Customer Reviews

Frances the Mute [Vinyl]

5 star:		(264)
4 star:		(66)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(26)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

With their latest release, the Mars Volta have solidified their position as one of the most musically audacious bands in the mainstream today. Continuing in the epic progressive nature of their previous release, "Deloused in the Comatorium", "Frances the Mute" sees the band pushing the boundaries even further, making for a somewhat jarring but undoubtedly engaging listen.

The album begins with "Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus", a sprawling 13-minute epic. The song sort of builds up in reverse, firing out of the gate with wild jazzy time changes, eventually melting into spacious guitar melodies, and finally concluding with an odd electronic bit.

From there, the album mainly continues in the multi-part epic fashion, with the exception of the more radio-friendly ballad "The Widow". Much like "Televators", from "Deloused...", this song serves as a brief respite from the musical madness. However, it ends with a long, ambient outro that goes on for a bit too long, and drags the song out a bit more than it really needs to be.

"L'Via L'Viaquez" is perhaps the highlight of the album, boasting a strong Latin influence. The song is filled with scintillating salsa-esque rhythms, adding a catchiness to the wild, technical jazz structures, and features lyrics both in English and Spanish. At 12 minutes in length, the song goes by surprisingly fast.

The remaining two epics, "Miranda, That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" and "Cassandra Gemini", delve even deeper into unpredictable weirdness. Each is spread over several tracks, totaling at around 27 and 20 minutes respectively.

The jazz influence in these songs is taken to even greater extremes, featuring trumpet, flutes, and saxophone (Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea even contributes some nice trumpet work). Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's jagged guitar rhythms and Jon Theodore's octopus-like drumming are showcased here like never before, and the high-pitched cathartic wails of frontman Cedric Bixler Zavala anchor it all very nicely.

Combining jazz and rock stylings hasn't been commercially viable since the 70's, but these guys put an extremely fresh and exciting spin on it, and manage to sound very natural and cutting-edge in the process. The music seems rather chaotic at first, but for the most part, everything flows together very well.

I realize this previous description was a bit vague, but the reason is that there is so much going on in these two songs, it is extremely difficult to put it into words. It's really something you just have to hear for yourself.

Epic, unpredictable, and quite intense, the Mars Volta are most certainly not for the faint of heart. However, those who appreciate progressive rock, or any daring and challenging style of musical art will find great worth in this, one of the best and most exciting releases of the year.

The Mars Volta hit the jackpot with their debut -- a thrashing, hypnotic, hallucinatory sprawl of prog-rock. People loved it, and many said it was genius. Which, of course, makes the expectations for Album No. 2 even higher -- how can you capture lightning in a bottle more than once?

"Frances the Mute" does a pretty good job of doing just that. Without sacrificing the creepy overtones and wild sound, the Mars Volta opts for a new, stranger sound that is a bit less rock and a bit more prog. "L'Via L'Viaquez" has a sizzling riff that is louder than anything else on the album, while "Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus" sounds like a metal band going slowly insane.

Not that they've lost their metal/funk/punk/Latin/experimental edge -- some parts of it are just more prominent. Mostly it's the prog and funk... and just try to imagine what that sounds like. Songs like the half-hour "Cassandra Gemini" happily flit from one style to another, with a sense of true rock grandeur, while songs like "Miranda that Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" has an ambient flavor.

Perhaps the one problem is that instead of one sprawling concept album, like their first, this is apparently multiple "acts" put together. A few songs simply putter out, like lackluster "The Widow." But the explosive energy of almost every other song is enough to make up for "The Widow's" flaws.

In a nutshell, you don't know what to expect from the Mars Volta in any given song. They can draw you in with a simple riff or quiet melody, before launching into a screaming, frenetic jumble of Latin-prog-psychedelica-acid-jazz. It's dizzying; the instrumentation is as wild and abstract as their dark, bizarre songwriting. Their lyrics are a bit reminiscent of Burroughs, and deliver a visceral punch even if they don't make sense.

