Customer Reviews

Gift

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

the gift isn't any of the things you read here. it is lounge music for the 00's. some of ribot's stylish gutar playing is indeed surf like but the basis of the music is latin beats so this isn't surf. the melodies are strong, the band is excellent, and the arrangements (which is zorn's greatest tallent, exploiting the individual talents of the players in the composition as well as the arrangement) are ingeneous. this is no parody of lounge music (which is boring and of which there is enough already) it is respectful and exploits the values of lounge effectively in an updated context.

that's all very well but what earns this disk 5 stars is its extraordinary feel. initially it sounds just like those 50's pop instrumentals: happy, carefree, upbeat. but you quickly get the idea that something is wrong. the smile is slowly turning into a sinister grin. as the cd moves on this aspect begins to dominate and the music becomes tense with evil. the intent is made clear with the last track; a grotesque reprise of the first. it's as though the music has been secretly invaded and taken over by an invisible, sinister force like in a cheesy horror movie: the face still has a vapid smile on it but you can see that behind it is a body posessed by evil.

this therefore functions as a powerful critique of 50s american life: vapid, hypocritical and secretly sinister. this is quite an achievement for an instrumental cd. the packaging and art (which is really nothing to get excited about) is another metaphor of the same deciet: evil wrapped as a gift.

Zorn's reputation comes from his noisy cut-up music. It seems like he's either recording a complex collage of sound effects or he's squealing his way through a Masada improv. From Painkiller to Leng T'che, the guy knows how to melt a speaker or two.

This album --- a collection of beautiful, playful melodies --- seems to be out of character. But it's not. Scattered throughout the massive Zorn catalogue are dozens of songs like these. Just
listen to Bar Kokhba or his soundtrack to Port of Last Resort and you'll see he's been here before.

The real step forward on this album is an eerie tension that underlies every song. Somehow, there's a *threat* lurking in the surf music and the gentle trumpet solos. Is it in the composition, or should we credit the musicians? I have no idea. I just know that after the sixth or seventh time I heard this album, I heard more than pretty background music.

Zorn's reputation comes from his noisy cut-up music. It seems like he's either recording a complex collage of sound effects or he's squealing his way through a Masada improv. From Painkiller to Leng T'che, the guy knows how to melt a speaker or two.

This album --- a collection of beautiful, playful melodies --- seems to be out of character. But it's not. Scattered throughout the massive Zorn catalogue are dozens of songs like these. Just listen to Bar Kokhba or his soundtrack to Port of Last Resort and you'll see he's been here before.

The real step forward on this album is an eerie tension that underlies every song. Somehow, there's a *threat* lurking in the surf music and the gentle trumpet solos. Is it in the composition, or should we credit the musicians? I have no idea. I just know that after the sixth or seventh time I heard this album, I heard more than pretty background music.

If you fell in love with the Naked City song "Sunset Surfer" from Radio like I did, this album is for you.

An entire album of chilled out, mellow Zorn compositions with beautiful melodies and tasteful arrangements. They cover a multitude of styles other than 'surf', maintaining a fairly constant mood but branching into ethnic harmonic structure and jazzy rhythms. There's a lot of diverse instrumentation here, all sorts of percussion, train bells, hand drums, flutes, synthesizers, trumpets... and these are a supplement to what could be a typical rock line up of drums, bass and guitar.

The problem with this album and the thing that prevents it from being an ESSENTIAL purchase is the lack of building on established ideas. Unlike the aforementioned "Sunset Surfer", these songs reach no climax or resolution, in fact they progress almost none at all. Zorn was content to establish an atmospheric, perfectly balanced backdrop and let the musicians jam with it. You've got one or 2 catchy melodies per track, switching to another theme for a little, then switching back. Solos here and there (great ones). Once a track has begun, it quickly becomes predictable. It's a good chill out album.

An all around great cast of players. Mark Ribot is an expressive guitar player, and we've got the legendary Trevor Dunn on bass, albeit playing a supportive role. Naked City alumnus Joey Baron's work here is tasteful and fitting. The other musicians are fantastic as well although less known to me.

Even the decidedly different songs follow the aforementioned structure. The dark, orchestrally-augmented jazz of "Mao's Moon" with solo trumpet is a work of genious. Probably my favorite track on the album, it moves between lush, romantic feel and ominous darkness. The trumpet player does a fantastic job. "Bridge to the Beyond" is the other slightly out-of-place number, also on the darker side of things with Mike Patton showing up briefly to do some chanting in the background. The dissonant, harmonic-filled majority of the song sounds like a build-up to horror movie violence, while the contrasting piano section feels nostalgic. It's a good mix. There's also "Cutting Stone", 7 minutes of a strange, percussive stringed instrument and tribal drums. There's no melody, and I've found this one hard to absorb. Being that it's truly something I don't understand, I won't judge it.

Of the more "Sunset Surfer"-esque tunes, I find myself favoring "The Quiet Surf" for its subtle tension.

