Customer Reviews

Buckethead Land

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you dig Buckethead, then you should own this disc. However, if you are just getting started with his amazing music, the first Praxis album or the more recent solo effort, called Monsters and Robots, might be better choices.

Buckethead Land has all of the Buckethead trademarks you have come to expect, plus some long passages consisting of various samples and keyboard parts. My favorites are the samples from Johnny Socko And His Flying Robot. If you dig the Buckethead schtick, then you'll dig it. If you don't then you won't.

This album is a must for anyone interested in truely ALTERNATIVE music. Buckethead plumbs the depths of funky terror and speed metal lyricism. Hear the wrath of Giant Robot! Hear the touching sounds of Buckethead's childhood in a chicken coop! Buy this album!

Buckethead releases weird guitar at a thousand miles an hour. Including cover of Willy Wonka Theme song and a brief Popeye intro. Must own for any fan of Buckethead, Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, or John Zorn.

Bucketheadland is the best concept record I've ever heard. The second disc has some great "dance" remixes of songs off the first disc. Some of this stuff is earlier versions of songs off of Giant Robot but this record gets more into what Bucketheadland actually is. Listening wise the "Slaughter Zone" part of the disc isn't all that but there are some great things hiding within the Slaughter Zone if you're patient enough to sift through the otherwise Ambient craziness.

This is a typically weird Buckethead album which doesn't have as much guitar on it as others. But there are some sterling examples of his virtuosity such as "Sterling Scapula." Hey! Plus, the Bucketheadland Park Theme is better, in my opinion, than on Giant Robot. Other than a few outbursts of guitar, though, the rest of the album is just plain strange! If you are just starting out listening to Buckethead, this is definitely NOT the first album you want to get, especially with the higher import price. This album is more suited to the die-hard Buckethead fan. I would suggest you start off with Monsters and Robots and if you like that, try to find Day of the Robot somewhere. Also, check out my review of Cobra Strike's "The 13th Scroll," which is sort of a Buckethead side project.

BucketHeadLand is an insane mess, and I mean that in a good way. The best way to prepare for listening to this album, is by simply going to his official website and exploring every single page so you understand (or at least try to) how he is. See, I first started listening to Bucket's music in 1999 with Monsters & Robots, and visited his site once I was hooked. This isn't a way of advertising or anything, but when you see how zany his imagination is, then you need to try and imagine that in music-form, because that's exactly what this album is. Honestly, the first time I heard this album, I wasn't too impressed with it as a whole, but it's grown on me these last 12 years. BucketHeadLand is definitely not for beginners, and you should only go for it if you've heard several of his other albums, because if this is your first sampling of the Big B, it might scare you away.

Of course, the only way you'll know if it's worth your money is by checking out the tracks for yourself, which is easy to do now in this day and age. But back when this album was still available, it was a risk, and even a lot of hardcore BucketHead fans don't place this album very highly on their top BucketHead albums lists. It's just all over the place! Some tracks have voices that repeat over and over, one is just a bunch of grunting from a guy in a graveyard, and another is a whacked out echoing, distorted voice reading a line from Alice in Wonderland. Why? Just because. You need to understand that this album isn't mean to be a masterpiece of music, but a fun ride through BucketHeadLand. Once that clicks with you, you should be set. The music on here is incredible though, and as much as I like listening to the graveyard buddy going 'Oh Jeez!', it's tracks like Computer Master and Giant Robot Theme that blow you away and wonder how BucketHead was so unnoticed until the late 90s when he was putting out riffs and solos like this back in the early 90s. The standard nutso solos we all know and love are here, as well as some tracks that have appeared on other albums. I like this album's version of 'Pure Imagination' much more than the one on Giant Robot. The quantity of music may be lacking, but this is one hell of a ride once you hop on the train.

As for the import vs US version...I don't think there's a difference at all aside from the Japanese one having that paper strip on the side of the CD case. The second CD on mine, the Japanese one, was a bunch of remixed tracks and not what's listed here. The mixes are nice, but I rarely listen to them. You might also want to get a new double CD case for it since the one used for this album is on the flimsy side. I remember when mine came in the mail, one of the discs was off of its tray thanks to the center holder thing not being that great, and others have mentioned this problem as well.

I doubt that the album will ever be re-released so jump on any good deals when you see them. If licensing issues are what kept Giant Robot NTT from staying in print, then BucketHeadLand has no chance thanks to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory samples...unless someone who has their hand in all the legal paperwork is a big fan of BucketHead's.

Good album, a little goofy at times but when Buckethead gets going, it is truly incredible. The guy has talent. Weird but talented.

Bucketheadland should only be picked up by diehard completists who are in love with the music he creates. If not for the high import price and rarity of the item, than for the fact that this album lacks in the musical department.

I bought Bucketheadland a few weeks ago, after purchasing a good 12-15 or so BH albums in the last year, and this album has les actual music than with his latest efforts.

it starts off strong, with an absilutely enthralling piece called "park theme," and stays steady with some following tracks. But more than often, you'll hear the music cue off, and some unique rambling vocals from a random entity of a man. Of course like most speech in albums, it's great to listen to for the first time, but i'ts a consierable fact that speech has less replayability than music, especially what Buckethead can comprise.

And I don;t want to say that these "songs" are filler, for they succeed in telling a "story" of sorts to the listener, but they aren;t really music. many of the "songs" tally in at a minute, and they are ultimately, a nice consistent riff with some talking.

Where you think the album is 40 tracks or so long, it really ends up compiling to 10 extremely solid tracks straight from the wicked mind of the man himself.

Computer Master is the highlight of the album, and brings you through a mini-journey through the mind of the computer running the show. And I can't empasize enough how in your face and steady 'park theme" is.

The album starts strong, but begins to drag with random vocal pieces from bystanders of the park. But as I think about how odd Bucketheadland is, I can't help but respect him for going outside the box and creating the album HE wanted for his first. It is his first solo album, and it is as ambitious as it is odd, and it is as great as it is awkwardly insufficient.

Like I stated in the beginning, buy it if you have already thoroughly listened through his other albums, and are willing to part with the inevitablr high price of this album. Tt was a nice start, but Bucketheadland was quickly surpassed by his later albums, colma, monsters and robots, the cuckoo clocks of hell, and even Giant Robot. A collectors dream album, but not for the actual listener as much as it could be.

What drags it down is that it's about 20 times more self-indulgent than Buckethead's later releases (an added bonus on this record is that a lot of the obscure references present here probably only make sense to Buckethead himself). The dance remixes are completely throwaway as well, making the second disc nothing more than a great coaster.

If you're new to Buckethead, start with Monsters and Robots or Giant Robot -- this one took about three listens to grow on me. If you're a patient fan (and I stress the word fan) you'll reap great rewards.

Get this if you can find it under 50 bucks...it's possible.

I found my copy new off the net,but I forgot what store I got it from.Ask on the [...] bucketboard and someone will tell you where,though!I only paid $25 for mine NEW versus the silly-arsre prices they're asking for USED copies here.Good luck finding one!