs," the first disc in the album, is an excellent example of musique concrete because all of the songs are created through assembling parts of a pre-recorded song. "Brown" features samples from the famous Public Enemy song, "Fight the Power," as well as other songs such "I Feel Good" by James Brown. Clips of James Brown's songs are also featured in "Black," along with samples from Prince. In "Dab," trademark sounds of Michael Jackson's works are complied in a video game format, such that as the song, or "level," progresses, the complexity and difficulty increases. Dolly Parton's "The Great Pretender" is sampled in "Pretender," as it is slows down so much that his voice drops several octaves and he has a duet with himself. "Tunes," the second disc of the album, is also an example of musique concrete. Unlike the first disc, the songs on "Tunes" use samples from various classical and other instrumental based recordings. For example, "Z24" features clips from the "2001 Space Odyssey," looping the song to create a new texture. "Songs" and "Tunes" belong in the musique concrete school of technosonic music because each song is derived from samples of either a pop or rock song or an instrumental piece.

While both discs are examples of "musique concrete," they are not geared toward the same audience. "Songs" appeals to a wide audience because it samples from the popular music of various decades. Even if a listener prefers a different genre of music or was born after the song was created, the songs used are so iconic that anyone can pinpoint where a sound clip comes from. Oswald uses key sounds that are prototypic of the source music that are instantly recognizable. "Tunes," on the other hand, derives its sounds from classical, jazz, and instrumental pieces. While some of the pieces are widely-known, such as the "2001 Space Odyssey" which is used and parodied in many settings, a vast majority of the songs are not mainstream songs nor iconic enough for people who aren't versed within that discipline of music. "Tunes" does not have the same advantage as "Songs" because it does not have the same extensive sense of familiarity. Whereas "Songs" appeals to any listener, "Tunes" will have the greatest appreciation in those who have knowledge of songs within the classical, jazz, or instrumental realms. Because "Songs" and "Tunes" sample from different genres of music, they will be appreciated by different sets of listeners.

Picking a single song to get from this album is a difficult task. For me, "Brown" is my favorite from "Songs" and "Z24" is my favorite from "Tunes;" this is because I've grown up listening to James Brown's "I Feel Good" and the "2001 Space Odyssey" and this makes the sounds from these songs instantaneously recognizable. For other listeners, this might not be the case; for example, quite a few of my friends are much more appreciative of Michael Jackson and may be more inclined to pick "Dab" as their favorite. Because this area of musique concrete is significantly dependent on the source music, the appeal of a Plunderphonics song lies within the listener's ability to identify the original source of the music. The best recommendation I can give for those who only want one song is to see what each song is based on.

Overall, Plunderphonics is an enjoyable album for listeners of all backgrounds. The feeling of familiarity with the source music is the driving force that draws people into the music. While all audiences will appreciate the first disc of the album, those who listen to classical or jazz will have more enjoyment for the second disc. With the notion of remixing songs as such a popular concept in today's society, there is a song for everybody in Plunderphonics.

Go ahead, life is short, buy it. Also buy "Grayfolded", which I have never gotten tired of after dozens (okay, maybe not a lot of dozens) of listens.

Yeah, I heard about this "Plunderphonics" thing in SPIN and ROlling Stone, and they went on and on about how "essential" and "awesome" it was. Then I thought this guy in the review right before mine was just being a "hater" or whatever, but DANG if he wasn't right!

I'm a fan of remixes and samples of sorts, so this compilation piqued my curiosity, but ... I should've saved my money. Yeah, sure, you'll recognize a snippet here and there of a song or a popular artist's voice, but it's so choppy ... and there's no "flow" to it ... it is not music of any kind, just irritating noise. Just like the other guy said, it's like some lil' kid won't quit playing with the radio so it skips to every other station every 2 seconds. Heck, I was doing stuff like that on my tape recorder back in '83 when I was in 4th grade, and I did a better job than this guy.

If you have been wanting to buy this compilation, do yourself a favor: close your eyes, take a deep breath, open your eyes, and LET IT GO. You will be severely disappointed just like me.