One thing that has changed is the song length; if the Mars Volta keeps this up, their future albums will have to be double or triple discs. Many songs are over ten minutes, and one is over half an hour. A few songs could definitely have used some trimming, and it has a somewhat looser feel than their first album. But most of the songs manage to do justice to their length -- lots of explosive riffs and sharp drumming, paired with some weird keyboard noises and wailing vocals.

"De-loused in the Comatorium" was an outstanding space-prog-Latin-jazz-rock album, and "Frances the Mute" does a good job of following up on it. It lacks the tightness of the Mars Volta's first album, but is a good collection in its own right.

'Frances The Mute' immediately lays all doubts to rest, that yes, it's possible that the Mars Volta could exceed the grandiosity and pretentiousness of 'Deloused in the Comatorium'. Running at over 80 minutes, there's no denying the sheer ambition of music's most hypersonic duos, Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez. This CD builds upon the template of their debut, and takes it a step further; just more of everything, more blistering guitar solos, more musical scope/experimentation, and generally more monumental. Once again, Cedric's wails and the fierce Page-Karoli-Santana guitar solos of Omar Rodriguez, dominate the album. Certainly Jon Theodore's frenetic Mitch Mitchell-esque drumming style should not be overlooked as well. The 'prog-rock meets classic rock' comparisons have been beaten into the ground, but in fact that would be accurate, going from moody Pink Floyd/Hawkwind sections to self-aggrandizing solos that would make Jimmy Page and Carlos Santana proud. Thrown into the mix are some avant-garde twists, 'Via l'Viaquez' has it's flamenco moments, the 30 minute magnum opus 'Cassandra Geminni' is sprinkled with Ornette Coleman sax-flurrys. It almost seems like the Mars Volta has been blessed with musical speaking-in-tongues, capturing the spirit of a different age unleashed as a musical mosaic, and the most impressive thing is that it works. 'Frances The Mute' is an astonishing album, breathtaking musicanship, progressive in it's spirit, and majestic in it's ambition. Definitley one of the strongest CD's of 2005.

Frances the Mute is The Mars Volta's second full length release. Deloused in the Comatorium was a promising debut after an equally good EP. It was heralded by critics and fans alike. Frances the Mute continues along the path The Mars Volta took in Deloused but it also finds the band adding some new elemnents to their sound. Some of these additions work while others just serve to dilute the songs.

Cedric Bixler is the biggest draw for me. The instrumental work is decent but then band is nothing without Cedric's excellent voice and lyrics. Here, as in Deloused, Cedric's voice is strong on every track. Frances also finds Bixler experimenting with voice manipulation. Although, not a big part of the album, what's there does serve as a detriment to the album. Cedric has a great voice but he should leave the manipulation to singers more adapt in that area like Mr.Doctor(Devil Doll) and Mike Patton(Fantomas, Mr.Bungle). When Cedric does it, it just sounds odd, unnatural and out of place.

As in Deloused and Tremulant, the songs are lengthy. The shortest clocks in at 5 minutes, 3 clock in at 12-13 minutes and yet another clocks in at over 30 minutes. Now, length is never a problem for me. Some of the greatest songs of the modern era like Devil Doll's Dies Irae or The girl who was...death clock in at above an hour. Here, however, the songs feel overly lengthy. There are parts in every song that just don't add anything to the music.

There's boring ambient noise in each of the tracks that serves to dilute the overall sound. It's almost as if the boys at The Mars Volta, known ecentrics, added it to make it seem more 'experimental'. Well, I enjoy experimental music as much as the next guy but only when it works. It doesn't work here. Even the widow feels to long with only 3 minutes of passable music and two minutes of needless noise. I can enjoy a 13 minute song as much as the next guy but here in Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus we have an 8 minute song masquerading as a 13 minute one. It's just not needed and makes the overall album less pleasing. If there was more cohesion to this album, it could have easily been a 5 star release. There are some 5 star moments in here but also some 1 or 2 star moments that serve to bring down the overall quality of each song.

