Easy Listening for the Hard of Hearing [Import]

Boyd Rice, Frank Tovey | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 3, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Mute
• ASIN: B000026ZEQ
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #533,040 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A risky endeavor, but ultimately disappointing, July 28, 2009

By 

Twiddles42 (MN, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Easy Listening for the Hard of Hearing (Audio CD)

A recent Fad Gadget/Frank Tovey compilation album featured the second track from this album. I took to it fairly quickly, and sought out this album, thinking the other tracks would be of similar caliber. Especially as the Fad Gadget albums have a unique charm, particularly with the music, that had piqued my interest.

Oops.

Upon listening to all 12 tracks, only that second one is really any good for replay value. The remainder just don't have the same grab. That is my own personal preference talking; subjectiveness is inevitable with the arts...

What makes this album unique is there are no real instruments. Only found objects (e.g. washboards, empty bottles, keys, and a motley assortment of any number of bric-a-bracs...), whose resonance and other audible features were used as makeshift instruments. It's an interesting experiment by Boyd Rice and Frank, but it just does not gel together as much as I had hoped.

There is a use of rhythm present in each track. Yet it's just a bunch of noises that lack a melody to go along with the rhythm. Save for track 2, of course.

It's definitely worthy as a historical piece of study for a thesis, but like math nowadays (if those student assessment tests are themselves accurate), historical value isn't much valued either.