Gran Orgo

At the Drive-In | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 14, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Offtime Records
• ASIN: B00000GC9U
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,569 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Give It a Name

2. Honest to a Fault

3. Winter Month Novelty

4. Fahrenheit

5. Picket Fence Cartel

6. Speechless

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intense, exciting, and refreshing rock 'n roll., April 6, 2002

By 

"-akmoose" (Mountain Home AFB, ID USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gran Orgo (Audio CD)

Let me start this review off by making the point I want to make, and then elaborating later: If you are any kind of an At The Drive-In fan and you do not own this fantastic album, go find it. Now. Get offline, throw away your empty can of Diet Coke and go to the nearest record store. It's can be hard to find, but is more than worth the effort. Hell, if you're any kind of a rock n' roll fan you owe it to yourselves to hear some ATDI. You get to work, too.

If you didn't already do what I told you, I guess you probably want to know WHY you should go buy "El Gran Orgo". Fine, I'll tell you.

For those of you who don't know, At The Drive-In were an exciting, fresh new rock band putting out great albums for a few years. They got on a major label and their single "One-Armed Scissor" starting getting airplay. So naturally they went on hiatus for about half a year then broke up.

To describe their sound is difficult. I could refer to them as hardcore, indy, punk, or even the dreaded 'emo'. Lead singer Cedric Bixler just called them a rock 'n roll band, and I tend to agree. 'El Gran Orgo' is just that. A six song EP that gives you seventeen minutes of great music.

This album should appeal to any ATDI fan. Even if you've only heard "Relationship of Command" and stumbled onto this you'd enjoy it. One of the most unique things about "El Gran Orgo" is it's fairly straightforward lyrics, by At The Drive-In's standards, anyway. ("Oh dear. 'Speechless' is almost normal," said a fellow ATDI fan during our discussion of this subject.)

The band's later releases feature very abstract, although still very personal and emotional, lyrics. For comparison, lyrics like "For our amusement/We bring stares to the defendants/Mechanical panaceas/Absolved by history/Phonetic paralysis/Inflicted through morality/The seed that it nurtured/Was a wilted bouquet" from "Rolodex Proganda" demonstrate the band at the peak of their ability to make you run circles in your mind trying to figure out what the hell they're trying to say.

I have this theory about At The Drive-In in which the band made a bizarre pact to make their lyrics more abstract with every release. "Give It A Name" might just be the closet the band came to doing a love song, and hearing it certainly was a surprise for someone who started with "Relationship of Command."

But as I said, the more straightforward nature of EGO is the charm of the album. It starts with the aforementioned "Give It A Name", an upbeat two and a half minute, dare I say pop song that deals, quite simply, with the end of a relationship. The song is delivered with the typical ATDI energy, giving it an almost triumphant feel at times as Cedric sings lines like "So take those diamond bland shaped tears/And maybe I'll see you in twenty years/And I will always wear your ring/You know the one that turned my finger green".

With that, the momentum of the album never lets up, aside from a quiet fifty-second breather in the middle.

The best example of the album's excellence is its closer and best track, "Speechless". The song is one of ATDI's finest moments, combining all their best qualities: an energetic, passionate performance, a dynamic instrumental performance, and some of Cedric's most heartfelt vocals. It deals with the difficult subject of rape, but doesn't belittle the issue. Lyrics like "Hiding bruises he brings you roses/Says "I'm sorry" now it's okay/No hard feelings, no deep meanings/You were once special/But just for a day" evoke the victim's feelings of betrayal and shame.

The song goes to a whole new level when the guitars drop out during the bridge and allow the bass and drums to play under the lines "All those lonely nights/You stayed up and cried/Sick to your stomach with butterflies/He says "come here and hold me close/You never really seem to smile when I touch you", helping bring the song toward it's emotional peak. The repetition of the line "She's reaching for something right" and the final scream that end the song beautifully wrap up the song and the album.

At The Drive-In's break-up was a big loss to rock, with the exposure they were starting to get they could have helped bring more exciting new rock music into the picture. As it stands, they left behind several great albums, and this is one of them. Do yourself a favor and look into this one.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars El Gran Orgo, July 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Gran Orgo (Audio CD)

How do i begain. El Gran Orgo has to be one of the best releases by At The Drive-In, with intensely origonal songs and riffs it completely defines the band in a math-rocked/punked up, late Drive Like Jehu fashion that could only be accomplished by these high energy Texas boys. I can still remember seeing them play there first seattle show at a gym that used to double as a show venue during the weekends. They were just starting to tour there first full leight cd and they did amazing, most likly one of the best shows i have ever seen. If you do not have this cd buy it now!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The beginning.., January 31, 2004

By 

Wayne L Utterback (Carbondale, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gran Orgo (Audio CD)

Being an At The Drive-In fan for lord knows how long, I recently decided to try and seek out El Gran Orgo. Having all their other albums, I expected this to perhaps be "decent" or "sub-par" compared to all their other amazing albums. However, I was proven wrong. This is a fantastic album and you can hear their sound just devoloping into something unique. It took me at least 3 spins to truly get a feel for the album, but I grew attached to it. Songs like "Speechless" and "Honest to a Fault" truly are classics in my mind. If you love ATDI and are unsure about buying this album, trust me you won't be dissapointed. It was sad to see ATDI go, but they left behind a number of great albums, this being the beginning of the path.