It is easy to tell The Mars Volta's influences on this album as well. Deloused was more of an original release than this. Parts of Via l'Viaquez sound like a Santana song with a different vocalist. Yet, another part of that song made me recall parts of the Kill Bill soundtrack. Other influences like Robert Plant and Jimmy Page are clearly heard in the album. It's nice when artists are influenced by others but here it seems that they filch a thing too many from others instead of shaping their own sound.

Frances the Mute is a good album despite it's flaws. Some better editing on the part of the band along with removal of about 10-15 minutes on needless noise could have made this a really strong album. The album has been receiving the "It's weird and we don't understand it so it must be brilliant treatment". I'm all for experimental sounds but some of it here just doesn't work. If you are looking some good and original experimental music check out better releases like Choirs of the Eye by Kayo Dot. However, if you want a good albeit a bit muddled rock release with a good vocalist then you'll like this. If you liked Deloused then you'll probably like this as well. Just be wary that it introduces some detrimental aspects and suffers from lack of cohesion. With some better editing this could have been one of the best releases in years. As it stands, it's a good release that doesn't quite reach greatness due to some unneeded boring parts.

First off, I'd like to make the statement that, despite what anyone says, this album is NOT for everyone. Also, nothing that I or anyone else says here will affect your feeling about this album; it's a strictly love/hate relationship, as with all 'different' music... there is no partiality. That being said, it's understandable to see where some people who dislike this album are coming from. If you aren't used to TMV, this is not your album. Personally, I had to work up to TMV, it wasn't something I enjoyed immediately, but once you can get your ears around the ideas and techniques of TMV, it's true genius, pure pleasure to listen to. Listening to one song on this album is an injustice; it really cries out to be listened to in it's entirety, and this is how it's meant ot be listened to, not in bits and pieces. In comparison to De-Loused, Frances does not have quite as much catchiness or as many musically difficult lines, but, I feel that the music, viewed as a whole, shows much more thought and depth; instruments seem to almost weave in and out of eachother in some places, creating an almost surreal and mind-numbing effect. The most impressive aspect of this CD, just as in De-Loused, in my opinion, is the flow- from one track to the next, the flow is smooth, lines fade in and out, and guitar effects provide subtle, odd, and sometimes even frightening undertones, while the bass and drum lines are thouroughly supportive of the rest of the band, while maintaining some degree of complexity, especially rhythmically. I feel that De-Loused may have done a better job mending different tracks together than Frances, but Frances is nonetheless brilliant in it's approach to this style.

As I said before, you will either love or hate this album, depending on what you have listened to in the past, your influences, and your tastes- even the best review can't change that. Love it or hate it, this is TMV, and if you can truly listen to this album thoroughly once, you may find it growing on you more and more.

this is not an album that most people like right away. It does take some getting used to. The songs do drag on at times, but overall frances the mute (in my opinion) is one of the most poignant, inventive, and powerful album i have EVER heard. I feel very proud of the fact that my fellow latinos have recorded some of these songs in spanish. AND FOR EVERYONES INFORMATION...THOSE "CRICKETS" ARE NOT CRICKETS, THEY ARE COQUI (CO-KEE)FROGS NATIVE TO PUERTO RICO. OMAR IS PUERTO RICAN.

Even De-Loused at the Comatorium couldn't prepare you for this. I've heard some brilliant music over the past five years, but I'd have to say this one takes the cake. And as many others will probably go track to track analyzing every sound, I want to take a moment to describe another side of why you should add this to your cart immediately and request rush delivery. This is an album that will make you feel things.

The kind of feelings you get when you know you're listening to something truly inspired, even when it missteps. The kind of feeling you get when you hear a musical idea and it literally takes your breath away. The last two times I heard an album that so bravely took such a broad - dare I say thematic - approach to its sound were the first time I heard Dr. Dre's The Chronic and Tool's Aenima. And I find it extremely difficult to categorize this album, even though the most obvious way to categorize this sound of soaring vocals and wailing drums, bass and guitar is simply rock and roll. One listen, though, and one look at the huge list of musicians who participated in the making of this album, rife with strings and horns, will reveal its greater depth.