I don't really catch the vibe of the album in general as dark like many other here do, although parts of "Mao's Moon" and "Bridge to the Beyond" fit that description. The majority evokes the content, summer night atmosphere "Sunset Surfer" did.

As for the strange and questionable artwork, who really cares? If you don't like it, don't look at it. Most of it isn't flat out obscene anyway, just bondage oriented. No matter what Zorn's attachment to this sort of thing may be, I do kind of wonder why he keeps plastering it all over his releases. Since no one else has said it flat out, the cover (beneath the gift wrap) depicts a young girl on a chair, possibly tied up, holding a gun. A weird image.

The Gift is mildly recommended to fans of Zorn. To those who aren't yet fans, I recommend buying some Naked City.

It's very intelligible why some people find this album offensive. It is indeed quite provoking in many ways. On the other hand, it's a shame people have to flood these outbursts here where they might be seen as proper criticism.

The musical style or the medium is something Zorn is no doubt very familiar with: 50's "Surf music". Musically speaking it's all easy, cool and serene and that's exactly the thing that makes it all work so well as a whole. If you never saw the covers and maybe never played the last couple of tracks, chances are you would never understand what the album is about.

The "package" is not what it appears to be. That is the message both visually and musically.

Some people take this personally and as I said it's only natural, but in my opinion the message is intended for all humankind. The history is filled with eras that could be subjected to the same kind of criticism. Who knows, maybe all of history could, but here Zorn gave the 50's a piece of its share.

John Zorn and "easy listening"?? Those are words I never thought would be in the same sentence together, and yet here they are. The music contained on this album is very light and dreamy and yet there is still something a little off kilter about the whole thing. What exactly that is, I'm not quite sure. Maybe it's the fact that such calm, relaxing music is combined with album art that is quite bizarre and disturbing. In any event, "The Gift" makes for an interesting listen no matter where you are or what you're doing.

Though I am not to big a John Zorn fan (I only like Naked City actually), this is great. It is entirely different than NC though. Heavy thundering bass here, surf combined with country and western music, and yes believe it or not, some REGGAE now and then! Never thougt reggae could sound good, or could be combined with grunge and death metal. But John Zorn can.
Minor criticism: John, leave out the violins and the false high femaile voices in the third song. Then this cd would be perfect.

Picture this. You Have spent the last hour through the woods, and you reach the top of this gigantic hill right as the sun is setting, and as you look out onto the horizon, you are filled with an uncontrolable feeling of peace as you get lost in the moment (tracks one and two). And then your start to head across the darkening landscape when you realize that you don't have a flashlight, and you forgot how you got to your current position. You feel tense and awakened (tracks 3 and 4). After some time lost in the woods you start to feel a little more relaxed, and more confident although you are still on your toes (Tracks 5 and 6). Then you here footsteps of an unkown stalker that grow constantly louder, as you pick up your pace. You are overwhelmed with fear (tracks 7 and 8). Then your pursuer leaps out of a bush , over powers you and strangles you (track nine). Right before you suffocate to death you suddenly flash back to your last sunset with a more chaotic perspective knowing what is to come.(track 10)


For me that seems to be the image that comes to mind when listening. This sounds like on of many intended mental pictures along the same line as suggested by the artwork(sexual abuse hidden behind beautiful giftwrap). However, although the idea of hiding darkness behind the reconstruction of 50s music isn't really original. Frank Zappa's "Cruisin' With ruben and the jets," and more recently Mr. bungle's "california" have already tread that ground. However, The gift actually takes it self seriously, and comes off as being far more subtle, off putting, and scary than either of the above albums. When they were pretty much saying "Hey look everybody! We can hide lyrics about killing ourselves behind mock doo-wop, and surf music, and unless you actually listen to those genres otherwise you'll think they are love ballads. we're so funny". This one bears no aura of mischief and therefore scare's you all the more when you listen to it. The only minor complaint I have, however, Is that the artwork kind of gives away the "something's not right here" image before you even listen to the music. Otherwise in general this is a hauntingly beautliful album. And hey; even if you don't like it, you can at least staple the artwork to you door to scare off girl scouts.

Zorn's present of mild-mannered cultured dance stands out even in his ultra-diverse catalog, but more as mere statement then anything truly worth remembering. These pleasant enough compositions would sit well on some of his mellower filmworks compilations but as a whole musical experience remains neither here nor there.

I was expecting a lot more technical playing on this album,and after the first listening session I said to myself"hmm...it's good chill music,but there isn't much substance." After hearing these gentle, flowing tunes a few more times though I realized that this isn't supposed to be a "balls-to-walls" action-packed album;the idea which makes this music amazing is that it's meant to be a mental "seasoning".I use it while doing mellow chores,cooking,etc. and it is a great cognitive comforter which sets a nice pace for easy activities.zorn fans might be hit-n-miss on this one,but it's great chill music!