Exploratory, fearless and unhinged are the most appropriate ways I can describe what The Mars Volta have done with Frances the Mute. It feels so free and unstructured at times that I can't fathom how this band could keep this material faithful to the record in concert. But that's a good thing. It's as if this album, and The Mars Volta's sound in general, is truly organic and a protest to everything pre-packaged and compact that has always - but seemingly much more lately - flooded the music industry. But instead of doing it with blind rage and mindless raucous noise, TMV is doing it with ear-shattering virtuoso performances.

And many might not be prepared for it. Many might find the eccentricity of having the influnces of Jimi Hendrix, Tito Puente, Led Zeppelin, Iggy Pop, Suicidal Tendencies and Chick Corea all present on the same album, sometimes on the same track, a bit overwhelming. Many might be bored by the long, seemingly aimless passages of noodling and quirky sounds. Many people aren't used to such broad, loose musical structures. Learning to enjoy jazz and classical music at an early age has probably helped me appreciate such musical gestures, and I urge any who find this album meandering to just slow down and listen to the what is being played. Listen to what sincere creativity and musical exploration sound like. You're hearing the most well-made and forward-thinking music you can spend your money on today - and be grateful: The way today's music industry built on cross promotion and product association is going, it may one day be a crime to create such glowing work.

Don't even think twice.

First off, before anyone reviews this album, they should listen to the album at least 10 times and digest all of it. I personally have listened to the whole thing possibly 20 times since buying it last Thursday. With that said, the Mars Volta step up their musical assault on this 77 minute opus and leave the listener only looking forward and not back on their previous records the Tremulent EP and De-Loused in the Comatorium. This is a totally different band than what appeared on those two records in the sense that they have finally found a definitive sound and have an air of confidence about themselves. Also, as a sidenote, many have bashed the incessante use of sound effects between songs as being too long and too stupid. Did it ever occur to anyone that this album is based off a diary the late Jeremy Ward (who did sound effects for the Mars Volta until his 2003 death) and since it was found by Jeremy, it would only be fitting to display something that he was very good at everywhere on this record. The ambient noise and weird sounds I feel are a way for the band to pay tribute to their lost bandmate. Anyway, on with the review.

(supposed to be track one).Frances The Mute-Not in fact on this CD at all but was supposed to be the first song on the album but was cut because of time constraints. Only the lyrics to the song appear in the lyrics book accompanying the album. I haven't personally think it's a great track that all fans should purchase in any way possible.
1.Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus-the 43 second acoustic intro will likely throw you off before you are thrown into a frenzy of funk/salsa/classic rock with lyrics mostly in Spanish. You know you're in for one great ride of an album when you can even hear orchestral noises going on underneath all the madness. Guitar solos are aplenty on this song as well as all the other songs on the album and the song really picks up after the second chorus only to segue into a jammy jazz section. The song ends around the ten minute mark but outro noise goes on for 3 minutes until...
2.The Widow-This is the shortest song the Volta has ever made in the sense of actual music and is a rather strong ballad. It's choruses are really uplifting and has a bridge to die for including an awesome guitar solo and trumpet solo courtesy of guest trumpeteer Flea (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers). Was released as a single as a 3:30 edit which cuts off the two and half minutes of ambient noise that appears on the album leading into.......
3.L'Via L'Viaquez-This song's fusion of salsa and spaced out funk is totally addictive. From the intro guitar solo (played uncharacteristically by John Frusciante of the Chili Peppers who also plays the second solo on the song) you know you're in for a rocking good time. The song basically follows a format (shocking for the Volta) of space funk verses balanced out by slow and sexy salsa choruses. Prior to the third chorus, drummer Jon Theodore plays sumthin like a 15 second drum solo. After each chorus, the listener is treated to a guitar solo and on the outro a guitar solo and piano solo fuse together before fading off into the sunset amid tons of ambient noise which only leads into.....
4.Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore-5 more minutes of ambience!!!! Oh joy!!! This song is a little bit overkill on the ambience. This is basically a 5 maybe 6 minute song extended to 13 minutes. Alone, it would suck. In the context of the album though, it works. The first four minutes of ambiene sound like the intro to Televators offa De-Loused except it's hyper extended. At about the four minute mark, a trumpet can be heard along with song light acoustic strumming which wouldn't sound out of place in the Kill Bill movies. At about 4:30, the song itself starts off in its haunting acousticness. The band is backed by violins and other orchestral instruments on this mostly acoustic piece which rocks out around the 8:15 mark only to fizzle out at the 9:00 mark in which ambient noise then builds up to the albums centerpiece...
5-12.Cassandra Gemini-A 30 minute opus stretched out over 8 tracks with enough twists and turns to make one's head explode. Guitar solos are extremely abundant along with the constant backing of the orchestra which includes a flute on this song and a saxophone solo which lasts approximately 2-3 minutes. Even a shredding bass solo occurs somewhere towards the end of the 7th track. Overall, this song is extremely excited and mostly fast paced and will likely not put you to sleep. Ambient pauses and jazzy jamming only give way to insane guitar freakouts and excellent singing. The song climaxes beautifully and ends with the same acoustic strummings that gave way to Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus.

Overall, this is a great piece of work that needs to be digested before it is judged. If you've never listened to the Mars Volta before you should listen to their albums chronologically and one you feel that you've fully wrapped your mind around each individual album, move onto the next one. It's what I did and it has made the Mars Volta my biggest current musical influence. Still, this is a great piece of work for the already initiated fan and is soo off the wall in its creativity and blatant disregard for the mainstream yet it is being embraced as this technically 12 song but really 1 song album was number 4 this week on the billboard charts. That's my two cents. Go buy this great piece of work now and check out one of their shows.

Few artists have the skill to push the boundary. "De-loused in the Comatorium," the previous studio album by The Mars Volta did just that. Almost no artist has created a new boundary. The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Tool and Radiohead created something new and amazing that if you don't like the artist, you at least have respect for what they have created. Now with "Frances the Mute," The Mars Volta have entered an unknown region of the music world. The tempo ranges from slow to fast and in between, mixed with pulsating drumms, fierce solos from the guitar, bass, and even trumpets. The genres of music, progressive-psychedelic classic rock fused with Latin and salsa clash together to form an experience on the ears like none before.

The amount of instruments on the album add greatly, from the violin, the cello, to the piano, and more. Cedric Bixler Zavala mixes English and Spanish vocals with his distinctive voice. This band is refining their craft, it took Pink Floyd six albums before they became the band people remember today. This is only The Mars Volta's third studio effort (including their EP "The Tremulent"). There are times during this album when Pink Floyd would be jealous. What the future holds for this band no one knows, I don't know if we can even begin to perceive what else they could come up with. I thought "De-loused in the Comatorium" was special and pushed the boundary, but it can't even hold its own against the multi-dimensional effort of "Frances the Mute." Don't listen to me, listen to the album.

I had long since given up hope of ever hearing another modern Progressive Rock band to match those great bands of the 70's, when a friend let me hear this album, "Frances The Mute" on vinyl through a top end hi-fi rig. The instant the stylus touched the record, I new I was about to hear something new and full of surprises. I loved the music on first hearing and it takes a VERY special recording indeed for this to happen!

"The Mars Volta" sounded like a band, which had been sucked from the 70's, put through some highly sophisticated "time travel/reprogramming" device, then injected with a large dose of music covering over three decades - and, finally unleashed to the public! This band seems to have captured the spirit and essence of those Classic Prog-Rock bands with the addition of a very large dose of diverse music (including "experimentation") - and finally, presented in perfect tune with the present day musical environment. In short, the band has redefined the "rock" genre in general and opened up a completely new area of music - an amazing feat!

Even the production of this album switches between having that raw, hard-edged "Led-Zep" sound, to the refined and very latest recording techniques used now. This is an incredible accomplishment for any group of musicians to achieve, especially in the pretentious and cynical marketplace of today's music scene.

If you miss hearing all those ground breaking Progressive Rock bands of the past, then I would suggest you listen to "The Mars Volta" and you may be surprised and astonished by what you hear.

Yanek